# Best Camera for Under $1000 ?



## gunlocators (Feb 28, 2009)

Ok  I am thinking about buying a new camera. It will be mainly for photos of stationary items in a camera tent of various products like guns and pool cues stuff that extreme detail in the photo are important when reselling these type items. I currently have a Canon EOS XTi Rebel and had it over a year. I have been rather displeased in image quality when shooting these type items. I even used bounce cards different external flash angles  manual setting used on the camera i tried numerous combinations and starting to wonder if it the camera. The auto modes on the camera are not much better. Anyway I am sure its well out of warranty and time for a new camera. So tell me what I can get sub $1000 thats the wifes budget she gave me. Like I say mostly will be for product shoots I will need excellent detail in. Also perfer to buy from best buy if they have the model available due to I want something this weekend and perfer not to await shipping on it....

Thanks in advance


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## Katier (Feb 28, 2009)

Well I don't believe the XTi is a bad camera Sounds like your biggest problem is understanding how to do what amounts to Studio lighting.

For doing commercial studio type work you need to work in manual mode and understand how to light effectively. If you don't know that then your going to struggle in ANY camera.

To do the job properly you probably need 3 flashes, softboxes and a glass table (to get a pure white background) etc.

You won't need to bounce light, just diffuse it and probably need to setup something custom with plenty of room for the item.

You also probably need a lens with decent quality. For what your doing a 50mm prime and a 100mm prime would probably be good choices.

You can use a light box although that means you are limited in object size.





while not perfect was taken with two strobes and manual setting. The lighting could have been done with being diffused ( I didn't have one to hand to just had the flashes some distance away) and use paper for the background.

Incidently this was taken with a Pentax K200D using the kit lens.


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## Overread (Feb 28, 2009)

I would certainly echo the advice above.
Firstly I would ask what lens your using and what lighting setup - investing the money into a better quality lens and a good lighting setup would do you a lot more than upgrading the camera body. 
Camera bodies all operate under the same rules - though better quaility ones can let you get an impoved quality the biggest factors are the lens, lighting and user. If your getting bad results with the XTi there is a good chance that there is a flaw in your method or/and that your lens is of poorer quality - upgrading the body won't change any of this so you will still be having the same problems.

If you could outline your shooting method, kit and also post a few example shots we can work from there and see if there is a change to your method which would give you a boost in quality.


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## gunlocators (Feb 28, 2009)

Manual Mode

F11
ISO400
Flash +2
1/200
AI Focus
Quality Raw+L
Redeye ON
AEB 0
Flash exp Comp +2
WB SHIFT 0,0/+-0
Custom WB ( Have No Idea What this needs set to )
Color Space sRGB
Picture Style Standard
Metring Mode is  Evaluate Metering
White Balance Tungsten Light 3200K

I tried with those setting just a several quick shots. Used a Bounce card and bounded direct on ceiling off wall ect none turned out. All on a tripod.

Anyway what lense do you recommend . Also maybe I need better tripod this one I have is cheap however I was using a tripod. Is the XTi remote capable? maybe that may help


Biggest thing now is if I try a lense what lense should i get that BestBuy carries. Also if that does not pan out what camera would you recommend.


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## Katier (Feb 28, 2009)

That doesn't look all that bad. For such shots however you can ALLWAYS shoot at 100ISO. No need to go faster as your working off a tripod.

Lens wise a 50mm f1.7 would be fine.

The shot settings look overall fine. 

I think the only comment would be that most profesional photo's would use a glass base to it's 'flat' in colour and no shadowns. Also the glare on the gun is a bit off putting and you probably need diffused lighting to compencate.

You also need proper flash guns. This means you can then set lighting levels much more accuratly and flexibly. My shot above used two SB20's set at different distances and at about 45 degrees either side.


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## gunlocators (Feb 28, 2009)

Would something like Canon - 100mm f/2.8 Macro Lens - 4657A006

work?

If not any place youi could recommend plus maybe a model number I am pretty lense stupid


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## Katier (Feb 28, 2009)

That's probably a decent lens.. but your problem is lighting first and foremost. Your image is pretty decent, crisp, in focus, but you NEED to sort your lighting and also take at 100ISO not 400.


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## Dao (Feb 28, 2009)

I think the Canon EF 50mm F/1.8 is good enough (around US$90 new)

Take a look at this and see if that help.

