Need professional advise for product photography lens for Canon 7D

[Amscot56]

I am a graphic designer with a lot of experience in the studio but I now find myself needing to do my own product shots in my home studio space of 12' x 12.' I am looking hard at the Canon 7D moving up from 40D and I need to know the best lens or lenses to shoot items such as rifles, glassware, china, and small housewares, etc. I will also need to purchase either soft boxes or umbrellas and am looking for advise on this issue as well. Photos will be used for e-commerce and possibly for catalogs. All comments appreciated!

[Amscot56]

What do you make of the suggestion to go with a tilt and shift lens? Also, so on the cropped 40D the 100mm lens ends up being a 160mm fixed lens right?

[hsbn]

45mm TS-E lens are perfect for 40D for product shot (in my case). But TS-E lens has a learning curve, so if you can rent it to test out, I think you should before putting down the $.

[Skirball]

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@Amscot56 wrote:

What do you make of the suggestion to go with a tilt and shift lens? Also, so on the cropped 40D the 100mm lens ends up being a 160mm fixed lens right?

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Answering in reverse order:

Yes, it's 160, but so what?  That number only means something if you're used to shooting Full Frame and have a vision in your head of what 100mm is suppose to look like.  For macro photography (or any small objects you may be shooting) the extra distance is a good thing.  The 100mm lens can focus up to 6" in front of the lens - it can get tough to fit decent lighting in there.   The only down side is if you have very cramped space to shoot in.  I mostly shoot in my spare bedroom and can always make it work, but some times I'm dancing around tables, light stands, tripods, modifiers, and the like.

Tilt shifts are pretty cool, but they’re not cheap, and they have some drawbacks.  They’re also not a panacea as many mistakenly believe they are until they actually use them.  I’ll discuss my thoughts on them below, but for the quick answer: wait.  You need a good macro lens regardless, and the 100mm is a fraction of the cost of a tilt shift.  Get one, get the lighting, learn how to use it, and upgrade if and when you find your lens just aren’t doing what you want them to do. 

Tilt shift has its place in product photography, but it’s not a necessity, IMHO.  In full disclosure, I haven’t used them for product photography, only Architectural.  Even there, I can come close to what they can do with normal lenses and some post processing.  For product photography the feature most use them for is the extra control over depth of field.  It becomes a real boon on small objects (the razor thin DoF).  As mentioned above, you can do focus stacking, but it’s time consuming.  The Tilt Shift lets you ‘tilt’ the focal plane to something more advantageous to your composition.  It’s a complex subject I won’t discuss here, but it’s a useful technique with some limitations.  Again, I’d recommend you wait until stumble against that wall before worrying about it.  If you get yourself a macro lens and some off camera lighting you’re going to open up a whole new world of photography to learn and explore.  Don’t try to bite off too much at once.  Trust me, macro lens, a decent wide angle prime, and some lighting – you can do some amazing product photography.

[hsbn]

Agree with Skirball, in product photography lightning is much more important than lens/camera anyway.

[Amscot56]

This is really good stuff. I am grateful for all of your responses. "A decent wide angle prime lens" could you give me a suggestion here. Also I've been looking a lighting tents, some come with lighting combos left right and top. What is a good brand? I would need to add in some real surfaces for some or most products like weathered boards. Last question: about how far away would a 100mm (160mm) put me from subject focal point? Also I would need a good deal of flexiblility in focal length which I assume could be adjusted by stopping the lens down or opening it up.

[hsbn]

You can build your own light tent. It's not that hard.

[Skirball]

Well, the 50mm is a classic size.  I have both the 50/1.8 and 50/1.4, and I can’t say I love either.  The 1.4 is OK, but I find myself trying to love it.  But that’s for portrait use.  For your use the only reason you’ll need something besides the 100mm is if something is so big that you can’t fit it in given your room size, or if you need to change the relation of two objects relative to each other (getting in close with a 50 will make the other object look small compared to with the 100).  Canon makes an old 50mm macro, and a 60mm macro that might be worth looking at.  Another option, and I haven’t tried it, is the new Canon 40mm STM.  Suppose to be a great lens, very sharp, and it’s only $200.  For that little of a price I’d almost say it’s a no brainer.  Don’t spend a lot of money on a second lens you’re not sure you’ll even need yet.

As far as distance and focal point, you’re confusing me a bit here.  I think you’re mixing up terms. The focal length just determines the field of view.  The 100mm can focus as close as 6”, which is really close.  But it can focus on an object at any distance.  Which is why I said the initial suggestions for a zoom makes no sense.  Put your subject on the table, and move the camera to wherever you need to get it perfectly in frame.  Piece of cake.  Stopping the lens down or opening it up will only change your depth of field (assuming you add/subtract more light to maintain exposure).  For product photography you’ll want to keep this high to keep as much in focus as possible.  Just remember that if you go too high the images get soft from diffraction.  I like f12 – f16 on mine.

