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DSLR lens suggestions?

stan23 said:
If you look at what he's trying to accomplish - shooting paint swirls, before/after stuff/ultra detail, i'm almost thinking forgo all the studio lighting, get yourself a 100mm macro lens, and a ring flash. It won't be pretty intriguing to most folks, but I bet detailers will go nuts on that.

I myself completely suck at shooting anything static. I shoot motorcycles for sale, and that's the furthest i'll go.
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This caught my attention quick.....
 
Good that you're not using a filter. :thumbup

To get rid of that glare/ghosting, you will need a better quality lens. Like Stan said, it's similar to shooting into the sun.

I'd be very curious to experiment with the ring flash concept. Not sure what kind of results that would give with highly reflective surfaces. I'm kind of suspecting it would be similar to a regular on-camera flash, since it's so close to the lens axis.
 
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ok just so we don't confuse people..

Flare / Ghost = same thing.

Optically superior lenses are designed with specific coating, and aspherical elements to bend the light specifically to reduce flare.
 
cycle61 said:
Yep, ghosts. That's internal lens reflections.

Are you using a filter? If so, please remove it from the lens, drive over it repeatedly with the heaviest car available to you, and never install it again.

Stan, I'd be very interested to see what a ring flash would do for swirly paint.
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I actually think that the ring flash would just totally hide all the swirls. I would think that you would need angled lighting to see the swirls. The ring light is basically flat lighting.
 
stan23 said:
The green you see is flare. It's akin to shooting your lens at the sun. You'll get flare unless you're using an optically superior lens. This is where having nice glass makes a huge difference.
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And my current lens isn't a nice enough glass to eliminate that? At what price point does said 'nice' glass start (generally)?
 
wannabe said:
I actually think that the ring flash would just totally hide all the swirls. I would think that you would need angled lighting to see the swirls. The ring light is basically flat lighting.
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I'd like to think you're not going to be shooting like a hood dead on, but rather a fender/door/trunk where the surface is curved.

GoFast908z said:
And my current lens isn't a nice enough glass to eliminate that? At what price point does said 'nice' glass start (generally)?
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Unfortunately you're bumping into a problem where you're going to need to spend some coin to get rid of a very common annoying problem. Since this is your profession, I would recommend some high end glass.

First off, i'd start with a prime lens. A prime lens does not zoom in or out. Prime lenses are almost always sharper because they are simpler in design, and there are no compromises.

I'm not keen on Nikon glass, but i'm willing to bet anything higher end would include at least some aspherical element http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspheric_lens as well as some UD type coating.

I recommended something very early in the thread. The new Sigma 35mm f/1.4. It's been getting some amazing reviews and quite the bargain at around $800.

340-lens-construction.jpg


http://www.sigmaphoto.com/product/35mm-f14-dg-hsm-a

^^ The purple elements you see above is aspherical elements and specifically designed to bend the light a certain way. Very expensive to produce and manufacture, but that's something that makes glass high end.. Oh and some lenses have flourite elements, which is grown (at a slow rate) in a lab, which further brings up costs.. Flourite is very good against Chromatic Aberration (purple fringing)


But to be perfectly honest, I'd invite some of the guys over to your house/check out your setup, and have them shoot using your gear to see if you are absolutely getting the best out of your gear. I'd volunteer, but like I said, I don't do indoor studio type shots, and i'd just drool all over your z06.
 
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GoFast908z said:
I hate you.


Ok, no i don't but I guess I'm gonna have to live with the "green".
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I don't have much experience with filters, but you might find a reasonable solution there that would at least minimize the green.
 
If you have to ask "what lens" to buy, you haven't read enough, and you wouldn't even know what to do with said great lens.

Sure anyone can take a picture, but there are no short cuts to great photography. People who take great photographs, do so because they know how to get the best out of what they are using. Often that matters more than the dslr equipment they are using. Shooting in raw, nailing the correct exposure, and knowing how to post process (photoshop) the photos often plays a bigger role than equipment used.

If you want to take great photos. I say, before you buy the fast expensive glass, do some more reading and study photography. So you will not only know what glass to buy, you will also know how to use it.

But if you insist on taking short cuts and want to get serious without breaking the bank. I would say for great car photos, sell the D90 crop body, and crappy zoom you have. Get yourself a full frame used Nikon D700 or D600. Or switch to Canon and pick up a used 5DII, or new 6D. Then pick up a fast 35mm 1.4 prime lens. Both Nikon and Canon have great 35mm 1.4's. Even Sigma's new 35mm 1.4 is awesome. (Something I thought I would never say about sigma.) 35mm lens on a full frame is perfect for what you are doing, without too much distortion.
 
Horse said:
If you have to ask "what lens" to buy, you haven't read enough, and you wouldn't even know what to do with said great lens.

