What macro lens for product shots?

[martin_patek_strutsky]

Plan to get a dedicated macro lens for taking product shots with my

20D. According to the focal length I short listed the ancient EF

2.5/50 as the otherwise favourable EF 2.8/100 seems to be definitely

too long for this purpose.

 

Now I learnt that the 2.8/100 is in fact a 70mm lens at 1:1 as the

focal length is changing with the magnification used. Could anyone

tell me what would be the effective focal length at magnifications

between 1:2 and 1:20? Is it more like 70mm or more like 100mm?

 

Thanks

[mark u]

I'm not sure why you are quite so concerned about focal length as you appear to be. At 70mm, you get 1:20 at about 1.5m working distance, whereas at 100mm it would be about 2.1m. However, for lower magnifications you could use a non-macro lens - a 50mm f/1.8 will focus down to 0.45m with a magnification of 0.15 or 1:6.7. Besides, a macro lens may not be ideal for product shots unless the product is flat. A better choice might be a TS-E lens that would allow you to alter the plane of sharp focus.

[lotsawa]

Just curious, what about a good P&S prosumer digital with decent macro abilities and presumably large DOF instead? Since you can work with tripod and enough light, noise should be no problem. The 100/2.8 Macro has very narrow DOF indeed.

[martin_patek_strutsky]

I'm not sure why you are quite so concerned about focal length as you appear to be. At 70mm' date=' you get 1:20 at about 1.5m working distance, whereas at 100mm it would be about 2.1m. [/quote']<p>

 

Well, in a small home studio like mine the difference between 1.5 and 2.1m could be the deciding factor for being able to get a shot or not. <p>

 

A better choice might be a TS-E lens

<p>

 

Of course theoretically a tilt/shift lens would be perfect for this task. Have you ever tried to use a TSE 2.8/45 together with a 1.6 crop camera for table-top stuff? I guess the viewfinder is simply not up to that task.

 

My preferred kit would be a 1DSII with a 90mm TSE lens. Unfortunately this combination is slightly outside my price range...

[mark u]

So... a regular 50mm will give you 1:20 at just over 1m, and the macro lens can take over when you're at 1:10 at no greater a distance. If your home studio can't accommodate 1m, then you'd have to use an even shorter focal length to give you 1:20.

[beeman458]

What's the best macro lense for product shots. None of the macro lenses qualify.

 

The "best" lense for product shots, made by Canon, would be their tilt shift lenses. The next "best" lense would be Canon's 65mm F/2.8 MPE 1-5x Macro Lense.

 

The next "best" lense would be the 180mm macro because it allows you to get further back and then the 100mm macro.

 

Important thought, product photography requires proper lighting; What allowances have you made for your lighting requirements?

[paul -]

<i>The next "best" lense would be Canon's 65mm F/2.8 MPE 1-5x Macro Lense</i><p>But Martin seems to need 1:2 to 1:20, not 1:1 to 5:1.

[beeman458]

I responded to the question in kind as to which was about product shots.

 

Question heading was; "What macro lens for product shots?"

 

First comment was; "Plan to get a dedicated macro lens for taking product shots with my 20D."

 

Magnification is nothing more then how close can a lense get and when does the lense fill the viewfinder. If all one is wanting is a decent lense, then get an old 28-70mm f/2.8L macro. But "product" photography, comes with it's own set of requirements which a straight up lense isn't built to deal with, hence the need for the tilt/shift lense.

[beeman458]

"The next "best" lense would be Canon's 65mm F/2.8 MPE 1-5x Macro Lense"

 

"But Martin seems to need 1:2 to 1:20, not 1:1 to 5:1."

 

Yes you're correct, the MPE 65mm might be a bit of overkill so we'll take that off of my list:)

[martin_patek_strutsky]

Just made a little calculation: With a 4x5 camera I use a 240mm lens for the results I have in mind. On a 1,6 crop body this translates to a focal lengths of 45mm. So it looks like the 2.5/50 Macro is what I should look for.

