Need Advice On Cameras....What should I look Out For?

ZealPainter said:

Hi, I am trying to decide on a photo camera, possibly a DSLR and I am not knowledgeable. I have got lots to learn.

My primary aim is to take photos of my paintings ( www.zealpaintings.com ), as I am a painting artist really. Still, I do wish to expand into some photography artistically if I can.

Click to expand...

If your paintings are less than about 11x14 inches, then a scanner might be somewhat better for this purpose. Camera lenses will add distortions that won't be found on a clean scan.

ZealPainter said:

Could anyone suggest any options as to which camera would suit me best. I realise the sky is the limit for price and equipment, but I am also on a budget. I am dilly dallying between two cameras at the moment, which are the Canon 600D and the cheaper in price the Nikon 3200D. So, I would appreciate any other camera suggestions similar to this range, please. These two seem to be good, but what should I look out for when choosing a camera to take quality photos? I am not too bothered about video, it's more about faithful, clear and quality images. I realise Pixels help and that is where the 3200D wins.

Click to expand...

Both of those cameras should be more than adequate, and I know that the D3200 uses the same sensor as more expensive cameras, which often justify their price due to increased durability and extra non-photo-quality features.

But you might want to check out used cameras:

http://www.adorama.com

http://bhphotovideo.com

https://www.keh.com

These dealers all have a good selection of used gear and will adjust the price according to camera wear and tear. You might be able to pick up a perfectly good camera with cosmetic damage for a good price.

Also, look into getting a macro lens for this purpose, which can focus closely. Some may be old but exceptional in quality; the reason being is that a lot of general-purpose lenses might add curvature to the stuff in the image, and might introduce color fringes on objects at the corners of the field.

ZealPainter said:

Any other pointers please?

Click to expand...

This is a frequent question asked by visual artists! I wrote this article when an artist friend asked about how to go about photographing his artwork:

Accurate Color Rendition

ZealPainter said:

Hi, I am trying to decide on a photo camera, possibly a DSLR and I am not knowledgeable. I have got lots to learn.

My primary aim is to take photos of my paintings ( www.zealpaintings.com ), as I am a painting artist really. Still, I do wish to expand into some photography artistically if I can.

Could anyone suggest any options as to which camera would suit me best. I realise the sky is the limit for price and equipment, but I am also on a budget. I am dilly dallying between two cameras at the moment, which are the Canon 600D and the cheaper in price the Nikon 3200D. So, I would appreciate any other camera suggestions similar to this range, please. These two seem to be good, but what should I look out for when choosing a camera to take quality photos? I am not too bothered about video, it's more about faithful, clear and quality images. I realise Pixels help and that is where the 3200D wins.

Any other pointers please?

Click to expand...

The easiest way to take reasonably good pictures for someone that's not knowledgeable is to buy a camera that has an electronic viewfinder instead of an optical viewfinder.

DSLRs have optical viewfinders that show the actual scene in the viewfinder but not what the camera will capture. To see the image that the DSLR captured one must look at the screen on the back of the camera "after" taking the picture. If the captured image is not what you want, then you have to make camera adjustments and take the picture again. ..... Repeat until the captured image is what you want.

On the other hand, electronic viewfinders show the image that will be captured. The user can make the adjustments prior to taking the picture and when the picture is taken, the captured image will be what was seen in the viewfinder. The captured image can also be reviewed on the screen in the back of the camera if desired.

For your use of taking pictures of your paintings, if doing that indoors then you can use the screen on the back of a DSLR (if it has live view capability) to see what will be captured before taking the picture. But if you take pictures of your paintings outdoors in sunlight, making WYSIWYG capture decisions using the back screen will be extremely difficult if not impossible.

Finally, you will surely be using your new camera to take pictures outdoors in sunlight for general photography. Here again having a camera with an electronic viewfinder will be essential to preview the picture before you take it.

$.02,
Sky

ZealPainter said:

Hi, I am trying to decide on a photo camera, possibly a DSLR and I am not knowledgeable. I have got lots to learn.

My primary aim is to take photos of my paintings ( www.zealpaintings.com ), as I am a painting artist really. Still, I do wish to expand into some photography artistically if I can.

