"pimpom" wrote in message
...
Jim Thompson wrote:
Trying to take close-ups of chips, is there some kind of stand/tripod
to hold a camera pointing downward onto a desk surface?

What do you call it/where do you get it?

...Jim Thompson


All the tripods I've used (which is not many and are not expensive ones)
can tilt the head so that the camera points downward, including a $40
Vivicam. I use floor tripods (not table top types). I just place the
tripod on the floor close to the table. Here's a picture I took with that
method of a LAN chip that was literally blown up by lightning:
http://s48.photobucket.com/albums/f2...Blown_chip.jpg

Please note that -
1. This was not in macro
2. It was a casual snap: no great care was taken to get a pro grade image
3. It was taken on my porch under natural lighting
4. This picture was heavily downsized and compressed to reduce the file
size (I was still on dial-up when I uploaded it)

I have other pictures, but this is the only one on my on-line album at the
moment.

For just a tripod with a good swivel/tilt head, I bought a cheap spirit
level with laser line projector for £5 in a dicount store, its no more than
DIY stores charge for just a spirit level and the screw fitting fits my
camera (and webcam). So far I've used the spirit level a few times but the
tripod now lives with my camera and I've yet to use the laser projector.