Which camera for small set design/studio photography?

[Polly7]

Hi everyone!

I am a beginner in photography and I'm trying to choose a right camera for my work. I am actually a graphic designer and I need a camera for small set design/studio photography and professional portfolio photography. So, I don't need camera for outdoors or sports, just indoors. Since I am not a professional photographer, I am looking for more budget friendly camera, but also a good quality image.

What I was looking at until now was: Canon Rebel T6i - Canon Rebel T63 and Nikon 7000 - Nikon 7100, but I'm not sure if I'm on the right path. Can you please help me choose a right camera for my work?

I added an image of similar photography style I will be doing , so you have a better idea what i need.

Add/Ends - Leta Sobierajski
Behance

Thank you.

Please do not post images to which you do not hold rights. You may post links.

 

[photo1x1.com]

Hi and welcome to the forum.
For this kind of images, the lighting would be much more important than camera and lens. So what I would first look at is a nice light setup.
It won´t tell you too much if you are just starting out, but studio shots like that are usually shot with ISO100 1/125sec shutter speed and an aperture starting at f9. Also you have plenty time to focus, so no fast focussing camera or lens is important. Pretty much any camera would create a very good looking image under these conditions.
Are you looking at the used market? In this case I´d check which of the mentioned cameras are in very good condition and try to get a bargain.

One more thing: people are rather strict here in regard to copyright. If you didn´t shoot those images, please rather link them than embed them.

 

[astroNikon]

As mentioned the lighting set up will play a much more important role in your results.

If you look at your first example notice how the background pink color. Considering that the base is also the same color you can guess that the "seamless" background was pink in color. Also the "seamless" means that there is no line identifying the background from the base, which could be for instant a long roll of paper or vinyl.

If you look at the shadows of the orange in the front right you'll see a shadow on the left and right. With the shadow on the left darker than the one on the right. Indicating at least 2 lights in the setup at different intensities.

The 2nd example you can look at how well lit the paper is on every side, identifying multiple light sources and well diffused lighting.

So the camera here is secondary to properly setting up your lighting and everything else.
So the first step, other than a camera is understanding lighting such as this book is a great primer on it ==>Light Science & Magic: An Introduction to Photographic Lighting: Fil Hunter, Steven Biver, Paul Fuqua: 9780415719407: Amazon.com: Books

fyi, I don't understand the 1st image .. tape, cheese, crackers, fruits and hot dogs ?

 

[Designer]

I am a beginner in photography and I'm trying to choose a right camera for my work. I am actually a graphic designer and I need a camera for small set design/studio photography and professional portfolio photography. So, I don't need camera for outdoors or sports, just indoors. Since I am not a professional photographer, I am looking for more budget friendly camera, but also a good quality image.

What I was looking at until now was: Canon Rebel T6i - Canon Rebel T63 and Nikon 7000 - Nikon 7100,

Hi, and welcome!

I'm a fan of the Nikon D7100, and next we need to talk about what lens(es) and some other stuff. Shopping for a used camera is a good idea, but seldom include a lens, so you'll have to purchase a lens separately. However, if you call one of the well-known large photo stores and talk to a sales rep, he/she will help you get a kit that works together and serves your needs.

Call Adorama and B&H customer service and talk about lightly used equipment.

Next, you'll need some lights and the knowledge to use them.

I suggest that you also purchase this book, and then get some studio strobes and modifiers for the type of photography you intend to do.

Light Science and Magic: An Introduction to Photographic Lighting: Fil Hunter, Steven Biver, Paul Fuqua: 9780240812250: Amazon.com: Books

Please continue to ask questions here as well.

 

[Designer]

fyi, I don't understand the 1st image .. tape, cheese, crackers, fruits and hot dogs ?

It's all about shape, texture, and color.

 

[Polly7]

Hi, I will definitely purchase this book that you recommended. So, about the lens, I looked at some used camera market in my country, and they usually come with 18-105mm. So is this lens ok or I would need something else like 35mm or 50mm?

P.S. I edited the post and placed links for the images I used, is that ok? I don't want any issues with the copyright :/

 

[photo1x1.com]

Hi, I will definitely purchase this book that you recommended. So, about the lens, I looked at some used camera market in my country, and they usually come with 18-105mm. So is this lens ok or I would need something else like 35mm or 50mm?

P.S. I edited the post and placed links for the images I used, is that ok? I don't want any issues with the copyright :/

Perfect in regard to copyright
18-105mm is a nice choice and gives you several options. 50mm would also be OK, I wouldn´t use 35mm due to the distorted look you´ll get. Also with a wideangle lens like this you´d need a bigger background/shooting table.

 

[astroNikon]

FYI, first image was

Camera: Canon EOS 7D
Lens: EF24-70mm f/2.8L II USM
Shot at 24 mm
Exposure: Manual exposure, 0.3 sec, f/20, ISO 100


... interesting images on the website.

 

[photo1x1.com]

FYI, first image was

Camera: Canon EOS 7D
Lens: EF24-70mm f/2.8L II USM
Shot at 24 mm
Exposure: Manual exposure, 0.3 sec, f/20, ISO 100


... interesting images on the website.

Wow, I would never have guessed that. Thanks for checking!

