Lens Help! Studio Fashion Shots for Online Store

M

mamchat

Member
We have an online clothing store and use a Canon Rebel Xti with the standard kit lens and cool fluorescent soft boxes. We want to upgrade the lens first and then possibly the camera. We are amateur photographers and are finding that the images are not clear enough, both on the full body shots (we use models) and on the closeup shots of the clothing details. We are looking at zoom lenses, as we are hoping not to have to change the lens from full body to the closeups, as we shoot hundreds of pieces of clothing on several models for each shoot.
We have been pouring over reviews and forums trying to figure out what lens would give us greater sharpness and color, but the amount of information is overwhelming.
If we upgrade our camera, we were considering the Canon T1i (500D) or the 50D, but still don't know which lens - either a Sigma or a Canon.
Please Help!
 
canon's 24-70mm 2.8L should be good. a bit hefty in price, but probably the last lens youll need for what youre looking for.
the xti should be good enough.
 
Thank you for your recommendation. This is one of the lenses we have been considering, but were not sure about, so we will definitely take another look at it.
 
For online photography you won't need to resolve more than 2 Megapixels. Any lens, including the kit lens, will do that for you.

If you aren't achieving sharp results consider tha following:

Are you shooting at fast enough shutter speed
Are you focused properly
Do you have enough depth of field in your shot
Are you sharpening your photos after you resize them for the web (if you aren't you should be especially for fashion photography where there are fine textures at stake)

Before buying a new lens, know that choosing within the optimal range of aperture values will make a bigger difference in the sharpness of your picture than spending $1,000 on a lens.
 
One last thing, make sure your photos aren't being compressed when you put them on your site. A lot of the e-commerce shopping cart websites automatically compress JPEGs when you upload them. If you are using one of these types of automated systems and not building the website from scratch, make sure that the files you upload are the same files that you download off of your site. Also don't let these websites resize your images for you. You want to upload the same images (resolution and compression) that you want to see in the final website.
 
I agree with EG. You don't need a new lens. You need strobes. No one does product shots anymore with constant light. Strobes and your camera with the kit lens will make some of the sharpest images you have ever seen.
 
Thank you DD and eg. We are experimenting with your first recommendations. As for the strobes, can you recommend a brand and online store? Any links for information or tutorials on strobes?
 
Can't thank you enough for your help! Saved us a a great deal of time trying to find the best info on strobes!
 
DivotDan said:
I agree with EG. You don't need a new lens. You need strobes. No one does product shots anymore with constant light. Strobes and your camera with the kit lens will make some of the sharpest images you have ever seen.
Click to expand...

All the advise here is good.
But I wouldn't necessarily agree with the constant light thing.
I actually know a lot of guys who are using it more now. (constant lighting)
because their cameras crank up ot 6400-12000 ISO and be able to go with a slower f/stop
 
I don't know anyone that wants a product shot with ISO that high. Even on the cameras that can handle that ISO, it's not clean enough for a good product shot.

There is a reason that the digi Hassie's only go to ISO800. B/C people by majority use them with strobes and the higher ISO is not required. Plus it seems silly to me to have to fool with constant lighting when strobes are so simple and cheap (depending on what you get of course).

Different strokes for different folks I guess.
 
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