Camera DSLR for Macro Photography?

H

harshit143

Adept
I am a complete newbie in world of DSLR's and i need a cam for jewellery photography. I have shortlisted Nikon D3300 in my budget, but, do the 18-55 lens capable of doing detailed macro photography for jewellery and diamonds?

Secondly, do this 18-55 can work as normal multipurpose lens or its just defined to some particular use only?

Thirdly, will i be able to take those background blurry pics with that 18-55?

Any other suggestions?

Cant extend my budget above 35k.
 
Nikon D3300 is a good choice. In fact any basic SLR will do your job pretty well.
For the 18-55 kit lens they will help you get that blurry background but not in all conditions. Its more of a trick/technique which you need to understand and practice ... You can achieve that effect with any lens then....
For shooting diamonds or jewellery you can get good results with kit lens but I would reckon you try something like a 100mm macro lens or like wise....
Though again the kit lens will do a good job. You will also have to invest in soft boxes, flash and small whitebox kind of setup.... count another 15k for all of these....
 
harshit143 said:
do the 18-55 lens capable of doing detailed macro photography for jewellery and diamonds?

Secondly, do this 18-55 can work as normal multipurpose lens or its just defined to some particular use only?

Thirdly, will i be able to take those background blurry pics with that 18-55?
.
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1. NO. NOT POSSIBLE. You will have to buy particular lens for macro photography. Easily about Rs 25000 extra.
Check this out: http://www.cameralabs.com/lenses/le...Nikon_macro_close-up_flower_insect_lens.shtml
http://www.nikonusa.com/en/Learn-And-Explore/Article/gnhy8b3m/macro-lenses.html

The normal lenses that come with the camera (like the 18-55) cannot focus so close to the object (lesser than 3-5 inches).


2. 18-55 is a general multipurpose zoom lens. There is nothing special about this lens.


3. Depends on your definition of blurry pic. I can take blurry pic even with mobile cam. One can avoid taking blurry pics even with full frame camera and large aperture lens.




If you really want a suggestion - DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY ON DSLR.
For your requirement of macro photography - a compact camera will be excellent. In fact for macro compacts easily beat the DSLRs unless you wish to blow up the print to wall size. In that case it is better to call a professional.
You will save tons of money too. And Huge amount of space and luggage.
There are many compact cameras that can do superb macro photography:
http://www.canon.co.in/personal/products/compact-cameras/powershot/powershot-s200?languageCode=EN
http://www.nikon.co.in/en_IN/product/digital-compact-cameras/performance/coolpix-p340
http://www.olympus-imaging.co.in/products/compact/x_series/


Oh goodness!
http://www.flipkart.com/olympus-stylus-xz-10-advance-point-shoot-camera/p/itmdj4yjxcrzzhcd
Its a steal!
 
Instead of getting D3300, get the older D3100 kit for much cheaper, around 22k. Invest in a proper macro lens like Tamron SP 90mm f/2.8 (~25k) and a ring flash. You are gonna need to focus manually anyway so you don't need to get the latest camera rather a proper macro lens.
 
No doubt P & S can do the job pretty well, but then you may be spending almost the same amount as DSLR set-up to get the professional quality (assuming that you are well acquainted with macro photography. However the biggest advantage of DSLR is that you can start small and then grow easily as your requirement grows.
I would go with @sabby's suggestion to start with. This is a good investment which can help you to learn and grow well into future. I understand that when you say macro photography you are talking about taking photos from a distance of 5 to 10". As an when your requirement grows you can purchase better quality lenses, quality close-up lenses etc.

