Arbie

I'm thinking of selling some of my HO train models on eBay but don't yet have a digital camera for photographs nor much knowledge of them. The camera must be able to take either close-up shots of finely detailed parts or sharp photos of the overall model. Traditionally, model railroaders have used film cameras shooting through pinhole lenses with special lighting and long exposures to get the desired quality with depth of field. An added but unnecessary plus is the ability to get the camera into tight places.

Without doubt, the gold standard in digital model displays is John Gurdak at Uncle Dave's Brass Trains, though the people at Dan's Train Depot in Ocala, Florida, also do acceptable work. The problem with John is that his equipment runs into the thousands of dollars, and that's out of the question for me.

I liked a couple of images I saw taken with a Konica Minolta Dimage X1 but have not really surveyed the field. Again, please don't recommend something costing thousands of dollars, because I can't afford that, but if anyone knows a better choice (or knows more about the Konica), I'd appreciate hearing your views.