Pro Camera + Gear for under $20k

[ThatAudiGuy]

But on the other hand if you don't know what you need you are wasting your money

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I literally had the idea like last night, all I asked for was your gear of choice. What I did not ask for was life advice.

 

[cherylynne1]

I suppose I was thinking the D5 could be overkill for the stage of the game the OP is in. However, if he had come here saying he just got his trust fund payment and was swimming in cash, why not get the best!

I think a D5 XQD version would be a good choice as he mentioned using it for video as well and it will do 4k video, albeit only at 30fps, but if it's set up right that will be more than sufficient for recording but only 3 minutes at a time unless you feed it out with the HDMI output to record externally. For hardcore video production, it's not a great choice, but for small cuts of products, it will work.

So far, nobody's mentioned anything about the Sony A7RII, are they not very good cameras?.

I think most of the photographers here use Nikon, and next would be Canon. Not a ton of Sony shooters.

The A7RII has the highest scoring sensor of all time, and can produce some incredible images when paired with the right lenses. For your purposes, the Zeiss 55 would be good for everyday shooting and the 90 Macro would be good for product photography. Then I think I'd wait for the reviews to come in on the new 24-70 2.8 and 70-200 2.8...it looks like they might both be incredible lenses.

Some photographers dislike Sony because of ergonomics or the menus. Some dislike that they have a smaller lens selection, since they haven't been around as long. But they are actively adding lenses--they've announced five full frame lenses in the last three months. It is going to take longer to get to the point that Nikon and Canon are at, of course. The A7RII isn't as good at autofocus for professional uses, such as sports or photojournalism. For studio work, however, you'd likely be using manual focus most of the time, and for everyday shooting the autofocus is more than adequate. The flash system also isn't as well developed as the other companies, which might matter to you. They did announce earlier this month that they've developed a set of radio triggers, so that might help their reputation in that area if they work well.

Basically, Sony is a newer system, so people hesitate to recommend them until they develop a stronger reputation. But they're definitely starting to upset the status quo. Three years ago, the question was always Canon vs. Nikon, and now the question is almost always Canon vs. Nikon vs. Sony. If you have played around with the Sony and you like the feel of it, definitely consider it. It can match the image quality of the other cameras you're considering for your purposes, no problem.

 

[chuasam]

You can save money by renting the lights and the studio as you need them and add it as a line item.
As for gear for what you're doing, a D810 would be an ideal body. As for lenses get the 105mm. A good tripod for studio should be about $500. Laptop like MacBook Pro with the faster SSD and max ram. Also have money for back up drives. Rent your Adobe software. Buy the rest as you need.

 

[Overread]

A few thoughts:

1) Sometimes too much money is as much trouble as too little - at least when you're not quite sure yourself what you do and don't need and when the end resulting product (the photo) has many many different ways to get there.

2) As a result of point 1 I would encourage you to do the following:
a) Stick the money in savings for a moment;

b) Get some of your current photography up on the forums; get some feedback on it and also get some inspirational concepts that you'd like to achieve; ask about how to get there; find out how others would get there. This isn't a 1 thread thing; this will likely be several threads just to keep the discussion focused and flowing well.

c) Buy (as you have) more educational material - educate yourself.

This approach is all about informing yourself and building up your skill set as well as a general understanding of what your weaknesses are in skills and equipment. Greater familiarity is all about giving you more and more thoughts about what your limits are; what you real world needs are. This all adds together to help give you a framework around which you can base your purchase choices and also about which you can ask for advice on what to purchase in the first place

Otherwise; as has happened; the higher budget means that you get so many different approaches that its hard to pick just one out of the pool. All the different small and big differences are harder to see for yourself; and you might well just end up going with whoever's voice is the loudest rather than that might might be best for you.


3) Consider rental; this might be of some very high value gear; the idea here is to spend a proper week or so using the gear to get a real world understanding of what you need from the gear and what its doing for you. Of course practice and get some feedback first; your basic methodoligy can be improved with even basic gear - especially in something like product photography where you can do a lot with some verybasic gear (heck a few bits of paper, a cardboard box and a few stand lights can produce a very good result and the basics of light control and diffusion won't change no matter if you're using stand lamps or top end studio flashes.



