What lens?

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Lance
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Hi, i have just bought a canon D50 , I'm looking for a lens that is suitable for knife photography as seen here on my website www.driftwoodwalker.co.uk, all of the pictures here were taken on a point and shoot digital camera with a zoom. I am looking for a lens that will allow me to take pictures of my work but would also like to be able to use it for portraits, general pics such as the dogs etc.
Am i asking too much from one lens?
My budget is around £200.00
thank you for taking the time to read this.

Lance.
 
My suggestion would be the good ol' nifty fifty.

Good for portrait work and it will allow you to get creative with the shallow DoF. I'm sure a new 50mm f/1.8 is sub £100 at the moment.
 
Certainly not asking too much to have one lens that does both. A lot of good product photography is done at portrait lengths because using a wide angle will often not allow shallow depth of field and leave too much space around the subject. But since I'mNikon, I'll leave the recommendations to your Canon colleagues.
 
or a tamron 17-50/2.8, ball park price secondhand

it's sharp at f2.8 through the range, a nice walkabout focal length and covers a nice range if you want all those things

for just the knives I'd be tempted to go 50/1.8 but its a bit limiting sometimes for other things
 
Another vote for the 50mm 1.8

You will get good quality pictures and can be had for £80 - £100 new. Or you could try and find one second hand.
 
Have a look at a macro lens Tamron 90mm or sigma 105mm macro, these will allow you to get nice and close to show detail and are very sharp, also make very good portrait lens with fast constant f2.8
 
First of all, they look really nice knives that you make. As for a lens, I would look at the 50mm or see if you can get a 60mm nikkor micro s/h fir that sort of money, I am not sure if you will but it is a great lens.

Edit

opps re read OP's post and miss read it, I d50 and didn't see the canon in front of it, my appologies for being a numpty and ignore my lens suggestion.
 
Many thanks for the suggestions, much appreciated.
Given the price of the Nifty fifty i think i'll give it a go first.
cheers.
 
I may well be branded a heretic for saying this BUT point and shoot cameras generally have very good close up abilities and I think the photos on your website are more than good enough for the job. They're focused to give a good view of the whole knife and they're well lit so unless you're planning on changing the props/backgrounds the only thing that a DSLR+50mm will give you is the shallow DoF which could be good for some 'artsy' shots of the knives but I'm not convinced it will add that much to the products or website...
 
If you're doing product shots for your own website/business, I'd suggest a lens of about 100mm with a macro facility, or even a dedicated macro lens (more expensive, but better quality).
I'd also look into the Lighting section here for tips on lighting small, shiny objects such as steel blades.

If you look at magazines such as 'The Field' you'll see beautifully-lit images of shotgun breeches that show the finely-detailed scrollwork - not a million miles removed from your sort of thing, I'd think. That should be the sort of thing to aim for...and quite achievable with a minimum of outlay.


BTW - your knives look beautiful and I'm seriously tempted to put an order in very soon...
 
I agree with what Arkady has suggested on the 100mm front. You could maybe watch out for a S/H Canon 100mm f/2.8 Macro, doubles up as a nice portrait lens also :)
 
Rob,Arkady, is correct I think,get a macro lens secondhand and a small flash.

PS...agree that the knives look very good as well.
 
Thanks for all the suggestions and advice...i have been offered a canon EF-S 60mm F2.8 COMPACT MACRO AUTO FOCUS lens at a reasonable price, would this one do the job?
cheers.

ps, thanks for the comments regarding my work, very much appreciated.
 
I don`t shoot Canon so can`t say for sure really, it should be ok, but await confirmation from a Canon shooter.

Do you do filleting knives?
 
fracster said:
I don`t shoot Canon so can`t say for sure really, it should be ok, but await confirmation from a Canon shooter.

Do you do filleting knives?
Click to expand...

Hi, sorry i don't make filleting knives, i do make a Bird and Trout knife and this can be made in 2mm stock.

thanks for the advice.
 
Thought i'd update this thread. Here are a couple of pictures taken with the nifty fifty and a canon macro 60mm lens, think i'm getting there . Just like to say thank you for all the input.

Lance.

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IMG_0064.jpg
 
Great improvement.............:thumbs:
 
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