Camera recommendations?

[wrenb]

I need to buy a camera for work, for documenting stains on carpet and counters (light colors, low contrast), greasy stoves, that sort of thing. Things that don't photograph well but the human eye can detect.

I haven't bought a camera in years. I started looking for reviews (specifically at dpreview.com) but I have no idea what I need. I'm fairly sure that the features that make a great snapshot camera are not the same features that will help me document damages. None of us in the office are much good at photography, so I'm looking for a point & shoot, something small and relatively inexpensive. In the past we've used a Polaroid, but a new ordinance is multiply our photography immensely.

Thanks guys!

Comments

[torrilin.livejournal.com]

What I'd do is take a manila file folder, and do some tea or coffee stains on it. If you can get a really light one down to about medium, then you'll have a sample that should imitate the counters fairly well. Hit a shop with a *lot* of digital cameras, and see what you get in the way of shots.

I'd also take a sample of red fingering or laceweight, as saturated as you can get it. That will give you something where it is very hard for a camera to pick up fine detail, so if it does well, it's a good sign.

Do you have any samples of things like the wood for cabinets? That might be another handy test item.

I *think* most places like Best Buy would let you test print outs from the cameras also. I'm presuming you'd need hardcopy for evidence?

[sunnyhunny.livejournal.com]

I think you got some good advice in the comment above re: trying out samples of what you'll need to shoot.

For a place to start, I LOVE my Casio Exilim EX-Z600 - I doubt if it's still available (I bought it in summer '06, IIRC), but I'm sure there's a replacement by now. I'm not a great photographer, but some photos that I've taken with it are here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/swruck/Milan
and here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/swruck/WDW_Feb_2007
Both albums are completely untouched - I just used them as a place to upload the photos while I was in the midst of three weeks of travel - so this is exactly how they came out of the camera, even the really bad ones.

(edit for correction to model number)