WHAT LENS IS BEST FOR MY WORK

[legendtattoo]

Hello, i need a little help deciding what lens to invest in as to show better the work that i do. I have a tattoo studio and the photos i take are indoor. I have a Cannon eos 1200D camera and at the moment im using a EFS 18-55mm lens which came with the camera. I feel as though my mobile takes better pictures than my camera. I have uploaded both pictures so that you can give me your opinion.

 

[Frankinfuji]

Your mobile is applying automatic sharpening and noise reduction, so it appears to be better than your Canon.

But the Canon has more detail, and it just needs some post processing to be at least as good as your mobile. Photoshop or similar can be used. For basic edits there's some decent free apps you can use on your phone. ( Pixlr is one free app).

The Canon experts will be able to recommend the ideal lens, but I'd try a bit of post processing first.

One other thought....... did you use flash? Natural light is better of practical.

 

[legendtattoo]

Your mobile is applying automatic sharpening and noise reduction, so it appears to be better than your Canon.

But the Canon has more detail, and it just needs some post processing to be at least as good as your mobile. Photoshop or similar can be used. For basic edits there's some decent free apps you can use on your phone. ( Pixlr is one free app).

The Canon experts will be able to recommend the ideal lens, but I'd try a bit of post processing first.

One other thought....... did you use flash? Natural light is better of practical.

both photos were taken outside with natural light.

 

[Derrel]

The mobile has a small sensor and has more depth of field at close range. You would likely need to shoot at f16 or at f22 to get similar Depth of Field, which would necessitate a moderately slow shutter speed outdoors. And as was mentioned, the DSLR files will need post- capture sharpening. OTOH, the mobile pics are fast, and sharp,so...

 

[Designer]

Hello, i need a little help deciding what lens to invest in as to show better the work that i do. ... I have uploaded both pictures so that you can give me your opinion.

As usual, there is more to the story. Yes, a different lens might give you better photographs, but these two photos show a big difference in the quality and direction of the light. In order to take consistently better photographs you will have to pay attention to the light as well as all the rest.

The iPhone has a deeper depth of field, so the tattoo and in fact, the entire model is in focus as well. Even the background is in better focus than some parts of the second photo. This DOF comes mainly from having a wider (focal length) lens than your Canon and EFS 18-55mm lens combo.

A wider lens would help quite a bit, and flatter light. (The side-grazing light in your second photo is detailing the skin texture.) Get (or make) a diffuser for your built-in flash or purchase a speedlight that you can put a diffuser on. I have a little softbox attachment that goes on the speedlight and has an 8-inch by 12-inch diffusing panel that spreads the light. Having the light come from the general area of the lens will give a very flat (no modeling) light. Then make sure that any other strong light (such as daylight for instance) is not coming from the side. And shoot at smaller lens openings (f/8 or even smaller) to maximize the DOF.

 

[beagle100]

I agree with the other posters, you need more "depth of field" with a higher # (smaller ) aperture, also a higher shutter speed and post processing helps. The inexpensive 50mm 1.8 STM is better tha the 18-55 for that kind of pic
www.flickr.com/photos/mmirrorless

 

[legendtattoo]

Hello, i need a little help deciding what lens to invest in as to show better the work that i do. ... I have uploaded both pictures so that you can give me your opinion.

As usual, there is more to the story. Yes, a different lens might give you better photographs, but these two photos show a big difference in the quality and direction of the light. In order to take consistently better photographs you will have to pay attention to the light as well as all the rest.

The iPhone has a deeper depth of field, so the tattoo and in fact, the entire model is in focus as well. Even the background is in better focus than some parts of the second photo. This DOF comes mainly from having a wider (focal length) lens than your Canon and EFS 18-55mm lens combo.

A wider lens would help quite a bit, and flatter light. (The side-grazing light in your second photo is detailing the skin texture.) Get (or make) a diffuser for your built-in flash or purchase a speedlight that you can put a diffuser on. I have a little softbox attachment that goes on the speedlight and has an 8-inch by 12-inch diffusing panel that spreads the light. Having the light come from the general area of the lens will give a very flat (no modeling) light. Then make sure that any other strong light (such as daylight for instance) is not coming from the side. And shoot at smaller lens openings (f/8 or even smaller) to maximize the DOF.

which wider lens would you suggest be better for me?

 

[astroNikon]

When you deal with a super small sensor on a cell phone there are times those are better for certain image capture.
Especially when you are up close and want to make sure everything is crisp and clear and detailed.

If you look at the ladies hair you can definitely see the phone sensor has her hair in good detail, whereas the Canon it's out of focus from not enough "Depth of Field" (aka DOF). This is related, as mentioned above, to the DOF in relation to the size of the sensor.

And then your canon JPG is probably set to a "standard" setting. If you were to select a "vivid" or something like that setting you would see more vibrant colors. Also post processing it (JPEG or preferably the RAW file) you can control all of that. Similar (but granularly in more detail) to the newer controls cell phones have for sharpness, contrast, color, brightness, etc.

 

[Derrel]

Look at the two photos: in the smartphone picture, even her bustline is in good, sharp focus, due to the short lens used on a tiny image sensor; in the Canon shot, her busline is NOT in-focus, due to the larger sensor that requires a longer lens length to get the same picture angle of view for approximately the same general distance. Having deeper (more) depth of fielkd makes the phone capture read as "sharper", because, well, MORE stuff is actually IN-focus! In the Canon shot, even her side is sliding out of the DOF band.

A SMALL sensor is fantastic for being able to capture a lot in-focus, at close ranges. it's not that you need a wider-angle lens: it is that the shorter lens of the tiny sensor gives MORE depth of field...I say just continue to use the phone. Use it with a tripoid if needed, or just continue using it normally.

 

[Designer]

This DOF comes mainly from having a wider (focal length) lens..

To clarify: DOF is affected by a COMBINATION of factors, one of which is the focal length, plus aperture, size of sensor, and distance from the lens.

While your question was:

what lens to invest in

the lens is not always the problem people assume it to be.

 

[ClickAddict]

I believe these were also not shot on the same day (She has different black top on (lettering in first not in second) as well as a different jacket. If the first was shot the day of the tattoo done and the other even a day or so later, the coloring on the ink will appear dryer after that first day would it not? That would also attribute to the vibrancy a little, so hard to compare the two.

 

[Derrel]

If one measures the width of her bicep in the two photos, in the Canon shot, it is over one inch wider than in the phone shot; at the higher-magnification shot with the Canon, there is less in-focus, and it appears like a little bit of gooseflesh is causing the tattoo to look less-smooth. In the phone shot, the arm is smaller, and the majority of her arm below the elbow is visible, so the two images are actually fairly "different" in mangification. The phone shot has higher contrast, a bit more color aturation, and veru importantly, the ouiter black ink is dark, and does not have the bit of diffuse highlight oin it that the Canon shot suffers from. Because the blacks are deeper, darker, and more-saturated, that makes everything look richer,and more-saturated, more-colorful, in the phone shot. Phones typically are set to produce a rich, contrasty, sharpened image, sometimes called "eye candy"; a d-slr tends to create a lower-contrast image at default settings, one that is more amenable to Photoshop post-processing, with lower contrast and lower color saturation, so that the user can custom-tweak the final shots to taste.