I just landed my first photography job... now I need help

Darkhorse

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It was never my intention to be a photographer professionally but I found a niche and hit paydirt with it. This is essentially numismatic photography, shooting pictures of coins. Yes coins. You can see some examples of my work at http://coins.formerairline.com

The company I'll be working for is starting a photography department and I'll be the head. I started doing this kind of photography with a Canon A70 and ordinary desk lamps, now I need to determine what PRO equipment I need. What kind of camera? What kind of lights should I use? What kind of copy stand?

Basically I need a flexible copy stand that'll allow me to angle the camera if need be. I need lights that'll make the pieces of metal look natural, these lights also need to be flexible. Since they're coins they should be flexible lights. Perhaps something even portable.

I'll need a camera with good macro capabilities. A migh megapixxel DSLR with a macro lens may be in order but there are so many to choose from. When I get into the bulk coin photography I may even move into using a large format camera for gang shots but right now I need something for 'art' photography.

Problem with the A70 for this kind of photography is that it doesn't capture copper or gold very well. Any ideas on what kind of camera would be best? I like Canon but could lean elsewhere.

Also I'll need a powerful computer, but as a mac user I know what would be best for this But I'll need to develop some automated actions in photoshop in order to speed up the editing process along the line, perhaps even commission a program be made to handle common procedures.

Anyway if you could give me some input that would be great. This is so exciting, and the area I'm relocating to is awesome.
 
Hmm... I'd say:

Canon 1Ds MkII
180mm macro L
Ring flash
Gitzo 2220 tripod
Manfrotto 3263 head
Wein Wireless transmitter
Light tent

For lights...
http://www.alienbees.com/busy.html

That should handle the copper and gold way better than the A80
 
First thing to do is find out what your budget is. It helps if you know exactly how much money you've got to play with before you start looking at equipment.
In the list above you could add one, maybe two, studio flash heads (eg Bowens) with at least one softbox. Build the light tent yourself.
As for a Mac - check out the G5 twin processors.
 
ditto to what hertz said. what docfrankenstein suggested is nice, but well over 10 or 11 gran.

you seem to be doing well with what you have, good job!
 
Without a budget frame of reference, it's very difficult to help with the camera kit. Have you thought about a medium format body with a digital back? A friend of mine does super macro work for biology and needs quality. She ended up with a Contax setup which she's been very happy with. It depends how closely you want to see your coins I suppose!

R
 
I would say you order the B&H catalog and browse through the lighting section. They have some nice table and light set-ups that would probably work for you.
 
Id suggest you check out ebay its really handy , if you live in the uk ore ireland the buy and sell is fantastic for getting cheap second hand stuff. also try some colleges that have or had photo equipment i got two enlargers gigantic box filled with boxes of multi contrast paper , all the darkroom equipment you could possibly need for fifty e this could apply to all types of equipment colleges upgrading usuallly sll off the stuff pretty cheap .
 
:sigh: Getting paid for something you love.. and better yet.. they are buying you your equipment... I envy you.. It doesn't help that that list is pretty much everything I want =p.
 
Thanks for the info guys. I don't know if a ring flash would be good for this though, what I'm doing is artfully lighting a shallow bas relief on a small object, a ring flash might be too powerful for this. However I have found a firbre optic lighting mechanism for lighting small objects which may be perfect.
 
If you do have a nice budget and can go medium format look at the Fuji GX680. It'll take a digital back and it has tilt/swing capability. Very nice for this type of work I should think.
 
Darkhorse said:
Thanks for the info guys. I don't know if a ring flash would be good for this though, what I'm doing is artfully lighting a shallow bas relief on a small object, a ring flash might be too powerful for this. However I have found a firbre optic lighting mechanism for lighting small objects which may be perfect.
I'm curious. What's the name and price for that bastard?
 

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