Best $300 or so choice for Ebay pics

[mrsandman]

I'm planning on selling Dads extensive model railway gear on Ebay and need some ideas as to what camera to buy to show super closeups and wide angle pics of engines,passenger cars and freight cars.

TIA

[CSAgent]

A simple point and shoot in macro mode can do the job.

Any point and shoot really imo since quality isn't needed for eBay photos, they compress your pics anyway.

[thelefteyeguy]

depending on where you live...have you thought of hiring someone for an hour to take pictures ;) ...might only cost $100 perhaps or less

[mrsandman]

depending on where you live...have you thought of hiring someone for an hour to take pictures ;) ...might only cost $100 perhaps or less

Great idea, but way too much stuff to be snapped in a reasonable amount of time, lots of 'em are in their own box, gonna be a BIG job....

[mrsandman]

A simple point and shoot in macro mode can do the job.

Any point and shoot really imo since quality isn't needed for eBay photos, they compress your pics anyway.

For an idea of the quality I'm looking for, please look at this link and scroll down to the closeup pics... http://tinyurl.com/yjg6257
thanks

[CSAgent]

For an idea of the quality I'm looking for, please look at this link and scroll down to the closeup pics... http://tinyurl.com/yjg6257
thanks

Done in a light box for the size of those trains, about $150 with lights and box. Camera looks like an SLR with a short macro lens... $600 average for used entry level, plus another $700-$800 short macro lens. Let's say it wasn't a macro, that's still another $200 for a basic lens.

Let's say roughly $1500 w/macro lens and $1000 for not a macro lens.

Your $300 budget won't work.

Where you located? thelefteyeguy's suggestion is to use a pro photographer with the proper gear and pay him for an hour to take your photos. Most commercial photography is about $60-$100 an hour depending on where you go. I think that's your best bet and easiest. Your budget is more than enough for a pro photographer to do it. What may seem like a BIG job to you may not be as big to a pro who's used to photographing things like this. It's not like he has hundreds if not thousands of these trains, right? ;)

[frogger]

For an idea of the quality I'm looking for, please look at this link and scroll down to the closeup pics... http://tinyurl.com/yjg6257
thanks

You don't need a DSLR for that (exception being some of the wideangle), but you should build your own lightbox to get enough good lighting to make the camera's job easier (there are many sites about doing this, just google it).

[mrsandman]

Where you located? thelefteyeguy's suggestion is to use a pro photographer with the proper gear and pay him for an hour to take your photos. Most commercial photography is about $60-$100 an hour depending on where you go. I think that's your best bet and easiest. Your budget is more than enough for a pro photographer to do it. What may seem like a BIG job to you may not be as big to a pro who's used to photographing things like this. It's not like he has hundreds if not thousands of these trains, right? ;)

Thanks for the assessment.
Just a guess, I 'm looking at 250-300 items, many that have to be unboxed, I like the idea of a pro for the more valuable items(maybe 30?) items.

Any suggestions for a camera, that'll do a decent job with the rest?