Product Photography
Discussion
Hi there,
I had a 10mp point & shoot camera from around 6 yrs ago which I have been using to take my photographs of various products that I sell. I have recently lost my camera and tbh feel its about time for an upgrade anyway, can anybody recommend a good camera for around £300, either new or 2nd hand. I use photo tents of various sizes with camera stands to take my shots. The products consists of all types of colours including chrome and matt black finishes, they also range in size from 50mm squared all the way up to 450mm cubed.
What would anybody recommend?
I had a 10mp point & shoot camera from around 6 yrs ago which I have been using to take my photographs of various products that I sell. I have recently lost my camera and tbh feel its about time for an upgrade anyway, can anybody recommend a good camera for around £300, either new or 2nd hand. I use photo tents of various sizes with camera stands to take my shots. The products consists of all types of colours including chrome and matt black finishes, they also range in size from 50mm squared all the way up to 450mm cubed.
What would anybody recommend?
IF this is mainly for web rather than double page magazine adverts then any SLR made will do it.
You'll be working on tripods with lighting and remote release/timed shots or even driven remotely from a laptop.
(do nikons come with remote control software? Canons certainly do).
I'd say live view is a great advantage for this stuff also, so fora minimum I would say canon 450d or 1000d.
I'd also say the best lens to shoot this lot with would be the ef-s 60mm f2.8 macro, one of canons sharpest lenses ever, and can get close than you will ever need.
If thats too much then the 50mmf1.8 is a fantastic lens and can embarrass some very expensive primes for sharpness, it wont get as close as the 60 macro but will probably do fine, and if not you can add some extension tubes later.
You'll be working on tripods with lighting and remote release/timed shots or even driven remotely from a laptop.
(do nikons come with remote control software? Canons certainly do).
I'd say live view is a great advantage for this stuff also, so fora minimum I would say canon 450d or 1000d.
I'd also say the best lens to shoot this lot with would be the ef-s 60mm f2.8 macro, one of canons sharpest lenses ever, and can get close than you will ever need.
If thats too much then the 50mmf1.8 is a fantastic lens and can embarrass some very expensive primes for sharpness, it wont get as close as the 60 macro but will probably do fine, and if not you can add some extension tubes later.
As said above any DSLR could give a massive improvement to image quality over what you've been using. However the camera won't just do it all for you, so there is going to be a learning curve to get the very best out of it, both in terms of using the camera and post processing.
Other downsides of a DSLR are with a much bigger sensor than a point and shoot the depth of field will be significantly reduced for close up shots and you may well need a macro lens for recording the smaller items, as the kit lens will not focus as close up as a typical point and shoot camera will.
If the point and shoot you were using before was giving acceptable results and you don't have the enthusiasm to spend time getting to grips with an SLR then in my opinion you'd be better of sticking with a point and shoot, something like a Canon S95 or S100 would do very nicely.
Other downsides of a DSLR are with a much bigger sensor than a point and shoot the depth of field will be significantly reduced for close up shots and you may well need a macro lens for recording the smaller items, as the kit lens will not focus as close up as a typical point and shoot camera will.
If the point and shoot you were using before was giving acceptable results and you don't have the enthusiasm to spend time getting to grips with an SLR then in my opinion you'd be better of sticking with a point and shoot, something like a Canon S95 or S100 would do very nicely.
RobDickinson said:
s95 or s100 have some limitations though.
Manual focus is tricky, LCD has to run all the time , white balance is more of a pain, wosrt no hotshoe for lighting etc.
Totally agree Rob and I wouldn't dream of doing product photography with a P&S, but as that's what the OP has been using for the last 6 years I thought I'd throw that in as an option before he gets swept away by the idea of a DSLR and then finds out its a lot more complicated that what he was doing in the past.Manual focus is tricky, LCD has to run all the time , white balance is more of a pain, wosrt no hotshoe for lighting etc.
I think we need a bit more info from the OP by what he means by an upgrade and how enthusiastic he is about photography.
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