Canon Powershot sx60 HS for indoor macro diorama photography

[Trainman57]

Hi,

I'm considering getting a Canon Powershot sx 60 HS camera.  My goal is to be able to do some quality pictures of my indoor train layout in closup fashion.  I'm going to invest in some soft box lighting as well.  Would this camera meet my needs?  I'm not looking for magazine quality shots but would like to be able to adjust focus.  I have a Sony DSC-H9 now and would like something a bit better.  Thanks for you input.

[Trainman57]

Forgot to add that I kind of like that 65X zoom feature for some wildlife photos as well.

[Trainman57]

[Waddizzle]

Nice shot.  What about it are you looking to improve?  I see little room for improvement in buying a new camera.

[Trainman57]

That shot is not really a closeup.  When I do shots of the insides of building, I can't focus where I'd like.  I would like more control of that and also an upgrade in the camera that I have now.  I'll try to find some examples of what I'm talking about.

[Trainman57]

I have no control of what is in focus with my camera in these closeup type shots.

[John_]

I just saw that last shot, manual focus should get you what you want to be focused on

[Waddizzle]

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@John_ wrote:

I just saw that last shot, manual focus should get you what you want to be focused on

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I agree with John.  For these types of shots you want to manually focus, which demands that you use a tripod, or some form of camera support to stabilize the camera where you want it to be.

[John_]

Yes and a fairly inexpensive remote shutter switch for the SX60 in addition to a tripod. I doubt that area in that shot is more than 12 inches long...great attention in the detail too, very nice!

[Waddizzle]

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@Trainman57 wrote:

I have no control of what is in focus with my camera in these closeup type shots.

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What is the actual length of this corridor, from say the green thing on the right to the rear wall or door?  Is this handheld?

You do have control over what is in focus.  You are encountering what is known as DOF, Depth of Field.  Wide aperture settings produce shallow DoF, while a narrow aperture produces a deeper DoF.  This is just the physics of how lenses work.

However, at macro focusing distances DoF can become extremely narrow.  A DSLR photographer can get around these DoF limitations in a couple of ways.  One way is with a tilt-shift lens, which is not an option for you.  You could also stop the aperture way down, but once you get to f/22 then you can begin to lose sharpness in the image because of diffraction effects associated with light passing through a small hole.  Think pinhole camera.

Another way is to take a series of photographs, which are focused at different distances, and stack them in post processing into a single image that is entirely in focus.  This sounds far more complicated than it is to execute.  But, you do need image editing software that is capable of stacking a series of macro shots.

I think your image could be improved with modest post processing.  The yellow tint makes it seem like you need a White Balance correction.  Also, the image could benefit from a small adjustment to the horizon.