Which camera is right ?

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craigahannan

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craig hannan
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Hi all, im fairly new to photography, got involved through work really and became interested in macro photography, my problem is i need a camera that is good enoigh for macro (for relaxing) and also good enough for taking shots of the products that i sell (for work) which are mainly pieces of body jewellery (quite small) and i need to get really close up and very clear shots to show the detail and correct colours in gemstones and other tiny pieces of body jewellery, i also need to be able to take sots of modelled piercings, so headshots, shots of ears, nose, lips, eyebrows, belly buttons etc. I just bought an olympus tough tg-6 which seems pretty good for the macro element but can anyone recommend a really good camera and lens if needed for the type of shots i need to get as there are so many options around i am totally stumped and i already wasted around £800 on cameras that dont really do what i am looking for, thanks for any advice.
 
Getting close up and clear shots of small things often requires very good light, so if you don't have that, it's probably worth setting aside some of your budget for that too. If you're reliant on natural light, this might result in longer shutter speeds, so a tripod may also be useful to steady your camera for longer shutter speeds.

With detachable lens systems, the camera is less important and the lens probably more important. It might be worth considering a second hand body for example, and spending the savings on a decent macro lens.

Many of the camera manufacturers produce excellent quality bodies, so Canon, Nikon, Sony etc are all much of a muchness and things like operability are probably more differentiating. That's why it's often useful to physically hold some of these cameras to see how they feel. Some might be too big, some too small, some too heavy, and some not substantial enough. There is no clear cut reason to choose one manufacturer over another these days.

But to begin with, an idea of your budget would be very helpful. Macro lens vary enormously in price so knowing what you've got to spend will help others advise. I'm no macro shooter so I can't help with specifics sadly.

Welcome to the forums though Craig. Good luck in your search.
 
You could probably get away with constant LED lighting. Those little panel style ones.

And for that £800 budget you could probably pick up a used 5D2 and 100mm USM macro which would fit the bill. I don't have any macro experience on another system.
 
That's quite a tough set of requirements and needs a lot of skill and experience not only gear. If you're keen to learn it will be fun, but frustrating at times and you're unlikely to get the results you want straightaway. I shoot mainly with canon so I'd recommend looking at something like a Canon R (approx GBP 1900), 100mm L macro lens (approx GBP 900). In addition, you'll likely need a tripod and a couple of flashes, a flash cable chord, maybe a softbox. Maybe makes sense to hire someone to take the pics, at least to start with?
 
To be honest unless you really know what you are doing, spending even thousands and thousands on a camera and lens won't help you.

It's way more about lighting, skill and experience.

If you need commercial images then you need to employ a professional photographer.
 
Hi Harlequin565 thanks for your reply, for a budget i would say maybe 600 to 700 if i could get the results i need but if i need to pay more then i will have to, i didnt really want to start paying massive amounts, i saw one camera the other day for over £2000, thats probably too much to be honest as i am an absolute novice, i have a manfroto tripod i paid around £60 for and it does what i need it to as in it keeps the camera still much better than my hands can and as for lighting i just ordered the kit in the following link as it looked quite easy to setup in the video on the site :- https://www.essentialphoto.co.uk/pr...oduct-photography-kit-with-reflective-boards/ still the correct camera and lens alludes me haha.
 
thanks newbie1 and riddell, yeah it is frustrating and a very hard skill to learn but i do love the macro aspect, its like a whole new world. The trouble with employing a photographer as i have done in the past although most of the shots were really good there are small things that i see in the shots that the photographer wouldnt just because i know the jewellery and how it should appear, for example i had some shots of a nose ring which most people choose the smallest size of but in the picture it looks large and thick and just didnt look right even though it was a great shot, nice angle and showed the detail of the piece so i woud like to be able to put my own mark on my product shots if that makes sense.
 
craigahannan said:
thanks newbie1 and riddell, yeah it is frustrating and a very hard skill to learn but i do love the macro aspect, its like a whole new world. The trouble with employing a photographer as i have done in the past although most of the shots were really good there are small things that i see in the shots that the photographer wouldnt just because i know the jewellery and how it should appear, for example i had some shots of a nose ring which most people choose the smallest size of but in the picture it looks large and thick and just didnt look right even though it was a great shot, nice angle and showed the detail of the piece so i woud like to be able to put my own mark on my product shots if that makes sense.
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Makes total sense. In this case, also think about some training which will speed up your learning. That is likely to be a lot quicker than trying to learn from here and youtube. All the same, I'd prepare yourself that it will take minimum of several months to start to get what you want.
 
From the description I'm pretty sure I could take the kinds of pictures you want/need using your Olympus tg-6 and some optically slaved lighting (or even constant lights)... IDT the problem is the camera/lens (although a lack of manual mode could be a problem).
Sure, using my 150mm macro on my D850 with remote syncd studio strobes would deliver better images more easily... but the "better" aspect is probably more than you really need, and the "more easily" aspect is really just a matter of some time/fussing that would be reduced.

My best suggestion is to spend some time learning... plenty of videos on youtube (if it's more than 50% about editing it's probably not what you need). And post images; ask for help/critique here... there are those here with the knowledge and willingness to help.
 
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Secondhand Sony A7 series and a Sigma 70mm macro f2.8.

Then get some Godox flashes and a trigger.

Maybe a cheap lightbox off Amazon / eBay.

