This is a very helpful (to me) thread. I am homing in on the Canon tough TR-6. Amazon have a TR-5 at half the price but it is refurbished, which I’m wary of, not least because the warranty is only 120 days. Currently, I’m waiting to see if I can snap some bargain up on Black Friday (if that’s the right name).
I probably should say, in fairness, that my wife’s Canon Powershot 60SX (I think it is) does take some quite nice photos of moths and hoverflies, but I don’t get the detail that I got on my much loved Nikon Coolpix 4800, where you could see every scale of a moth’s wing, for example.
One of the challenges of reviewing cameras etc is that they are out-of-date within a year or even less.
I’m quite impressed that, despite the internet going down before I had managed to load the above message, it somehow saved it.
But what I wanted to say was that I misremembered Mrs Surreybirder’s model - Canon Powershot SX40 HS, it should be.
I suspect, maybe hope, you mean Olymp Tough TG6?
I think everyone would be impressed with my Samsung’s macro facility
but I will add an Observation and follow up here with a (my) phone-cam-review
Samsung A52 (PHONE) - Plantain seeds
OLYMPUS - talking of iFocus, I need to focus!
Your Samsung A52 is very impressive, Derek. I only have the A32 which I haven’t had great results with - but a bad workman…
would indeed be wary of a refurbished TG camera as it relies so heavily on those seals which are easy to damage and not noticed until it goes underwater and is ruined.
I’m amazed Mike hasn’t stepped in with a recommendation to do the OU’s course on digital photography (that’s if its still running).
If you want a “proper” macro lens (I use Canon’s EF 100mm f2.8 macro) I suggest buying second hand - they see little use and its easy to get one in almost new condition for a considerable discount over brand new.
Thanks, Chris.
I don’t have a DSLR so I cannot afford to go that route.
Sorry to piggyback onto this thread but do you know what level this course is pitched at please?
It was aimed at beginners as a “normal” OU short course, but it no longer attracts credits:
We then revised the course - it became a “microcredential” course on the FutureLearn platform:
The beginner level course no longer attracts OU credits but it might do again in future as we are thinking about a third course to go with the other two and getting them back into a chunk of the curriculum. The students love the courses. The second level one has a chunk on wildlife photography that I wrote, it is rather short but it is there.
1 Like
Were the credits removed because we couldn’t afford the number of moderators any more?
Thank you for the info!
Two things
iSpot relies on informal photography, not exposure compensation or classic composition, thirds, horizonal skylines, nor focus. s295ers are probably told any photo will do, as long as you ID to species, even sub-sp.
2 DSLRs are cumbersome - how many photos, this year in iSpot, were taken with one Mike?
Run an data inquiry! I have one with one of the best Macro lenses (of its day) but NEVER use it!
I’m now the proud owner of the Olympus TG-6, and I’ve even managed to set it up, charge the battery, put the screen protector on and take a photo.
So, I hope, some of my photos should eventually appear in the Observations. Thanks for all the advice.
Think in theory you can wirelessly beam the picture to phone or computer but not sure you can beam direct into ispot.
I’m sure you are right, Mike. But I haven’t even figured out how to transfer photos from the SD card yet.
The quick way is to buy an SD card reader from a big supermarket or on line.
They tend to be expensive from big computer stores.
Card reader is far preferable. A USB connection from the camera to PC is the Olympus way but very gradually damages the camera’s USB socket. I charge all my batteries by removing them.
Transferring via Wifi is laborious but works
I am on my second TG3, The first works very well but has always been the wrong colour and the USB socket is now useless and is very worn,. It has taken many thousands of photos and is still quite serviceable. One of them is in my back trouser pocket almost everywhere I go. It has been underwater at arm’s length a few times,. Useless for live birds!
Thanks for all the helpful advice. I’ll connect my PC to begin with - just to make sure that I’m getting some images. But then I may well get a card reader.
It sounds as if the camera (or at least the port) is not as ‘tough’ as they make it sound!
SD cards have the electrical connections deep inside the camera where they do not get side ways loading that causes the unleaded solder to crack on USB ports.
If you always charge the battery in an external charger and use an SD card reader modest cameras will take 10s of thousands of photos before the lens motors begin to get noisy and sticky.
The best way to go is two cheap cameras that take the same batteries. It is either very difficult or very expensive to get an extra battery that does not bulge and get stuck in the camera after a while.
That way you can always have a full battery at the start of the day and two if you are doing a big photo shoot when a rare bird turns up locally.