 Lisa |
Taking digital photos of artwork I am wanting to buy a digital camera for taking pics of my art (large paintings) to use in promotional printed material and for posting on my website. I would prefer a compact camera, and want something with high resolution. Can someone recommend a good camera?
|
|
|
|
||
|
Michael H. Cothran |
Lisa, If you are interested in quality images of your art work, your concern should be more about the "LENS" than the "CAMERA." Most any DSLR and most P&S cameras will work fine for photographing your art. You need however, to consider the lens very carefully. Most photographers do not realize that regular, run-of-the-mill lenses focus on a curved plane. In addition, these same everyday lenses perform much worse at the edges than they do in the middle of the image. What this means to you is that it is very possible that the center of your art will be sharp and in focus, while the edges will be out of focus, or just not as sharp. Since your art work is FLAT, you should use a specialized lens that focuses not only on a flat plane or field, but that also give you the resolution you need near the edges of the image. True Macro and Micro (Nikon's name) lenses offer both. They have flat plane focusing, plus edge to edge sharpness that regular lenses just don't have, and thus, would be your best bet. Please note that I said "TRUE" macro/micro lenses. Do not confuse these lenses with zoom lenses that state "macro focusing." The latter simply allow you to focus a little closer than normal, BUT are not optically corrected in the close range as true macros are, DO NOT have flat field focusing, AND cannot give you the edge quality you need. I would strongly recommend a macro in the 50mm-60mm range for photographing flat art. Looking at the best selling brands - Nikon and Canon, each has a lens in this range. Canon's is a 50mm/2.8 Macro, and Nikon's is a 60mm/2.8 Micro. Either is as good as they get - your choice. I would not recommend a macro lens any longer than 60mm in focal length for art copying. There are other brands (Minolta, Pentax, etc, not to mention third party lenses like Sigma, Tamron, Tokina), and all offer true macro lenses in the 50-60mm range, at a variety of pricing levels. One should hopefully be within your budget contraints. Good luck, Michael H. Cothran www.mhcphoto.net
|
|
|
|
||
|
Stephanie M. Stevens |
I dont have anyhting to say about the actual camera, but I've read that for photographing art you should include something at the edge of the frame to make sure that the color of the art reproduces correctly. Binder dividers with brightly colored tabs, that kind of thing. later you can hold the tabs next to the picture on the moniter and see if there are any color variations.
|
|
|
|
||
|
Lisa |
Thanks for your information, however I have no experience of photography - except for 'point and shoot' digital cameras therefore I am a complete novice and am a little confused. I had noticed my images were always focused in the centre and the edges blurry - never realised why!! I still really want a digital for ease of use, downloading straight to my computer, uploading photos to my website and emailing for prints. So, just to be clear - do I look for a digital that has a macro or a micro lens 50/60mm - and will this definately work for photographing art that is 1.5 x 1.2metres in size. Is there anything else I should look for? Thanks
|
|
|
|
||
|
Michael H. Cothran |
Lisa, The the kind and quality of lens to which I referred is not available on point & shoot cameras, film or digital. You will have to buy an SLR-type camera body, and then purchase the 50-60mm macro lens separately. It will be costly, but in today's market, you should be able to own the two for around $1000 give or take a hundred. You can get by with an entry level DSLR camera body, but you need the high quality macro lens for sure. If this is out of your budget contraints, I would strongly recommend that you find a competent pro commercial photographer to photograph your artwork for you. It is crucial to your success to have quality images made of your work, and (in my professional opinion) you will just not be capable of achieving these results with a P&S camera. Michael H. Cothran www.mhcphoto.net
|
|
|
|
||
|
This old forum is now archived. Use improved Forum here
Report this Thread |
||