Using a Kodak Z740 for flies

[silverbullet32 0]

hey guys, so i have a kodak z740 camera. i am having a incredibly hard time at taking decent pictures of flies. i am by no means a photographer, but i would like to be better.

 

i've tried zooming in/out, using settings for smaller objects, flash, no flash, i made a white paper aparatus and got much better pictures, but i can't get them very crisp.

 

so is there a setting i need to use? i am gonna try some with a tripod and extra lighting, but i would just really like to get some better pictures. thanks guys!

[Kirk Dietrich 0]

Is this your camera?

http://store.kodak.com/store/ekconsus/en_U...uctID.146584200

 

If so, it looks like you should be able to get off some pretty decent shots. You should be able to use a macro mode but even with a macro mode, you can not get to close, there should be an indicator in the viewfinder for when you are in-focus or out.

For low light, a tri-pod would certainly help but in good lighting, it is not mandatory.

Use a good medium/neutral colored background for best contrast and light the subject very well. During the day, you can set up next to a window that is getting good light from out side and supplement that with a lamp or two if necessary. Or indoors at night, use your indoor overhead lighting supplemented with at least two lamps and maybe your pop up flash. You can tape a piece of tissue or opaque mylar or a piece of white plastic grocery bag in a bubble shape over your flash to diffuse the direct burst of light a little for some extra light. You should be able to get by with a few good bright lamps and a tri-pod, if the shutter stays open for a while, you may want to trigger it with the self timer.

Do a search on this site for macro-photography and you should find lots of good advice. I've taken great shots of flies with a point-n-shoot camera a lot less fancy than the one in the link above.

 

Good luck and post some of those pics.

 

Kirk

[silverbullet32 0]

Is this your camera?

http://store.kodak.com/store/ekconsus/en_U...uctID.146584200

 

If so, it looks like you should be able to get off some pretty decent shots. You should be able to use a macro mode but even with a macro mode, you can not get to close, there should be an indicator in the viewfinder for when you are in-focus or out.

For low light, a tri-pod would certainly help but in good lighting, it is not mandatory.

Use a good medium/neutral colored background for best contrast and light the subject very well. During the day, you can set up next to a window that is getting good light from out side and supplement that with a lamp or two if necessary. Or indoors at night, use your indoor overhead lighting supplemented with at least two lamps and maybe your pop up flash. You can tape a piece of tissue or opaque mylar or a piece of white plastic grocery bag in a bubble shape over your flash to diffuse the direct burst of light a little for some extra light. You should be able to get by with a few good bright lamps and a tri-pod, if the shutter stays open for a while, you may want to trigger it with the self timer.

Do a search on this site for macro-photography and you should find lots of good advice. I've taken great shots of flies with a point-n-shoot camera a lot less fancy than the one in the link above.

 

Good luck and post some of those pics.

 

Kirk

 

 

hey kirk thanks so muc! this really helped out, i will experiment later today and post up the results. i oh and that is my camera in the link..it always used to take excellent pictures right out of the box but i think the last user like my mom or dad threw it out of it's default settings. should i mess around with the ISO?

 

this helped alot!

 

Loren

[Kirk Dietrich 0]

Loren, the lower the ISO, the less "grainy" your pictures will be. Setting the ISO at a higher number allows you to take pictures in lower light conditions but you sacrifice image quality. For macros, it is best to shoot in enough light so that you can set your ISO to its lowest setting so as to get the best quality image.

If you have options to set your aperture, you should set that at a medium to high number to have more depth of field (more of the fly in focus) although that will lower your shutter speed in order to get a proper exposure so you may have to use a tripod. Of course, if you are in bright enough light, the shutter speed may be able to go off quick enough so as not to pick up hand shake.

When making adjustments, try making just one adjustment at a time so you can see how that feature affects the image. If you change everything, you may get a good or bad picture but it will be hard to learn what adjustment made it that way; once you understand Aperture, Shutter speed, ISO and a couple other things you can make multiple adjustments to try an obtain a certain effect.

 

Kirk