Product Photography-which camera

[Paulo]

Hi Everyone,

I'm new to the forum so hello to all. I would like some advice on which camera to buy. I'm a graphic designer and will soon be doing some photography for an online clothing store. The quality of the photos needs to be good and I would like a clean look (something like the product shots on www.howies.co.uk & http://www.endclothing.co.uk/ ) and I think my current Coolpix 4600 might be out of its depth!
There will also need to be quite close up shots of the details of the garments, like zips etc.

I'm pretty much a novice on photography and realise that a lot more goes into good shots than the camera :) , but I want to make sure I have a piece of kit that will suit the task, while I develop my skills.

Budget

The budget is pretty low. I am hoping to spend around 300-400 pounds (about 700 USD). It would be great if there is something suitable for less, but also if I need to spend a bit more there is some flexibility. It sounds like I will need to buy lights, tripod and remote as well so any saving would be welcome.

Size

Size doesn't matter one bit for this.

Features


I'm not sure what I will need in terns of zoom- I think a macro feature might be good in terms of the garment close ups.
Image quality is important - maybe an 8 on 10!
Manual controls might be useful to help me lean about the camera.

General Usage

The use will be for product shots indoors. It would be great to be able to use outdoors on model shots but its not a priority.
I don't really need large prints as its for the web- again being a graphic designer it would be handy some times but that would be a bonus rather than a need. No action or sports shots would be necessary.


I'm not over keen on Canon and so far I have looked at Sony DSC-H2 and the
Nikon 5400

Thanks in advance. Its great to be able to get advice that's not from a sales person.

Paulo

[bascom]

It doesn't sound like you need a lot of zoom so I'm not sure why the H2 is on your list. As you said, you need a good macro camera.

[Paulo]

Thanks Bascom,

Could you recommend something suitable for the budget?

Thx.

[cdifoto]

Thanks Bascom,

Could you recommend something suitable for the budget?

Thx.

A Canon A530 (less than $200USD) would do you fine. Product photography is all about lighting.

[Sintares]

While a superzoom is not needed for close up product shots, its always nice to have a camera that is not limited to just the one thing.

Who knows, you may want to use the camera for your holidays or some nice nature photography, birding or macro work etc.

In that case why not buy the Sony H1, currently £175 at argos?

Takes excellent photos on full auto while you learn and has full manual controls as you learn your way.
Comes complete with batteries, charger, adapter tube (for mounting tcons, wcons, and filters)

http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/5603488.htm

And of course the £175 price will leave you plenty of money for extras.

A 1gb memory stick pro duo from 7dayshop.com, for £29, for instance.

[Paulo]

Hi Sintares,

Thanks for the info.
That does look a really good deal and would give me some other options in terms of use of the camera. There are a few things that might not work out great- I cant find a remote release for the Sony. I have heard you can buy bracketed third party ones but do they work ok?

Also it says that it has 'One push White Balance Settings' which Im not sure if this is actual manual, which I think I would need.

Other than that it looks great- and Im just around the corner from an Argos!

[BonjiB]

I'd recomend something with a hot shoe so you can use studio lights if you get into that sort of thing. A basic studio lighting setup can consist of something as simple as a hot shoe mounted flash on a light stand with a photo umbrella and one of those snakey coiley pc sync cables running to a hotshoe to pc converter adapter fitted onto the cameras hot shoe. That's what i use for any studio work i do. I have an fz30 with a hot shoe, and everyone will scream "noise" at me if i recomend it to you but you said the pictures will be resized for web viewing and with studio lighting you can use iso 80 which is pretty smooth on that camera. Also with a longer telephoto lens it zooms into small areas very well. I've used mine for some macro work with great success. The fz20 might be a better option since you won't need the extra 3 megapixels and it can be had for a lot cheaper these days. Also the fz30 supports raw format while the fz20 doesn't but that's your call whether you need it or not. Usually with studio type work the lighting is controllable thus once you find the in camera settings that suit you, you're all set. Good luck on your purchase. I'm not sure if any other point and shoots have a hot shoe or not and i don't think you'll want to bump up to a dslr with that price range... maybe a couple of the fuji s series would be something to look at too. The fz20 and 30 have shutter release cables too but they aren't wireless, was that a requirement?

