FREE: Chinese Turquoise Chip 36 inches of 3-5mm chip beads

These are neat, they look like a kind of different color. Most turquoise sold as beads are actually dyed howlite, but these look different. They actually look more like the color of malachite ... you might want to try using a bright desk lamp (with a white or daylight color bulb) to take your photos, that type of bulb doesn't add the yellowish cast that normal household bulbs have. I also don't use a flash at all, just a bright desk lamp. Then you can adjust the brightness, contrast and sometimes color to improve accuracy with photo software.

I use HP Photosmart, which is a free download. It can be a bit of a learning curve but once you figure it out you can edit a photo in a few seconds. Works great for me!

NEW, a Canon A series camera costs about $200. But I've bought all of mine used (for my kids etc -- once they lost a new $200 one I started buying them used). Try to buy from someone who actually owned the camera. If you buy from a seller that sells a ton of electronics it could be one that might not work so great. But most "personal" sellers are only selling because they have something better, and their old one works fine.

It's a bit of a chore to shop, compare and buy on ebay but can be well worth it. Just buy from a trustworthy seller. Personal sellers usually don't have a ton of feedback but if they have sold a few items with good feedback they are probably reliable. The big electronics sellers might be selling return or salvage items. Although these cameras hold up really well, if the lense-contracting mechanism has broken, the camera is unusable. You can probably get your money back from a big seller, but it's frustrating to have to do that.

Lovely.

I VASTLY prefer a camera that takes AA batteries, not the cameras with the built-in batteries you have to charge. With those, you are out of business once your charge dies (which it does quickly if you use a flash). With AA batteries, I keep a bunch of rechargeables and can pop them in and just keep shooting. My favorite camera is the Canon A560 ... there was one on Listia recently, not sure how high it went but those are the BEST for closeups of little things like beads and jewelry. This is an older model and you can typically buy them on ebay for less than $40 too.

The new Canon "digital elph" have the built-in batteries. They are probably good for closeups too, although I haven't tried them. The other option is to simply get an extra battery pack and charger for your camera so you always have a second battery handy.

Your photos are pretty good for a cell phone camera. If you edited them with software you can probably make them a little better though. Some of the cell phones have good cameras now, but it's a lot more difficult to change settings to get good closeups of small things.

The next step up is the Canon Powershot S3, also a great camera but uses 4 AA batteries instead of only two like the A560. The S3 (with the rotating LCD screen ... watch it, some have that and some don't) costs about $500 new, but I bought one used on ebay for $170 and it works great--much better for "action" photos than the little one, but the little A560 works great for Listia.

I recommended The S3 to my niece who is an artist and needs a good camera--she was going to spend big bucks on a DSLR but I convinced her to get one of these, also used from a "personal" ebay seller and it is a great camera for her too.

Cameras tend to do well on Listia, and most are great cameras for every day use, but if you need that excellent short-focus macro capability for small Listia items, the Canons are the best in my experience. You CAN get good detail with other cameras but you have to hold them further away to get the image in focus, then it is critical to crop them. I still crop the photos I take with my Canon but you can get MUCH closer than with most cameras.