Digital cameras store data with every picture. This is called the Exif data
http://www.digicamhelp.com/learn/glossary/exif.php. Sure it can be faked or hacked, but it seems unlikely. She has far too many excellent pictures to need to spend time playing games with Exif data. Flickr allows that data to be seen by clicking on the "more-properties" link. Here is what it said for her picture:
Camera: Olympus C70Z,C7000Z
Exposure: 0.003 sec (1/320)
Aperture: f/4
Focal Length: 7.9 mm
ISO Speed: 80
Exposure Bias: 3/10 EV
Flash: Flash did not fire
Image Description: OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
X-Resolution: 72 dpi
Y-Resolution: 72 dpi
Software: Version 1.0
Date and Time: 2005:09:20 15:58:24
YCbCr Positioning: Co-Sited
Exposure Program: Normal
Date and Time (Original): 2005:09:20 15:58:24
Date and Time (Digitized): 2005:09:20 15:58:24
Compressed Bits per Pixel: 2 bits
Maximum Lens Aperture: 30/10
Metering Mode: Pattern
Color Space: Uncalibrated
Exposure Mode: Manual
Digital Zoom Ratio: 0/100
Compression: JPEG
Special Mode: Unknown Mode ( 369168657 ) Sequence Number: 3540227587 Unknown Panorama Direction
JPEG Quality: 1
Black and White Mode: 2
Digital Zoom: -1358849279/33620994
Focal Plane Diagonal: 16800352/335565315
Skip: 16384, 5120, 16384, 5120, 18944, 0
Picture Info Data: Ô|%Îvx p¡
Camera ID: ˆˆÛ
By-Line (Author): Picasa 2.0
Tag::IPTC::0x0275: <hellostamp> <gid>0-0-7fffffff-0</gid> <md5>0-0-0-0</md5> <origWidth>0</origWidth> <origHeight>0</origHeight> <origSize>0</origSize> </hellostamp>
Contact: <picasastamp/>
Image Width: 678 pixels
Image Height: 800 pixels
http://www.flickr.com/photo_exif.gne?id=150128502This camera (C7000Z) has a built in 5X optical lens. It can't be removed, so no extension-tubes are possible. The lens also does not have threads to mount anything on the front side, so no diopter (close-up) lens can be added either.
I never got anything this good myself, but I believe it is quite possible to get that close with some luck or a lot of practice. Keep in mind also that the image has been cropped quite a bit to 800x678. The images captured by this camera are 3072 X 2304 pixels, so the field of view would be much wider. I also think this is carpenter bee, which is much larger than the average honeybee.
Here is another shot of the same bee by the same lady listed as the same camera.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/birdyboo/151444596/in/set-72057594062616363/She takes some great pictures!
After browsing more of her pictures, I see she has good results with a few other low-to-moderate priced cameras too, including these:
- Canon PowerShot A620
- Panasonic DMC-FZ30 (while not a pocket camera, it is a "point & shoot")
- Olympus C2100 Ultra Zoom (another point & shoot)
She really has a photographic talent. If I could take pictures like that, I'd quit my day job.