Do I need a better lens? - Artwork shots

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Felix_Nights

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Hi there

I'm trying to achieve tabletop shots of artwork like this:

photostream

http://www.flickr.com/photos/17842148@N00/6435324975/in/photostream/
photostream

http://www.flickr.com/photos/17842148@N00/6435325369/in/photostream/

I'm using a Nikon D3100 with the standard 18-55mm lens.

i have a good flash lighting setup, but my shots don't seem crisp enough and the lens only goes up to f5.6.

See my sample shot:

photostream

http://www.flickr.com/photos/17842148@N00/6435317561/in/photostream/

Do i need a better lens? Can anyone point me in the right direction?

Thanks
 
Last edited:
You probably do.
f/5.6 isn't really a problem for this type of shot but the lens will probably need to be stopped down to f/11 to give reasonable results - and any smaller than that and diffraction limitation may start to rear its ugly head, so really you have a choice of f/11 or f/11.

There was someone on one of the Lencarta lighting workshops with that lens last month and the sharpness (and contrast) was terrible. But I've also seen fairly decent results from that kit lens, I think it's just down to luck and quality control with kit lenses.

The standard 50mm is probably your best bet - it's superb for the price, although a longer lens would be better from a perspective viewpoint.
 
Thanks for the advice Garry. I'll look into it.

By the way - i'm using the Lencarta Smartflash kit. It's superb!

Jake
 
I think Garry is right, the not so standard 1.4 50mm AFS lens is not bad at this sort of thing at about f8. I imagine the cheaper 1.8 50mm will have a very similar performance

Your kit lens will be pretty horrid at 5.6, you might want to do some experiments with a smaller aperture

Tip

In Lightroom3, you can pretty much automatically correct some of the basic lens issues. On that basis, I would have a quick look at going with a smaller aperture, and using lightroom to do a lens correction for you. You may like the results, and may save yourself some money
 
Thanks Richard, I'll give it a try.

The 1.4 50mm (and 1.8 50mm) look pretty flexible for what I want. Am I right?

Yes, you're right - my Leica compact is getting better results than the 18-55 kit lens.

I'll try the auto correction too.
 
Hmm...
I used to have the f/1.4 50mm lens in the bad old days when I shot weddings:)
I no longer need the wide aperture and you won't either, for this type of shot. Personally I find that the much cheaper/simpler f/2.8 produces equal sharpness once it's stopped down to f/5.6 and with far less flare.

Maybe my f/1.4 was a bad example, I only have experience of the one lens.
 
Garry Edwards said:
Hmm...
I used to have the f/1.4 50mm lens in the bad old days when I shot weddings:)
I no longer need the wide aperture and you won't either, for this type of shot. Personally I find that the much cheaper/simpler f/2.8 produces equal sharpness once it's stopped down to f/5.6 and with far less flare.

Maybe my f/1.4 was a bad example, I only have experience of the one lens.
Click to expand...

IN terms of off axiss aberation and distortion the new 50mm 1.4afs is still horrid at 1.4, but sweet as a nut at 4.5 to about f10. IMO (not worth that much), at 2.8 my old 35-70 Nikkor 2.8 is just as good lens at 50mm. Besides that, it is a solid metal with a lot of high v-value glass, can that weighs a ton and will outlast the camera many times over. I digress
 
No, I was thinking of this one - assuming that it will work with your camera, which other people will be able to advise on...
 
I wouldn't spend the extra on the 1.4. It's nice enough if you need that extra drop of light but for what you are doing you don't. Plus it is very slow at focussing. There's no obvious reason for this so I can only assume Nikon have done it deliberately :( However, the one Garry links to won't autofocus with your camera. You want this rather more expensive one. http://www.warehouseexpress.com/buy-nikon-50mm-f1-8-g-af-s-lens/p1525420

You might do worse than to get a 60mm macro though. Super sharp and close focussing. Again you want the more expensive of the 2 versions that exist. http://www.warehouseexpress.com/buy-nikon-60mm-f2-8-g-af-s-ed-micro-lens/p1025665 - I think there's one in the classifieds on this site.
 
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