Because I sure don’t!

I need a new camera for work to take mainly close up pictures of mechanical components etc, usually with very poor natural lighting, like underneath a truck.

Budget of sub £300.

Can anyone recommend anything?

TIA,

Jeff

if the conditions are going to be ‘tough’ – then one of those olympus mju tough cameras might be an idea. Droppable so if you’re in an awkward space its not too bad. I think they’ve got an LED light and a flash with macro mode..

You will definitely want something with a focus assist lamp (that will come on in low light conditions and help the camera focus), a decent flash & some kind of macro (or perhaps even super macro) mode.

Most half decent cameras have all these things. How close do you envisage being from the thing you are photographing? 6″, 1 foot……?

You might get better results if you buy some kind of wide beam torch to illuminate the area and use with the camera, as the problem with using a flash is it can make things look very flat.

I would also think about going for one of those ‘shockproof’, waterproof cameras if it’s going to be used in a workshop environment. Get it covered in oil – just run it under a tap with some soap, drop it on the floor, (probably) not a problem……panasonic do quite a good one:
http://www.panasonic.co.uk/html/en_GB/Products/DMC-FT1/Specification/2033769/index.html?trackInfo=true

It seems to fit the bill (although buttons look a bit fiddly if you’ll be using gloves). I can’t see in the spec whether is has an AF assist lamp, but it does look like it has an LED on the front which is probably just that. Worth looking into though, to make sure it does.

The flash is quite small, which might be an issue, although if you are taking close up pics it’ll probably be fine.

Lumix LX3 would be nice for that. Great in low light and superb at close-ups. I suspect you could pay a lot less and get soemthing that would be fine (<£100) depends what quality you need. Does it need to robust or usable by a range of people?

EDIT. The waterproof ones are great, I have one for outdoorsy stuff and I love it. Picture quality and lowlight perfomance is massively compromised, though. Depends on your priorities.

300 quid is not budget, that’s plenty of money.

If you are working under trucks and stuff an on-board flash would make for naff pictures.

You’d better put by some money for a nice powerful battery lamp to light the scene instead of the built in flash I reckon.

Although the photos are taken in a workshop environment it doesn’t need to be bullet proof, normally I’m taking notes/photos whilst mechanics are turning spanners etc.

Close up is normally <12″, trying to show cracks in castings, worn bushes, corrosion damage etc.

I do use a lamp instead of a flash but normally I only have 1 hand to take a photo. So ideal if the camera can cope with the bad lighting.

Actually, budget, sub £200 would be better.

300 quid is not budget, that’s plenty of money.

+1

You’ll get a fantastic camera for that money.

Might not be the right camera for the job, but I was in Jessops last night and they had a Fuji camera down from £250 to £99.

http://www.jessops.com/online.store/products/77252/show.html

It looks like a Jessops exclusive camera, so hard to find reviews of it. The spec says the macro is down to 5cm.

Worth a look if there’s a Jessops near you.
You could spend the rest of the money on some kind of stand/mount to hold a lamp with while you snap away??

Actually I’m based in Sweden, so a bit hard to pop into Jessops unfortunately.

Budget is confirmed at 4,000SEK = ~£390

So should be able to get a cracking camera for that.

My short list so far:
Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX3
Olympus Tough TG-610
Sony Cybershot DSC-WX5
Panasonic Lumix DMC-FT10

Anything else I should add to the list?

Go for the Sony!

Now down to the Casio ZR100 or Sony HX7V, Sony being favoured but the Casio reviews well against the Sony.

Hmm, decision decision………

Or the Cannon S95 😀