I’ve been using my phone to record my observations so far and the quality isn’t horrible; but Zooming in on things is a challenge. Plus pulling out my phone whenever I come across something I want to observe can be a hassle at times, especially when the subject runs off by the time I have it out. So I’ve been wanting to up my game and get a camera that I can have handy at all times if I want to.
I am quite poor so I can’t go too crazy on the budget, something around $100 or just above it is achievable for me. I was wondering if anyone here has an recommendations or ones that they have used that are budget friendly?
Im also looking for a very cheap, pocket digital camera that can take pics of tiny moths and beetles at night. Ive been mugged twice already and have had two small cameras stolen while iNatting. I’m looking for a camera that can afford to be stolen and fit in my pocket.
That’s awful! I didn’t even think about that aspect of possibility happening while night INatting. I am glad you got out alive from those muggings.
The Olympus Tough range are excellent for taking close ups, with the bonus that (at least some of them) can be used under water! Sadly, I don’t think your budget would cover a new one, but you can pick them up second hand. Might be worth a search. Good luck!
I too would recommend a second-hand Olympus Tough camera and add on an OM System LG-1 Macro Ring Light for photo’ing insects, mosses, etc. - also turn on Stacking in the settings for static subjects (e.g. sleepy moths) - this gives a much greater depth of field in your images.
I used an itel phone for a very long time (price was about $80) with lightroom app as the camera and a so-called macro lens (which is just a clip-on magnifying lens) ordered of temu for about $10. The downside of this method is that sometimes it takes awhile to get the focus right and you can only take 4 pictures then you have to restart the camera. It is a challenge but I’ve done 60 000+ photos on that, it has fallen down rocks, into water, been trampled by sheep (don’t ask) and I’ve used it at night with the clip on thingie and an extra light source, not the flash (the clip on cuts out the flash), with some success as well.
While not in the class of digital cameras, this does have the benefit that it can easily and relatively cheaply be replaced in the event of a disaster (and a nice cracked screen prevents the muggers, the ones in Hermanus recently took one look at it and decided to rather not bother hehe). So see if one of those clip on thingies can work as a stop gap while you search for something decent.
If you have a decent i-nat record, are serious about the goals here and some good obs, why not start a crowdfunding campaign (and of course you can get the payouts where you are of course) and see if you can afford a new version of the cameras mentioned by others?
Where are you based @anarchistfenred ?
I just bought the Olympus TG7, and while it isn’t the cheapest, it’s amazing for bugs, and the added bonus is that people don’t realise it’s a decent camera. In Spain, you can find the TG6 for around €200 second-hand - perhaps you could find one cheaper where you are?
One slightly different, but definitely cheap, option would be to look into a clip-on macro lens as others have mentioned. It’s not a stand alone camera, but could dramatically increase what your existing in-phone camera can do/the types of observations you can make.
can you elaborate on this statement more? i would think that for most people, pulling out a phone to take a photo would be faster or at least no slower than taking out a standalone camera to take a photo.
i depends on what you’re trying to get out of a camera, i suppose, but i suspect this budget may be too low unless you can find a great deal on something in the secondary market or can befriend someone with deep pockets and lots of camera gear.
South TX, USA. I’ve been looking at some of the older models of the TG and many are still out of my budget range but definitely more doable.
Of course. I primarily keep my phone in my pocket at all times when I’m out and about. With a compact camera I was planning on carrying in a easily accessible pouch or have it hung around my neck so I can grab it easier and quicker than fishing it out of my pocket. I’m also a bit slow on getting my camera app opened and the zoom quality isn’t the greatest. I want to be able to snap a picture of something (usually a moth, spider, other small critters) without having to lean down so far to get a good and focused shot.
if this is the sort of photography you do, honestly, i would use the money to buy a second-hand 2-year-old unlocked phone that has some telephoto range. you can buy a strap + case if you want to carry it around your neck, or a wristband (armband) style phone holder might work, too. you can add a shortcut to your camera app on your lock screen or add it as a button combo so that it will open with one touch.
if you must have a standalone camera, you might be able to find a 10-15+ year old DSLR + lens or one of the pocket superzoom bridge cameras for the sort of budget you’re looking for on the secondary market. there are many old threads on this forum that talk about cameras. so you might want to look through those for specific suggestions. because prices can vary so much on the second-hand market, it’s hard to provide a specific recommendation, since the best for the price will just depend on what’s available to you at any given time.
