Hi Folks, I need to get a good digital camera for work. I will be taking pictures of small objects indoors. I need to be able to get within 10cm of a 2cm disk (think small coins). I need to be able to take a picture at a 45deg angle and still have the entire object in focus in the depth of field. The shutter needs to be fast enough that I can snap a mega pixel image under fluorescents without needing a tripod. Anyone know of a camera for close indoor photos like this?

Canon eos 300D Rebel

Attached Link: http://www.dpreview.com/

Before getting into camera recommendations... I would recommend that you seriously consider getting a tripod. For your needs that you've stated, you'll want a greater depth of field, and you are logistically looking at smaller aperture openings. With that you need a longer shutter speed. How good are you at hand-holding? I've been able to get sharp images at 1/10 to 1/15 of a second.... most people can't. Safe to hand-hold is usually the focal length of the lens used in this way..... close up work is usually in th 150-200 mm length....so safe shutter speed = 1/focal length... or 1/150 if you are using a focal lenth of 150mm. Of course all of this depends on the lighting you will be using.... more light and none of this is important. A tripod will allow you to use slower shutter speeds in natural light without the camera shake that usually accompanies it. Back to cameras..... there are literally hundreds of models out there to choose from. What MP are you hoping for? What price range? That will narrow your choices down considerably. DSLR or your standard digital? Compact flash or proprietary storage media? There are a lot of variables.... and a link to get you started..

What shooting conditions are you dealing with? I'm with Michelle on this - if there's ANY possible way to use a tripod, use it. Not just to prevent camera shake, but to insure that your composition and focus is correct - especially at the angle you require. When shooting something that close, a fraction of a inch difference in lens-to-subject distance can make the difference between tack sharp and painfully out of focus.

The application sounds REAL specialized... Almost like some sort of object recognition thing, but hand-held on the fly rather than like a fixed factory automation setup? Do you want the individual disks to more or less fill the frame? Or are you sorting out a bunch of disks? The killer is the 45 degrees while maintaining DOF. Best thing would be if you had a LOT of light, think maybe electronic flash. Would really need to know more about the applicatrion, and do some head scratching. You may be into the world of swings and tilts. Is this done today with film cameras, and you are just looking to change to digital?

You will want Optical zoom and digital zoom too. Jinx

also consider something with flourescent white balance and an option to switch to iso 200 or higher setting. you will get alot of digital noise though. the last image in my gallery was taken hand held with macro mode at iso200 and the previous one was at iso400 to give you an idea of the type of noise to expect. i would definitely consider the tripod option as well.

This is going to be used in a materials R&D lab. I need to be able to take portraits and images of machines up to 10meters away. I also need take images of the disks posed on backdrops. All this can be done on a tripod. I also need to take pictures inside the machine. The specimen sits inside a 5cm glass tube. There are 3-6 wraps of 12mm copper coil around this. I can't shoot straight through the glass because I have to shoot over the top of the copper coil. The coil can have a 25-75KW electromagnetic field around it. This heats the specimen to 1000 to 16000 deg C. I can't use a tripod because it might ground out the coil. The specimen is also giving off it's own light but its mostly low and infrared. I need something that can take about 3megapixels within the 1/10-1/15th second exposure. I can cut and crop the image I need from this in paintshop. I have an old Sony Mavaca that's fast enough but the 640x480 image is way to undetailed. Autofocus would be good, but because I shoot through glass it can be fooled and I need to be able to manual focus as needed. I don't care how the image is stored (smartcard/sandisk/builtin with usb) as long as I can take 30-40 imaged before downloading. Because of the close images. It would be good if the viewfinder goes through the lens instead of being off to the side. That or a good LCD screen so I can see the shot before I take it. I have a samsung 200 at home. It has 2 AA batteries and dies after about 8 shots if the LCD screen is on. I really want something with more battery life and don't care if I have to pull it out and dock it in a charger. Integral flash is best. I'm leaning into a box with lots of projections. An exterior flash with a cable is just one more thing to snag. If the whole thing is self contained its best. Sorry to be so long winded. Hope that makes things a little clearer.

Minolta Dimage A1..... 5MP, auto and manual focus, has on board flash but you could use a macro flash unit on the front of the lens if you wanted to, or any other type of compatible flash unit. The camera has an electronic viewfinder and an LCD panel. The lens also has image stabilation built in. Uses compact flash cards... file size of an image at highest resolution and quality around 14MB. It uses 4 AA batteries, but will suck through regular alkalines very quickly. It's recommended that you have 2-3 sets of rechargeables. Not sure if you would be better off with a DSLR and specialty lenses for the macro work, as the macro function on most digi's is not true macro, but is considered close-up.

OK. 'chelle's Dimage, or something similar seems a good choice. Perhaps with a close-up lens attached up front. I'm somewhat concerned about the RF fields from the coils upsetting the camera electronics. You may want to contact the camera manufacturer and explain the application...