Beginner Lens me your ears.

mercmanuk

mercmanuk

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I am a sucker for punishment, which is sending me two and fro about a lens choice.

I want to take pictures of my watch collection, I am almost there bar the lens.

choices

24 70 f4 all the shots will be using a 2 flash set up 2.8 on the 24 70 is not a problem ?
17 40 as above shorter
24 105 f4 good walkabout very versatile but is it a good product lens. ?
100mm IS Macro great lens but have to move the whole shabang rather than just zoom.
105 Sigma OS see above
Sigma 30mm 1.4 why did I choose that for the list (see 24 70)
50mm 1.8 I know I need one so that can be discounted, for now.

or am I totally missing the head banging lot.

Recommend me a lens please or at least narrow it down for me.

Please think for me.
 
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I'm no expert on product photography but I believe lighting and setup is far more important than the lens, for which I'd have thought any short telephoto would do.
 
As Nawty has said above, the lighting and set-up is more important than the lens. I often shoot product photography (including some watches/jewelery) with an 18-105 kit lens and customers are perfectly happy with the results.

If you're doing this purely for your own interest then large aperture/shallow DOF may be of interest but when shooting commercially the trick is not to have any reflections and to have everything in sharp focus (unless the client has asked for something different, of course) so f/8-16 is the norm with the object inside a light tent. Sorry, rambled on a bit there; certainly didn't mean to teach you how to suck eggs :)
 
Thanks for the reply's.

I appreciate all the input and it's a bit of a re-leaf I have a couple of lens for the job, going to have a go tomorrow using 18 135 STM and the 15-85 every things arrived and I'm a patient guy, I just know the look I want without too much processing.

Ta Mark.
 
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Apart from lighting I'd have thought the issue is how big the item is in the frame. If your lenses are able to get the target big enough in the frame for you then all's well and good but if you need to get closer you may need a macro or if not macro a close focusing lens.

I used to have a Canon 50mm f2.5 and although not a true macro without the life size converter it's a nice 50mm and capable of focusing quite close.
 
For watches I'd be using my Sigma 150mm macro because it is very sharp and is a flat field design. The only time I don't use the macro for products is when the FL is too long or I have another special requirement. The next most useful lens for product photography is a TS/PC-E for manipulating the DOF (instead of having multiples I use TC's on mine). Other than those two somewhat specialty lenses (a macro and a TS) almost any lens will do.
Since you are shooting Canon I would suggest the Sigma 105mm macro as the bargain choice. But I would seriously consider the Canon 65mm MP-E... that's one lens that makes me jealous of Canon...

You'll probably also need to work on your macro technique/gear (tripod/head/release/etc), especially if going up to 5x with the MP-E. Tethering the camera to a large screen (laptop) is a big help too.

Don't worry about having to move the lens instead of zooming because product photography doesn't work that way. You have to set the composition/camera angle/view first, and then you build up the lighting.
I disagree with the "light tent" approach unless you're going for the most basic "catalogue look" easily/quickly.
 
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The thing about the MP-E though is the working distance, max 100mm or there abouts? That may be a bit limiting depending upon the framing you want. Even on a full frame camera 100mm may mean that you may struggle, for example, get a watch and strap in the frame. All depends on the size of the target etc.
 
woof woof said:
The thing about the MP-E though is the working distance, max 100mm or there abouts? That may be a bit limiting depending upon the framing you want. Even on a full frame camera 100mm may mean that you may struggle, for example, get a watch and strap in the frame. All depends on the size of the target etc.
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It doesn't *have* to be used at 5x or even macro... but being able to get in really tight and pull some fine detail shots is really nice. But there are other ways of doing it as well... extension tubes, crop factor, etc...
 
Thanks all, going to have a go today, plenty to think about, I am going to have to get some kind of Macro gear for the detail in the movements if all goes well with the dial shots I will investigate macro, once again thanks for sharing.
 
sk66 said:
It doesn't *have* to be used at 5x or even macro... but being able to get in really tight and pull some fine detail shots is really nice. But there are other ways of doing it as well... extension tubes, crop factor, etc...
Click to expand...

Well, yes obviously you don't have to go to x5.

There seem to be different specs on the net so I'm not too sure that 100mm is the max distance. I don't know if there are different versions in existence and that accounts for the differing specs or if people are getting it wrong. Anyway, my point was that this lens will only focus at some relatively close distance and that could potentially be an issue if trying to get, for example, a largish watch and strap in the frame.
 
woof woof said:
Anyway, my point was that this lens will only focus at some relatively close distance and that could potentially be an issue if trying to get, for example, a largish watch and strap in the frame.
Click to expand...
I was unaware that the lens is *only* a dedicated macro lens... I've changed my mind about that lens. I'd be more inclined to add tubes (or high crop factor) to a longer Macro (100-200mm) to get above 1:1.

*Yes, I realize crop factor doesn't actually change the magnification ratio... but it sure *looks* like it does.
 
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