Lens for Photographing Oil Paintings?

Two_In

Two_In

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Andrew
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I've worn out my 18-55mm lens and need a new one for photographing oil paintings on a daily basis. My setup is rudimentary but adequate, and have a designated area in my studio for photographing paintings. I use a D200, Manfrotto tripod and have LED lighting.

Any recommendations for a replacement lens please?

The 18-55mmm is ok and the zoom is helpful for different sized paintings. I only use this camera for photographing paintings. I'd prefer 2nd hand to keep costs down, and would consider a new body if it came with a lens (if that was cost effective?). The D200's 10MPs is a bit too small for printing purposes I've found. But right now the lens is most important as it could die at any time and I need it.

Thanks,
 
I suppose the choice could be limited by physical things such as how big are the paintings and how far can you step back.

A macro lens might be a good choice as they're often optically good across the frame. Maybe a 50mm f2.8 macro? If you fancy a more general purpose lens I'd take a look at the Sigma or Tamron 17/18-50mm f2.8. I had the Tamron when I had Canon APS-C cameras and I thought it was a very good lens. I don't know what similar lens Nikon has.

Hope that helps.
 
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woof woof said:
I suppose the choice could be limited by physical things such as how big are the paintings and how far can you step back.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the replies and advice.
FYI The paintings are smallish and the distance is about 1-2 metres....
 
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Framing shouldn't be too much of a problem then.

So,
A 50, 60 or maybe even a 90 or 100mm Macro lens?
A 17-50mm f2.8 zoom?
Or as Andrew very sensibly suggests, another 18-55mm f3.5-5.6?
 
If you're satisfied with the 18-55 then getting another should be easy to get and pretty cheap. That will get your day to day use out of trouble and should cost around £ 40-£ 50.

If you are looking to upgrade the body, then that can be considered as a separate item. I suppose the current version of the D200 is the D600/D610, D500 or D710 which are 20 - 24 mp, and an upgraded lens at the same time should yield a double whammy of image size and image quality.
 
What focal length is your zoom usually used at at the moment? I'd probably go for a 50mm prime - an f/1.8 would be cheaper than an f/1.4 and would be just as good at f/5.6 or smaller (higher number). If you're using the current zoom at 35mm or so, then a 35mm prime will do the same job. Probably distort less too. While Alan's suggestion of a macro lens isn't a bad one, they tend to be more expensive.
 
Some primes have barrel distortion, a macro lens is a safer bet, especially since you have no need of a large aperture.
 
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