Seeking good camera for product photography

[NoClueLars]

I have a small business and a tight budget. I want to put pictures on my site so require a good camera for product photography.

I right now have a Canon PowerShot SD 1300 that takes the worst pictures I've ever seen. The pics look too grainy and the quality is just horrible. I tried lowering ISO settings, program modes etc...

Someone please recommend me a good digital camera for product photography. Somewhere in the budget of 200-400 tops if at all possible.

I was googling, and came across the Panasonic Lumix for like 200.00...claims big pictures with small camera.. anyone??

Thanks
Lars

 

[KmH]

Good product photography is more about the photographic/lighting knowledge and skill of the photographer.

Tell us what kind of product you need to shoot. What is your budget for lighting?

 

[Big Mike]

Good product photography is more about the photographic/lighting knowledge and skill of the photographer.

Bingo!

 

[shmne]

I understand small business tight budget very well. However $200-400 is not going to get you far enough to get everything you need for decent product shots, although I don't know what kind of product it is or supplies you already have.

This is a list of items I deem important for basic product photography:
-2 flashes or strobes
-white backdrop
-digital slr (even an old canon rebel xsi works fine)
-lots of black foam-core board
-lots of white foam-core board
-Stands, grips, tape, things to shape and hold the foam boards
-depending on the size of product, a table
-again depending on the size of the product, you will need a lens that can focus close / and is decently sharp (most products the cheap nifty fifty 50mm 1.8 will do well for web)

These are just some of the items you should really have if you want your product to look professional. Alternatively you could invest in a photographer to do this job for you, assuming you don't have hundreds of products to photograph you could potentially find a photographer able to meet your monetary restrictions. Remember these photos are an investment to your company, and like any investment the higher quality the higher the ROI. Doing this yourself, you will not see the quality and the people visiting your site will not be excited to see low quality either when it is their money they will be spending.

Either way, a better explanation about the product / quantity would help us help you.

 

[NoClueLars]

Thanks for the prompt replies. I did originally have a professional photographer, but now I am updating new products weekly. Its gonna kill me in photo shoots.. Dont' laugh but I bought one of those table top portable studios with white backdrop. I realize nothing is going to replace pro photography...but I dont have the coin, so please tell me what camera I should be looking at.

The product I am shooting is cell phone cases.

Lars

 

[gsgary]

Thanks for the prompt replies. I did originally have a professional photographer, but now I am updating new products weekly. Its gonna kill me in photo shoots.. Dont' laugh but I bought one of those table top portable studios with white backdrop. I realize nothing is going to replace pro photography...but I dont have the coin, so please tell me what camera I should be looking at.

The product I am shooting is cell phone cases.

Lars

You don't just need a camera you need knowledge of lighting, 200-400 will get you sweet FA

 

[NoClueLars]

I understand. I am reading about lighting and bought some small studio lights. Again, my pos canon is putting out pics that are really grainy and horrible. Ok well can you tell me this.... WHen buying a camera, do I need to care about the Megapixel.. like 12 vs. 8 or 14? vs... ? What should I look for in camera for product photography (still close up shots)

Thanks again,
Lars

 

[gsgary]

I understand. I am reading about lighting and bought some small studio lights. Again, my pos canon is putting out pics that are really grainy and horrible. Ok well can you tell me this.... WHen buying a camera, do I need to care about the Megapixel.. like 12 vs. 8 or 14? vs... ? What should I look for in camera for product photography (still close up shots)

Thanks again,
Lars

What sort of lighting have you got and what are you shooting ? continuos or flash, a Canon point and shoot on a tripod at the lowest iso should do ok if your exposure is good

 

[Mike_E]

Don't buy anything until you've bought and read this.. http://www.amazon.com/Understanding-Exposure-Photographs-Digital-Updated/dp/0817463003

Really

 

[shmne]

Please read my previous post, I already answered your questions about the camera and what you will need.

Granted I actually forgot a couple of key points, you will also need the following:

- Tripod
and if your "small studio lights" are not hot lights (lights that are always on) but rather strobes you will also need
- Flash sync coord
- PC adapter for flashes

 

[y75stingray]

I understand small business tight budget very well. However $200-400 is not going to get you far enough to get everything you need for decent product shots, although I don't know what kind of product it is or supplies you already have.

This is a list of items I deem important for basic product photography:
-2 flashes or strobes
-white backdrop
-digital slr (even an old canon rebel xsi works fine)
-lots of black foam-core board
-lots of white foam-core board
-Stands, grips, tape, things to shape and hold the foam boards
-depending on the size of product, a table
-again depending on the size of the product, you will need a lens that can focus close / and is decently sharp (most products the cheap nifty fifty 50mm 1.8 will do well for web)

These are just some of the items you should really have if you want your product to look professional. Alternatively you could invest in a photographer to do this job for you, assuming you don't have hundreds of products to photograph you could potentially find a photographer able to meet your monetary restrictions. Remember these photos are an investment to your company, and like any investment the higher quality the higher the ROI. Doing this yourself, you will not see the quality and the people visiting your site will not be excited to see low quality either when it is their money they will be spending.

Either way, a better explanation about the product / quantity would help us help you.

quoted above is the best advice you will find, once you have all the tools for decent product photography you still have to have the knowledge of how to use them to your best advantage. it's not as easy as it seems their is a lot involed in manipulating the light to your advantage I would also suggest picking up the book Light Science And Magic.

 

[pgriz]

One of my businesses is a small manufacturing operation and I have done my own product photography. I started "cheap" and found out that I was dicking around with images that were not going to convince anyone to buy. After a lot of uninformed trial and error, I have accumulated what Joe (shmne) listed, and a bit more. Of course, even with decent equipment, knowing how to use lighting to bring out the details of the product is a skill set that I am still working on. And after the photo shoot is done, there's the post-processing. So take Joe's advice on the basic equipment (Joe gave his advice freely, but it would have saved me months of aggravation if I had it when I was starting), pick up some books on photographic lighting, hire a pro to teach you some basic setups (to help you get a leg up on the learning curve), and you should be able to produce decent images.

 

[Helen B]

For products that don't move continuous lighting can work better than strobe.

If your main source is a softbox (or similar) you may not need other sources - you can use silver cards rather than white cards. (Silver cards usually have a white back, thus able to be either silver or white.) Cut them down to a range of sizes.

When shooting small things, black Cinefoil (heavy black aluminium foil) is very useful to have around.

Best,
Helen