Jewellery photography (I need tips!)

Joined: 21 Sep 2006 Posts: 9

Hi

I am working in a jewellery company and part of my job is to photograph our products.
Up till now I haven't used any professional equipment but I am looking to buy it now.
A got different opinions from some pro photographers about the equipment I should buy that meets my budget (up to $2500).
The cameras they recommended were the
Canon 30D or the Nikon 200D.
Another question is about the lens.
Some of the photos are taken from very close range (30mm) and some from very far range 40cm).
The recommendation that I got was either the
Nikon/Canon 105 macro or the 17-70mm lens.

Can anyone give me any tips?

Posted: Thu Sep 21, 2006 10:47 am

Well, as far as equiptment goes, I would say glass before bodies. I would get either a Nikon D50 D70, or Canon 350D or new 400d. Get good glass. Jewelry is highly reflective, so I recomment making or buying a light tent. They can be made very cheap and produce very similar results. Lighting can be done very cheap with some lights and bulbs from home depot. $2500 is a nice budget to work with. Definitely makes it easier to get good equiptment.

Posted: Thu Sep 21, 2006 10:53 am

Oh yeah you will need a good macro lens too. If you go canon, go with either the canon 100mm macro, or the Tamron 90mm macro.

Joined: 21 Sep 2006 Posts: 9

Thanks for the reply.

In your experience, which lens is known to give better crisp results.
The canon or nikon lenses?
Will a 105mm lens be able to shoot at very close range?

By the way I already have all the lighting set up but up till now I am using a low end camera to shoot (Panasonic fz-20).