Photography canvas artwork

[siesah]

Hello everyone,
I want to buy a camera and lens to take art-canvas photos.
I want to make prints.
I care about quality, sharpness and details.
I think to buy a Sigma 35mm 1.4 (due to the sharpness of photos) and a Nikon D800 due to the number of pixels.
Is this a good choice? Or maybe the technology has changed so much that it is not worth buying such an old camera?
Will a 35mm lens be good or should I buy a 50mm lens?

The camera will only be used for art-canvas photos, flat surfaces.

I'm open for suggestions. budget 1000-1100euro

 

[sirch]

Welcome to TP. The number of pixels you need essentially depends on how large you want to print so deciding on maximum print size would be a good place to start.
Lens choice is going to be dependent to some extent on how far from the art work you can position your camera and other factors such as distortion, softness at the corners etc. Given that you are likely going to be shooting at the sharpest aperture for the lens, F1.4 seems an unnecessary expense.

Most importantly though I would suggest you budget for a good lighting set up, its probably as important as the camera/lens, if not more so.

 

[Box Brownie]

Hi and welcome to TP

You may not be too surprised that "photography of artwork" has come up a few times......

Lens For Larger Paintings

I have a 60mm Macro lens for photographing oil paintings. Is good, but in my garage studio I can only photograph paintings up to about 76cms/30 inches accross, because I can't get any further back. Could I solve this by buying another lens? My body is a Nikon D3200. Thanks,

www.talkphotography.co.uk

Problem photographing art!

Hi, I wonder if anyone could help! I have a 350d cannon and i use a range of lenses - cannon 70-300 and a 18-55 IS lens. My sole purpose for using my camera is to take photos of my artwork but every time I take a picture and go to crop the photo, the picture is never square - the picture...

www.talkphotography.co.uk

 

[DizMatt]

I would look at a few things.
firstly the minimal focal distance of the lens.
also how you are going to mount the lens. A macro prime lens will have good sharpness and fit the purpose well.
Also, more importantly, I would be looking at how you intend to light the artwork.

 

[siesah]

Thanks for the answers.
The size of the canvas I take pictures is from 50cm x 50cm to 140cm x 140cm.
The space I have is not too big, so I think about 35mm or 50mm lenses. I heard that Sigma Art takes very very sharp pictures. Could you suggest a different better lens in my budget?.
I understand that lighting is very important, but I want to start with the camera and lens first.
As for the D800 (I also want to make large prints) is still a good option or is it better to buy a more modern crop sensor camera at this price?

 

[siesah]

I am also open to other systems, not necessarily Nikon

 

[THIRTYFIVEMILL]

Thanks for the answers.
The size of the canvas I take pictures is from 50cm x 50cm to 140cm x 140cm.
The space I have is not too big, so I think about 35mm or 50mm lenses. I heard that Sigma Art takes very very sharp pictures. Could you suggest a different better lens in my budget?.
I understand that lighting is very important, but I want to start with the camera and lens first.
As for the D800 (I also want to make large prints) is still a good option or is it better to buy a more modern crop sensor camera at this price?

If that focal range works then a Nikon 40mm f/2.8 G Macro lens should be plenty sharp enough.

 

[DizMatt]

Thanks for the answers.
The size of the canvas I take pictures is from 50cm x 50cm to 140cm x 140cm.
The space I have is not too big, so I think about 35mm or 50mm lenses. I heard that Sigma Art takes very very sharp pictures. Could you suggest a different better lens in my budget?.
I understand that lighting is very important, but I want to start with the camera and lens first.
As for the D800 (I also want to make large prints) is still a good option or is it better to buy a more modern crop sensor camera at this price?

the D800 is fine for this.
assuming 140cm, =56 inches, and you print at 300dpi, then you need
16,800 pixels across for a perfect print.

however, canvas printing resolutions are much lower, 150dpi I think is reasonable, maybe less the Nikon D800 sensor is 7,360 × 4,912 so will be good.
Anything in a cropped sensor will be inferior I think

I would look at the range at which you take the photos, the lighting and then any post processing to remove vignetting and pin cushioning in the final image.
Thankfully the lines of your frame will guide you.

 

[DizMatt]

for super resolution, then the Canon 5DSr is has a native resolution of 8688 x 5792
the Sony a7R IV is greater in resolution, but lens choice less prolific.

 

[Phil V]

I understand that lighting is very important, but I want to start with the camera and lens first.

If you spend £1000 on a camera and lens, and nothing on lighting.
And I spend £400 on lighting and £600 on a camera and a lens, I will always produce better images.

It's a fact, there's no getting round. To photograph is to draw with light, so the light is the most important part of the equation.

 

[siesah]

for super resolution, then the Canon 5DSr is has a native resolution of 8688 x 5792
the Sony a7R IV is greater in resolution, but lens choice less prolific.

unfortunately at the moment it's out of my budget

If you spend £1000 on a camera and lens, and nothing on lighting.
And I spend £400 on lighting and £600 on a camera and a lens, I will always produce better images.

It's a fact, there's no getting round. To photograph is to draw with light, so the light is the most important part of the equation.

I agree with you. I have a separate budget for lights. Now I'm trying to focus on the camera and lens on which I can spend 1000 euro in total

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Thank you for all answers