This will honestly probably be the most achievable for me in my current financial situation. My current phone (Samsung A16) is about that old so I wonder if I should do some configurations with it and see if I can get those clips on like you and others have mentioned. Although I’m not sure I want the weight of this phone around my neck ^ ^"
I suppose I’ll just need to look into it and see, I would eventually like to get a stand alone camera down the line.
yeah i’ll concur, if you don’t want to lean down to get a focused shot, don’t waste your money on a TG - you’ve gotta get right up on the subject to get a good photo. i’m crouching all the time, and scaring bugs off by getting too close all the time lol.
I find that using a stand-alone camera (an Olympus TG) to be faster than using than using the iNat app in my phone. Plus, holding the camera all the time is more comfortable than holding the phone. Come to think of it, I can operate the camera one-handedly pretty easily; not so my phone. But everyone’s different, so peopole should do whatever’s easiest.
i would never shoot photos from the iNat app. using the stock camera app is almost always going to be faster and potentially better quality for photos. you can share photos to the iNat app once you’ve taken them, or use an alternate workflow, depending on how you want to record locations and observation notes.
the portability of the phone means you don’t have to hold it at all if you’re not actively using it. if you want to hold it all the time, you can certainly get various cases, selfie sticks / small tripods, simple wrist or finger lanyards, or other items that will make holding a phone more comfortable and potentially provide other benefits (such as extra reach or stability for selfie sticks).
if you really need to do this and can’t with your existing phone, getting the right case (such as one with a knob on the back that allows you to hold the phone between your middle and ring fingers while using your thumb and even your index finger on the screen) or other accessory (such as a selfie stick tripod with an optionally detachable bluetooth shutter button) can help to solve this sort of need, depending on your preferred setup.
Woah. Those are two tough shopping terms. And pretty subjective.
The cheapest cam I ever found for macro? A couple years ago I picked up an old (15 years) bridge cam, a Nikon Coolpix P90, at a local thrift store for 35 (Canadian) dollars. To this, I epoxied to the front barrel a little 5 dollar adapter ring I picked up online, slapped 3 layers of frosted giftwrap tape over the camera’s pop-up flash, and finally, I plopped a Raynox-250 clip-on macro lens ($30, same thrift store) and took it out for a test run. Expecting, of course, to NOT spot anything special enough to make me regret not packing my ‘good’ macro gear.
About half an hour of test shooting in the park, just down the street, I spotted this one in a darker part of the wooded trail:
Yep, and of course, a lifer, and one of (currently) only seven Elephant Mosquitoes listed for iNat, in Canada. (Regrets? Okay, maybe some.)
So technically, some very lucky thifting squeaked me under the $100 budget. And yeah, not everyone is comfy with older, limited function (compared to newer gear) used stuff, but it worked pretty well.
Theft-proofing is pretty impossible with any camera, as anything with a lens, to most thieves, is probably not going to be scrutinized in a grab situation, for a visual based market value.
As for size, the TG (and I carry one almost all the time with me) can’t be beat for macro power per cubic inch, but still…
Even at twice the TG weight, that little Coolpix still easily fits into a jacket pocket. (How big a pocket are YOU talking about?)
I carry the Raynox in my back pants pocket. Another advantage of the little Coolpix? Without clipping on the Raynox, it’s a great little ‘pocketable’ birding cam with 24x zoom that easily beats my TG.
Other possible suggestions? Phone clip-on macro lenses. Some of these work pretty well, depending on the phone, and some even have variable zoom levels, which is more practical for field shooting. It’s pretty hit-and-miss shopping though, but most good ones are around the 50 dollar range.
How about 40 bucks? ‘Camera’ guess?
That’s from one of those ‘toy’ digital wifi (to your phone) microscopes I played around with. Yikes. So tricky to operate (especially in the field), and yeah, lots of editing to pull out the details from that small, noisy sensor. But hey, it was fun.
Yeah, I’m trying to save myself from having to crouch and lean down. I have Condition that makes it hard for me to be bending down and crouching without fear of passing out. with my current set up that’s easier said than done.