What does it mean?

Want a camera so that I can get close-ups of the spiders in my fruit trees, beautifully marked.
Camera I see advertised is a Sony 7.2mp 2.5 inch lcd 3xoz dscw55b, digital,high sensitivity iso 1000 and clear raw nr image processing mpeg movie vx fine.
Could someone explain in layman terms what this means, can I take closeups from about 8 inches??
If this is the one you will see some rewards.
Thanks in anticipation.
I think we sent some Redbacks to US of America once probably payback for the Fireants found in Queensland.That's commerce.

Bendee

I think that there is some evidence that the redbacks originally came from the USA in the late 19th century (in ship loads of timber etc) and found the Australian environment to their liking.

the 7.2 mp means there are 7.2 millon little dots that make up the picture, that's a good thing, means nice pics,...the 2.? lcd is the size of the screen you get to veiw the subject in,...the iso is the comparison to standard film, means it will use fast shutter to stop some motion so the pic is not blurry if it is moveing,...hope this helps as i'm old school with the 35mm film jobs...a little with the digital

Bendee, none of the specs you quote will tell you how close the camera will focus. However, the Sony website quotes the following spec for the DSC-W55/B: 'Minimum Focus Distance : 19.7" (50 cm), Macro 0.74" (2 cm)' Meaning it will focus down to less than an inch in the "macro" mode.
DSC W55/B specs

Bendee, 7.2 is megapixels. The higher the number the clearer the picture. Yours should be clear. 2.5 is the size of the viewing screen on the back of the camera. 3x oz id the optical zoom magnification. Optical means it actuallt zooms as opposed to a digital zoom which actually blows up the picture you are looking at. Kinda like using a magnifying glass. So yes you can. Not too sure about the other numbers. Gerard

It sounds to me like you are really wanting to do some high quality close ups. To me, this says you have an interest in high quality photography which may expand to more subjects in the future. I'd encourage you to go with a camera that you can expand with as you want to. For that, you cant beat a DSLR, where you can purchase the exact lens for the images you want.

Photography is really determined by the quality of the glass (lens). Most cameras today have high capacity image sensors. In reality, anything 5 MP or over will do high quality 8x10 inch images. Unless you are going for poster size or advanced editing thats enough. I currently use Olympus cameras with the 4/3ds lens system. It lets them sell the camera bodies cheaper since most of the software is in the glass. Im treating myself to a Canon this winter since I can get better lenses for the very type of specialty work you refer to much cheaper than using the specialty mounts of the Olympus.

in laymans terms....
it oughta work..... sounds like you are desribing my little sony cybershot.
I like it. 2 AA batteries. Gets pretty battery hungry and a nuisance if you use that little screen but turn it off and use the little eye piece like you used to use cameras, and they (batteries) last forever. I've taken pics of instructions and printed/emailed them before and it worked out pretty good. Think you'd be fine with your spiders and snakes.

Dave

I am looking at a Cannon that is 18 megapixals, but it's danged near $800. I have a smaller cannon for work, but it has a closeup function and works pretty good.

Gene

Like KYHayman said, the lens drives closeup (macro) photography more than anything else for what you want to do.

I'd say look at a camera with interchangeable lens (most commonly called SLR's). Nikon & Canon are the most popular and easiest to find lens/parts accessories, but they aren't interchangeable, so most folks choose a line and stick with it.

You might want to read up on some camera websites to get a feel for their terminology, depending on how serious you want to get. Ken Rockwell is pretty opinionated, but has a ton of information and a lot of food for thought on his website:

http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech.htm

Here are some pics with a Nikon D80 and a 18x200 lens. Its pretty amazing, since it can get as close as 10-12 inches (spider pic, snake was about 2 feet) or zoom out with the same lens for telephoto pics (Chinook helicopter at a NASCAR flyover at bottom).

<a href="http://s130.photobucket.com/albums/p268/case600lp/permanent/?action=view&amp;current=thinginthenight.jpg" target="_blank"> </a>

<a href="http://s130.photobucket.com/albums/p268/case600lp/permanent/?action=view&amp;current=cuddlybunny.jpg" target="_blank"></a>

<a href="http://s130.photobucket.com/albums/p268/case600lp/permanent/?action=view&amp;current=ChinookPilot.jpg" target="_blank"></a>


Howard
Macro photography

A back end scraper blade is on of the most useless pieces of equipment a person can own.

sorry ,wrong topic.

I have not used this camera, but higher iso will get photos in low light or action. this could lead to noise in your photo (grain as in film). 7.2 mp will will allow you to print at least an 8x10 photo. Also that camers uses the there brand of memory stick which then can only be on sony cameras. It seems that manufactors are going to SD type cards as a universal card for all brands.
Also you may want to consider a tripod or monopod when shooting macro. Macro makes the subject larger but any movement is now showing up as well.

Hope this helps.

A big thanks to all who answered, much wiser now.

Like those photographs, Howard. if I can achieve that the jobs done.