 

Still it would be very interesting to hear first hand comments regarding TSE lenses on crop bodies...

[test11664875106]

I have only 24mm TS-E lens, no 45mm. If 0.16x magnification is enough for you, then 45mm TS-E might be indeed your best choice. For getting right DOF it might be even easier to use than other alternatives, because it has real usable DOF scale and you actually have semi-AF in the form of "focus confirmation" in the viewfinder (yes, it still works with TS-E lenses). The way I use my lens most of the time is as follow (not for macro but I also want everything sharp): I focuse on nearest subject and note distance, then the same for the farmost subject; then lets say DOF scale says it would be enough to shoot at f/8 to get all sharp, with EOS 3 I'd use f/11 while with 20D I use f/22. Even with f/3.5 max apperture of 24mm I can still do MF for close subjects, though I more often rely on focus confirmation, with 45mm lens you have slightly brighter viewfinder.

 

Here I'll try to upload a test shot I've just made. Nearest distance was half-way on the scale between 0.4m and 0.5m, farmost 1/3 way from 0.5 to 0.7. I was lazy to unpack strobes so shot only with room light, hence ISO 1600 and 1"6 seconds f/22, noise included. Resulting picture is about 1/5 of the frame area further downsized to 25%. You can also see the size of the subject.<div></div>

[stephen hazelton]

It's probably heresy to suggest it, but for some items, a scanner works great- try one on stamps or coins, for example.

 

For product photos, I wouldn't be too concerned about focal length.

[bob_williams6]

I would just get some extension rings. I should 90% products and use only extension

rings for close up shots or small products. I just add a short one (or long one if needed)

to the lens that I am using.

Bob

[df-gallery]

I think that for product shots, focal length and working distance does matter, because it affects the perspective of the product. Using a too wide angle might result in undesired perspective distortion. That is why the best choice is a system with full camera movements (TS-E and LF for example). And with that, you can probably get away with one lens. But with smaller formats, reduced size SLR, you may need two or more lenses to achieve the correct image perspective. So I would suggest a 50/2.5 and a 100/2.8, maybe even a wider angle 35 or something. Just a suggestion.

[beeman458]

Martin

 

If you would be so kind as to describe your set up and what sort of product photography would you be doing. This insight would be helpful.

 

You mentioned small studio and limited budget. What's your lighting setup? What's your "realistic" budget (double or triple your conservative budget?) How large/small are the products you're photographing? Are you shooting in your living room or do you have a dedicated studio in the garage; you mentioned a LF 4"x5"?

 

Just a philosophical aside... "All" lense purchases are a compromise and "always" get the best lense you "can't" afford but need:)

 

Surprisingly, you might find Canon's 50mm f/1.4 to your liking as it's close focusing distance is a tad under a half meter and will give you excellent low light characteristics.

 

I have a 28-70mm f/2.8L macro and which gives one excellent macro capabilities (about 10") as well as buttery smooth bokeh, yet all the while this same lense gives a user the flexibility of a zoom with the much talked about image quality of a prime lense. You can pick a used 28-70mm f/2.8L up on Fred Miranda's site, (fredmiranda.com) in the "Buy&Sell" forum for about $725.00 (US).

 

The MTF charts for either the 24-70mm f/2.8L or the 28-70mm f/2.8L is darn near dead flat, out to the edge (15mm-18mm) of a 1.6x crop sensor and is the equal to or better then most primes. So by picking up one of these puppies, money well spent I might add, you get the best of all worlds; macro capability, zoom versatility and prime like image quality w/screaming bokeh, all in a one lense solution of a package. This is a good thing:)

 

The 28-70mm f/2.8L was my main lense until I was seduced by wide angle imaging and now a 16-35mm f2/8L is my main lense of choice I keep several other lenses close at hand, including the 28-70mm f/2.8L.

 

Hope this helps.