Best compact for macro photography

[daveylad]

Hi

I am posting this question for my father. He is wanting to do some macro photography, moths and butterflies etc. and is looking to buy a new compact digital camera. He is looking to pay around £200. It is the macro feature he wants mainly. For this type of photography is he better to buy a camera with a bigger optical zoom and take the shots that way or buy a camera with a good macro facility? If anyone could recommend a good compact camera around that price that also has a decent battery life I would be grateful.

Thanks

Daveylad.

[Birdsnapper]

Hi Daveylad, welcome to the forum. My wife uses a Panasonic FZ8 (now superseded by FZ18) for dragonfly close-ups. You can see some of her photos in the members' gallery (her user name is demoiselle).

[daveylad]

Many thanks for that. I shall certainly check them out.

Daveylad

[Alex1994]

Hi

The Canon Ixus series has great macro, two separate modes: one is for photos where the subject is between 10 and 40cm away from the camera, the the other where it is closer than 10cm. Works really well! Otherwise the rest of the camera is well designed and built and takes great 'normal' pictures too.

Hope this helps

Alex

[postcardcv]

what sort of macro's does he like to take - if it's insects and the like then a big zoom is probably the way to go, however for macros of static objects some of the small compacts are excellent. I recently tested a Ricoh GX200, a very nice camera with an excellent macro (focuses down to 1cm)...