Need Help With Nikon Macro Lense

[Roomka]

Hi, Is it me or do these photos looks grainy? For example zoom into the dial of the watch and you can see the black has way to much noise/grain on it, BTW Im using a 60mm Nikon Macro manual lense (Fixed)



I just got this camera and lense so im a noob, Below is the picture of my camera settings.

 

[480sparky]

What ISO are you shooting at?

Is NR reduction turned on, or applied in post?

 

[Roomka]

Long exposure NR - Off
ISO- 160

 

[cgipson1]

Get it off of AUTO ISO... get more light on the subject. Without more info as to how you shot this, we can't help much! Like Sparky suspect... your ISO was probably very high due to a lack of light. That would cause the noise!

 

[Roomka]

Ill try that, also How far away should my camera be from the watch to have the best picture?

 

[cgipson1]

Long exposure NR - Off
ISO- 160

Then it is severely underexposed.... if you have noise / grain!

How are you lighting this? Please don't say constant studio lights! lol!

 

[Roomka]

lol no i have a lightbox (gem Box)

 

[cgipson1]

and how are you lighting the lightbox?

 

[Roomka]

Its built in

 

[cgipson1]

Its built in
View attachment 5049

Oh.. then you ARE using constant lighting.... flash is better, trust me! Surely you didn't really pay $500 plus for that, did you?

http://www.mkdigitaldirect.com/products/lighting-systems/mk-gem-ebox.html

 

[Roomka]

lol i didnt, The company i work for did

 

[Roomka]

what would be the best light setup for this type of work?

 

[cgipson1]

lol i didnt, The company i work for did

major ripoff, IMO! No offense.. but wow! lol!

 

[Roomka]

yeah i mean when we started it was just a point and shoot camera with that lightbox, no photoshop editing of any sort, as time passed we upgraded a new camera and a new lense but left the light box alone thinking the new lense will fix everything.

 

[cgipson1]

I much prefer a standard light box with multiple flashes.... but it takes some practice getting it right....

This is a DIY version... but some good info Strobist: How To: DIY $10 Macro Photo Studio

another DIY How to Create an Inexpensive Photography Lightbox: 14 steps

There are a lot of commercial lightboxes available.. you just need to provide the light. Flash is popular.. so is daylight balance fluorescent lighting. As long as you have enough light.. and can control any reflections, it works great!

http://www.amazon.com/Square-Perfec...r_1_25?s=photo&ie=UTF8&qid=1332876316&sr=1-25