Sure anyone can take a picture, but there are no short cuts to great photography. People who take great photographs, do so because they know how to get the best out of what they are using. Often that matters more than the dslr equipment they are using. Shooting in raw, nailing the correct exposure, and knowing how to post process (photoshop) the photos often plays a bigger role than equipment used.

If you want to take great photos. I say, before you buy the fast expensive glass, do some more reading and study photography. So you will not only know what glass to buy, you will also know how to use it.

But if you insist on taking short cuts and want to get serious without breaking the bank. I would say for great car photos, sell the D90 crop body, and crappy zoom you have. Get yourself a full frame used Nikon D700 or D600. Or switch to Canon and pick up a used 5DII, or new 6D. Then pick up a fast 35mm 1.4 prime lens. Both Nikon and Canon have great 35mm 1.4's. Even Sigma's new 35mm 1.4 is awesome. (Something I thought I would never say about sigma.) 35mm lens on a full frame is perfect for what you are doing, without too much distortion.
Click to expand...

Read the thread, most of this has been addressed and I'm not looking for shortcuts.
 
stan23 said:
I'd like to think you're not going to be shooting like a hood dead on, but rather a fender/door/trunk where the surface is curved.



Unfortunately you're bumping into a problem where you're going to need to spend some coin to get rid of a very common annoying problem. Since this is your profession, I would recommend some high end glass.

First off, i'd start with a prime lens. A prime lens does not zoom in or out. Prime lenses are almost always sharper because they are simpler in design, and there are no compromises.

I'm not keen on Nikon glass, but i'm willing to bet anything higher end would include at least some aspherical element http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspheric_lens as well as some UD type coating.

I recommended something very early in the thread. The new Sigma 35mm f/1.4. It's been getting some amazing reviews and quite the bargain at around $800.

340-lens-construction.jpg


http://www.sigmaphoto.com/product/35mm-f14-dg-hsm-a

^^ The purple elements you see above is aspherical elements and specifically designed to bend the light a certain way. Very expensive to produce and manufacture, but that's something that makes glass high end.. Oh and some lenses have flourite elements, which is grown (at a slow rate) in a lab, which further brings up costs.. Flourite is very good against Chromatic Aberration (purple fringing)


But to be perfectly honest, I'd invite some of the guys over to your house/check out your setup, and have them shoot using your gear to see if you are absolutely getting the best out of your gear. I'd volunteer, but like I said, I don't do indoor studio type shots, and i'd just drool all over your z06.
Click to expand...


For the shots I take, lens hood or no? Been shooting with one, but is it necessary?
 
Went out into the garage to work on the bumper of the Tesla and saw a really cool reflective surface, so I thought I'd practice.

Here is the first pic. Shot in A with f11 on the tripod, auto focused on the mirror.

055.jpg




Now what I really wanted to do was duplicate that effect on a larger scale, ie the whole side of the car. Didn't quite come out right, back end was too bright I guess? I tried moving the light around and a white banner in front of the light but niether worked, it just made it too dark and lost reflection.


054.jpg
 
GoFast908z said:
For the shots I take, lens hood or no? Been shooting with one, but is it necessary?
Click to expand...



Lens hood isn't necessary for your shots, but I always use one to protect the lens should I drop the camera.
 
For the second shot, try turning the light around shooting at the wall and ceiling to distribute the light better.
 
A couple thoughts.

1. You need a plain colored drop cloth to keep the background in the reflection from being too 'interesting', it distracts from the subject.
2. In picture 1, the lighting wasn't bad but it wasn't uniform across the whole car.
3. In picture 2, you need a light source from above, probably directly above your camera to avoid any direct reflections. You'll probably want it to be a large light box so that there isn't a single source of light.
4. You'll need a second (possibly 3rd) to get the under surfaces lit up.
5. You may want to be a big more precise with your DOF so that you get a bit of defocus on the background.

Just my :2cents
 
Climber said:
A couple thoughts.

1. You need a plain colored drop cloth to keep the background in the reflection from being too 'interesting', it distracts from the subject.
2. In picture 1, the lighting wasn't bad but it wasn't uniform across the whole car.
3. In picture 2, you need a light source from above, probably directly above your camera to avoid any direct reflections. You'll probably want it to be a large light box so that there isn't a single source of light.
4. You'll need a second (possibly 3rd) to get the under surfaces lit up.
5. You may want to be a big more precise with your DOF so that you get a bit of defocus on the background.

Just my :2cents
Click to expand...

Kinda like mentioned earlier, a drop cloth and other lighting sources are a bit cumbersome around my work and the setup time will just interfere with my work. So thats unlikely something I'll be able to do.

Also what is DOF?


edit: I'm not arbitrarily shooting down good suggestions. Just with my work some things just aren't feasible. So I have to do the best with what is feasible.
 
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