Product photos for ecommerce website

Beav

Beav

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Hi guys,

Do you find a modern smart phone is enough to get good product images for website stock?

I was big into photography and sold all my equipment a few years back. I'm now using a Samsung S20 but the focus isn't always great when capturing the photos and wondering if a mirrorless camera would perform a lot better?

Not sure if to invest and get a mirrorless camera (I used to have a Canon 6D). Always wanted to try mirrorless and liked the look of the Sony stuff but it would be an older camera Sony A7II (maybe wait and stretch to the A7III). Or possibly just upgrade my mobile phone?

Thanks in advance.
 
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It all comes down to lighting really. Crack that nut first. Can't use studio flashes with a phone, but could use continous lighting at a push.

A 'proper' camera will give much better results, you have to decide if the extra effort is worth it.
 
I think the question is what do you call good enough? Personally as good as my phone is I'd use a proper camera for a job like that. But theres all sorts of factors, how big is the product, is it tricky to light or reflective. That may mean lens and lights and all sorts of gear.
 
It really does depend on the products you are photographing.

For high end products where lighting and detail is important then I'd go with a camera and some proper lighting.

Most lower end products could be shot using a modern phone and some continuous lighting. Product images on websites aren't usually that big anyway and the quality of a good phone will be plenty.
 
The products are mainly computers, desktops, laptops.etc

Do have a 2 year old dog which my fiance would like me to photograph from time to time but realisticly that's probably a few times a year (Would also need a different lens for that really).

I had a Canon 6D for years but got sick of carrying a full frame camera around car shows and as the subject was static I decided to use my phone.

When I first got into DSLR cameras I was shooting motorsport stuff but as I come away from that I didn't really use the DSLR.
 
There are a couple of threads at the moment on the phone vs camera debate - the summary is basically that phones are great in some situations, but a camera is generally more versatile and capable of superior results if you put the effort in.

If it were purely a business decision, then the question would be how much better photos would improve sales, both in volume and sale value (IE Would better photos enable you to charge a higher price, by marketing things as higher quality), and would that improvement justify the cost of the camera / lights, etc.

As already mentioned, a camera would enable you to use a wider range of lighting, and lighting that is the key to getting really good product shots - not only in terms of individual shots, but also in consistency between shots.

You mention the A7ii / A7iii, but you may want to consider their A6xxx APS-C cameras - there are some good APS-C lenses available which are lighter and cheaper than the FF equivalents, and if you are using lighting anyway, the low light advantages of FF become irrelevant.
 
Beav said:
Do you find a modern smart phone is enough to get good product images for website stock?
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Good enough is a subjective term.

Millions of items are sold worldwide every month using smartphone images.

Meanwhile advertising agencies are still paying photographers huge sums of money to produce the right pictures.

Most of the world lives somewhere between - but only you can decide your place.

For me, a decent m4/3 solution would be a good start point. That and some inexpensive mains powered flash, softboxes etc.

But window light and a smartphone will also do a job.
 
Beav said:
The products are mainly computers, desktops, laptops.etc

Do have a 2 year old dog which my fiance would like me to photograph from time to time but realisticly that's probably a few times a year (Would also need a different lens for that really).

I had a Canon 6D for years but got sick of carrying a full frame camera around car shows and as the subject was static I decided to use my phone.

When I first got into DSLR cameras I was shooting motorsport stuff but as I come away from that I didn't really use the DSLR.
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It sounds from this that lighting isn't your thing - but good product photography is ALL about the lighting!

Lots of people use smartphones instead of cameras, and as Phil says, they can produce adequate results - but all that a smartphone can actually do is to produce reasonably acceptable illustrative shots, i.e. shots that show what the item actually looks like, good enough to show that it's a left-handed whatsit with an inbuilt castle nut, but if you're trying to sell "want" items that they don't need, rather than "need" items such as a left-handed whatsit with an inbuilt castle nut, good photos produce much higher sales.
 
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