In general the more informed and skilled you can make yourself the easier you can make a high value purchase that works for you and it also means when you get the gear you can unlock its potential.


I did rather similar myself; I used a cheaper 70-300mm lens for a few months before spending a fairly large amount of money on gear for myself. Those few months taught me basics of camera control; they taught me the basics of how to use gear but most importantly they taught me what I wanted from my gear at that point in time. It showed me that I really loved macro which was something I never thought I would; and spending time talking to other macro photographers helped me far more than 1 "which macro lens to get" thread ever could.

I do believe that when learning or working in any hobby there is no crime in using high end gear; that its better to have equipment that exceeds your skill level so that you can grow into it and unlock your full potential. However I also think that to make the right choices in what gear to grow into you've got to have some practical hands on experience of doing the thing in the first place.

 

[petrochemist]

A skilled photographer would be capable of doing commercial work with the kit you already have (or much lesser systems!).

Yes they'd probably prefer better lenses (yours are not Pentax's best by a long way). For some types of commercial a different body might be an advantage, Pentax bodies tend to be a little slow on autofocus and their range of extreme telephoto lenses don't match up to the diversity of Canon or Nikon. (Your existing lenses suggest wildlife/sports wouldn't be your sort of photography though) Some work benefits from a larger sensor, but it's not nearly as essential as some would have you believe. Video specs are irrelevant for many photographers & 16MP is more than enough for printing to at least A3. - 6MP is actually enough for A4 (10x8)...

Your list of existing kit doesn't mention any lighting, if you are intending to do studio work lighting is a major part that you may not have much experience with. I certainly haven't mastered it, despite attending professional product shoots as a kid & having a very wide ranging photographic interests (your lens selection would be very limiting to me, though your K3 might be a step up on my bodies). For lighting you probably want a couple of studio flashes, with softboxes, snoots, grids... If your not already highly familiar with these your lighting skills (like mine) won't be up to doing commercial product work.

I'd strongly suggest that you start by getting the lighting kit, and develop skills in using that. By the time you've honed your skills suitably, the current line up of cameras & PCs will probably be several generations out of date (Both are rapidly advancing after all).

With a budget of $20k even after getting lighting you could get a 645D with a decent lens, which would give you more than the 'full frame' benefits you were talking about. Studio work is the area where medium format can come into it's own, but developing the lighting skills is far more important to good results..

 

[Braineack]

Unfortunately sir, you along with several others did not bother reading through my post, I had clearly mentioned that it was the cost of the equipment that was holding me back, the COST of the equipment that I needed to get and not the EQUIPMENT that I currently own.

you clearly mentioned it was the equipment itself as well as the cost.

...I've also been contemplating on getting into commercial photography, but the equipment and gear costs were holding me back...

All I asked for was how would other photographers spend $20k if they wanted to take their photography to the next level, and go commercial, but I guess that its a bit too much for some folks over here to swollow, lol.

There's just no reason you need to spend a random $20K figure, because that's what you can sell you [gifted?] car for, to do what you want to do.

Had you had presented it more like: I want to get into "product photography" what is some equipment you think I should get to peruse this (camera, lenses, lighting, hardware, etc.)? I think you would have gotten different responses.

A lot of us have life experience as well, so hearing someone wants to sell a car to fund a bunch of camera stuff to take pictures of "products" seems a little off-putting and not thoroughly thought through. My advice is buy what we you for what you're shooting. If you need a new modifier, or stand, or camera to do the job, then buy it -- however you may need to fund it -- but the idea to just randomly buy a bunch of studio equipment, because you have $XYZ, just seems like the wrong approach to me.

Yeah we probably went off-point with this, but you brought it up. And this is coming from someone who literally sold his car [1 of 3] to fund a bunch of camera equipment.

 

[thereyougo!]

I would agree with overhead's comment about renting equipment to try them out. If you're serious about product photography then gsgary's suggestion isn't far off track. You are already familiar with Pentax, I would consider the 645Z which is considerably cheaper than the Leica. The modern lenses for the system - 28 - 45 DFA 35 DFA55 and DFA 90 macro would serve you very well.

How much do you think you will need video on a professional level? If it's a very small part, you are better off looking for something for stills and getting the best you can afford and renting a better video system. DSLR video has come a long way, but I'm not sure it's yet where it needs to be.

