Photographers: a little help here
 

I got a mainstream client that is trying to take a ton of product shots, but her digital camera seems to not be doing her any favors. Everything comes out fuzzy and blurred. I think it's an Olympus, but I couldn't tell you which one. Anyway, doesn't matter.... what she needs is a totally simple point and shoot digital. Literally, no fancy camera bs or adjustments, just a freaking point & shoot that takes good pics indoor or out.

Any recommendations?

I tell most people looking for a basic, good camera to walk into any store and pick up any Olympus, Fuji, Nikon, or Sony over $500.

Any of the Nikon Coolpix 650+ have been great.
A good site though is
http://www.dpreview.com/

Especially the Buying Guide where you can specify what you need.

Most of the time its the photographer not the camera that makes it blurry.

I have a few cameras, and one of them being an Olympus point and shoot and ive got nothing but compliments even from people on this board from the quality.

My Olympus is 3 years old and cost 300 bucks, ive taken photos of celebs and tons of rock stars over the past years meaning carry my cam to shows, through crowds of rock fans etc.

Olympus rules for 300 bones. I think its the person taking the pics that most of the time affects them.

just a thought.

think about 'pinhole' cameras,... some take really good pics with them, some cant.

(shrug)

Last show shot.

<img src=http://www.overmindesign.com/images/hank5.jpg border="1">

Hank Williams 3

i hear good things about Fuji lately..... any experience with one?

Keep her camera and try the macro mode OR step back from the product, put the camera on the highest setting, zoom in a little and take the pic. With the higher setting you can easily enlarge the pic and still get the quality you need for web usage.

eBay people often have this same issue because they do not know about macro and think that if they get closer to the subject that it will show better detail.

Brujah is right... DPreview is pretty cool. ActiveBuyersGuide.com is pretty handy, if it is still kept up to date.

Fletch is more right.

Aaron hits it on the nose.

hmmm.... good point. I totally forgot about macro mode. It's been a couple years since I used it for anything.... lol...


I'll see if she can macro with her Olympus. :winkwink:

(tripod probly wouldn't hurt either)

yeah, I got a Coolpix 990, but believe me.... that's too much camera for her. LOL.... she needs less adjustments, and one big button that says 'Push here to take a picture'... :winkwink:

Canon G2 on a tripod = $600.

End of story.

Nikon 4300. She'll love it. 4 MP and great price at $499. Full auto. Loads of scene moads. Or Manual. Great versatility. Easy and compact.

cool....


also, she's shooting the products on black velvet. Any special tricks for that or doesn't matter?

that one looks cool too... :thumbsup

wondering if it would be cheaper to just hire a photographer for about 5 or 6 hours to shoot it all for her though and get it over with.... ?

We've gone through several Nikon, Olympus cameras amongst others. Canon G2 is what we have now, nothing can touch this camera in that price range. Most of the top-end ones can't touch it.

Canon G2. :thumbsup

that's 2 for the G2.... good stuff.

you definitely need a tripod. that should take care of the blurry problem. i doubt its the camera. you can pick up a tripod for under $50.

frys has killer gel tripods for like 29.99 here.

im looking into a new camera as well.

good reads on the G2

:thumbsup

Nikkon Coolpix 990 or 995. Anyone can take pictures using these two.

Lighting is real important on stuff depending on how small the items are.
I had to shoot jewelry last year and it was a little tough getting things right, but once you get nice hot natural lights (digital cameras don't like flashes) it helps a lot.
I used an Olympus 2000 something or other.

Okay.. good point... I should have asked about lighting too.... that's exactly what she's shooting. Alot of jewelry, on black velvet... there's some other stuff too, but I don't know exactly what yet.... I think the bulk of it is jewelry though.
So some hot lights versus flash is better huh?

the velvet 'pile' and shimmering jewelry will cause issues of glare amongst the velvet pile.

she will have to make sure the pile is the right way to absorb the glare instead of reflecting it.

pile = the velvet hairs and which way they lay.

damn.... this photography stuff is pretty complicated huh.....


okay, well cool... I'm taking notes and gonna pass this all on to her, and she can decide whether she wants to try and tackle it or hire someone. :winkwink:

...yea I think steady bright lights work best with digital cams. A flash can "suprise" the camera and give you blow outs. It's as if the chip can't keep up with the sudden bright flash and freaks out.
With steady hot lights, the chips are all adjusted before you hit the shutter.
When I shot jewelry, I used 2 or 3 floods around the jewelry, which was bright as hell. I used the built-in flash to give a sparkly effect to the jewels. I think having so much light on the stuff maxed out the camera so the flash was just a little extra.

this happens to me alot too.... (Nikon Coolpix 990)
hmmm...... good tip. That sounds like a cool effect.... :thumbsup

BINGO

Make it 3. The G2 is the only compact digital camera I recommend these days.

Oh yeah...I shoot with one.

my word - Aaron knows , G2 is great product in great price - photoresults are very close to digital SLR.It has really good lens

When we shot products, we mostly used a special table ( if I remember it was lexan or some type of plastic). Was curved and such and we back lit it through the table itself, then had our regular lights set around it with reflectors.

I still have the big table, dunno what for.


It did prevent any glare, cheesy reflections, and gave all the products the best overall appearance.

Canon's G3 is out now too Amp.

AMP....i just picked up a Fuji FinePix 2800Z and love it, for $299 you really can't go wrong. Poor lighting will make any camera look like shit though. :thumbsup

I think I'm first gonna recommend she try some better lights instead of the flash and definately a tripod.... if she still can't get it right, I'll start suggesting some of these cameras....

about the velvet though..... does it make a difference if she sort of bunches it up, or should it be flat?

Tricky, but it depends again on the pile.

The length of the pile as well as the style is it 'crushed velvet' or short shiny reflective velvet... just watch the reflection, obviously it reflects off the shiny parts that dont absorb light, think of hair, same thing. the shine comes from the angle, as well as the length, well velvet has different length pile (hairs) shorter the better for photography.

just get velvet with a really short pile, kinda like the difference between grass in your yard or that green astro turf shit. that way it doesnt reflect and you could bunch it up or however she wants to 'set the stage.'

velvet just doesnt photograph well.

I'm having issues with product shots as well, although my problem is mostly lighting related. Can anyone suggest an appropriate lighting / lightbox setup for products that occupy a space of 24" sqare and smaller?

I have a digital Olympus Camedia c-120 I think. Don't know for sure. It does great pics as long you shoot without the zoom. The problem is if you zoom something then it looks like shit all blurry and that...

You might also consider the Canon S230, it is a good general use camera, and it is very small, fits in your pocket easily :)

I did all the shoots for BKC of Palm Beach, jewelery leather goods etc. I use a lightbox and a table with an opaque top lit from below and several floods bounced onto the items from the top. A tripod helps tremendously on the smaller items. Cameras were Nikon CoolPix 5000 and 5700 and they worked just fine.

A tripod would be the first thing I'd suggest she try.

farbie