Hi,
This is perhaps a slightly unusual use for a camera, and as such I’ve not been able to find any useful advice online… I do a lot of genealogical/historical research and as part of that I photograph thousands of documents in the public records office which I then study at home.
I need a compact camera capable of taking sharp photographs of paper documents from postage-stamp size up to A0. It should also be capable of all-round use, e.g. photographing houses and landscapes.
Currently I use a Panasonic DMC-TZ20 which has served me well, but it must be getting close to 10 years old. I’ve also come to the realisation recently that modern smartphones are far better at recognising text and taking very sharp pictures. This is important because I need to be able to read the writing on my computer screen when I get home.
This disadvantage of smartphones is they are slow and relatively difficult to use. I often take more than 2000 photographs a day, sometimes up to 50 a minute. I need a camera I can hold in one hand (with an easy-to-reach button) while I turn pages with my other hand. For this I probably also need some form of auto-focus and stabilisation.
I don’t know much about photography, so I could do with some advice on the sort of specifications I should be looking for. How do compact cameras compare to smartphones for this kind of thing?
Thanks,
Mafegi
This is perhaps a slightly unusual use for a camera, and as such I’ve not been able to find any useful advice online… I do a lot of genealogical/historical research and as part of that I photograph thousands of documents in the public records office which I then study at home.
I need a compact camera capable of taking sharp photographs of paper documents from postage-stamp size up to A0. It should also be capable of all-round use, e.g. photographing houses and landscapes.
Currently I use a Panasonic DMC-TZ20 which has served me well, but it must be getting close to 10 years old. I’ve also come to the realisation recently that modern smartphones are far better at recognising text and taking very sharp pictures. This is important because I need to be able to read the writing on my computer screen when I get home.
This disadvantage of smartphones is they are slow and relatively difficult to use. I often take more than 2000 photographs a day, sometimes up to 50 a minute. I need a camera I can hold in one hand (with an easy-to-reach button) while I turn pages with my other hand. For this I probably also need some form of auto-focus and stabilisation.
I don’t know much about photography, so I could do with some advice on the sort of specifications I should be looking for. How do compact cameras compare to smartphones for this kind of thing?
Thanks,
Mafegi