Need Advice on macro pictures of teeth, yes Teeth!

H

happybpc

New member
I am a dentist and i can not get GH1 to take good close up pictures of teeth. I am not prepared to spend $800 on a lens, any suggestions on a cheaper alternative? (I am looking into getting a ebay cmount 25mm lens, or tips on working the kit lens for macro objects)

any suggestions would be appreciated. thanks
 
All you have to do is pull the camera back and zoom in. You can use the EZ (extended zoom) feature by changing your picture size to Medium or Small. Changing it to small will give you the closest possible picture. Using EZ is optical and won't distort the image with noise.

If you are talking about getting pictures of the mouth inside like the back molar teeth then i am not sure what kind of equipment you would need. I don't think an HDSLR would be the right choice for that. I am guessing there is specific optical equipment for that sort of thing. But if it is just the teeth of somebody smiling then the EZ zoom feature should do the trick I think.
 
wow, the EZ really helps alot, thanks. Does the Nikon lens suggested above fit onto the end of the kit lens? if yes, that is a ingenious solution, care to elaborate on your experience?
 
I have come a cross an old school Yashica 100mm macro lens C/Y mount used for forensics. it has built in flash in the lens and connects up to an external battery pack..lol I was gonna pick one up for curiosity sakes....got out bided though. =)
 
Yeah i need something that will capture all the blood and gory stuff, with holes in bone and broken teeth. The poster above suggested the Nikon 52mm #2 lens, would a Nikon 4T work better since its double element?
 
If you are a dentist and really need to get good pictures of teeth, I wouldn't skate around this with a halfway solution. You really need a good macro lens and a ring flash to do it right, dental photography is a very specific field of photography, and there's a reason Yashica made some very specific cameras for dental photography in the 80s (The Dental Eye models) - the amount of detail you really need to have for what you're doing is significant. I grew up around dental photography and the Dental Eye cameras as my father was a dentist and for that job you really do need the right tools...I'm assuming you wouldn't go halfway on your x-ray machine, I wouldn't do it here either.

You don't have to necessarily buy a dental-photography specific camera to do this, but there's a reason they exist - you need a very precise, sharp image with virtually zero distortion, and you need to be able to get up really close - I can't imagine trying to do it without a ringlight flash either - you'll never get the flash coverage you want without one and you'll drive your patients crazy.

At the very least pick up a Canon FD adapter, and the 50mm f/3.5 Macro Lens (a 100mm macro is usually what is on dental cameras, however), and an older ringlight flash with manual control - that won't set you back too much (probably a couple hundred bucks for everything) and you will get good shots.
 
MR Fanny said:
I have come a cross an old school Yashica 100mm macro lens C/Y mount used for forensics. it has built in flash in the lens and connects up to an external battery pack..lol I was gonna pick one up for curiosity sakes....got out bided though. =)
Click to expand...

Exactly - that's a fantastic lens and was very expensive back in its day. This is absolutely the best choice for dental photography bar none, if you can find one of these lenses, that's what I would get. Usually they were sold as complete units with a body and were non-removable.
 
Nitsuj said:
If you are talking about getting pictures of the mouth inside like the back molar teeth then i am not sure what kind of equipment you would need. I don't think an HDSLR would be the right choice for that. I am guessing there is specific optical equipment for that sort of thing.
Click to expand...

A DSLR is fine but you do need other very specific stuff for this kind of photography. If you'd like my father did dental photography for a very long time (30 years) and I'm sure if you had questions he'd be happy to e-mail you with suggestions.
 
Wow, the Canon FD 50mm f3.5 Macro is absolutely THE best solution so far, the pictures are so detailed that if may even backfire when patients see the imperfections in their mouth, lol
My friends have the expensive Nikon/Canons with expensive macro lens and ringflash, that cost $3000, and most of them don't know what the hell they are doing. They just buy the what reps tell them, i really feel bad for those cameras. My plan is to maximize GH1 with good macro lens that don't cost $899 (Panasonic 14-55mm f2.8/3.5), and when GH1 is peaked then i will upgrade.
thanks everyone for your good ideas, really appreciated.
 
happybpc said:
Does the Nikon lens suggested above fit onto the end of the kit lens? if yes, that is a ingenious solution, care to elaborate on your experience?
Click to expand...

just shot with it, its pretty good, this was 50mm and i could have gone way closer
with just the eye filling the frame but wasn't suitable for this ad
 

Attachments

  • attachment.jpg
    attachment.jpg
    90.9 KB · Views: 0
  • attachment-1.jpg
    attachment-1.jpg
    94.3 KB · Views: 0
The EZ mode with kit lens works OK so far, my patients are surprised to see some of the details they didn't even know existed on their teeth. My nikon #2 closeup is on it way to me, i will report back the results.
How is the 20mm pancake lens in macro mode? i know its an all purpose lens that some would carry rather than the kit lens.
If the panasonic 45mm f2.8 would ever come down in price, i would consider the purchase. (and why are micro 4/3 lens so expensive anyway? )
 
Micro 4/3 lenses aren't expensive.

The 45mm f/2.8 Macro is a Leica lens, hence its price.

The 20mm pancake is not expensive either, for one, there aren't any alternatives that give you f/1.7, Sigma has a 20mm f/1.8 which is more expensive and nowhere near as good.

The 7-14mm f/4? That's an intensely wide zoom with low distortion, the price is totally reasonable.

So the lenses that exist are not overly expensive at all, in fact I think the 20mm could sell or $500-600 and still be a good deal - we just don't much in the way of $200-300 lenses yet, but at least the options that are available are quality lenses.

An inexpensive 50mm f/1.4 w/OIS would be nice. As would be an inexpensive fast 28 or 35mm lens w/OIS. Those could probaly both be sold in the sub $300 range.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top