If you are going DSLR way try to go for a lens which has atleast 1:2 magnification. 1:1 is still better. One can use 18-55 for close-up shots, but these may not be up to good standard of a 1:1 or 1:2 magnification lenses.
 
harshit143 said:
Can the 18-55 kit perform atleast the basic macro like the one equipped in P&S? OR its macro is better than the P&S?
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Yup, the 18-55mm kit can get you started but of course it will have its limitation. And no, P&S won't be better. Once again, no need to spend your money on the new D3300, the old D3100 should be absolutely fine and invest the saved money in a proper macro lens, if not now then save it for future.
 
sabby said:
Yup, the 18-55mm kit can get you started but of course it will have its limitation. And no, P&S won't be better. Once again, no need to spend your money on the new D3300, the old D3100 should be absolutely fine and invest the saved money in a proper macro lens, if not now then save it for future.
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He mentioned that wants to do macro photography mainly.
The minimum focus distance of 18-55 kit lens is about 28 cm! More than 10 inches!
And what is the magnification?
About 0.3-0.4X (which makes it even poorer)

He will need to buy another lens.

In case of Point & shoot - he can focus at a distance of about 5 cm. What is that in inches? 2 inches.
In case of gems/jewellery just like any other macro (like insects/flora etc) you want the lens to focus as close to the object as possible so that you get effective "magnification".

Also because the object being focused is so close - he will get "blur" much better than a DSLR with kit lens.
And he can forget about the image quality because a gem or piece of jewellery will always be illuminated - which will allow him to use ISO 80 to 100 for most of his pursuits. Which is of excellent quality (at least for the cameras that I have mentioned before).

Besides the large aperture of these camera lens allow the cam to stay in the <400 ISO range most of the times - when the object is not illuminated by lighting.
DSLR with kit lens will frequently visit ISO 3200 where the image quality starts deteriorating.

manoja2k said:
No doubt P & S can do the job pretty well, but then you may be spending almost the same amount as DSLR set-up to get the professional quality (assuming that you are well acquainted with macro photography.

If you are going DSLR way try to go for a lens which has atleast 1:2 magnification. 1:1 is still better. One can use 18-55 for close-up shots, but these may not be up to good standard of a 1:1 or 1:2 magnification lenses.
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What other investments will he require in case of a "prosumer" P&S?
 
ssslayer said:
What other investments will he require in case of a "prosumer" P&S?
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I am not very knowledgeable about all the brands available in the market . But let me express here my experience:
Prosumer P & S (FZ200): 32000/- (purchased recently)
second hand Canon 450: 15000/-
Second hand Tamron 90mm: 18000/-
Soft-box with DIY light set-up: 5000/-
A desktop Slik tripod: 2000/-

I am into semi-professional photography for small handicrafts. I have an offer recently to go for Jewelleries and I am in the market looking for a second-hand Canon 100mm. I plan to use DSLR for this purpose.

I am not happy with FZ200 for macro photography. For that matter I use FZ200 mostly for bird photography and occasionally for scenery and panorama. Though I know it is not even competitive standards. Also FZ200 is used as an all-purpose photography for my quick gateways
 
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harshit143 said:
Can the 18-55 kit perform atleast the basic macro like the one equipped in P&S? OR its macro is better than the P&S?
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If you are staging your photo set-up then you need to have great control over your DOF (for macro you should be able to have a very calculated DOF). When you talk about blurryness, are you talking about back-ground blurryness? Then in that case try keeping your background objects much beyond DOF limit.

I would still not suggest you to use 18-55 for macro photography. In fact a prosumer camera will perform better. I have a canon A95 (an old war horse P & S camera) and I sometimes use it for quick macro-shots for certain statues/idols. These are very useful for web-display purpose (with enlargement option).
Yes you can use it for general purpose photography
 
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Does anyone here use superzooms with close up filters? I've seen some very impressive macro photos with those on various photography websites.
 
manoja2k said:
I am not very knowledgeable about all the brands available in the market . But let me express here my experience:
Prosumer P & S (FZ200): 32000/- (purchased recently)
second hand Canon 450: 15000/-
Second hand Tamron 90mm: 18000/-
Soft-box with DIY light set-up: 5000/-
A desktop Slik tripod: 2000/-

I am into semi-professional photography for small handicrafts. I have an offer recently to go for Jewelleries and I am in the market looking for a second-hand Canon 100mm. I plan to use DSLR for this purpose.

