Product Based Photography - Camera

[kramer97]

Hi everyone,

I hope all is well.

I'm looking for some feedback and suggestions for a camera which can be used for product photoshoots (indoor and outdoor). My budget is under 500 for a new or used camera and all accessories needed.

I'm not a professional photographer by any means, but willing to learn as much as possible. If there are cameras out there which are better designed for amateurs, then maybe this would be a good start.

I have an online business and the photos of my products are of huge importance for not only the website but mostly for social media, as they're lifestyle based. I'm looking to shoot a few indoor shots, but mainly outdoor photos of my products with different settings, backdrops and grounds. The products are highly reflective and detailed, so unsure if I'll need specific props, accessories and lenses for this style of photography.

The products are stainless steel watches and bracelets. The watches have sapphire crystal glass which highly reflects lights. The bracelets are a mixture of stainless steel beads and charms (which are the highly reflective components of them - especially the stainless steel beads). The other bracelets are natural stones which are easier to shoot. I'm currently using my iPhoneX to shoot, and the photos are coming out OK, not great. I would like to improve the quality of them.

For indoor shoots of these style products, i'll be taking them in different settings, typically, counter tops, floors, furniture are the props used. For the outdoor shoot, the ideas are endless, but I try to get nice backgrounds of nature, woods, water, forests, marble/concrete slabs, etc. Half of my shots will be product only, the other half will be more fashionable, meaning, the products will be worn on the wrists and more zoomed in and close up photos will be taken for this style.

I spoke with a videographer and photographer friend, he advised me of these models:

Canon 70D
Canon 60D
Canon T3i

I would love to get some feedback on not only what has already been suggested, but if the pros on the forum have better suggestions and recommendations for a good camera and any added accessories which may be deemed advantageous for the style of photography i'm looking to do with it.

Thank you!

 

[Derrel]

ANY of the cameras ought to handle product/lifestyle shots. Acsessories? A tripod is a must-have for serious product shooting, since it puts the camera in one,fixed position, so the shot can be refined. Lights? Fill-cards? Small clamps, wax,putty,wire,fishing line,etc..

 

[TCampbell]

The camera model won't be very important. What will be important is the ability to focus at close range (close-up photography ... more on that in a moment) and other accessories (most of which are inexpensive, but a few can be moderately expensive.)

Shiny objects will have lots of reflections and you have to be able to control those reflections. Shiny metal objects (polished metal) behaves like a mirror. This means you have to control everything around the object and you do this typically by heading to the craft store and picking up some white card-stock and some black card stock (these will be placed out of frame at strategic points to control the reflections.

You'll also want a circular polarizing filter to cut the reflective glare on things like the watch crystal. You will also find you want to control the lighting. It can be budget lighting (it doesn't need to be bright) since your subject isn't moving (meaning you can use a tripod and a long exposure if you need to capture more light) but you will need things to modify the light. You may want to pick up the book "Light Science & Magic" (subtitled "An Introduction to Photographic Lighting" by Filter Hunter, Steven Biver, & Paul Fuqua). It will explain quite a bit about how to take care of a multitude of lighting issues.

Getting a camera at a price under $500 with everything you need would be difficult if you plan to buy "new". You can check the refurbished section (both Canon and Nikon sell refurbished cameras at a pretty good savings and you have the comfort of knowing it's in great working order and comes with a warranty). You can also buy a used camera but that's a bit riskier if you don't know how to evaluate the camera to make sure you're not buying something that is going to be a problem.

All lenses have a minimum focus distance. For most normal lenses, you wont be able to get terribly close (probably not close enough to show detail that you want to see). There are ways to shoot much closer.

The most expensive way to do this is to buy a true "macro" lens. There are zoom lenses with the word "macro" in the name ... those aren't "true" macro lenses. True macro typically means 1:1 scale. That is... the size of the object as rendered on the camera's internal image sensor is as large as the object is in real life.

Example: A camera with an APS-C size sensor (most Nikon and Canon cameras) has sensor dimensions of approximately 15mm tall by 23mm wide (I've rounded those values and it technically varies fractionally from model to model but they're all about that size). A US penny has a diameter of 19mm If you were take a photo of that penny at closest focusing distance using a macro lens that can produce 1:1 scale, it means that you can be so close that the top & bottom of the penny are slightly out of the frame... but the width just barely fits in the frame. In other words that penny "fills the frame". Most zooms with "macro" are really 1:3 scale or 1:4 scale.

Those true macro lenses are the best in terms of capabilities and quality.

A quality lens at a reasonable price from Canon would be their EF-S 60mm f/2.8 Macro USM ... it's about $400 (for *just* the lens) and keep in mind... this is one of the LESS expensive macro lenses (they get a lot more expensive). You can see how buying a camera body and just the one lens would easily blow the $500 budget.

So there are alternatives.

On inexpensive alternative is to use "close up diopters" or "close up filters". These thread onto the front of a normal camera lens and basically they magnify the view. The downside is that they do work a bit like a magnifying glass. The image in the center of the frame looks good, but you start to notice optical distortions around the edges of the frame. Canon sells a version of these that are two-element diopters (most are just single optical element) and the second element somewhat corrects some of the optical imperfections created by the first element. It's a higher quality close-up filter... and it costs more (but less than $100). In photography, it isn't necessary critical to have tack-sharp focus in the corners if the subject of interest is in the center of the frame.