 

[astroNikon]

FYI, first image was

Camera: Canon EOS 7D
Lens: EF24-70mm f/2.8L II USM
Shot at 24 mm
Exposure: Manual exposure, 0.3 sec, f/20, ISO 100


... interesting images on the website.

Wow, I would never have guessed that. Thanks for checking!

I was thinking it was taken from further away with 70-85mm+ myself.
So I thought I would check. I was surprised it was at 24mm

I'm curious if the 2 outer items were leaning in previously. If you look closely there's something under the pink paper which may have leaned them out slightly to compensate the UWA. I'd have to shoot something similar to test .. not enough experience in stuff like that though I've opted to use longer focal length on any type of studio shots.

 

[photo1x1.com]

FYI, first image was

Camera: Canon EOS 7D
Lens: EF24-70mm f/2.8L II USM
Shot at 24 mm
Exposure: Manual exposure, 0.3 sec, f/20, ISO 100


... interesting images on the website.

Wow, I would never have guessed that. Thanks for checking!

I was thinking it was taken from further away with 70-85mm+ myself.
So I thought I would check. I was surprised it was at 24mm

I'm curious if the 2 outer items were leaning in previously. If you look closely there's something under the pink paper which may have leaned them out slightly to compensate the UWA. I'd have to shoot something similar to test .. not enough experience in stuff like that though I've opted to use longer focal length on any type of studio shots.

I think that "thing under the pink paper" is the moisture of the sausage causing the paper to wrinkle.
Maybe it is a crop. I really don´t see much of distortion, which is very surprising. There is some vignetting in the top corners that would suggest it was not a crop, but then again at f20 there shouldn´t be any vignetting. So that is probably the lighting or done in photoshop. I´m really surprised about the metadata.

 

[astroNikon]

I thought it was hotdog moisture too, but the one on the right looks like it is lifting the hotdog in the middle just a bit.

I know my 24-85@24 is really good at not much distortion, unlike my 18-35 which is pretty bad.
I've never tested Canon lenses but being a 24-70 I would expect it to be pretty good after checking it.

 

[Derrel]

Applying a good lens correction profile in post software would help eliminate most 24mm lens distortion. One can see just a tiny bit of shape distortion of the rounded tape roll to the left of center, but it's not bad really. Also, this was shot on a crop-frame camera, so 24mm is in effect not a wide-angle lens, but a lens of just over 38mm in "e-View on 135 format", in effect close enough to the diagonal of the sensor format to be called a "normal lens" using old fashioned ideas about what a normal length lens is.

Some pretty cool, fun, funky still life and tabletop work there! Very modern, definitely not old-school stuff.

As far as a camera for small product and tabletop photography, I would go with an APS-C format camera for this type of close-but-not-macro-range stuff. The smaller format sensor will give greater depth of field per picture angle than will a larger-format camera, which will be a good thing most of the time. If the camera is backed up a ways, the APS-C sensor will allow the photgrapher to get good depth of field on tabletop setups, without the absolute need for focus stacking.

Keep in mind too, a Tilt/Shift lens could also be used for creative effects, and for getting more DOF. Canon and Nikon both have 24mm, 45mm, and 85 or 90mm Tilt/Shift lenses in their lineup.

The same deeper DOF per picture height and width than FF, the quality that makes APS-C so good for tabletop photography, makes it the proverbial double edged sword when it comes to photographing people on backdrops in-studio: APS-C makes the background come into recognizable focus far too often when the backdrop is a 9-foot-wide roll of paper, or a wall, etc..at typical studio flash f/stops. It's a subtle thing, but art directors can see it, and so can people who really know photography. Where one camera format excels, another format is less well suited. For tabletop work, the APS-C size sensor and the lenses it uses is fantastic! For groups of 2,3,4 people in a studio, much less ideal.

A good example if the new Fuji GFX 50 44x33 format digital: I saw a commerical pro shoot a pair of shoes with it at f/16...with the frame filled with the men's dress shoes, the DOF was insufficient. As he said, "Gonna need lens tilt for product shots with this camera!", or, resort to focus stacking multiple frames. The SAME shoe image with an iPhone or m4/3 camera would have been dead-easy to snap.

Speaking of which: I have seen GOOD product pictures made with smartphones and good lighting, and skilled photographers using camera support for the phone.

 

[nickgillespie]

So, I think I might suggest something totally different.

If you aren't interested in getting into learning strobes and lighting, I'd suggest you get "continuous lights". This would be any type of lighting that you'd use for video.
Something like this: Impact Soft and Natural 4 Socket 3 Light Kit FFS4-3KI B&H Photo
or this: Smith-Victor SL300 3-Light 1800 Watt Softlight Location 401405

The awesome part of continuous lighting is that you can see your final result.

Then, I'd suggest a high quality basic mirrorless camera, used - something like the Sony a6000. Mirrorless because you don't have to really know that much about photography... "what you see is what you get."

Tripod, 1/100 @ f8... turn the lights on, and turn the iso up till it looks good

 

[Derrel]

Here is another continuous light suggestion, from a pro that LIKES hot lights AND mirrorless Sony cameras! Keep in mind, with continuous lights, you would also be able to use a smart phone and a camera support!

The post is entitled
A Decent LED Light, with lots of power, for less than $40? Yes.


The Visual Science Lab / Kirk Tuck: Dec 4, 2016