I had the same need to take pictures of chips and also wanted a camera for general photography. You don't need an DSLR to get excellent results. Since I used to be into photography before the electronic era, I bought a pretty good DSLR, Nikon D90, that came in a kit with a 18-105mm zoom lens. For chip photography (and for portraits) I got a 60mm macro (close focusing) lens, it really produces vivid images. I also got a copy stand that will hold the camera perfectly still directly over the chip, a tripod is a good alternative. Any finally you will photo editing software to crop and touch up the images as desired, I recommend PhotoShop Elements V8.