What camera? Jewelry Photos

[Noodles]

Hi

I have to start taking professional looking jewelry photos. I have a 10k budget for camera and Marco lense. Can anyone recommend a make and model as I really do not know much about them. Or if my budget is not enough I will have to look at 2nd hand.

Many thanks for any advice

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[astral]

Think about lighting as well

There are two links that may help.

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/655244-need-help-to-take-good-pictures-of-10-baht-coins/

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/695936-photo-fun-for-200-baht-or-less/

[MJP]

Get a Panasonic Lumix LX7. 1cm macro function.

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[ETatBKK]

what is the purpose of your jewellery photos - internal record, external communication, marketing info ?

with above info, then we could discuss quality, then equipment, then budget. yeah, you need proper lighting, may even a light tent, tripods . . . all depends on the purpose.

the 10k budget is challenging !

[Noodles]

Hi

The photos are needed to advertise the jewelry online.

Thanks

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[MJP]

Hi

The photos are needed to advertise the jewelry online.

Thanks

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Noodles, a Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX5 or LX7 is ideal for you. Within budget and no need to buy lenses.

Get a small table top tripod and two desk lamps.

Cheap, easy and you will get great results.

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[ETatBKK]

Hi

The photos are needed to advertise the jewelry online.

Thanks

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yeah, the Panasonic Lumix LX-7 or LX-5, or Canon PowerShot G16, or G15 are good enough for the purpose. yet not the cheapest choices, for some good reasons :

in macro, you may want a closest focusing distance at the telephoto setting, for less distortion. most compact camera limits macro at wideangle, not ideal for small object;

again in macro, you may check a camera with manual exposure, then you could control the exposure over a photo series;

if you deal with metallic highgloss surface, get a small light tent ( few hundred bahts ). even you may get a tripod that could be clamped on the table top, then test for best angle, best light, and fix it there.

this is not the idea for good macro; but a practical way of setting up a photo station in a business environment.

[Noodles]

Thank you for your replies. I will look into these and let you know what I decide.

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[Noodles]

Hi All

So in the end I bought my thai friends second hand canon 40d with marco lens for 8000. He is a photographer himself, but with limited English so the tutorial was very limited.

As I don't want to spend too much on this I have done everything on a budget. He has set the camera settings for taking pictures of jewelry and I have started to snap away. The problem I am having is the picture looks fine on the camera screen with a nearly white background, but when I load onto my laptop the background is too grey and nearly impossible to edit using photoshop.

Any advice would be appreciated and if you require any information on my settings and setup I will do my best to answer.

Many thanks

(I have attached a pic)

[Fiddlesticks]

Camera light meters try to calculate exposure that will yield a middle grey tone. If you want the background to be white you will need to increase the camera EV by a stop or two. Try to set the EV value to +1 and see if that is ok. If not up it to +2. If you do not know how to set the EV, then get the exposure your camera suggests and write it down. Then put your camera on manual exposure and set the exposure but reduce the shutter speed by one value. If that is still too dark then try two values. Either of these methods should give you whiter backgrounds.