Coloured stones photography - kit selection

[tasmal4]

Hello to everyone,

i am in a little trouble and need your help with the selection of my photography kit, in order to start photographing my collection. The gemstones i have are in the span between 2 and 20cts.

After searching in previous posts in the forum and on the web, i am among purchasing Nikon d5100 or Canon 1200D as the base camera. I think that both of them will fit my needs.

The problem, i am dealing with is for selecting the proper lens. The macro lens seems to be more appropriate and i have found Tamron 90mm 1:1 F2.8 Nikon, in a good price. Will this lens fit my needs?

Is there anyone who can share his/her photography kit for coloured stones?

[ephsea]

Hi Tasmal, hope this reply isn't too late. I run the Tamron 90mm lens myself, mated to a Canon EOS Mirrorless body. It's a good lens but I find that I need an extension ring or three to get the working distance I need on gems less than 4cts. Here's a shot taken today off this rig, a little late in the day so light could have been better but :

2.45ct Tanzanian Rhodolite
Custom Design and Cut by GO's NickAtNight

[loydb]

Also hope this isn't too late for you. I use a D5300 with the Nikon 105mm 2.8 macro lens.

[ds1208]

Hi guys... Can you share with me the setups when you took those pictures? I have similar colored stones that I am shooting, and just cannot get that much clarity and color. Also another question.... Does the body of the camera matter much when shooting gemstones? I have a very old Canon D60 body (it's not 60D), and a 100mm macro lens f2.8 (not as old as the body). The guy in the camera rental shop told me the better sensitivity on the flim screen of the body, the better color you get. I am shooting these photos only for the web, not for any printing.

[1bwana1]

The camera and lens you already have should be just fine for photographing stone to put on the web. The resolution on the Web is way lower than what your gear is capable of. Only if you were planning on printing large sizes , would benefit from higher resolution body. You lens is capable of of producing the best quality images on the newest DSLR bodies, so it is all you need for sure.

As with all things photographically, the results depend on the light. Spend your time and money optimizing your light setup. Start with a good table top Light Tent. Inexpensive and will imeadiatly get you good results.

This one is working well for me:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search?Nt ... av-Search=

Using the diffusing light tent with daylight should get you good enough results. But you are then limited by the sun and weather. I prefer to use two small LED panels that let me set the Lumens and color temperature between 300K (Indoor) to 5500K (daylight) because gemstone color is often different in different Kelvin Temps, and I get consistent results in both light ranges.. The units I use are both battery and AC powered so I can easily travel with my setup. Since they are constant lighting they are also good for shooting video of you stones should want to do that.

Here is a link to the lights:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/control ... &A=details

Make sure you also get two of these to mount the lights on when shooting:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1 ... d_for.html

For around $250 you will be able to take great images. Much less than a new body and/or lens.

I hope you find this info useful.

Steve

[AaronA]

Some real awesome photos here! The quality is outstanding and the stones are shining brightly!!

[navneetagarwal1993]

Off the topic a little bit.

But here are what my photography looked with D3100 Nikon - AFS Nikkor 18-55mm. And 2 years later on AF-S Micro Nikkor 60 mm. The difference was the Micro lense 2 years later.

Hope you liked these photos.