# whats the best lens for jewelery pictures canon rebel t3i



## gizzy (May 2, 2012)

*i need help here
i just boght canon rebel t3i and need to know what is the best lens
for jewelery shots with great details
im looking foward for answers so i can finally buy the lens
as i been in the look for over 3 month but in the stores they just want to sell a lens 

pleasee osme help

thanks!!!*​


----------



## AJ (May 2, 2012)

How about Canon 60/2.8 macro


----------



## pwp (May 2, 2012)

I shoot jewellery with the 90mm tilt/shift lens which focuses very close. If I need closer, I use extension rings.
Having the movements in the lens is brilliant for jewellery. 

I don't own one, but the 45 tilt/shift may be just as good for this sort of work.

Paul Wright


----------



## Mt Spokane Photography (May 2, 2012)

I would suggest that any macro lens will be fine. Its lighting that will make you want to pull your hair out, so put your effort into the lighting. 

Lighting jewelry is extremely difficult, so read up on that.


----------



## Fandongo (May 2, 2012)

Mt Spokane Photography said:


> I would suggest that any macro lens will be fine. Its lighting that will make you want to pull your hair out, so put your effort into the lighting.
> 
> Lighting jewelry is extremely difficult, so read up on that.


+100

Tamron 90mm macro is a solid price/performance choice.

Only thing I don't like is accidentally pushing the focus ring forward switches it to AF only.


----------



## nicku (May 2, 2012)

I suggest 100mm f/2.8 , very good IQ.


----------



## stevenrrmanir (May 2, 2012)

Sigma 105 f2.8 - superb lens - beats Canon and Tamron


----------



## Bennymiata (May 2, 2012)

Ifyou are shooting larger items, then you'll want a lens where you don't have to stand too far back from it.

I have the Canon EF-S 60mm macro and also the Sigma 150mm With OS.

The Canon is the one I use most for product shots, including jewellery.
It's small, easy to use and is razor sharp.

Not too expensive either, and it does a great job as it has excellent contrast and colours.


----------



## gizzy (May 2, 2012)

I actually spent a lot of time shotting jewelery
i need something that doesnt require changing pieces 
something comfortable but at the same time that my pictures have good quality
My job requires me to take shoots of 50k & up Watches like Audemars Piguet
and of course i have to make sure pictures are excellent for a high end item like that
Same thing with jewelery Gucci cartier pieces requires good quality pictures to sell.
Thanks so much for your help 
Even im not 100% sure wich one i get i guess i can buy 2 or 3 recommendations and try
and then re-sell which ever dont work for me i guess


----------



## Tcapp (May 4, 2012)

gizzy said:


> I actually spent a lot of time shotting jewelery
> i need something that doesnt require changing pieces
> something comfortable but at the same time that my pictures have good quality
> My job requires me to take shoots of 50k & up Watches like Audemars Piguet
> ...



I think any macro lens will work just fine. I vote for a 100mm. I have a 100 tokina and it rocks. Just take your pick! Almost all real macros go to 1:1 so they will all give you just about the same exact photo for what you are shooting. Except for a tilt shift, they are awesome and useful.


----------



## prestonpalmer (May 7, 2012)

100mm macro is a great choice!


----------



## dr croubie (May 7, 2012)

How about on the next shoot, you "accidentally" let one of those pieces of jewellery fall in your pocket, then after a quick trip to the Cash Converters you can buy all the gear you want 

Or for a more legal suggestion, try getting a Zeiss MC Biometar 80/2.8 for Pentacon Six mount ($100) and a P6-EF Tilt Adapter ($100), and a set of Kenko Extension Tubes ($100), you can do all that you can with the TS-E 90 and spend the extra cash that you save on lighting, strobes, backdrops, etc, like others have said, that's more important than the lens in a lot of cases.
(or the MC Biometar 120mm f/2.8 is sharper, but rarer, 80mm are easy to come by)


----------



## gizzy (May 7, 2012)

Thanks so much for all your advices
ill be going lens shopping next week and let you guys know how it was!!
Thanks again!!


