macro issues with a point and shoot

[Cap'n Fishy]

One of the guys on the fishing forum is doing his best to take macro close-ups of his fishing flies with a Canon PowerShot A3150 IS. He's struggling to get decent focus and one thing that is not helping is that when using it indoors with desk lamps for illumination, the camera is choosing f2.7, so his DoF is minimal. Exposure length is not a problem - he is using the self-timer. What I am wondering is whether there is any way to trick the camera into using f8 for these shots? It might help a bit.

The other thing I am wondering about is whether the camera won't always be adjusting the focus at the last second (having set it all up manually so it is in focus in the LCD beforehand). Any way he can make sure the camera does not refocus on taking the shot?

Thanks for any input.

Col

 

[SamHH]

I don't know whether you can set the aperture manually with that camera; sorry. A quick look on the web suggest it has a "long shutter" scene mode, so maybe this would achieve what he wants.

Re. the focussing, with most cameras you half press the shutter button until it achieves a lock, then fully depress it to take the photo. Is this not working?

 

[Cap'n Fishy]

I don't know whether you can set the aperture manually with that camera; sorry. A quick look on the web suggest it has a "long shutter" scene mode, so maybe this would achieve what he wants.

Re. the focussing, with most cameras you half press the shutter button until it achieves a lock, then fully depress it to take the photo. Is this not working?

The autofocus is working OK. The problem with it is that it is focusing at what is just an inch in front of the camera at f2.8 and picking parts that are not what we want it to focus on. Here's one I did myself with a Canon G10 that illustrates the problem...

The AF is picking out the black fibres. Our eyes are looking for the hook to be in focus and it is lying behind the focal plane. It is not problem to do with any camera that has manual control, but P&S cams struggle with the job.

 

[TheBigYin]

I'm not sure if his camera is supported yet, but CHDK gives full manual control on canon point and shoot cameras and might just do the trick ??