I am not happy with FZ200 for macro photography. For that matter I use FZ200 mostly for bird photography and occasionally for scenery and panorama. Though I know it is not even competitive standards. Also FZ200 is used as an all-purpose photography for my quick gateways
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But why are you taking a superzoom like FZ200 for comparison??
I would take Canon S120 or Nikon P340 which is also handy and pocketable compact and thus more readily available for other photography pursuits (not just studio macro for jewels).
About 15-20 K would be the final price.

Tripod and lighting will be same - whether you take a Point & Shoot (compact) or DSLR. Hence no point in adding this to comparison.

Now lets see - second hand Canon 450D= 15K
+ Tamron 90mm 2.8 = 18 K
DSLR total = 33 K

Spending roughly the half amount, I get same functionality and portability, and as I have already mentioned the studio lighting will ensure than my compact camera does not utilize higher than 200 ISO - the impact on Image quality will be minimal.
The only thing I don't have will be expandability, since in DSLR I can attach multitude of lenses, but then a person who knows what he wants in terms of expandability will not ask the question like the original poster.

BTW what issues do you face with FZ200 macro photos?
 
chiron said:
Does anyone here use superzooms with close up filters? I've seen some very impressive macro photos with those on various photography websites.
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I started my learning of macro photography with lens reversing technique, then with extension tubes and then with close-up filters and then a macro lens. Some of my photos had come out impressive. But I can't claim success for those good photos. It appeared to me I could never know which photos are going to come out good and which are not. Most of those impressive photos were chance photos.
But when I started using the dedicated macro lens I had more control in terms of focusing and light metering and I could predict with reasonable certainty the outcome.
ssslayer said:
But why are you taking a superzoom like FZ200 for comparison??
....
BTW what issues do you face with FZ200 macro photos?
Click to expand...

Your answer has opened up a new perspective and I believe what you are saying is correct. I was always looking at it from the perspective of expandability. If I look at my past also, I used P & S initially for most of my macro shots. After around 10yrs of using P&S, I started finding flaws with my so called masterpieces.

My FZ200 at a very close range (within MFD limits) has following problems:

1. Metering seems inconsistent. I have to do post-processing to play with light and shadows
2. Manual focus is inconvenient.
3. If I want to have shadowy background I get noise even at 100. In fact I get noisy shadows
4. I don't like the blurryness it provides

May be that I am still learning how-to use FZ200 (for last six months). In fact my Canon A95 gives me better macro shots (in JPG) with acceptable level of sharpness.
 
ssslayer said:
And he can forget about the image quality because a gem or piece of jewellery will always be illuminated - which will allow him to use ISO 80 to 100 for most of his pursuits. Which is of excellent quality (at least for the cameras that I have mentioned before).

Besides the large aperture of these camera lens allow the cam to stay in the <400 ISO range most of the times - when the object is not illuminated by lighting.
DSLR with kit lens will frequently visit ISO 3200 where the image quality starts deteriorating.
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So at base ISO like 100, the Image Quality is same for a 1/2.3" sensor and say, an APSC sensor ? In that case why would anybody waste money buying a large sensor camera for taking pictures in daylight ?
OP asked if he can use the 18-55 kit lens for multiple purpose including Macro. He has a 35k budget and since he is looking for DSLR that means he wants the flexibility of using different lenses for different purpose later when he has more budget. He can easily get a new D3100 kit and the Nikon 40mm f/2.8 macro and that combination will produce much better pictures than the P&S cameras, even at 800/1600 ISO, that is the benefit of using large sensor cameras. Later he can go on adding the other specific lenses he wants including better and longer Macros if needed.
 
Guys i have purchased a D3300 @ 29.3k from flipkart . First of all,I will learn the photography using that and then will upgrade to macro lens as well. There was hardly any difference in price slab of D3200 and i was not at all interested in a second hand body.
 
Congrats Harshit :)
Post some photographs of the jewellery. May be some of our member could help you get better with your kit lens.