One more thing, if you’re itching to drop some money on something get a good tripod and head.  Seriously.  I did the typical upgrade procedure from super cheap, moderately cheap, to a decent Manfrotto and ball head instead of just listening to advice and buying something decent to start.  Product photography takes a lot of nudging this way or that and a cheap head will drive you crazy.  Get something where you can set your composition and lock it down without it moving.  Don’t skimp here.

[Amscot56]

On "focal length" what I meant to ask is can the camera be relatively close to subject such as peeping through a tent opening? or would it be across the room? I got an old Bogen tripod from my dad. It seems good and is barely used. I also really like the idea of the 40mm lens which would be (64mm). You will have to bare with me on this comparison because I got my training in the film world so it makes more sense to me to convert to what I know.

[Skirball]

Yes, the 100mm can come within 6", but obviously you're only going to get small objects in the frame at that focal length.  I’ve never measured it, but off the top of my head, if I was photographing an apple with the 100mm on a cropped sensor the lens would probably be around 18” from it?  Obviously if you’re shooting bigger objects you’d need a long room, but for most table top photography I’ve never had an issue fitting it in.  Hence my suggestion for a wide angle backup for those products. The 100 and 40 would be a nice combination of focal lengths. I can't speak to the 40mm out of personal experience, but it's been getting great reviews.  Looks like it can get within a few inches of the subject as well.

If speed is the name of the game you may be better off with a light tent(s).  I made one and used it for a bit, but found I have a lot more control just setting my subject on whatever surface I want, set up my backdrop, then set up my lights and modifiers accordingly.  That said, I don’t do catalog shots, so if you just want a white background a tent is probably the quickest and easiest. Don’t worry about ‘peeking the lens through the curtains’ though, that shouldn’t be an issue for most subjects.

[HDCamTeam]

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@Amscot56 wrote:

This is really good stuff. I am grateful for all of your responses. "A decent wide angle prime lens" could you give me a suggestion here. Also I've been looking a lighting tents, some come with lighting combos left right and top. What is a good brand? I would need to add in some real surfaces for some or most products like weathered boards. Last question: about how far away would a 100mm (160mm) put me from subject focal point? Also I would need a good deal of flexiblility in focal length which I assume could be adjusted by stopping the lens down or opening it up.

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Hi Amscot56,

The items by Impact that I posted in the 1st page are really cheap and great for the price, take a look at them. I didn't want to go cheaper at the risk of decreasing build quality, nor more expensive since it wouldn't be necesssary if you treat them well.

"about how far away would a 100mm (160mm) put me from subject focal point?"

I own the EF 100mm 2.8 Macro (no-L version) and it's an amazing lens. For products photography you won't miss the Image Stabilization at all, assuming you won't do it hand-held 🙂

If you want to shoot portraits or macro without tripod/support, then you might wnat the I.S., but the price is almost twice more expensive.

I think 160mm is too long for your studio (UNLESS you want to shoot details or small objects), that's why I suggested shorter focal lenses in the 1st page. I took into account the studio dimensions you mentioned.

- TIP: there are some apps for smart cellphones that will allow you to simulate a Viewfinder, mostly used for filmmaking, but you can also use them to get an idea of what focal length would be best for your shot without in fact using any DSLR camera nor buying any lens. So you can take a better decision for your purchase later. Be sure to calibrate it before using (in case you install it). It's a very handy and cheap help.

"Also I would need a good deal of flexiblility in focal length which I assume could be adjusted by stopping the lens down or opening it up."

To get flexibility in focal length, you should get more than one lens, or a zoom lens (as the one I mentioned in 1st page, although it's expensive, but AMAZING lens).

Stopping down a lens will only give you more depth of field (meaning more in-focus areas), but not different field of view (the area of the scene you can "see" through the viewfinder or LCD screen).

I mostly suggest Canon lenses due to the great performance in almost all cases. The EF 24-70 2.8L II USM is expensive, you can also take a look at the Canon EF 24-70mm f/4.0L IS USM which is not so expensive (but not cheap either) and not so "fast" since it starts at f/4 (not big deal if you shoot products since you will need to stop down anyway in most situations). As mentioned above studio lightning is essential.

In a crop-sensor body as 40D or 7D, a 24-70mm zoom lens would work as 38.4-112mm (35mm film equivalent), a nice focal length range for products photography in my opinion, in the conditions you mentioned.

Hope this helps and clarifies a bit!

Regards