Rent several systems over several weekends ( 1 system a weekend) and compare the results. Remember the easiest way to spend money without noticing is to fritter it away. You keep better account of the big things than the little things. That's the reason for the saying: "Look after the pennies and the pounds look after themselves".

Whatever you do, Good Luck!

 

[tirediron]

...I might be young, but I am not dumb.

No, and I don't believe anyone suggested you were, but, implicit in your statement of age is a lack of experience. That's not a bad thing, nor a good thing, simply a fact. Some of us have a little more experience, at least in the field of photography, not mention life in general (some of have a lot more experience than we'd like! ), and are perhaps making recommendations, based on that experience to hopefully prevent you from making mistakes that they have made and/or seen others make.

No one here wants to 'rain on your parade', but it might not hurt to consider, for a moment, the fact that your intended approach might not be the only one, nor the best one, and others, might, just might have value to add, even though it doesn't strictly relate to the question(s) you originally posed.

 

[spiralout462]

I can't believe it took 8 pages to get to medium format! In a studio setting at the highest level, that is what I would want, no doubt.

 

[table1349]

That's because product photography today is far different than it was 40 years ago or even 10 years ago. You don't need a Pentax 6x7 or a Zone VI 8x10 these days for most product photography. When was the last time you subscribed to a magazine the size that Look or Life were printed. When was the last time you received a Sears, JCPenny or Montgomery Ward catalogue in the mail? Victoria Seceret recently announced that they were even cutting back on

The majority of product photography today as for the digital world. Victoria Seceret announced a few days ago that even they were drasticly cutting back on their print media. Even those smaller companies such as Eddie Bower, Landsend etc., need fast turnaround to get their mailers out. I doubt that the OP has captured a part of the market that larger format cameras would be good for but Ford, GM, Chrysler all have their longtime trusted photographers and Playboy is just for reading these days.

I still break out my 6x7 for the fun of it and to do some very special shoots. Wished I had the Zone VI to use, but it was sold long ago.

 

[gsgary]

What is your reserve like financially? How many months can you live without income? Do you have any commercial photography background?
It isn't as easy as buying the gear and doing it.

Approximately 16 months, I am sure that I could stretch it even further if I were being conservative with my spending.

Moreover, yes, I have done a few product shoots for local businesses in the last couple of years, they have been challenging, as I was having to use nothing but a couple of speed lights for lighting, but it seemed to work, with a little bit of effort, the photos turned out pretty decent, which got me thinking that I might be able to improve on it with better lighting equipment and perhaps a more powerful camera, you have to remember the Pentax K-3 is a 3 year old APS-C camera and the K-3II isn't all that much better.

A lot of my friends work freelance as creative design experts, that is how I got all of product shoots, I think that with a good enough setup I could expand on my past experience and really make something of myself here.

Not if you think a 3 year old camera is not capable of doing a shoot, I could get my old Canon 1Dmk1 (4mp) out and set up my studio lights and I would still make a good shot

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[gsgary]

I'll take a minute to apologize for the forum members that won't apologize for themselves. We're sorry.
There.
Not all members want to hold people back from following their dreams.
Good luck.

Lol, I am not looking for an apology, I'm just amazed by some of the responses in this thread. I mean, I don't want to sound like an asshole, but it's my money, I could set it ablaze if I want to.

All I asked for was how would other photographers spend $20k if they wanted to take their photography to the next level, and go commercial, but I guess that its a bit too much for some folks over here to swollow, lol.

That's because most of us could do it with cheap gear

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[Dave442]

This is what I would start with:
Meet the photographer behind those 'simple' Apple product images

As I noted earlier, use your current camera as you can make money with that or just learn exactly where you feel that a different camera can make a difference.

Having a place where you can always have things set up is a major factor. I can turn around from my computer and take a few product shots and reducing set-up time is a major cost saver. If you are setting up a business then do all those start-up costs now to put them in your taxes. Buy insurance.

 

[KmH]

Whoa!
Check out the killer, built like a tank camera stand he uses in that video.

 

[Braineack]

he completely redrew it, should have just used the cg rendering in the first place, would have saved tons of time/effort.