Need Help With Nikon Macro Lense

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.

 

What ISO are you shooting at?

Is NR reduction turned on, or applied in post?

 

Long exposure NR - Off
ISO- 160

 

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!

 

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

 

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

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

 

lol no i have a lightbox (gem Box)

 

and how are you lighting the lightbox?

 

Its built in

 

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

 

lol i didnt, The company i work for did

 

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