03-31-2012, 07:41 PM
[quote name='joachim' timestamp='1333215596' post='17234']
Hi,
From all the lenses you discusses with Brightcolours, the 40mm Nikon is the one which carries my recommendation. An issue the two of you did not discuss so far is field flatness - I asked Klaus for input on it in a separate thread and his reply is "not so easy to discuss".
When I got into photography (early 80ies) the standard macro lens (50mm - 60mm) on a film camera was what was recommended for copy work. They were typically designed to deliver best performance when having a flat subject of size 24 x 36 cm (about 10 x 15 inch) with little distortion. Since then, due to floating elements these kind of lenses also deliver good performance in an infinity scenario, which they didn't do back then. For a modern APS-C camera the 40mm is in that tradition. Nikon explicitly states "copy photography" http://www.nikonusa.com/Nikon-Products/P...-TechSpecs
As far as body goes the Nikon 5100 with its folding monitor might be the best for your purpose. You might want to use the lens in MF and determine focus using the live view on the monitor (magnified view of a selective portion) to ensure the entire picture is in optimal focus. I think your task is not really suitable for AF - it would be less precise than the live view.
I was about to ask you about a tripod. I hope it is a good quality one with lots of metal and next to no plastic. When using a tripod, you should study the manual of the camera how to get the mirror fired a few seconds before the picture is taken. As a pointer: on many cameras the selftimer does the trick.
Hope that helps.
Best wishes
Joachim
[/quote]
Thank you Joachim for your expertise, so glad I came across this forum, no doubt I'll have more questions as I go along...
Luckily my tripod is metal and sturdy, I also have a cable release gadget hidden somewhere which I must start using.
best wishes to you also :-)
Hi,
From all the lenses you discusses with Brightcolours, the 40mm Nikon is the one which carries my recommendation. An issue the two of you did not discuss so far is field flatness - I asked Klaus for input on it in a separate thread and his reply is "not so easy to discuss".
When I got into photography (early 80ies) the standard macro lens (50mm - 60mm) on a film camera was what was recommended for copy work. They were typically designed to deliver best performance when having a flat subject of size 24 x 36 cm (about 10 x 15 inch) with little distortion. Since then, due to floating elements these kind of lenses also deliver good performance in an infinity scenario, which they didn't do back then. For a modern APS-C camera the 40mm is in that tradition. Nikon explicitly states "copy photography" http://www.nikonusa.com/Nikon-Products/P...-TechSpecs
As far as body goes the Nikon 5100 with its folding monitor might be the best for your purpose. You might want to use the lens in MF and determine focus using the live view on the monitor (magnified view of a selective portion) to ensure the entire picture is in optimal focus. I think your task is not really suitable for AF - it would be less precise than the live view.
I was about to ask you about a tripod. I hope it is a good quality one with lots of metal and next to no plastic. When using a tripod, you should study the manual of the camera how to get the mirror fired a few seconds before the picture is taken. As a pointer: on many cameras the selftimer does the trick.
Hope that helps.
Best wishes
Joachim
[/quote]
Thank you Joachim for your expertise, so glad I came across this forum, no doubt I'll have more questions as I go along...
Luckily my tripod is metal and sturdy, I also have a cable release gadget hidden somewhere which I must start using.
best wishes to you also :-)