Which Camera for Jewelty Photography ?

[regretal]

Budget

* What budget have you allocated for buying this camera? Please be as specific as possible.

- less than AU$2000 . But if I could get PROFESSIONAL photography macro lens camera for less than AU$1300 it would be great.

Size

* What size camera are you looking for? Or does size not matter at all to you?

- Nope

Features

How many megapixels will suffice for you?

- Any that will get PROFESSIONAL images

* What optical zoom will you need? (None, Standard = 3x-4x, Ultrazoom = 10x-12x, Other - Specify)

- Dont understand, please explain

* How important is “image quality” to you? (Rate using a scale of 1-10)

- 9

Do you care for manual controls?

- Dont understand also.

General Usage

* What will you generally use the camera for?

- MOstly jewelry such as cufflinks, pendants, ring

* Will you be making big prints of your photos or not?

- no , just post images on ebay

Will you be shooting a lot of indoor photos or low light photos?

- no

Will you be shooting sports and/or action photos?

- no

Miscellaneous

Are there particular brands you like or hate?

- not really, im novice in camera, but i heard Cannon is the best ?

Are there particular models you already have in mind?

- nope

(If applicable) Do you need any of the following special features? (Wide Angle, Image Stabilization, Weatherproof, Hotshoe, Rotating LCD)

- no

[coldrain]

Why do you want a "professional" camera when all it is for is to make photos for ebay?

You will be fine with a good compact camera with a good macro mode, like a Canon A series camera. It should not have to cost you more than $250? Lighting and a tripod for the camera are more important for you.

[regretal]

In ebay, my competitors out there are getting better pictures each day.
and i need camera that could macro into every single curve of the
ring.

Currently I have olympus, forgotten which type. It cost me only $130
It has macro mode but i have to get the camera 1cm close up to the item
for that macro result, therefore cant use tripod at the same time.

I'd like that camera which can macro and also zoom in at same time, so i can put on tripod.

I have added an attachment of a Spider Cufflink. In his/her website, this looks great. I know it has been enhance through photoshop but is a minor edit. Camera do all the work.

Have any advise ?

[griptape]

I would tend to agree that such a huge budget is extreme overkill for ebay pictures. I don't have any jewelry lying around, but I just took these with my Canon SD550 that I paid $150 for a little over a year ago. It's a hat from a monopoly set by the way, if that helps give you size reference. And it's a 50% crop.

http://i105.photobucket.com/albums/m235/nothingisworking/monopolyhat2.jpg

http://i105.photobucket.com/albums/m235/nothingisworking/monopolyhat1.jpg

[regretal]

Wow. That's pretty clear. Were you using extra ligting and tripod for that ?

Perhaps i was going for that budget because im hoping to do multi-task with it, im starting to love photography as i get in to this forum, i odnt want to refer to another website, but this guy shot a spider web on a flower with 100mm macro and 25 extender (what is that mean!?) lol. :confused:

Canon sd550 is a compact, its sorta out of fashion, Please do suggest me SLR camera that i could get a shot of about ANYTHING with macro :D, into details such as shooting a spider web, a detail curve of a roach, every cracks on a brick stone, as such. I would appreciate it :p

[AndyfromVA]

The Canon A720IS will focus down to 1 cm. I don't see how you could ask for any better macro shot than that.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/pablo1/2090396901/

[regretal]

Hi andy, thanx for the pinput.
This Canon A720IS you have, compact cameras, do you have to get upclose with the subject you're shooting to obtain macro ?

I mean, with my compact camera, I have to get my camera 1 cm close with the subject to obtain macro image.

What I need is camera which enables macro as well as Zoom In so the distance between camera and subject is enough for me to lit couple of lights surrounding my Jewelry that I will be shooting.

Any input from other member please ?

Thanx appreciate it

[griptape]

If you really are interested in macro photography, the Canon 100mm f/2.8 macro lens is around $450 USD (I'm not sure how much you'd end up paying in AUD), and you could mount it to any Canon body and get great results (XT, XTi, 20D, 30D, 40D etc.). I don't know if that puts you over budget or not, but it's a great lens (the body really isn't that important).

As for needing extra distance for light, that's the point of the tripod. You can have a long shutter speed, but the camera isn't moving, so it still lets in enough light without getting any blur. But the above mentioned 100mm will give you a working distance of about 3-4 feet.

[Norm in Fujino]

I'm in the Olympus dSLR camp. Olympus pioneered live view in dSLRs and currently has three models with that feature: the E-330, which is vastly underrated and can be had for a song--if you can find one--, the E-510 (10MP, but unfortunately, non-articulating LCD), and the E-3, with 3-dimentionally articulating LCD. Two Zuiko Digital macro lenses are available, the 35mm f3.5 and 50mm f2.0, together with several from Sigma as well. The 4/3 format gives you an advantage in macro with slightly deeper depth of field.

Here's a Japanese netsuke I shot with the E-3 + 50mm f2.0 macro combination:

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c197/Peregrinor/technical/P1021768w1.jpg

Later Edit As a comparison, I shot the same netsuke using an inexpensive p&s, the Fuji F30, which has nice color and high-ISO performance for a pocket camera. At the same distance and using maximum zoom + macro function, here's what I got:
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c197/Peregrinor/technical/080101007aw1.jpg

I resized the image to the same dimensions, but I could have cropped a bit to make the apparent object size the same, without much if any loss in quality. If your needs are no greater than this, then there's no need to go to the expense of buying a dSLR of any make.

[regretal]

Griptape thanx so much for your input. From your input, i have researched 3 types of focal length lens, the 90-105mm is the 2nd level which allows macro shooting for insects and allows distance up to 3 feet as you mentioned for extra lighting purpose.

My budget is around US$1200 including the lens, was thinking of getting canon 400D body but the body itself would cost me US$1500 and extra US$1100 for the lens kit.

My question is , what is f/2.8 ?

Norm Fujino also mention f2.0 and f3.5 for both his cameras, what does the difference make of ?

YAY I learn more about cameras, i should have the rough idea what im getting now ^^

[griptape]

The f number (f/2.8, f/3.5, etc) is the aperture. Aperture is how wide the blades of the shutter open, which determines how much light is let into the sensor. The smaller the f number, the larger the opening. Here's a picture that illustrates it...
http://web.uvic.ca/ail/techniques/aperture.gif
Large aperture lenses are more complicated and expensive to make (and also larger and heavier in general than "slower" lenses), so they cost more to buy.