lens for photographing artwork

what canon lenses would you recommend for photographing artwork anywhere from 8x10 inches up to 40x50 inches, i am referring to drawings and paintings,

as always, your thoughts and suggestions are greatly appreciated!


Best Wishes, Kyle

Use your 100L. Sharp and optically flat. If that is too long for larger works, think about getting the 50/2.5 CM, or just rely on post processing distortion correction for your 24-70.

You want the texture of the canvases and the paints used so the 100L is your best bet here.

would an 85mm or a 50mm macro be good for larger paintings?

Kyles wrote in post #16589563
would an 85mm or a 50mm macro be good for larger paintings?

As above, the 50CM could be a starter, but 85 is not much different from your 100 (especially since if you wanted an 85 macro lens, you'd be looking at the Tamron 90 anyway)

looks like the 100mm macro is top choice, perhaps a 50mm macro for larger paintings?

thank you for your thoughtful comments, very helpful and much appreciated!

IMO it depends on if they are hanging or not.

If you can move them, use a modified light table and its lighting (40X50 won't fit most normal light tables) and the 50mm. Even a macro that does half life size like the Canon 50CM will be fine.

If mounted it depends on where you can place the tripod and a 50 to 100 would probably be fine.

Other lenses would work as those sizes aren't that small, but a macro would be preferred for the flat-field sharpness across the entire FOV of the lens.

Another reason for preferring a dedicated macro lens (even a 1:2 lens like the 50CM) for this type of work is that they tend to be better corrected for chromatic aberration than more general purpose lenses. Again, not necessarily a biggie given the state of post-processing art these days, and given that lighting will be controlled and wide apertures that would tend to exacerbate CA would not be necessary. Still, worth keeping in mind I think.

What are you planning to do for lighting? That may be significant if you want to reveal any 3D texture such as with brush strokes through subtle shading.

I've taken a lot of pictures of art for auction photography and most of the time I use a 50mm 1.4

The only problem I had was with a mural that was glued on a bank wall (est 20' x 6')

I stiched that one. It didn't matter, they ruined it when it came off the wall

You want a "flat field" lens, that's as equally sharp edge to edge as possible at short distances... that generally means a macro lens.... so I'd suggest the 100mm, 50/2.5 compact macro or similar... or if you plan to use your 7D, EF-S 60/2.8 or Tamron 60/2.0.

The Canon TS-E 45mm and 90mm lenses would be very good for this purpose, too.

A photographer that primarily takes archive photos of exhibits for museums (paintings and sculptures), told me that she bought and uses her TS-E 24mm for her work. She said it's particularly useful when you need to take photos of a large piece hanging on the wall, and don't have a lot of room to work with.

mag10 wrote in post #16589875
A photographer that primarily takes archive photos of exhibits for museums (paintings and sculptures), told me that she bought and uses her TS-E 24mm for her work. She said it's particularly useful when you need to take photos of a large piece hanging on the wall, and don't have a lot of room to work with.

Another sharp option, especially useful where stitching is needed, but at a price.

I shoot a lot of painted canvases for an artist friend so he can make prints and I always use my 100L Macro and 2 strobes, 1 on each side at about a 45 from the artwork.

Why not getting an MF lens?

Cheaper and not a pain to MF on stil subjects...