----------



## Bennymiata (May 8, 2012)

Make sure you think about your working distance when choosing how long or short the lens shoud be.
No good getting a 100mm macro lens, if you only have a small studio and you have to take shots of groups of jewellery together.

With a shorter lens you can always come closer, but with a long lens and a small studio, it can be hard to go back far enough to get everything in.


----------



## Daniel Flather (May 8, 2012)

An ef 100mm f2.8 macro USM works well with a 580ii flash shot through a shoe box I converted in to a light box. Nothing fancy but it gets the point across.


----------



## ahmed.aloub (May 12, 2012)

I am a jewelry photographer from my experience I recommend Canon 100 2.8L MACRO. I am using it on all my jewelry shoots and it is an amazing lens. Photos are crisp and very sharp i highly recommend it


----------



## RuneL (May 17, 2012)

it seems like you have plenty to spend, why not get a MF-digi to deliver extremely detailed shots?


----------



## lukaszb (May 17, 2012)

With true jewelery photography you want to have maximum control over the depth of field. There is no way to achieve this with macro lenses alone when shooting rings for instance. Half of the picture will be sharp, and half of it will start to get blurry. Decreasing aperture will yield in loss of image quality. Tilt-shift lenses from canon are quite good but won't get you close enough to the subject in a lot of the cases. If you're serious about it you should look into large format cameras. You can pick them up real cheap these days on ebay. They allow complete movements of the front and back standards. The lenses are superior, and you can purchase them relatively at low cost too. You could probably opt in for Calumet lenses or try attaching an enlarger lens. The plus side to large format system is that you can purchase a plate which will allow you to mount Canon equipment and in the future you can also mount medium format sensor.


----------



## atvinyard (May 17, 2012)

Canon EF-S 60mm f/2.8 on a tripod with a homemade lightbox.


----------



## Bob Howland (May 17, 2012)

lukaszb said:


> With true jewelery photography you want to have maximum control over the depth of field. There is no way to achieve this with macro lenses alone when shooting rings for instance. Half of the picture will be sharp, and half of it will start to get blurry. Decreasing aperture will yield in loss of image quality. Tilt-shift lenses from canon are quite good but won't get you close enough to the subject in a lot of the cases. If you're serious about it you should look into large format cameras. You can pick them up real cheap these days on ebay. They allow complete movements of the front and back standards. The lenses are superior, and you can purchase them relatively at low cost too. You could probably opt in for Calumet lenses or try attaching an enlarger lens. The plus side to large format system is that you can purchase a plate which will allow you to mount Canon equipment and in the future you can also mount medium format sensor.



As a previous poster pointed out, extension tubes can be inserted between the camera body and the tilt-shift lens to allow closer focusing. They effectively do the same thing that extending the view camera bellows does - move the lens further from the sensor/film plane. The Canon tilt-shift lenses also take teleconverters very well.

Does anybody use view cameras any more?


----------



## lukaszb (May 18, 2012)

Bob Howland said:


> Does anybody use view cameras any more?



Yes, they are used in jewelery photography . 
Check out this web site:
http://www.photigy.com/category/jewelry-photography/

The guy shoots primarily with view cameras.


----------



## adamfilip (May 19, 2012)

stevenrrmanir said:


> Sigma 105 f2.8 - superb lens - beats Canon and Tamron



no way.. the Canon is the best


----------



## RLPhoto (May 19, 2012)

gizzy said:


> *i need help here
> i just boght canon rebel t3i and need to know what is the best lens
> for jewelery shots with great details
> im looking foward for answers so i can finally buy the lens
> ...




Easy, the very best macro lens for you camera is either the 180mm 3.5L or the 60mm mp-e.


----------



## Razor2012 (May 21, 2012)

RLPhoto said:


> gizzy said:
> 
> 
> > *i need help here
> ...



MP-E 65


----------

