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General discussion

what digi camera plus lens c. $1000 for photographing art?

by fastmama Nov 19, 2010 6:22AM PST

I would like to photograph my art both flat on the wall with carefully placed lighting and also installed in galleries with various kinds of ambient lighting. I've been using a Canon Rebel DS6041, but rather than use auto focus, I'd really like to work completely manual. Unfortunately the view finder and my bespectacled eyes aren't allowing me to focus properly, so I'm thinking maybe it's time to find a more suitable camera for the purpose.(correct me if I'm wrong). Does anyone know if I could rely on looking at an LCD screen for telling me it's in focus? and if so which camera would be best? One thing I love about the Rebel -it's white balance works great, and it's really ok for simple flat work using autofocus. But when the depth of field changes slightly with a work that isn't perfectly flat, the autofocus loses its effectiveness (as I recently found out). Hence again the need for using Manual. I'd also like to buy one lens and I'm hoping for a suggestion as to what would be the best choice both brand and focal length. I've currently got an all purpose Sigma 28 - 105mm. Again, would like to keep the price down.
cheers thanks for any help...

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Photographing art

by snapshot2 Forum moderator Nov 20, 2010 12:10AM PST

I thought that maybe someone has experience with using the LCD for manual focus.
Although I have never seen a post that said that.
The newer LCDs have more pixels which should help.

But before you buy a new camera, try something else.

Most DSLR cameras set the focus to matrix by default.
Matrix is where the camera uses several spots for setting focus.
This sometimes will cause undesired results with depth of field.

I suggest you use "spot" focus, and continue to use autofocus.

With spot focus, the camera will focus on the center of the area you have framed.
Since you are focusing on a flat object, one spot of focus is all you need.

For 35mm cameras, 50mm is considered neutral.
Meaning it is neither wide angle nor zoom.
Since your camera has a 1.6 multiplier because the sensor is smaller than 35mm,
you should select about 31mm on the lens to get 50mm (35mm camera equivalent).

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