What Camera Lenses do you use?

[jmcutting]

As an avid photo buff, I have taken a ton of pictures over the years everything from Landscapes to Senior Pictures. Though with all of this I have never had the need for a Macro Lense. I am curious as to what you use for taking pictures of your finished work. Sam your photos are great and I know that you too are a photo geek like me! I am going to purchase a new lense but wanted to see what the suggestions are before doing so.

I have a Sony Alpha DSLR - A100, with a large selection of Telephoto Lenses and a 35-70 f3.5-5.6.

Thanks Gang,
-justin

 

[pilkguns]

you really don't want a macro lense, unless you are engraving on pin heads like Sam does some of the time.

you need a lens that is sharp at a wide aperture, so you can get still maintain good focus on surfaces that vary quite a bit a height. I could point you to a chart that would analyze these for various Canon lenses, but I don't know of anything for the Sony, sorry. Although from all I know about lense, once you get one in your hand you will have to do your own testig to see how sharp your lens is at various F/stops. Just the variables in manufacturing can make a big diffrence if you looking for the difference between a that is a nice photos versus, every thing in the pic is crystal sharp

But basically you need your camera/lens setup to get away from the engraved object, not closer to it, more along the telephoto line, since you need to be away from so that you do not cause shadows or have camera reflections in the engraved piece.

I bought a 85 Tilt and Shift lense recently for engraving photos which is the best of all worlds I suppose, but pretty pricey for general applications. I needed another 85 like a hole in the head, since I have it covered in two zooms and and 85/1.8, but hey, had to have a new toy,er, uhmmm, business expense or pay Uncle Sam taxes.

 

[jimzim75]

I bought a Macro lens for the Nikon and I never use it. The second lense I bought was a 18-200 and I never take it off the
camera. It also has a Macro feature that I also never use. This lense is a great all-round lense for anything going on
with engraving. Both lenses are form Sigma. I have a Nikon D-200. Most of what is important is in resolution or in none
photographic language. How much information is in the picture (file). With a good editing program you can really make
nice pictures.

 

[KCSteve]

The Sony Alpha is the renamed Minolta so the existing charts for Minolta lenses are (mostly) relevant. Mostly because I believe the Alpha 100 is still not a full-frame sensor so you only use the center of the image circle which looks like you're zoomed in a bit.

As the others have said, a macro lens is a wonderful thing and potentially usefull for taking pictures of your engraving. But only if you want pictures of very small engravings, or of very small parts of your engraving.

I did a basic 'small object photography' tutorial that's in the Tips section. In it I touch on the fact that the macro lens tends to get you too close for most things.

Your 'walk-around' lens should do the job, as long as you put the camera on a tripod (or other support) and arrange some good lighting.

Here's a fun test for everyone to try: Take your camera and any static scene - small object, landscape, whatever as long as it's holding still and you can tell if one picture is sharper / clearer than another. Take one picture handheld and one with the camera fully supported. Get in close to the resulting images (zoom in if digital or get enlargements for film) and look at the details. There tend to be a whole lot more in the shot from the tripod.

I, of course, shoot most of my shots handheld. Ah well, at least I know better.

 

[Sam]

I'm not a huge fan of aftermarket lenses, but I do recommend the Sigma 150mm f2.8 macro. That's what I use for engraving photos, and it's extremely sharp and offers a very comfortable lens-to-subject working distance. I love it. The autofocus is slow which is definitely a minus if you plan to shoot where fast focus is necessary, but mine stays in my studio and is focused manually. For the money I think it's pretty difficult to beat this lens. Even for 2-3 times the money it's difficult to beat, and it will deliver 1:1 macro if you really need to get in close. That's a big plus. / ~Sam