Best Product Lens

[RonQ]

Hey Guys,
I normally shoot events for a magazine I've been with for a couple of years; however, I was just asked to shoot 2 different products. One shoot is for high end Tea and the other is for high end dinner ware all indoors. The focus will be on each of the product and this editor is a stickler about the shallow DOF using my 5D2. I'm mainly looking for suggestions on a couple of lenses for this type of shoot? I will have lighting set-up triggered thru a pocket wizard for fill light too, shooting manual at probably f8 - f11.

Thanks

 

[pwp]

When I shoot product it's often with the 90mm or 45mm tilt/shift lenses. You get such a high level of focus control but at an aperture that makes good IQ sense. For instance I know my copy of the 90mmTS is sweeeet at f/9.

If it's just for one job, why not rent or borrow if possible, and if more product work starts coming through your studio you can make an informed purchase of a suitable lens that you need to get a quick ROI on.

PW

 

[leGreve]

It makes sense that the tilt shift lenses would be great for some forms of product photography.

While not the same and less controllable on the DSLR, this is how we use the large format cameras like the Sinar.
Being able to control the focus plane to some degree makes it possible for you to gain on the aperture if needed.
Fx. I almost always shoot 5.6 on 150mm sinar when doing food, to gain that shallow depth of field.

When shooting white outs, I go 16 and get full focus on my 90mm sinar.

For DSLR that would indeed to some degree translate to the 45 and 90mm TS lenses.

However... if doing products with no significant depth, I'd rather go 100mm L macro on the DSLR.

In other words... if you can afford it, go for a TS lens, atleast for the dinner ware it would be nice if you can lay down the focus plane a bit without going too high up with the camera.

For examples of my food photography, check out: http://www.omnifilm.dk/foto/

 

[Actionpix]

A tilt/shift may come in handy in two ways. The general public knows these lenses only for "miniature effect". You can indeed create this shallower depth of field with a tilting lens but you can also create an "infinite" depth of field with these lenses. When focusing on a plate with food you might focus just on a specific detail but you could also choose to tilt the focal plane parallel to the plate and get everything in focus instead. I preferred to buy my lens because that way I was able to modify it without making a rental company upset. In this modification I turned front and back parts of the lens 90 degrees relative to the factory orientation. Tilt and shift this way get the same working axis. When tilting the lens you also tilt the middle of the lens projection away from the sensor. With shift you can shift it back, on a modified lens. This way you will always get an image from the middle, and best, part of the lens on the sensor.

 

[RonQ]

Thank you guys for the information. I'm leaning more towards the TS-90mm that I can rent for the day from my local rental shop.
PWP, you indicate that the 90's sweet spot is at f9 what type of light do you use? If I use speedlites, how far from the product should it be set-up? Also, umbrella or softbox is best to diffuse light? One more thing, shooting at the lens sweet spot, I'm assuming you're using a tripod with a trigger?

What do you guys also think about shooting with a 50mm 1.4? It's a good sharp lens, with it's sweet spot at f2.0

This will be my first product shoot and I would like to go in pistols loaded, any help from you guys would greatly be appreciated. I'm more than comfortable shooting for this Mag given that I've shot several times for them and they know me.

Thanks again for all the information you can provide