Could anyone suggest any options as to which camera would suit me best. I realise the sky is the limit for price and equipment, but I am also on a budget. I am dilly dallying between two cameras at the moment, which are the Canon 600D and the cheaper in price the Nikon 3200D. So, I would appreciate any other camera suggestions similar to this range, please. These two seem to be good, but what should I look out for when choosing a camera to take quality photos? I am not too bothered about video, it's more about faithful, clear and quality images. I realise Pixels help and that is where the 3200D wins.

Any other pointers please?

Much is appreciated.

Happy Photographing!

Zeal Painter.

Click to expand...

I would suggest reading through all the "I need to pick a camera help me" threads. Some will apply to what you want to do.

Two things are most important for copying paintings, a good even source of lighting and a low distortion flat field lens. Really any modern body with a tripod screw mount and self timer would work. What you should look for first is the lens. Depending on how big your art is and how far back you can get will determine the focal length you want to shoot for. Find a good macro lens in that focal length. Say you are shooting 2 x 3 foot images laid on the ground and can mount your camera 6 ft above them. You would need a 70mm lens or shorter. A macro lens because they are built to provide less distortion and a flatter filed of view. 70mm gives you a 2 x 3 ft field of view at 6 ft with a FF camera, if you get a crop body like the Nikon D3200 you would need a 45mm. I do not know of many 45mm macro lenses but lots of 50mm and 30mm lenses. The other thing you want is good color, so get a color checker and learn how to use it.

The most important thing to consider is what is your output medium going to be, and how are you going to use the images. If you are only outputting to the Web, a good cell phone camera will be fine. Are you using these photo's for gallery submissions or for an electronic catalouge? An APS-c sensored live view camera might work fine. Are you creating digital images for limited edition prints? If so, you probably need a medium format camera.

So, we need to know what you are going to do with the images.

Hi Mark and thank you for the time taken to explain things to me, I will certainly keep what you have said in mind.

Thank you also for the links you provided to me for the cameras which I will check out and also try to read the post you wrote.

Much is appreciatively,

ZealPainter.

P.S. Most of my paintings are larger than the 14" you mentioned and the correct link to my site is www.zealspaintings.com.

Thank you SkyGlider for the valuable information and your time.

I will keep what you have said in mind for when I decide what to choose.

All the best,

ZealPainter.

P.S. The correct link to my site is www.zealspaintings.com . I lmistakenly left the 's' out in my post.

Thank you very much Wally626 for you time to explain and the valuable information you have given me.

I have been advised about the macro lens by someone else and to tell you the truth, I used to think that macro was meant for close-up pictures of small things. As you have mentioned about the distortion, that would make a lot of sense to eliminate them. Especially as I more often than not make sizeable pantings, apart from small ones.

I will certainly go over what you have explained to me and keep it mind.

Much appreciatively,

ZealPainter.

P.S. the correct link to my site is www.zealspaintings.com . I forgot an 's' in my original post.

Hi Tedolf and thank you for your time and advice first of all.

It is most of what you have mentioned, but if I could manage to produce quality images for print it would be better. I do use them on websites, submit them and I haven't got printing them yet, but have plans to.

Much appreciatively,

ZealPainter.

P.S. The correct link to my site is www.zealspaintings.com . I accidentally left one 's' out.

ZealPainter said:

Hi Tedolf and thank you for your time and advice first of all.

It is most of what you have mentioned, but if I could manage to produce quality images for print it would be better. I do use them on websites, submit them and I haven't got printing them yet, but have plans to.

Click to expand...

How large will you be printing?

ZealPainter said:

Much appreciatively,

ZealPainter.

P.S. The correct link to my site is www.zealspaintings.com . I accidentally left one 's' out.

Click to expand...

TEdolph

You already know what most of, me include, will never know. The art of photography. You just have to sort out the small part that is technical photography.

I would advise on Nikon D5300 with 60 mm f/2.8N Macro lens. Then something to calibrate your color (ColorChecker or similar) and a RAW developing software (I use Adobe Lightroom but there are others).

To expand a little more the use you could take the kit with 18-105 mm VR lens plus that macro lens.

A good tripod would be very useful and also an easel that can hold your pictures perpendicular to the ground so the sensor and the painting to be on parallel plans.

Have fun!

ZealPainter said:

Hi, I am trying to decide on a photo camera, possibly a DSLR and I am not knowledgeable. I have got lots to learn.

