Camera Suggestions - 2020

billyO

Well-Known Member
Hello all.
I'd like to take one step up from using my phone for knife pics. I have no other plans for the camera, just want something to use with my tripod (I had an older what I'll call full-bodied camera) and light tent to take better knife pics. I suppose I could make a phone holder for the tri-pod, but would like a dedicated camera and keep my phone just a phone.

It seems as if there are a bunch of options in the $99-150 range, then the price jumps to $250-300. Like many, cheaper would be better for me, but only if I'm not throwing money away.
 
I use a $100 canon ELPH...it takes better pics than I know how to compose...lol! I downloaded free editing software and have been happy with the time I spend and the quality I get. It also takes good VIDEOS!

perhaps take a micro SD card in and something that would be a good tester and try their sample camera?
 
For knife photography, I'm a fan of Sony cameras. It's because of the lens. The vast majority of cameras these days come with a plastic lens.... even some of the ultra high dollar cameras. Some of Sony's cameras do to....but if just have to ensure you read that specs to ensure a glass lens. In the Sony brand, look for "Carl Zeiss" and it will be a quality glass lens.......makes a huge difference. I currently own/use a cyber-shot dsc-hx200v, mainly because this camera has a "mode" dial on it..... and two of the modes are "easy", meaning that everything from light and color correction, to focus is taken care of..... I just have to get the knife positioned correctly in the frame, and be careful not to shake the camera (it MUST be on a tripod) when pressing the shutter button. Look up Sony DSC-H200 on ebay, and you can find them for less than $300. I've only purchase one new camera for knife photos, and that was a Nikon, that got returned within a week. I paid over $800 for it, and it couldn't take any better knife pics then the Sony DSC-200. Later I discovered that the Nikon I'd purchased was indeed a plastic lens, and every image I took with it turned out with a slight yellowish ting.....something that I have notice with any plastic lens camera I've used.

Don't let yourself get wrapped around the axle about the megapixels..... when you upload to the web, which is were most of your images will be going, the DPI get reduced to less then 100 anyway, to make the image "lite" enough for fast loading and not hogging up room on your website server. This camera give you enough megapixels to print image is Hi-Def, but also takes great pics for what you will mostly be doing.....web based stuff.
The camera is only about 20% of taking good knife pics..... the remaining 80% is lighting and background color/type. You MUST have a lighting tent to consistently take good knife pics. I recommend a "cube": https://www.amazon.com/Neewer-Shooting-Diffusion-Backdrops-Photography/dp/B00GKGGICC/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=photo+light+tent+cube&qid=1604239422&sr=8-3

Plus lighting like: https://www.amazon.com/Neewer-Profe...ords=photography+lights&qid=1604239616&sr=8-9

And the MOST important thing, that is so often overlooked, the proper background, both color and texture. If you look at my photos, most of them "pop" mainly because I have figured out the correct color and texture/material for backgrounds. That is most often a medium blue color, in the materials that is used for matting photos/potraits. :



I'll get some pics later today of my photo booth and how it's setup. This color of blue, and the texture is what works best for me.....
Oct16-Stag-Lam1.jpg


Another trick I've learned, if the camera has it, try using the "portrait" setting..... if the background is right, it will give a slight blur to the background, and make the knife look like it's more "forward" in the image.

Good, simple image editing software is a most too. For years I have been using Miscrosoft Image Suite to do a lot of editing. I think it was discontinued in 2006, but I keep it on my home server, and keep loading/using it.
Two others that also get a lot of use from me are.... https://engelmann.com/en/optimize-photos-simply-good-pictures/ and https://photomizer.com/en/

I am certainly no professional photographer, but I've tried enough things to figure out what works for me, and what doesn't. I would guess that with a camera, light tent, lights, and associated gear, you can expect to spend about $400-$500 or so to get started (that is if you buy a used camera like the Sony DSC series.) But considering professional photos are around $200+ per photo these days, with a bit of practice/learning, you get a return on your money quickly.
 
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Thanks for the suggestions and info, everyone. It seems like the most important things are lighting, background and editing software, with actual camera being low on the list.
I've got the lighting and background options already covered.
One other reason I'm thinking about a better camera is that I remember reading a discussion somewhere, I think by Jim Cooper (sharpbycoop) where he said it's important to take multiple shots with different light positions and then superimpose them. I thought this could be done with a better camera by not advancing to the next frame, but maybe I'm reverting back to film cameras.

Do y'all think I should just get a tripod for my phone and learn to use editing software before buying a different camera?
 
Do y'all think I should just get a tripod for my phone and learn to use editing software before buying a different camera?

No.... phone cameras, while good, are simply no match for even a lower grade digital camera. The reason is that a phone's camera is built and adjusted in such as way, as to get the best ACCEPTABLE results over ALL picture taking situations. A camera, whether you adjust settings manually, or use the camera's "modes" is far superior to any phone camera.

And a note about editing software. Before I learned to take my own photos, I had an individual taking them for me, who WAY over used editing software....to the point that the photo, and the actual knife looked nothing alike. So much so, that I had a couple of knives returned, because the clients purchased based on website photos, but when they saw the knives in real life, felt the photo misrepresented the knives. Lesson learned.
 
I think you’d get better pictures with a regular camera. I know some phones take great pictures but regular cameras are designed to do one thing, take good pictures. Black Friday coming up, there’ll be deals out there.
 
I've been partial to the Canon Powershot G series, currently using the G12. Full manual control, presets, and programmable presets. Earlier versions came with a remote that was convenient, and later models have WIFI. You can find them used very reasonably priced.
 
If you plan to use external lighting, a camera with a manual mode is key, in my opinion. It just depends on how much control you want over the final image. No matter what you get, a tripod and shutter release / timer is the single best thing you add to improve any photo.
 
Thanks everyone! I'll throw out the idea of the continuing to use the phone, That was one sticking point in the decision making process.
No matter what you get, a tripod and shutter release / timer is the single best thing you add to improve any photo.
This was my original, original thinking and just the other day realized that the phone has a delay timer option which is why I considered just a phone tripod.

But now I'm back to the original question, should I budget $100-150 or $250-300+?

PS - I'd rather be looking for a TIG welder....
 
The answer to that is how much resolution you need. If you are only going to show your pictures on a computer screen you don’t need a ton of resolution because a computer monitor can only display the amount of pixels it has. The problem comes in when you do a lot of cropping of the original image. A cell phone camera has a teeny tiny sensor. It looks great on a small screen. It begins to fall apart on a larger screen when those image pixels get spread out. The lens distortion begins to show up really well and the details start to fade out.

A real camera has a lot going for it. MUCH larger sensor. Way better dynamic range (for color spectrum). Infinitely better lens. Better control of color temperature and focus.

If you want ultimate control then a DSLR is the ticket but it’s also a much bigger investment.
 
I think you can get a good used camera for $200 or less. I've purchased my last two cameras, used, off Ebay. Both were Sony brand...... the DSC series DSLR cameras. The DSC-H200 through DSC-H400s are no longer made, and there are a lot of them on the second hand market. The one I currently use is a Sony DSC-HX200V.

I still say, whatever brand you choose, ensure it has a GLASS LENS. Every camera I've tried with a plastic lens, and that includes some of the "high end", very popular ones, has had issues for light tent/knife photography. In short, I've found that a cheaper camera, even an older model, with a Carl Zeiss or Swarovski lens is far superior for light tent use then a much more expensive camera with plastic lens.
 
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