Looking for the right DSLR brand to start with (product photography, metall/macro)

Hi,

i am just starting out in my photography journey. The past five years or so, i have taken a LOT of pictures, mainly with my smartphoe camera (Samsung Galaxy S3) and a compact camera (first nikon coolpix p50). Now i want to (have to) move on, in order to shoot really good pictures of small metallic parts which have been freshly machined by a cnc machining centre.

Here is an instagram profile by a fellow machininst:
https://www.instagram.​com/kalpay/

This is just the level of quality i want ro reach. In detail, this means:
-take photos of parts max. 2 inch wide
-being able to have a clear focus on the part, bluring the background
-being able to fully depict the spectral lines visible on freshly machined metallic surfaces
-effectively depict parts as small as 5mm (.2 inch) with a good quality
-cope with not-so-great lights within the machines (optional). tripod usage: yes, possible
-camera + lens total <500€

Well, those might be a pretty specific request. I am looking for a decent DSLR camera to do all this. A friend recommended something like a used canon 50D. Which kind of lenses would be necessary for this job?

Video functinonality is a plus, but not necessary.

Any ideas? I am completely new to the "real" photography world and could not find any sample pictures with this camera that really replicate my demands as described above.

Best regards,
Andy

Canon's new macro tilt shift lenses are what you are looking for. You can marry them to another brand of camera if you want, but the lenses are what is going to really make this kind of photography pop.

LHB makes a very valid point - it is really the lenses that matter.

My interests are very different to yours, but minor differences in camera bodies are far outweighed by the availability of high quality lenses designed for what I (or you) want to do.

Research the glass (lenses) first then get a camera that fits!

metalhead wrote in post #18639144
-cope with not-so-great lights within the machines (optional). tripod usage: yes, possible

You'll get much better results with good lighting regardless of what camera and lens you throw at the problem, a T&S lens is what you're asking for in your requirements but it also wipes out your budget.

My priorities would be:

Get some lighting (you really don't need to spend much on a cheap flash especially as your subjects are small).
Get a halfway decent macro lens (used Sigma 105mm etc).
Get any major brand DSLR made in the last 10 years.

The rest is down to your technique.

A candle can light a two inch piece of metal. Especially a stationary one.



I do agree though.

What I hear from most pros is that Canon has the best colors and Nikon is the sharpest. There is a trade-off there and the difference is hardly noticeable but it is there. Put the right lens on either brand and you can get the results you are after.....

Metalhead requires the camera + lens to cost less than 500 Euros. This would be very difficult to do. Especially at European prices. You "might" be able to find an older Canon or Nikon body and pair it up with an older Tamron 90mm f/2.8 macro. That would probably be the least expensive rig that could fill your requirements...

I would take as new as possible full version of Rebel with its kit lens. Something like 650D. To have more pixels to crop. And have better high ISO since bad light is mentioned in OP and tripod is not always the solution.
And add macro lens, flash if nessesary. Tamron 90 2.8 non IS lens was good start for me.

I think that you would have a pretty hard time doing all that you want for under 500 Euros.

I'd like to do an African Safari for under $500 U.S. Dollars... It just cannot be done...

IMO... this may be as cheap as you can go and would come pretty close to your limit...

I would look into a used Canon 5D classic and a used Tamron 90mm f/2.8 Macro lens... Set these up to shoot tethered to a laptop and get a decent tripod.

Using the Canon supplied software, set up to shoot tethered.

Do your shooting as focus stacked series of images.

Take care of any distortion with Adobe Camera RAW...

Awesome machining work! I did little machining at school for one of my classes and can tell right away yours is top notch work!

As far as the camera and lens go, I think 500 euros might be hard to accomplish. Regardless, I have a rebel t6i with a 50mm canon lens and it does an amazing job. So look into a used one.

