# Which Macro Lens to pick?



## Roomka (Aug 9, 2012)

hello, Im currently using a 60MM macro lens And thinking of getting a 100MM. Here a a picture with the 60MM. Will the 100MM be a better choice? thanks.


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## Robin Usagani (Aug 9, 2012)

you probably wont notice anything that different other than you dont have to shoot it as close.


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## Roomka (Aug 9, 2012)

yeah i keep the lens maybe like 6 inches away from the watch. plus i wouldnt want to move further away from the watch due to the small room i have


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## Robin Usagani (Aug 9, 2012)

it wont be that much farther LOL.. just like a few inches.


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## Roomka (Aug 9, 2012)

yeah. but you see the picture i posted the left side of the face is a lil off focus, i use F18 And if i go lower it will worsen. But then again if i go higher it will get better but the quality drops after f18. What can i do to fix this issue. i use a nikon d5100 right now but was thinking of buying the Mark III 5D today


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## Robin Usagani (Aug 9, 2012)

Move the camera back a little.  Depth of field is greatly controlled by the distance from the camera to the subject.


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## Roomka (Aug 9, 2012)

niceee, thanks alot!


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## mjhoward (Aug 9, 2012)

Focus stack.  Get a focus rail and use some free software like CombineZP.  Also, before I did anything else, I'd work on that lighting and exposure.


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## cgipson1 (Aug 9, 2012)

Roomka said:


> yeah. but you see the picture i posted the left side of the face is a lil off focus, i use F18 And if i go lower it will worsen. But then again if i go higher it will get better but the quality drops after f18. What can i do to fix this issue. i use a nikon d5100 right now but was thinking of buying the Mark III 5D today



Why would you switch systems? You will have to buy all new lenses to match!  You can increase your DOF by backing off (distance) a little more. You can then crop the image to show what you want if needed.


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## Roomka (Aug 9, 2012)

yeah my lighting is kind of dark because its the way i like to work on photoshop, these watches have sometimes a brushed finish and not a shiny finish so when i take it with 0 exposure compensation it looks all shiny. this way i can control what parts needs to be brighten up
 <- this would be with 0 compensation. Compensation with 3 bars to the right->


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## cgipson1 (Aug 9, 2012)

Still very underexposed.. assuming your brighten in photoshop?


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## Roomka (Aug 9, 2012)

yeah i do, what can i do to fix my exposure settings?


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## cgipson1 (Aug 9, 2012)

Roomka said:


> yeah i do, what can i do to fix my exposure settings?



Are you metering? What are you metering? Spot metering is the most accurate for this type of shooting... but you have to remember that the meter actually meters for gray! Put a small gray card in your lightbox, and meter on that... lock that metering in with your settings in manual. Recompose, and shoot. 

You are obviously using constant lights (or ambient) with your shutter speed at 1/30.... we see exposures like this all the time with constant lights.

File type: JPEG
File size: 1,934.4 KB
Creation date: 8/9/2012 11:46
Last modification: 8/9/2012 10:05
Make: NIKON CORPORATION (http://www.nikon.com)
Camera: NIKON D5100
Software: Adobe Photoshop CS5.1 Windows
Dimension: 2000 x 2358 px (4.7 MP)
Focal length: 60 mm (equiv. 90 mm)
Aperture: F18
Exposure time: 1/30"
ISO speed rating: 200/24°
Program: Manual
Metering Mode: Pattern
White Balance: Manual
Flash: Flash did not fire

with flash, you could shoot at 1/250, F18, and a lower ISO. Sometimes with a long exposure, you can start getting more noise... as the sensor heats up...


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## Roomka (Aug 9, 2012)

yeah im not metering because i dont know how to use it, do i leave the gray card for the rest of all my shoots or is the gray like a one time background setup?


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## jake337 (Aug 9, 2012)

Check out Rolex site and try to think about how they lit their watches in their images.  I'm not 100% sure but I think most high end watchmakers photographers create composites of the same shot, each with different lighting and then combine them in post.  What I mean is they don't set up the lighting for the whole watch.  They light individual areas of the watch seperately and combine in post.  This way they can control the specular highlights and apparent light size for each individual area of the watch like the face, glass, edging, band, diamonds, etc.

Official Rolex Website > Timeless Luxury Watches

strobe and lighting in general.

Strobist


These links may be of some help with the specular higlight and apparent size control.

Strobist: Lighting 102: Unit 2.1 - Apparent Light Size

Strobist: Lighting 102: Unit 2.2 - Specular Highlight Control

Strobist: Lighting 102: 2.2 - Specular Discussion


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## Roomka (Aug 9, 2012)

yeah that does sound the more professional way but for me its alot of time. i picture up to 8 watches a day with 4 sets of pics for 1 watch and a workday is 8 hours so it really puts me in a tough position. also im not doing any catalog pictures. the pictures are for an online watch store.


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## mjhoward (Aug 9, 2012)

^The good thing about a good setup is once you've figured out the best position for the lights and what power to set them at, it's like an assembly line for the kind of work you do.  Set 'em and forget 'em.  Photograph one watch on your table, then put the next one in it's place.


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## jake337 (Aug 9, 2012)

Exactly.  I'm not saying you should go all out on it.  But if you do you'll get a nice workflow down for it and most likely be able to do it in the same time or less with a much more professional product.  Plus once you get it down you'll be spending less time in post messing around trying to make it look good.  Your lighting will already do that for you.  Just combine, small tweak and your done.  Plus your only talking about 32 pictures a day.


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## Roomka (Aug 9, 2012)

yeah thats what im trying now, to get my setup done so it can be like mj said an assembly line. But i dunno it looks like spot metering is not going to get the whole face of my watch as im watching youtube videos of this spot metering. 

if you take a look at our site you will get a better idea of the format i do. if you see the first picture of the watch notice how i didnt take a picture of the whole watch but more of the face with the lugs, i didnt crop this i filled the whole frame of the lcd with that much of the watch. we sell alot of preowned watches so i need to zoom in to show all the details and in some cases the imperfections such as scratches. In pictures 2,3,4 i need to focus the whole image so thats a bummer for spot metering correct me if im wrong.

http://elementintime.com/Cartier-Ballon-Bleu-42mm-W69012Z4-Stainless-Steel-Custom-Diamond-Bezel


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