Don't worry if you can't go too close to the subject. You have plenty of pixels at your disposal :)

PS: When posting, don't strip the exif information and please don't post too big photographs. 800px @ long edge and 96 dpi should be suffice for web sharing.
 
sabby said:
So at base ISO like 100, the Image Quality is same for a 1/2.3" sensor and say, an APSC sensor ? In that case why would anybody waste money buying a large sensor camera for taking pictures in daylight ?
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Hahaha, everything in todays world is driven by consumerism. People believe that getting a bigger and better spec camera will fetch them better pix.
That's why.

Have you checked out the photos from Canon S120, G16 at ISO100 and compared it with Canon 1200D at ISO100? (1200D may sometimes appear better simply because of higher megapixels, but overall there is hardly any difference that you would be able to discern in a double blind test)
http://www.imaging-resource.com/IMCOMP/COMPS01.HTM
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/ima...zation=full&widget=1&x=0&y=0.3137836604290278

Also if not in bright sun or studio flashlights, the DSLR because of its f/3.5 lens will start using ISO400, whereas Canon G16 or S120 will still be at ISO100 (because of the 2 stop advantage of its f/1.8 lens)


In fact for a majority of the cases G16 will trump over DSLR simply because of higher quality lens compared to el cheapo DSLR kit lens.
There is a reason why there are lens resolution and distortion comparison tests.
But then all this is something that a professional who earns money from his photos has to get into. Not an amateur.

Another reason for DLSR could be easier Bokeh achievable from large sensor formats. But to surprise you further you may get similar bokeh from Canon G16 compared to DSLR with kit lens.
(http://www.dpreview.com/articles/7482751855/high-end-ps-versus-micro-four-thirds) <= yes this comparison was with m4/3 but the same story holds for DSLR with kit lens too.

The only real reason why I would buy a DSLR is:
1. I am getting something dirt cheap. Cheaper than the point and shoot. Perhaps second hand, perhaps because of a deal.
2. I am into fast action photography. The contrast detection focusing of Point & Shoot cannot match the phase detection used by DSLRs. But of course there are easy workarounds by doing pre-focussing on a point & shoot.
3. I want to buy specialty lenses and filter. And the delicious prime lenses. Of course you should be aware that S120 and G16 (and others in this genre) come with built in 3 stop neutral density filter!
4. I love to lug around suitcases of camera gear and accessories. It gives me some kind of satisfaction.
 
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^^ The extra dynamic range of larger sensors is also a big advantage. On a bright sunny day I find it difficult to take a landscape photos with the FZ200 that either doesn't have blown highlights in or noisy shadows due to its limited DR.
 
ssslayer said:
Hahaha, everything in todays world is driven by consumerism. People believe that getting a bigger and better spec camera will fetch them better pix.
That's why.
.....
Click to expand...
Why the hell are you always comparing the DSLR with kit 18-55 lens ? Are you simple ignoring the facts to prove your point ? Look, I have no intention of arguing with you. Read my previous post again. OP said whether he can use the kit lens for some time before he actually buys Macro and other lens. Even I maintain the fact that there's no point buying a DSLR/Mirrorless just with a run of the mil kit lens unless one has plan to get different lenses for different purposes.
Anyway, the OP has made his own decision.
 
harshit143 said:
Guys i have purchased a D3300 @ 29.3k from flipkart . First of all,I will learn the photography using that and then will upgrade to macro lens as well. There was hardly any difference in price slab of D3200 and i was not at all interested in a second hand body.
Click to expand...
You will be amazed with the quality even with the kit lens on these new DSLRs.
Congrats and happy shooting....
Hunt on youtube and you will find millions of videos teaching you everything you might want to know.
My 2 cents of advice. First start with the basics. Understand the terms and their interrelation when taking a picture. Like Aperture/Shutter Speed/ ISO and exposure compensation.
Try to shoot on any of the manual modes and you will learn a lot. Keep shooting anything indoors. Aperture priority mode would be a good place to start and then you can find your own way....
P.S since you are focussing more on product photography do pay attention to lighting stuff told in the you tube videos.
 
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