You'll be amazed at the images you can produce once you've learnt about lighting.
 
As mentioned above skills and understanding of the subject is more important than the tools.
For a starting point I like this site

Introduction to Macro Photography

www.cambridgeincolour.com www.cambridgeincolour.com

As for the tools within your budget i.e. your camera+lens this is what I'd put my money on:

Used Sony A6000 (~£200) + new loawa 65mm f2.8 macro (~£400)

This setup is manual focus only but autofocus isn't all that useful for macro photography. But the macro lens is designed to do 2:1 magnification i.e. 2x Life size magnification (as supposed to 1:1 magnification like most other lenses) which is really nice for macro.

OR

Used Olympus E-M1II (~£400) + Olympus 60mm f2.8 macro (~£200)

This setup gives you AF should you want/need that for other types of photography. Also E-M1ii has some nice in camera features like focus stacking, great image stabilization etc which are useful for macro photography. But the magnification of this setup is lower (1:1). The sensor size is also smaller but that's not necessarily that big an issue if you are using good lighting (in fact it can be helpful for a larger depth of field)

The remaining £200 I'd spend on lighting, may be small sturdy tripod, props for products, some software for processing and/or focus stacking.
 
I would argue the cameras not that important at all, it's the lens, you need a proper macro lens. I would also say if you're fairly new to photography then I'd go second hand at first from somewhere like wex or mpb.
As an example (as you've already delved into olympus which is what I use too) you can get a mark one em10 for £50! or the flagship (at the time) em1 for less than £200!
Pair it with the olympus 60mm (proper) macro at circa £350 second hand and you've got a great setup to learn with and you can upgrade the camera later when you can justify it.
 
newbie1 said:
That's quite a tough set of requirements and needs a lot of skill and experience not only gear. If you're keen to learn it will be fun, but frustrating at times and you're unlikely to get the results you want straightaway. I shoot mainly with canon so I'd recommend looking at something like a Canon R (approx GBP 1900), 100mm L macro lens (approx GBP 900). In addition, you'll likely need a tripod and a couple of flashes, a flash cable chord, maybe a softbox. Maybe makes sense to hire someone to take the pics, at least to start with?
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Maybe makes more sense not to blow over 3 grand on gear that's not needed.....
 
I think you probably already own the ideal camera for your needs . other than that donnie has made a good suggestion . but it won't give you the years of experience that you need .. macro and close up is a skill that only some can master well ..
watch some u.tube videos to get the best out of the tg-6 which I believe does in camera focus stacking . that should be more than enough for now .... what you also have to take on board is the fact that most of the good macro/close up images you see published are the result of not only camera and lens but good post processing skills on sometimes very expensive computers .. in other words learn to walk before attempting to run
 
To be honest, it doesn't need to cost a fortune. I use a used Canon 80d and a used Sigma 150mm macro lens.
For jewellery etc you wouldn't need a 150mm lens, a 90mm would be a better FL (focal length), something like a Tamron 90mm. This gives you room enough to get light on to your subject. You'll find adding light is necessary when working with small apertures. As for the camera, most crop or FF, Canon, Nikon, Fuji, Sony camera's will be fine.
I'd look at the used market, you get much more for your money.
 
craigahannan said:
The trouble with employing a photographer as i have done in the past although most of the shots were really good there are small things that i see in the shots that the photographer wouldnt just because i know the jewellery and how it should appear, for example i had some shots of a nose ring which most people choose the smallest size of but in the picture it looks large and thick and just didnt look right even though it was a great shot, nice angle and showed the detail of the piece so i would like to be able to put my own mark on my product shots if that makes sense.
Click to expand...

OK, so that means you are not employing a very good photographer. A true professional photographer will go through every little aspect with you and shoot exactly how you want.
Find out the style, angles, market you are going for.

There are many different options, even remotely where you'd be able to see images and preview and discuss how you want things, if thats not exactly how you want it.
I've worked with dozens upon dozens of clients who have a very specific vision, and some are actually not that good at communicating across that exact vision they have, so we work together, effectively they become the stylist, and sometimes I even work with a stylist and the client, that way the stylist does their job, but the client still has the final say.

So if the client wants to add 'thats good, but I want to show that aspect' then the stylist can adjust it.
Or if the client wants to add 'I like the angle now, but the stone isn't lit correct, I really need to be able to see the facets' then thats where I'd come in and tweak the lighting.

Its a really fast way of working, and the client always ends up happy.

To be honest from experience I've shot countless numbers products, and thousands of pieces of jewellery. Jewellery is particularly tricky. I generally need a pretty complex lighting setup and it has to constantly change and be adjusted between different pieces. Different setups for different metals, stones, facets, clusters, plus of course a total change of setup between bracelets, rings, pendants etc.
 
I've no idea what the tg6 is but for close up stuff I always think of a relatively cheap camera and a film era macro lens.

I've used a Sigma 50mm f2.8 1:1 macro on all my Micro Four Thirds cameras (where it gave a 100mm field of view) and my FF Sony A7 too. If lighting is to be involved and possibly a tripod (or maybe not) I'd imagine the ISO will be relatively low so noise may not be a problem. I think I paid £60 for my Sigma macro plus £10-20 for the adapter and I really can't fault it's performance. Going the MFT route could involve a camera in the region of £100-200, maybe. If additional working distance is required maybe a longer macro such as a 100mm might be worth a look.
 
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