1.TS lenses won't do anything for spherical subjects or any subject needing sharpness three dimensional.
2. Colors and sharpness is just as much up to the post processing e.g. Joe McNally shoots great model shots with Nikon.
3. What really matters is what's behind the camera, to lesser extent what's in front and not what's in it or the name on the front.
4. Having the ability to control light and all the time in the world for exposure times, focus stacking etc. makes even the humble kit zoom a fairly good performer so the big risk here is overcomplicating things.

So a good macro and knowing how to use your kit (e.g how to focus stack) is what's needed

Two months later and the OP hasn't logged back in since starting this thread.

metalhead wrote in post #18639144
This is just the level of quality i want ro reach. In detail, this means:
-take photos of parts max. 2 inch wide
-being able to have a clear focus on the part, bluring the background
-being able to fully depict the spectral lines visible on freshly machined metallic surfaces
-effectively depict parts as small as 5mm (.2 inch) with a good quality
-cope with not-so-great lights within the machines (optional). tripod usage: yes, possible
-camera + lens total <500€

Contrary to some replies, you are NOT shooting 'macro' shots!!! Macro typically is reference to photos taken in the range of about 1:2 (0.5x) scale to 1:1 (1.0x)...smaller reproduction like the question posed is merely entailing use of 'close focus' lens, and not 'macro' lens.

You are shooting 5mm wide object and trying to fit it onto a camera frame of 36mm x 24mm (if shooting with FF body) or 22.5mm x 15mm (if shooting with 'crop' body)
that means 5mm/24mm or 1:5 (0.2x) on FF body, or 5mm/15mm or 0.33x, and a lot of ordinary (non-macro) lenses can achieve that.
The photos which are in the link are NOT MACRO and entail no use of a 'macro' lens to achieve.

Lighting equipment is more key for your listed needs that a 'macro' lens is! And achieving proper lighting of metal objects requires some essential reading of good how-to book(s) in preparation.

My post, although 2 months after the original inquiry, is as much intended for follow-on readers of this thread to understand the elements of trying to shoot stuff like what was in the link (since the OP seems to have gone away)

Wilt wrote in post #18676625
Contrary to some replies, you are NOT shooting 'macro' shots!!! Macro typically is reference to photos taken in the range of about 1:2 (0.5x) scale to 1:1 (1.0x)...smaller reproduction like the question posed is merely entailing use of 'close focus' lens, and not 'macro' lens.

You are shooting 5mm wide object and trying to fit it onto a camera frame of 36mm x 24mm (if shooting with FF body) or 22.5mm x 15mm (if shooting with 'crop' body)
that means 5mm/24mm or 1:5 (0.2x) on FF body, or 5mm/15mm or 0.33x, and a lot of ordinary (non-macro) lenses can achieve that.
The photos which are in the link are NOT MACRO and entail no use of a 'macro' lens to achieve.

Lighting equipment is more key for your listed needs that a 'macro' lens is! And achieving proper lighting of metal objects requires some essential reading of good how-to book(s) in preparation.

My post, although 2 months after the original inquiry, is as much intended for follow-on readers of this thread to understand the elements of trying to shoot stuff like what was in the link (since the OP seems to have gone away)

In the spirit of informing future readers, you flipped your calculations. To fill a full-frame sensor with a 5mm object would require close to 5x magnification (24mm/5mm), and a crop sensor would require 3x (15mm/5mm).

So getting a good close-up photo of a 5mm object very much requires a macro lens, and even a standard 1:1 macro will not fill the frame, although having some space around the object for context is not a bad thing. Something like the Canon MP-E would work better for extreme close-ups.

I agree that the vast majority of the images in the OP's link were not macro, and could be taken with a normal lens, although a few are borderline macro (like this one: https://www.instagram.​com …0G2djERX/?taken​-by=kalpay) depending how large a sensor was used to capture the image

Your budget is unrealistic for what you are asking to accomplish, perhaps 1500 for a clean used Canon 5DII and 100 non-L macro and you still haven't addressed lighting.