[Jewelry making - Article 00519] - Re: [Orchid] Digital camera for jewelry

[Les Brown]

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Mary Ann,

    I would suggest you drop your search for the Nikon 990 or 995 and
    instead look for the 4500. 

    Nikon finished the 990/995 series with the 4MP CoolPix 4500. In the
    most important sense, image quality, it was the best of the series
    because of the 33% increase in resolution over its predecessors. As
    important, however, is the macro capability which was near perfect -
    something even current SLR types can't top. The camera will focus in
    macro mode over the entire zoom range (unlike most of the current
    crop). There is a short section mid-range, though, in which the
    camera will focus down to 1.6cm and yeilds, in effect, a perfectly
    flat field image. Translated this means zero lens distortion: no
    "barrel" or "pin cushion" effect. Because of this, besides being
    useful for photographing jewelry, it makes a great document or photo
    copy camera. 

    Another big plus is that the lens can be stopped down as much as
    F10.1 depending on where you are in the macro zoom range. F8 is the
    minium I believe, which is where most current models end. While there
    is a lot of back and forth about the reduction in image quality at
    higher F numbers I prefer the greater overall focus to better
    sharpness in a narrowly focused plane. And truth be told, unless
    you're doing posters of your work the difference in focus quality
    between mid and highest F stops is negligible. 

    In the 4500 Nikon tamed the dreaded "purple fringe" beast (purple
    fringing along edges of strongly backlit objects) and lightened the
    camera up some. 

    The 4500 is a very robust, professional quality build with all but
    the memory card door being cast magnesium. Also of note, the lens
    system is internal - no little pop out cylinder series to smack on
    the counter edge like all current models use. 

    The one really big downside, which you can work around, is the
    tendency, which all small so called point & shoots suffer, to blow
    the highlights. Nikon had a particularly bad rep in this area and the
    4500, like the 990/995 before it, suffers much. Of course, for a lot
    of jewelry, this problem is only made worse by the extreme specular
    reflections produced by polished metal. 

    Setting the camera to minimum contrast, keeping the lighting low
    contrast, and underexposing will produce usable images with a little
    software manipulation. 

    A second serious downside is that Nikon chose to decrease the size
    of the LCD screen to 1.5". This makes checking focus seem difficult
    but in fact the auto focus is so good I seldom have to re-shoot for
    reasons of poor focus. The camera does offer a manual focus of sorts
    but it is, in practice, useless. On the other hand, used with a high
    F number and the ability to choose your focus area, the auto focus,
    as noted, produces excellent results. 

    Nikon came into some criticism re their menu systems in these
    cameras but, as in all digital menu systms, once you figure it out
    and develp a shooting routine you don't even notice the menus
    anymore. 

    As Mary Ann noted these cameras are nex.t to impossible to find. Any
    active photographer who has one isn't selling and when they do become
    available they go fast and high $ (in relation to their age). 

    For more information than you want on this or any camera check out
    the info sheets and reviews of any and all digital cameras at
    dpreview.com. 

Les Brown

L.F.Brown Goldwork
17 2nd St. East, Ste. 101
Kalispell, MT 59901
www.goldwork.com
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