Camera advice
Out of context: Reply #7
- Started
- Last post
- 29 Responses
- vaxorcist0
OK.... for shooting things like flat artwork....
1. I'd heavily consider a camera with a flip-out viewfinder, like a Nikon D5100 or Canon's similar beast... it makes putting it on a tripod much easier for things like this, less standing on chairs,etc...
2. if you have a white painted room, you can bounce a flash off a wall or cieling.... or even a big piece of foamcore, this will give you much more even light. I'd get a simple manual flash that has a head that rotates in all directions like this:
http://www.amazon.com/Yongnuo-Fl…
Note that a manual flash like this does NOT depend on any camera-brand-specific stuff... I have one of these and it's a good $44 spent.
3. Lens....while almost any lens is pretty good at F8 or so.... an OLD, 28mm F2.8 Canon may be much sharper than a 18-55 zoom.... and a prime lens is fine on a tripod, unless you have to shoot in a hurry, where a zoom is nice when you have tight deadlines...
4. Get a tripod that allows you to flip the top tube, so the camera is facing down, rather than at a maddening angle, this will probably quickly become obvious to you when you try it.... an OLD, heavy cheap tripod from craigslist or ebay may be much better than an expensive brand new carbon fibre $$$ from a camera store...
6. I use a color checker, and take a pic of it every time I change lighting (all flash or all hot-lights, if mixed, use orange gels on flash and/or blue gels on hot lights, avoid daylight from windows if possible).... also I use all manual white balance, and shoot tethered, where the USB wire goes to the laptop, and you see immediately what you're getting.
7. Sometimes, a cloudy day, outside with a color checker image to test, can give you amazingly nice results for less $$ and hassle, but you have to depend on the weather....
- with the color card, do you do manual or the fancy version that's configured by software?jaylarson
- I do all manual, the software uses lightroom and I use captureone pro....vaxorcist
- awesome advice! i have no idea about studio lighting so thanks dude.Hombre_Lobo
- use the eyedropper tool, check the greys, check the colors for what RGB values you should get... easy once you get used to it...vaxorcist