Digital Camera for Archival Work?

September 29, 2006 4:43 PM

Best digital camera to use in archives?

I am looking for a compact digital camera to toss into my briefcase and have available when I am doing historical research in archives. I will be shooting old documents, maps and photos at close distance and in low light. So I need a camera with good macro and low light capabilities. I don't need a lot of zoom, fancy movie modes, or anything like that.

(I know a scanner will give me better images, but I don't want to carry one, plus most archives wouldn't let you use one.)

There is a line of Casios with a feature that supposedly corrects old photographs, but the reviews are not very good. The Fuji F-30 come recommended for low light, but I am unsure on its macro capabilities.

Bonus question: Should I get a tripod, and which?

posted by LarryC to technology (20 comments total)

Do you need to be able to take color pictures or are you just looking to take pictures of text?
posted by bshort at 4:45 PM on September 29, 2006

Get something by Fuji. Their point and shoots are the best in low light.
posted by rbs at 4:46 PM on September 29, 2006

i just shot 1500+ documents in 4 days using my trusty ole Canon PowerShot S230, sans tripod. things came out ok, but here's the rub: you will need at minimum about 3.5x megapixels for shooting a letter-sized document well, but this isn't nearly enough for maps or larger images.

that said, i'm currently coveting the Panasonic Lumix 6.0 megapixel, as it boasts some fancy optical stabilization. why carry a tripod when your camera can compensate for that pesky over-caffinated hand-shake?

i'm very curious to see how you make out with whatever you end up with, though
posted by garfy3 at 4:54 PM on September 29, 2006

take a look at www.dpreview.com - their reviews are excellent and should give you a decent idea of the market. look for los F-stop numbers in your lense (F2.8 should be great) and can simulate a high ISO speed, at least 800. you should really think about a small tripod, most camera stores will be happy to sell you a little fold-thingy you can use on a desk for very little money. this will allow you to turn the flash off, which in turn will preserve relatively accurate colors.
posted by krautland at 5:13 PM on September 29, 2006

So I need a camera with good macro and low light capabilities.

No, this is wrong.

What you need is a good tripod. That's what you need. The camera on top isn't nearly as important. In fact, in general order-of-importance, the actual camera is the bottom of the list.

1. Tripod
2. Flash/Lighting
3. Color balance correction
4. Price
5. Camera

There are plenty of good tripods out there. I'm a big fan of the Manfretto (/Bogan) 3021. If you want to go more lightweight, the 3011 is pretty sturdy, too. Carbon Fiber is more expensive but lighter. Up to you.

If you have good flash technique, you could get by with a Vivitar 285 and an Omnibounce. If you're relying on an onboard flash... well, good luck with that. The nice thing about having a tripod is that you can do an ambient light exposure that might take 5 seconds without a problem. You'll have to color correct for whatever environment you're in... usually a couple 1000K up if it's tungstun-based, or shift a bit of the green and blue if it's flourescents. This can all be done in Photoshop, though.

Canon makes the absolute cleanest shots at high-ISO of any manufacturer. And this is coming from a Nikon owner. If you're on a budget and need something reliable, I'd stick with a Canon.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 5:29 PM on September 29, 2006

(Now, with links!)
So I need a camera with good macro and low light capabilities.

No, this is wrong.

What you need is a good tripod. That's what you need. The camera on top isn't nearly as important. In fact, in general order-of-importance, the actual camera is the bottom of the list.

1. Tripod
2. Flash/Lighting
3. Color balance correction
4. Price
5. Camera

There are plenty of good tripods out there. I'm a big fan of the Manfrotto (/Bogan) 3021. If you want to go more lightweight, the 3005 is pretty sturdy, too. Carbon Fiber is more expensive but lighter. Up to you.

If you have good flash technique, you could get by with a Vivitar 285 and an Omnibounce. If you're relying on an onboard flash... well, good luck with that. The nice thing about having a tripod is that you can do an ambient light exposure that might take 5 seconds without a problem. You'll have to color correct for whatever environment you're in... usually a couple 1000K up if it's tungstun-based, or shift a bit of the green and blue if it's flourescents. This can all be done in Photoshop, though.

Canon makes the absolute cleanest shots at high-ISO of any manufacturer. And this is coming from a Nikon owner. If you're on a budget and need something reliable, I'd stick with a Canon.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 5:42 PM on September 29, 2006

Bshort: Mostly, I just want to shoot black and white text documents and pull them up on my computer to read when I get home. But it would be nice to copy photographs as well.

Garfy3: Could you email me sample image? I am very curious.

CD, you've convinced me on the tripod, but the guy working next to me in the archives isn't going to appreciate a flash. I am copying things for my research, not for publication, can I get away without a flash?

All: Price isn't too much of an issue, it is university money. Would $500 do it? $800?
posted by LarryC at 6:05 PM on September 29, 2006

[Civil_Disobedient: most archival facilities won't allow *any* use of flash, and some won't allow tripods to be brought in either (such as London). Most of the facilities do use flourescent, so that's cool advice.]
posted by garfy3 at 6:10 PM on September 29, 2006

I am copying things for my research, not for publication, can I get away without a flash?