Strobist: How To: DIY $10 Macro Photo Studio


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## Dao (Feb 28, 2009)

I just take a photo of my 14mm lens with my XTi.

Here is the photo of the lens I just took.






I made a mistake.  I should have focus on the Lens logo instead of the front lens element. So the logo is a little soft.

This is taken with my Canon XTi and EF 50mm f/1.8 Lens with the following settings.
shutter speed: 1/200
aperture: F/5.6
iso: 100
with flash set yo 1/4 of the power point to the ceiling

Here is what the setup looks like.    Lights were diffused by the 2 walls and the ceilings.  I bounced some light to the front of the lens with the little homemade bounce card.  The shot was taken handheld. (Tripod is better, but I was too lazy to set that up)








Of course, this is not a professional job, but I think it is not that bad with only one flash. And once you get more off camera flashes and diffuse them, it will looks better.  Did I mentioned the cheap Canon 50mm lens?


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## Overread (Feb 28, 2009)

Looking at the settings I would do two things

1) as others have said turn your ISO down to 100 - in a studio setup you are controling the lighting thus you should not need to boost the ISO since if you need more lighting you can increase that yourself .

2) Your flash power appears to be set to +2 - turn that back to normal exposure its blowing out the details on the left side of the gun considerably.

Your lens should be fine for the work your doing, but for product work a good macro lens would do you well - options are

Canon 60mm EFS macro - good solid choice its only drawback is that it will not fit onto a full frame camera (like a 5D) 

Sigma 70mm macro - a good solid choice but this time it is full frame compatable - its also one of sigma's sharpest lenses

Tamron 90mm macro - again another solid choice (this is also the shorts focal length lens recomended for insect macro work)

Canon 100mm macro - a very popular canon choice - like the others its a good solid lens to choose - do get the tripod collar for this lens (sold separatly) as it really helps balance the setup on a tripod.

Any of the above lenses would do you well and only the 60mm and 70mm are limited if you decide to try shooting some bugs - its certainly possible, but you have less distance to work in.

However my advice would be to look to getting a second light so that you can have lighting from two directions- that way you don't have to boost the lighting to get an exposure on the opposite side to work. 
I will leave it now since studio lighting is not my direct area - but certainly look into setting up a better lighting setup.

Also for some improvment use a remote cable release for your camera and also read in the manual about setting mirror lockup mode - that should help get a bit more sharpness out of you shots.


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## jordan! (Feb 28, 2009)

Dao said:


> Strobist: How To: DIY $10 Macro Photo Studio



I just did this the other day and I've been able to get some good shots using my K200D, Kit Lens, and a lamp. It really only cost me probably $2, and it takes about 15 minutes to put together. Definitely worth checking out.


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## tomhooper (Feb 28, 2009)

I think you would do very well getting a Canon 100mm f/2.8 Macro.  I love mine.  

Since your profile says OK to edit your pics, I ran your pistol briefly through Photoshop.  Adjusted the color balance a little and did just a little sharpening and highlight/shadow adjustment.  Took me about 2 minutes and I'm lousy at PS.

I think the 400D is plenty of camera.  Get good glass and good lighting and practice, practice, practice.


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## gunlocators (Feb 28, 2009)

Ok I turned down the ISO to 100 and i think it helped. Also my wife is at bestbuy picking up a 100mm Macro by Canon but already I thnk there is a big difference.


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## chris miss (Feb 28, 2009)

I have the Canon 100mm lens but I haven't played with it much. You can order it from Amazon a lot cheaper ($486.99), no tax and free shipping. Here's the link: 

[ame=http://www.amazon.com/Canon-EF-100mm-USM-Cameras/dp/B00004XOM3/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1235860266&sr=8-1]Amazon.com: Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro USM Lens for Canon SLR Cameras: Electronics[/ame]

Christine


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## Overread (Feb 28, 2009)

big improvement there 
Keep at it and work with it - the camera should be the last thing you really think of upgrading - good quality glass, lighting, tripods, shooting skills - these things will make much more impact to the quality of your work


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## gunlocators (Feb 28, 2009)

Ok heres first shot on a white background No changes to manual setting from before with New Canon 100mm Macro. Now I need to learn to set white balance the background looks bluish to me rather than snow white.


