Looking for a solution

[Switchables]

Hey everyone,

I'm new to this forum, but I've found quite a bit of useful advice from it already, and I wanted to post my situation to see what perspectives I could get from the Photography community.

I don't know much about Photography. Last year we bought a Nikkon D50 so I could start taking pictures of our new product that we began to sell and started working on a catalog and other print advertisements.

With the camera, I bought a EZCube tent, and a few cheap lights for a couple hundred dollars.

Now, here's my situation. It's almost time for new designs - and that means another reshoot of all my photography. My Nikkon D50 is giving me a problems, and I just had to send it in for repair.

I want to upgrade my lighting, and methods, but should I upgrade my camera, or do you think the d50 is fine for my use?

Here's a sample picture URL of our product. We design small stained glass pins, earrings & nightlights. The nightlights are no larger then 3" and need to be photographed in use in an outlet.

The jewelry however has no restraints on how I must photograph them.

http://www.switchables.net/pop.php?f...ages/JE011.jpg


Does anyone have any suggestions regarding lighting and products they would recommend considering a budget of around $2-4k?

Upgrade from d50?
What kind of lighting?
Macro lens?

This isn't standard jewelry - it's stained glass.

Thanks in advance,
matt

[griptape]

You'd be hard pressed to upgrade from a D50 without spending a couple thousand dollars. I think a macro lens and a tripod would benefit you a lot, as you're shooting very small objects. Since you're shooting stationary subjects, I think a tripod would be a far more practical solution than better lighting. Just make sure your white balance is right and you're good to go.

[Switchables]

Well. The D50 right now is in Melville, NY for repair. For some reason it started giving me errors 90% of the time on shots. When it gets fixed I'll just keep it for a camera to tool around with.

So either way, i'm buying a new camera this weekend.

My budget is $2,000 for a new camera, macro lens, tripod (perhaps) - I have one, but I may replace it, and perhaps some additional lighting.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

To note again, I'm taking photography of stained glass jewelry & nightlights as seen on switchables.net. The photography will be used for print (catalogs/advertisements) and online.

Also, is it necessary to use a macro lens with my product? I don't get reflection from stained glass when I get clsoe with a normal lens. However, I don't know much about it, so any insight would be great. Thanks,

Matt