Yes, with a sturdy enough tripod and the benefit of nearly completely still air (museums and libraries are good for that sort of thing) you can make photographs that are seconds or minutes long if you had to. The important quality you should therefor be looking for is the ability to adjust the speed of your shots—the longer the exposure, the brighter the subject becomes. You'll probably hate me for saying this, but you'd really be best off with a SLR like the 350 Rebel (you can get them for peanuts these days as everyone's moving up to the 450 or 30D). Match that with a large-aperture lens like the 50mm f1.2 and you can shoot in dim ambient in about 1-5 seconds at 400 ISO. With a good tripod you could do this, no problem.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 6:14 PM on September 29, 2006

if you can, go for a used canon rebel xt with a decent lense off ebay. try to find a wider lense, 17mm or so, that does F2.8 and get the tripod. you'll probably end up closer to 900 but I thought I'd add it since you said price wasn't that much of an issue...
posted by krautland at 6:19 PM on September 29, 2006

If you've got any light a tripod is all you need. Pictures just take more time. If you bring a grey card with you then you can take a custom WB that will allow you to colour correct easily.

I know you said you didn't want to carry a scanner; however, how about a full page pen scanner. It would be a lot less to carry than even just a camera and needs a lot less space to use. And it's not much more than just the 3021.
posted by Mitheral at 6:26 PM on September 29, 2006

There are plenty of stops between the pocket sized cameras and an SLR. One of the Panasonic FZ series will do nice. I've got an FZ30 that rocks sock on such shots.
posted by FlamingBore at 6:30 PM on September 29, 2006

Canons dSLRs do a good job shooting at high ISO, but their compact counterparts are nowhere near as good. However, I can attest to the superb high ISO qualities of Fujifilm compacts. I have a Finepix F10 that takes excellent ISO800 shots. Check out some samples from reviews on the web and compare them to ISO800 shots from other manufacturers. The Fujifilm's high ISO photos may not match up to those from a dSLR (that's why I also have a Nikon D50), but they beat those of most other brands of compacts.
posted by roomwithaview at 6:41 PM on September 29, 2006

The problem with a scanner is that the object may be too large to fit in a single pass, and the material may not lie flat (book spine, for instance).

And I'd recomment against getting an ultra wide-angle lens. If you're documenting something historical, you really should try to capture it as accurately as possible, and a wide is going to distort the edges and fuck up the perspective. You can correct for this using special software, but it's easier if you can just get it right the first time and be done with it. I wouldn't go any wider than a 35mm. Not-coincidentally, Canon makes a real beauty (f/1.4), which is pricey, and a not-too-shabby alternate (f/2) that can be had for under $200.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 6:42 PM on September 29, 2006

Canon's SD700 IS has the compactness, the good low-light performance, and the image stabilization.
posted by Eater at 7:25 PM on September 29, 2006

In addition to a tripod, you probably want to have a wireless remote or a cable release (which, at least for my camera, is called something like a "remote switch"). This may be getting a little anal, but it will help to get rid of any camera movement induced by your hands when you take the picture.
posted by Mr Stickfigure at 7:44 PM on September 29, 2006

Eater is right.

the canon sd700 is actually does look pretty damn good for the money.

check out the review on dpreview.com - I linked to the page that deals especially with the image stabilization but note that it's an 11-page review.

good choice for the money.
posted by krautland at 8:49 PM on September 29, 2006

I do this kind of work constantly. My Canon Powershot S70 is the ticket. 7.1 Megapixels means even blurry pages are recoverable. I seriously think it's the perfect cam for the job.

Here are some example images from my design research.

About a tripod, having worked extensively in libraries, civil_disobedient's recommendations, while good for the outside world, just won't help inside a library. you need something like this:

http://www.makezine.com/blog/archive/2006/07/the_monkey_arm_diy_clamp_tripo.html

Because it will let you use the carrolls or even the existing bookshelves. I did all the above shots handheld but a clampy tripod would have been absolutely perfect and saved me a few blurry shots. There are commercial "clamp tripods" available as well.

Other cameras may offer better low light or whatever, but these images were all shot in a dimly lit library. If you wanta sure shot, get a Canon s70. Canon isn't making them anymore but they're still available through a number of retailers for around 300-400$. I suppose the s80 would do just as well. (though I don't know for sure).
posted by fake at 9:13 PM on September 29, 2006

Fake's advice is great, especially the Monkey Arm. That said, if you have a steady hand and good technique, you can get perfectly acceptable results without a tripod or flash. I took some decent photos at the PRO with my Nikon Coolpix 5700 set at ISO 200 (with exposure times in the range of 1/50 to 1/40). Here's an example.

The PRO reading room is well lit, but I have gotten good photos with the 5700 set to ISO 800. A more recent camera should be able to do a good job.

I highly recommend a camera with a swivel-out LCD screen. That way you can hold (or clamp) the camera at the proper height above the document stand without having to stand and look down at the screen (or worse, stand on a chair, which I had to do with my D70 in the archives of the Musée de la Poste in Paris).

I also recommend at least one extra battery, or an AC adapter and an extension cord. Otherwise you'll run out of juice. The advantage of a DSLR, besides fast lenses, is that they last for hundreds or thousands of shots on a single charge. You'll get many fewer with a compact digital camera, especially if you leave it on between shots.
posted by brianogilvie at 7:37 AM on September 30, 2006

Friends, thanks all for taking the time to give me so much thoughtful advice. I don't know enough to mark best answers, but now I have some excellent leads for learning the rest of what I need to know. I will post back here after I have made a purchase and let everyone know how it worked for me.
posted by LarryC at 7:49 AM on October 1, 2006