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## Overread (Feb 28, 2009)

lighting looking the best yet - but I agree you have a blue cast to that shot. Have ou tried shooting in RAW mode? that would let you edit the white balance of a shot after you take it using the computer.
The files are bigger than JPEGs and they all require editing before they can be used (RAW is raw image data from the camera sensor). Sharpening and noise removal as well as contrast, hue, saturation and other things must all be performed on most RAW shots since these are things that the camera often does itself when processing a JPEG (thus RAW shots can look softer than a JPEG till after you edit them.)


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## gunlocators (Feb 28, 2009)

Thats what I am shooting in is RAW+L

Import and edit in photoshop cs4 basically I am adjusting the brightness and contrast otherwise its much worse looking in raw


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## tomhooper (Feb 28, 2009)

You need to learn to edit shots in RAW.  When you do, you probably won't shoot anything else.  Canon supplies or at least they did a RAW editing software with the camera.  Digital Photo Professional.  Its fairly easy to use and with it you can adjust white balance, color channels, brightness, contrast, sharpness, etc.  On the Canon website they have some tutorials that are short and to the point about how to use it.  I presently use it instead of my CS3.

PS, you appear to have dust on your sensor.


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## gunlocators (Feb 28, 2009)

tomhooper said:


> You need to learn to edit shots in RAW.  When you do, you probably won't shoot anything else.  Canon supplies or at least they did a RAW editing software with the camera.  Digital Photo Professional.  Its fairly easy to use and with it you can adjust white balance, color channels, brightness, contrast, sharpness, etc.  On the Canon website they have some tutorials that are short and to the point about how to use it.  I presently use it instead of my CS3.
> 
> PS, you appear to have dust on your sensor.




Its been over a year since I purchased the camera it may have came with the software but I have since lost the box. I will have to look for it. As far a dust on the sensor how can you tell? How can it be fixed.

Here are a couple more pics i took with the 100mm Macro in a light box with 3 shop lights. I plan shopping ebay tonight for a remote for the shutter, maybe a better photo tent and really in search of some good light.

I am keeping the XTi I just need to learn processing after the image is shot. 

Pics taken in a photo box, 3 shop lights shining in and flash bounce off ceiling. ISO 100 1/200 F11 with new 100mm Macro lense


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## gunlocators (Feb 28, 2009)

Any recommendations on purchasing lights or does that need a new thread ?


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## gunlocators (Feb 28, 2009)

tomhooper said:


> You need to learn to edit shots in RAW.  When you do, you probably won't shoot anything else.  Canon supplies or at least they did a RAW editing software with the camera.  Digital Photo Professional.  Its fairly easy to use and with it you can adjust white balance, color channels, brightness, contrast, sharpness, etc.  On the Canon website they have some tutorials that are short and to the point about how to use it.  I presently use it instead of my CS3.
> 
> PS, you appear to have dust on your sensor.




Found camera box in attic and found my CD's for  Digital Photo Professional I will give it a try


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## jordan! (Feb 28, 2009)

For lighting stuff, you should check out Strobist. Read the lighting 101 section (there's a link on the right hand side of the page). It's a really good intro to off camera flash, and will give you a good idea of the gear you might need.


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## tomhooper (Mar 1, 2009)

I put an arrow on the two spots that make me think you have dust on your sensor.  If you enlarge the image, you will probably find a few more that are not as obvious.  Read your camera manual on how to clean it.  Its easy.  Or you can just post process the spots out.  Also here is a link to Canon's Digital Learning Center.  Lots of good info there.  You can also follow the links to the Digital Photo Professional tutorials.  It will also allow you to upgrade to the latest version free of charge.  Good luck and ask anything anytime.

Canon Digital Learning Center


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## tomhooper (Mar 1, 2009)

gunlocators said:


> Here are a couple more pics i took with the 100mm Macro in a light box with 3 shop lights. I plan shopping ebay tonight for a remote for the shutter, maybe a better photo tent and really in search of some good light.



If you don't have a remote shutter release, you can set your camera on timer mode.  I know the XSi has a 2 sec delay along with the standard 10 second one.  Not sure about the XTi.  Trigger the shutter and move your hand.  Shooting still objects, you don't need instant shutter control.  Just a thought.


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## gunlocators (Mar 1, 2009)

Thank you for the tips. reading sensor cleaning now. Also downloaded latest ver DPP


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