DOF from zoom lense making product shots difficult.

[leotemp]

Absolute beginner, I took a web design job recently that also requires a fair amount of photos of products. We have an in-house camera but it isn't a standard consumer camera and I have a lot of difficulty using it due to its many options. The Camera is a Nikon D60 with a "AF-S NIKKOR 18-55mm 1:2.5-5.6G" zoom lense, it also has giant VR writte on it.

I have very, VERY little knowledge of photography and I am basically looking for ideal settings, a lens recommendation or perhaps even a cheaper camera with a non-zoom lens if that's even a thing.

Most of my shots are of either incredibly small products smaller than a dime or incredibly long products like a 14' fishing rod. Everything I am shooting photos they have absurd DOF, perfectly crisp in the center but then blurry as you move to the edges horizontally and also blurry beyond the focues depth. If I am taking a picture of a very small product lets use a dime as an example I can only get the image crisp by going to manual focus and getting incredibly close but then the DOF is so "thin" that even the front and back of the time would be blurry. Even worse as far as I can tell there's no way for me to take a crisp shot of a long fishing rod as I would have to be so far away from it to get the whole thing within the focused DOF that it would be a tiny object in the photo devoid of detail.


What's really frustrating is my smart phone takes perfectly crisp images of products but the colors are so poor I cannot use it. What am I missing, what can I read, what can I buy to make this problem easier. If it's simply a matter of buying a different style of camera / lens then I'm fine with that.


Any advice is much appreciated, I have attached some photos below as examples.


As you can see these fishing flies are cripsish in the center but even a hook 1/8 inch away from the center focus point at things get blurry, you can also see here on the box that the lettering is clear and crips towards the center but blurry at the edges. I am sure as photographers you guys are more than familiar with the concept I am grappling with. Thanks in advance!

Leon

 

[robbins.photo]

Switch to A mode (Aperture Priority) and stop down the lens by decreasing the aperture. To decrease the aperture, increase the F number - I know that might seem backwards but apertures are actually fractions so the higher the number the lower the aperture. I'd probably start with say F8 and take some test shots there, that will most likely do the trick.

 

[leotemp]

Thanks, i will try this tomorrow, as far as that "seeming backwards" i have no idea, this is all alien to me. Thanks for taking the time to assist me!

 

[robbins.photo]

Thanks, i will try this tomorrow, as far as that "seeming backwards" i have no idea, this is all alien to me. Thanks for taking the time to assist me!

No problem at all, happy to help. If the results aren't sharp enough just increase the F number till you get the DOF you want, but my guess is F8 should be sufficient.

 

[D-B-J]

Also, if you really have that much of an issue (after trying robbin's idea), you could always resort to focus stacking. Although, Robbin's idea should fix it.

Jake

 

[leotemp]

Would either of you recommend getting a camera that is easier to use, something closer to my smart phone. I want to do this but i feel as though that's a bandaid solution and I would probably do better to learn to use the real thing.

 

[KmH]

Point of focus (PoF) distance has a big effect on DoF when the PoF is very close, in that the DoF gets extremely shallow.

By stopping the lens down you will reducing the amount of light that can get through the smaller lens aperture and will likely start to encounter exposure issues and/or camera shake issues from having to leave the shutter open longer.

Using the D60, the lens at 55 mm, the lens aperture at f/10, and a point of focus distance that is 2 feet from the camera's image sensor, the total DoF is only 0.15 feet, or 1.8 inches.
The near limit of the DoF is DoF will be 1.93 feet from the image sensor, and the far limit of the DoF will be 2.08 feet from the camera.
That is a 48% (in front of the PoF) to 52% (behind the PoF) DoF distribution.

Also: the 2 planes that are the near and far DoF limits stay parallel to the plane of the image sensor, so angling the camera up or down from level also angles the area of the DoF.

There is an indicator on the D60 camera body somewhat behind the shutter release that sows whee the plane of the image sensor is so accurate measurements can be made for jobs like photographing small objects that are close to the camera.

Your cell phone camera has a tiny image sensor and image sensor size affects DoF. Small image sensors have deeper DoF than larger image sensors do.
You have a steep learning curve in front of you, and yes, learning to use the proper equipment is the best solution - if you have that much time.
Online Depth of Field Calculator
Understanding Depth of Field in Photography


DoF, and learning how to control it, is by far the one technical photography concept new photographers struggle the most with understanding.

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[deeky]

They are all spot on with the focus issue. Can I also suggest a better background? Go to something more neutral gray. You are losing the white tips of the natural deer hair as well as all of the white bucktail/calf tail/ synthetic winging material in the flies. That can be pretty important to both wing impression and visibility.

Out of curiosity, who are you working for? I'll keep an eye out for your work when I go shopping.

Don't give up on the 'big' camera. Just invest time to learn it - it will be an investment.