Best camera for Product photos (easy, Ebay...) 400 and under

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wahlstrom88

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Daniel
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Hi, complete beginner at photography and clueless as to which camera would be suitable for my needs. what I'm looking to do is to take products photos for website, photos of trade stand whilst on shows (so maybe wi-fi would be good?) and not necessary but a bonus to be able to use it on trips and day to day. budget I would say is up to 400 pounds maybe slightly more to get a camera that meets the needs..

kind regards

Daniel
 
what type of products? What sort of lighting do you have in the product photography area?
 
Product photos.. almost any modern camera will do, but it's useful to have one which you can connect to a laptop so you can immediately see what you're shooting (aka tethering).

Product photos are all about the lighting and you should budget a decent amount for that - and training - too. The lighting & studio forum will help more but £400 should get you a reasonably flexible - if basic - lighting setup.

Trade fair photos.. will be a bit more demanding, the lighting is often very poor so you'll need something which copes well in bad light and / or a tripod.

If I had £400 for a camera I'd look at a second hand Olympus OM-D EM-5 Mk1 & a kit lens - expect that doesn't tether to a laptop.
 
Have you researched to see if there is any need for what you want to do, is the first thing you need to look into. what would your costs be and amount you charge for your services. If you are seriously going to attempt to break into this type of photography you really need to put on a business hat and consider what is involved. For some idea your expenses would be equipment- travel- insurance third party andphotograhy eqjuipment - income tax- accounts -advertising- editing - health insurance. On top of that what happens if you fall ill with work already booked,,plus examples of what you can do. What happens if your one and only camera packs up? you need a backup one
Having it as a pipe dream just won't earn you any money. I know I have been through it running my own (different type) business for 22 years and it ain't easy, let alone the number of hours you need to put in

Sorry to put it this way, but all to often I read about what people would like to do without thinking it through properly
 
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realspeed said:
Have you researched to see if there is any need for what you want to do, is the first thing you need to look into. what would your costs be and amount you charge for your services. If you are seriously going to attempt to break into this type of photography you really need to put on a business hat and consider what is involved. For some idea your expenses would be travel- insurance - income tax- accounts -advertising- editing - health insurance. On top of that what happens if you fall ill with work already booked,,plus examples of what you can do.
Having it as a pipe dream just won't earn you any money. I know I have been through it running my own (different type) business for 22 years and it ain't easy, let alone the number of hours you need to put in.
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I'm guessing.. that the OP just wants to do the photography for his own pre-existing business?
 
As said, the camera bit isn't actually that important as any modern interchangeable lens camera is going to be able to do what you need. More important will be your lighting set up and backgrounds etc. If we're talking small products, a macro lens too. I would suggest finding out what you need in terms of lighting first and go from there.
 
i could do a startup walk thru but that would scare anyone before even getting a contract. Setting up a new business is not that easy and personally I would not advise it, better to take over an existing one with clients already on the books
 
You can get an Olympus EM10 ii for that sort of money, it would get you started and you have the option of getting faster lenses later. As Juggler said you need to think about lighting (and backgrounds) for product shots.
 
To echo what others have said, invest in the lighting not the camera.

No one will know what camera you used but a well lit subject will stand out.
 
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