I was a little disappointed that I couldn't get close enough to the sims to see their facial expressions and that the camera always seemed to be on a top down angle. Didn't realise that the solution was so simple - just 'unclamp' the camera and roll-in with the scroll button on the mouse, holding it down and dragging to sort of rotate a little - thought I'd share here, just in case anyone else missed it.
Sorry that the picture is a bit fuzzy. The option that you need to unclick is 'ClampCameraPitch'.
Unclamping, allowed me to get a lot closer to Belle Lowes, my blacksmith...
... and to clearly see the in-game face of Lee Key, my monarch. (Please ignore the fact that it also revealed how terrible the clothing looks when your graphics are low.)