Improved Lens For larger Oil Paintings?

Two_In

Two_In

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Andrew
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I have a half decent 60mm lens for photographing small oil paintings in my studio. I use Smartflash lights and Nikon D3200.

But I have problems with paintings over 50cm due to lack of room - short distance from painting and tight for light set up. I've been using the included 18-55mm lens for these, which is ok but noticeably poorer than my 60mm. I'd like to upgrade to a better lens. Could I please have recommendations for a lens type or model suitable for paintings from about 50cm up to about 190+cm. I generally buy second hand to get more for my money.

Thanks
 
If you need to get a larger subject in, at a short distance, then you may need a wide angle lens. Although beware of distortion at short distances (but that depends what you are using the images for I suppose). A dedicated prime lens will normally (I would say always but some may disagree) perform far better than a kit lens. Your best bet is to see what wide angle primes are available and work out what is in your price range I suppose. Or, find somewhere with more space so that you can move back to get the whole painting in. As GreenNinja67 has said a 35mm prime may do the trick.
 
Stitching 2 or 4 shots together might be an option. Make sure there's plenty of overlap to give whatever software you use the best chance of making a decent job of the stitching.
 
The Nikon D3200 is afaik APS-C so any wide lens will have the corners cropped out, crop factor x1.5, and any wide angle distortion may or may not be an issue. It all depends.

I've no idea if a 35mm would suit the op but as this is APS-C maybe the best course would be to fit the 18-55mm and see what focal length is most appropriate. The op can then look for a decent lens at that focal length.
 
woof woof said:
the best course would be to fit the 18-55mm and see what focal length is most appropriate
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Absolutely. You are presumably aware of the camera being aps-c (having what's called a crop sensor, not full-frame) and that this affects the focal length needed - and that certain lenses cover that format only whereas other lenses cover full frame as well as the lesser format (whilst all having the same Nikon F mount).

Wide angle lenses (and even more the wide end of zooms) generally have barrel distortion, so you either live with this or correct it - if not in-camera then in software. By comparison, macro (called 'micro' by Nikon) lenses tend to produce rectiliniar results, so correction isn't needed. But the widest one for APS-C seems to be the Micro Nikkor AF-S DX 40mm f/2.8 G, which might not be wide enough for your circumstance.

Seems to me that your greatest problem is the space you're trying to do this in :).
 
I still think mounting the 18-55mm and seeing what focal length gives the best option is the best plan as who knows if a 35mm is the right thing?

Another option could be a quality mid range zoom. Years ago I had a Tamron 17-50mm f2.8 and it was a significant step up from anything I'd had before. Sigma do a very similar lens and of course Canon do too but the Canon options will probably cost more.

At the time that Tamron 17-50mm f2.8 on my APS-C Canon DSLR convinced me that some lenses can be just too sharp for pictures of your girlfriend :D
 
The lights are going to need to be set wider and further away as well. if you are to achieve equally good light coverage, with out significant fall off across the image.

you might be trying to fit a quart into a pint pot as far as the studio is concerned.
 
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This 35mm f/1.8 G AF-S DX Nikkor lens seems to be coming up a lot in searches, and reasonable at around £115 used. Would this give me an improvement in quality on the 18-55mm lens?
 
Yes, in a word! Although an Fx version would probably be even better.
 
Nod said:
Yes, in a word! Although an Fx version would probably be even better.
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Thanks, there's a few Dx in a quick search, but no Fx. What does Dx and Fx mean?
 
Dx are designed to be used on crop sensor bodies like your D3200 and project a smaller image on the sensor plane (which shows as [sometimes very severe] vignetting on full frame/35mm film bodies) while Fx lenses project a larger image to cover the whole FF/35mm film area. The Wiki entry on crop factors is quite good and worth a read if you want to know more.
 
I've found a Fx lens for £137 would that work on my D3200?
 
The advantage of using an Fx lens on a Dx body is that the smaller sensor only uses the middle part of the image the lens is projecting so basically discards the (usually) softer and marginally darker parts that are towards the edges and corners of the image circle.
 
Two_In said:
I've found a Fx lens for £137 would that work on my D3200?
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Yes, pretty much any Fx lens will work on a Dx body (there are a couple of exceptions) but there may be compromises. Older AF lenses from Nikon/Nikkor had a mechanical link from body to lens which controlled autofocus and your 3200 needs lenses with built in AF motors. That needn't be a big problem, you can use manual focus and the camera's focus confirm light (IIRC, a green dot in the viewfinder) or (if your body has it) live view and zooming in to focus.
 
Two_In said:
This 35mm f/1.8 G AF-S DX Nikkor lens seems to be coming up a lot in searches, and reasonable at around £115 used. Would this give me an improvement in quality on the 18-55mm lens?
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Andrew. Do yourself a favour and make sure that a 35mm focal length lens on your APS-C camera will give you the framing you want as if it doesn't you'll have a better quality lens than your kit lens but you wont be able to frame the shot how you want to.

Don't let gear acquisition syndrome run away with you, make sure you want a 35mm and it suits your needs before you buy one.
 
Still looking and nearing buying. But have seen a few older manual lenses. I do a lot of manual focus anyway, so could I pick up a better lens for less by going older? Are there any good reasons not to do this?
 
Photograph the paintings outside in natural light
 
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