Macro on a point and shoot

Question

Just wondering are there any point and shoots that can take 1:1 true macro ? Is their performance anywhere comparable to dslrs ? Pls give me some examples.

Answer 1

I have not examined the numbers to know if compacts do 1:1 or not (I imagine that they cannot), but it seems a moot point. They can indeed magnify very considerably in their macro modes. You typically do have to zoom to widest angle to get the most size from it, and then may be only 1/2 inch in front of the lens. And they can fill the whole frame when copying a 35mm slide (with some distortion), which is 1:1 on a full frame 35mm film camera, but this is of course is NOT near 1:1 on the tiny sensor. A sample of this comparing a compact with a real DSLR macro lens is shown at http://www.scantips.com/es-1.html

1:1 means the image size on the film or on the sensor is the same size as it is in real life. On the tiny compact sensor, this is a tiny 1:1 image, but with little actual meaning. On film, we could hold the film in our hand and see that the image was same size as the original object, but in digital, all we can do is print it or view it on a monitor, both of which involve significant additional enlargement.

Your question would be better asked in size terms other than 1:1. And the best answer would be for you to simply try to do what you want to do, see how it goes.