For everything you're looking at maybe 30 bucks for an umbrella, 20 or 30 for a basic light stand, 80ish for a flash, 15-20 or so for a hot shoe adapter for the light stand, 10 for a coil cord, 5 for the hotshoe adapter 25 for the shutter release and of course about 350 bucks for an fz20. All in all you're looking at about 550 or so for all that crap. If you wanna go all out, get two light stands, two flashes, two hotshoe mounts for that flash and use wireless flash releases to fire em both. Wireless flash releases are like 30 bucks or so a piece and then you just double your stand cost and subtract the hot shoe to pc adapter and coil cord thingy and that brings you to ABOUT 700 bucks plus shipping for everything and that'll set you up pretty sweet. These are ballpark estimates based on what i paid and when i did the math i used the worst case scenario. I'm sur eyou could find some of this stuff cheaper by shopping around and using ebay for some of it. Just my opinion though. :-)

[Paulo]

BonjiB,

Thanks a lot for that. I'm all set!

[bascom]

You are set? Which one are you buying? Here is a good macro thread: http://dcresource.com/forums/showthread.php?t=22516

[Paulo]

I was heading for the Canon S2IS or Sony ds-ch1 but niether have cable release or hotshoe (i think).

It looks like my best bet is fuji finepix s7000 which has both. Dyou know if the image qulaity is good on these? There are mixed reviews on the net.....but then arent there always.

[coldrain]

Why on earth are you considering an ultrazoom for product shots??? Tele range is to bring far away subjects closer. That is the LAST thing you need.

The ultrazooms also do not have the best lenses for what you need, and their colour and material reditions are ok-ish at best.

What you need is a simple camera with good colour and material renditions, with an optically good lens. You do not need a hot shoe flash, you dont light something with flash (because what you are photographing is not something that moves, you do not need to freeze movement... you just need enough exposure) but with good lighting, be it from normal lamps, studio lamps or daylight.

Buy yourself a Canon Powershot A530/540/610, a good tripod for it, and you are set. Make product photos with its ISO 50 or 100 setting. They also will have more than enough macro capability for you. And they have a good custom white balance, very important with product shots.

No need what so ever for ultrazooms, we are not talking about product shots of roof tiles on top of churches, we are talking about clothes that are in your possession and vicinity.

[Paulo]

Hi Coldrain,

You will have to stay with me here as this is pretty new to me.
From what I have gathered so far, you need a hotshoe to trigger studio flash. It sounds like tungsten and any continuous lighting doesnt really get used for product shots anymore due to the heat and poor colour quality.

Isn't this the type of lighting I would need
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Portaflash-STUDIO-KIT-2-PRO-STUDIO-LIGHTS-ONLY-199_W0QQitemZ300017141178QQihZ020QQcategoryZ3860QQ ssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

[coldrain]

You are going to make photos for an online store. That means you do not need a lot of resolution magazine style. Not all lightning is flash, and you do not need to flash because your subject will not move, the exposure time does not have to be very short.

If you DO want to have pro lightning equipment, then you better also think about getting a DSLR with good lenses. Else it does not make much sense. A Canon EOS 20D/30D/XT or Nikon D70s/D80 would then seem the way to go.

I think that with a camera with good white balance control and some creativity on your side with lighting the subjects (can be with indirect sunlight too) and a tripod you can get decent results. Else some good continous studio lights would be good too. Flash light is complex and for good results you need experience, and a good camera like the DSLRs I mentioned above.

[Paulo]

That sounds like a good way to go then. I imagine I will need a decent tripod and a cable release too?

Could you recommend another point and shoot, with a good manual white balance other than Canon- and a which can be used with a cable release?

Thanks
Paulo