Other options are to use "extension tubes". This is a hollow barrel that fits between the lens and camera body and it's purpose is to position the lens farther away from the camera body. This allows the lens to focus at much closer distances than would normally be possible. There is no "glass" in an extension tube (it really is a hollow barrel) so there's no optical distortions. A set of these is usually a little more expensive than the close-up filter option.

That's just a few of the more common ways to do close-up photography (there are others.)

Also... at very close focusing distances, it may be difficult to get everything in sharp focus. There's a technique called "focus stacking" where you photograph the subject so that say... just the front edge is sharp. Then you move the focus back just a couple of millimeters and take another shot... and just keep repeating. You now have a set of photos where the optimum focus point is at every possible distance from front to back. Those are all fed into computer software and merged to create a single photo that is very sharp.

(BTW, the alternative to this is to buy a tilt-shift lens... you don't want to go there. Most of those lenses are in the $2k neighborhood... but they can take a take-sharp image... front to back ... in just one shot.)



I suspect you'll find you can't really get everything all at once.

Maybe you buy just a camera & basic lens to start. Use your own lights (honestly you could use lights you pick up at a hardware store ... and build your own "scrim" (a frame holding diffusion fabric) on a budget). (BTW, there are YouTube videos that demonstrate how to do a lot of this ... even on the cheap).

I'd suggest searching for tutorial videos by using terms like "small product photography" and "focus stacking".

You can then start adding to your kit over time as you're able to identify what things would be the most helpful and have the budget to get them.

 

[KmH]

Lighting is very important for making effective product photographs.
For product lighting see Light Science & Magic: An Introduction to Photographic Lighting

 

[kramer97]

Thank you all for the replies!

I reviewed everything and have been researching and reading quite a bit over the last couple of days. I want to make some changes and additions to my original post:

1. I had no idea what the pricing is of everything, I now feel silly thinking $500 for a full setup was feasible. After thinking this over, the budget is no longer $500. I'm willing to spend what ever is necessary for my requirements and needs. I'm also willing to invest in myself with learning and education.

2. After further review of my website, I no longer just need indoor and outdoor lifestyle based photography. I also need to redo all of my product images. So I'll be needing a setup for this reason also.

3. After thinking long and hard about my branding and marketing, I have very good ideas for video content which can be used for social media postings and advertising. I would also like to use this camera to shoot video in close range and from a distance.

I'm not brand biased but I like how you can sync the camera with the computer via EOS Utility to manage the photoshoots. I might just stick to Canon to get one decision out of the way, as I have many others to now consider. I would love to get some more feedback from you all on the below:

Camera:

Many mentioned that the older model cameras were feasible, but because I now mentioned video and the fact that I also need it for actual product photos with a white background, maybe that's changed. I currently have these models on my radar.

Canon 70D - $800
Canon T7i - $900
Canon 60D - $500
Canon t6i - $600
Canon 50D - $300
Canon t5i - $450

The 7 series cameras do have some nice features but I understand they're on the pricey end. With video also being required, do you suggest I bite the bullter on a 70D or T7i over the others? Or can they all still do what I'm looking for?

Lens:

Canon EF-S 60mm f/2.8 Macro USM Lens - $500/New|$350/Used
Canon 50mm f/1.8 - $100
Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM - $850
Canon 100mm f/2.8 - $450
Canon 50mm f/2.5 - $250

I read that the 50mm is sufficient enough for the product photos (not only in this thread but others on the forum). Would any of the other lenses render noticeably improved results? Would any of the other lenses help me with close range indoor and outdoor lifestyle based photography, in addition to product photography in a lightbox? When I mention lifestyle based photography, examples of this would be close range shots of my watches and bracelets on indoor props like counter tops, flooring, furniture. Lifestyle based photography outdoors would be the products being worn by an individual or solo shots again with ocean/sea backdrops, concrete floors, rocks, streets, etc.

In addition to the close up photography mentioned above, I will need a lens for further away distances, especially for the video. Many cameras being sold used already have lenses with them, for eg, Canon 18-135 STM LensCanon or EF-S 15-85mm lens. Would these lenses be useful? Other than the macro lens, what other lens or lenses would you recommend for further away shots and video (indoor and outdoor)? I can try to find one of the cameras already being sold with this lens, so all I'll need to buy separately is the macro lens.

Lighting:

I found these two kits which look pretty good for the product photography

Godox 300SDI (3 * 300W 300SDI Studio Flash) - $415
Godox 120DI 360Ws 3*120W - $250

Would I be able to get enough lighting out of the second option or is the first option the bare minimum?

Education

I am going to look in to the book referred "Light Science & Magic". I was also wondering, is there any highly interactive video training which is recommended to kick start the learning curve? For eg, I found this online, seemed interesting - The Photography Starter Kit for Beginners with John Greengo | CreativeLive

I wont be learning about editing and photoshop for now. I have a few contacts who will handle editing, as I already have quite a bit on my own plate.

Thank you!

 

[kramer97]

Anyone?