Close lense and White Balance 350D

[hands]

Hi

Not sure if this is the right place for this.

I have just bought a new Canon 350D,
I need to make a setup to take quality pictures of Watches
I am using a makeshift Light Tent with 4 Halogen-Tungston 150watt lamp.

two questions

Will the lense that came with the camera (18-55mm with Makro) be able to get the close in shots or will I have to look for another lense? if so what should I be looking for?

What will be the best White Balance to use for that lighting.

Thanks for any help

 

[Artemis]

Well...ill try and answer...but im just saying if you dont terrible understand many of these things...a 350D may not have been the best choice, but I do not understand your situation so I do not know.

First of all, Auto White balance, or the tungsten white balance should be best.
If these are meant to be professional shots, I would buy another lens, as kit lenses are awfull and you wont get the best pictures from them, a good Canon macro lens ill look up may do the trick.
Get a +4 close up filter if your cam can't focus in close enough, and see how that works...but as ive said today, get a dedicated macro lens if this is professional work, and I wouldnt have got the kit lens really, they arent very good in my opinion (sorry if that upsets yah)

Hope this helps, and post if I havent answerd your question.

 

[santino]

I wouldn't use AWB and the 350D was a good choice, a 20D wouldn't help you much more.

 

[Big Mike]

If you check the specs of that lens, you should be able to find out the minimum focus distance. Test it out, if the shots are acceptable to you, then by all means, use that lens. It's not really a bad lens, some people like to talk trash about it...but for only $100...it's a decent consumer level lens.

There are a few options for getting close up shots. One would be to just get as close as you can and crop the photos on the computer. You could use close-up filters, which are less expensive but do not produce fantastic results. You could get extension tubes to go behind an existing lens...or you could get a "macro" lens, which would cost the most but provide the best results.

As for white balance. The best option would be to take a photo of a white card in your light set up and use that to create a custom WB setting.

 

[Digital Matt]

Get a 50mm f/1.8 lens and a set of extension tubes. Use AWB, and shoot in raw. You can make any changes to your WB afterwards very easily with one click.

 

[Scurra]

I've heard many good things about the 105mm Sigma macro lense... not too pricy and also good quality.

 

[Alison]

I agree with Matt, shoot RAW so you can adjust the white balance later if you need to. I have a 10D and love Canon's 100mm macro. The clarity of that lens is amazing. It's a little slow but for product shots that shouldn't be an issue.

 

[Sergiozal]

I've heard many good things about the 105mm Sigma macro lense... not too pricy and also good quality.

That may be the best choice if you can't afford a Cannon 100mm macro.
I followed a friend doing a job almost like this, and we learned that with a 50mm lens you will stay too close to the subject and increase your problems with the reflection of your lens/camera on the watches. With 100mm you can shot at a good distance avoiding the reflection.

 

[Digital Matt]

If you are worried about price, you can get a 50mm and extension tubes for < $200, and the image quality will rival any of Canon's prime macro lenses.