My primary aim is to take photos of my paintings ( www.zealpaintings.com ), as I am a painting artist really. Still, I do wish to expand into some photography artistically if I can.

Could anyone suggest any options as to which camera would suit me best. I realise the sky is the limit for price and equipment, but I am also on a budget. I am dilly dallying between two cameras at the moment, which are the Canon 600D and the cheaper in price the Nikon 3200D. So, I would appreciate any other camera suggestions similar to this range, please. These two seem to be good, but what should I look out for when choosing a camera to take quality photos? I am not too bothered about video, it's more about faithful, clear and quality images. I realise Pixels help and that is where the 3200D wins.

Any other pointers please?

Much is appreciated.

Happy Photographing!

Zeal Painter.

Click to expand...

yes, the pixels keep getting smaller and smaller !

look for image quality .... Canon ... what the pros use !

As for the size of the prints I am not absolutely sure, but had I to learn to take care of them myself, they would most probably be poster size to start off with. Lets say about 75cm x 60cm and I most probably would leave the large ones to someone with a professional camera. However, even when I have had it done this way, the Tiff files are usually large, but when I convert them to Jpeg they often give me a much smaller file to load on a site like Saatchi for instance. Something like a 50,000mb of a Tiff ends up to be 7Mb (Jpeg) or less. Some sites usually demand JPeg files to be loaded.

Having said this, if I would need some really good equipment that is out of my reach for the time being, I would have to content myself with something that can give me really decent images if possible. At least I might be able to handle the less demanding and smaller ones that are about the 75cm square or less. This way I can submit or upload with more freedom.

Thanks for the help.

ZealPainter.

Thanks for the information Baloo.

I am taking in all the information at the moment and hopefully will be able to decide.

All the best!

ZealPainter.

P.S. the proper link to my site is www.zealspaintings.com . I accidentally left an 's' out.

Thanks Beagle1 for your suggestion.

I did see a review where I preferred the white balance of the Canon more despite not having as many pixels as the Nikon. The Nikon seemed a little yellowish despite my paintings having a lot of yellow in them.

All the best!

ZealPainter.

P.S. the proper link to my site is www.zealspaintings.com . I accidentally left an 's' out in my original post.

ZealPainter said:

As for the size of the prints I am not absolutely sure, but had I to learn to take care of them myself, they would most probably be poster size to start off with.

Click to expand...

Poster size? For commercial reproduction?

You really should be looking at a large format camera.

ZealPainter said:

Lets say about 75cm x 60cm and I most probably would leave the large ones to someone with a professional camera. However, even when I have had it done this way, the Tiff files are usually large, but when I convert them to Jpeg they often give me a much smaller file to load on a site like Saatchi for instance. Something like a 50,000mb of a Tiff ends up to be 7Mb (Jpeg) or less. Some sites usually demand JPeg files to be loaded.

Having said this, if I would need some really good equipment that is out of my reach for the time being,

Click to expand...

Maybe you can rent, lease or finance if it is for commercial purposes.

ZealPainter said:

I would have to content myself with something that can give me really decent images if possible. At least I might be able to handle the less demanding and smaller ones that are about the 75cm square or less. This way I can submit or upload with more freedom.

Thanks for the help.

ZealPainter.

Click to expand...

TEdolph

ZealPainter said:

Lets say about 75cm x 60cm and I most probably would leave the large ones to someone with a professional camera.

Click to expand...

That size, in gallery quality, will be tough for just about any kit lens. I think you will be headed for a true macro lens. Most ILC systems offer such a lens, so this does not affect the camera selection so much as the budget.

Kelly Cook

At the moment I am trying to consider what I can reach for and try to learn a bit more. As I have mentioned with someone else, where I think that the paintings are too big for me to take on, I'll leave them to the professionals. It would be better that way.

I have to start somewhere though and I have quite a lot of advice given to me from this forum. I am taking notes at the moment of all that has been said to me and hopefully I can come to a conclusion. It's has been worth trying this site out and I would recommend it.

Thanks once again for your time and guidance which I will take notice of.

All the best.

ZealPainter.

Hi Mark,

I had the time to read your blog Accurate Color Rendition which I found informative, though a bit complicate for my level. Thank you for putting that information out there though.

Kind regrads,

ZealPainter.