New Guy Questions

[bryanbuchanan]

I'm going to need to do some product shots, action, and the occasional portrait...and my current setup (of a nikon coolpix 5000, a few lenses, a flashlight, a bedsheet, and a shiny piece of sheet metal) just isn't cutting it anymore.

the product shots will be of motorcycle shocks, nothing bigger than 2 ft, and I will be shooting from probably about 10ft away.

And I'll eventually want to get lenses, maybe a fisheye and a macro.

so what I'm looking for are recommendations for:
a pretty versatile DSLR cam
a 2-3 light setup kit
a reflector

Thanks a ton guys, any help is appreciated!

 

[jstuedle]

If you want to stay Nikon (and my being a Nikon guy, I would recommend it ) I would look at a D70 or a D200 if your budget allows. For your product shots, I would look at say a 35-70 f/2.8 or as a min a 50mm f/1.8. The 50 is cheap and sharp. The 35-70 is very sharp for a zoom, but not really cheap. For lights, you could go with studio lights or a couple of SB-600 or a SB-800 and a 600. These flashes offer wireless TTL and are very nice. A simple disk reflector is cheap and folds up to 1/3 its open diameter so it stores easily in your kit.