CAN YOU SUGGEST BEST CAMERA TO USE FOR EBAY

[mitbri]

I am looking to upgrade my current camera. There are so many on the market, and I need one that

can zoom right up for fine details, such as jewellery.  Does anyone have a suggestion?

[clarry100]

We use a Canon EOS-60D with a standard general purpose lens. That seems to do the job well for us.

If you want closeup pics then you may need to invest in a macro lens as well.

The standard lens gets in close enough for our items tho.

I'm no photographer by any stretch but I think the really important factor in getting a good clear pic is excellent natural lighting. ie no flash.

We take our stuff outdoors on sunny days to do our pics. We use coloured sheets of card from Officeworks for the background. Mostly black or gray depending on the colour of the item we are photographing. Sometimes also a natural background like grass.

Somewhere I saw a photo box which looked like a great idea.

The camera mounted onto a side looking in thru a hole in the box side.

You put your item inside the box and the interior of the box was an array of lights so the item was lit perfectly from all angles.

Maybe a photographer will stop by and give us a few tips, myself included.

[dazzledayz]

Pretty much any DSLR will suit you but we use the Canon cameras which are very user friendly.

Even a second hand 300D would be more than adequate for eBay product shots.

Don't be fooled by all the pixel count talk; it's mostly rubbish.

It's the size of the pixels that count, not their number.

Also, to double resolution you would need 4x as many pixels so the diferrence between 10 and 20 is minimal.

(plus the fact you would also need a very good lens to resolve the smaller pixels)

Looking at your items I think you will need either a Macro lens or Automatic Extension Tubes.

(the latter fit between the lens and camera to give extreme closeup with a small loss of image quality).

The tubes cost a lot less than macro lenses which can be quite expensive.

Quite  few of the lenses that come as kit lenses with DSLR's are marketed as "Macro" but they are in reality only close focus.

You can always try the lenses out in a camera store and see for yourself.

What you REALLY need for jewellery work is a light tent to kill reflections:

Light Tent

Ask any questions you like and I'll be happy to answer.

[imastawka]

edit sorry

I had thought to put up my camera, but it's full HD

and no good for ebay pics - sorry

[phorum_junkie*]

For small items like jewellery you can often get better results using a scanner, if the iterms are too deep for the scanner flap then you can find a box the right size and put that over the item without putting the lid down.

[beryl_green]

you can buy close up filters that screw on the end of the lens, I have some from x1 up to x10 and you can mix and match them to get the optimum magnification, they work out a lot cheaper than a new lens.

[mack764]

Thanks to everyone.

I went to Ted's camera store and purchased a Canon  S120.

It's a point and shoot (no extra lenses to fiddle with) and it takes better pictures than my old trusty

Sony.   Great close ups and takes a good picture in dark light, the shutter spead is slow in order to let  in

more light. It was $370 plus for $30 I got a 4 year warranty. I think thats a good deal, considering the amount of

use it will get. I so far very happy with it, and ease of use.

It also sends the pictures to my computer via wifi, and the battery lasts for 350 pictures.   It also has a touch screen

that I can pinch and expand with two fingers like on your phone, so that I can reduce or expand the picture.

It's great.....

[dazzledayz]

That should work out well for you.

I'd probably be inclined to invest in a tripod and light tent too at some stage too.

You may also want to check out the external wireless flash units for these at some point - HF-DC2

The camera can control multiples of these and they would illuminate a small light tent very well..

Good luck with your product shots; you should turn out some quite good ones.

[chezzy]

I am an SLR user mostly but recently wanted to add a 'good all round' compact to my kit - macro/close up I needed,

good high ISO performance (for low light situations) but I needed something that would cope with rain and snorkeling!

Went into Ted's on the weekend and came out with an Olympus TG4. Ticks a lot of boxes and looking good so far.

[chezzy]

If you prefer to use an available or constant light source instead of flash, there is the option of simple studio lights with soft boxes (continuous 'daylight' lighting). These I have found handy for photographing items of varying sizes day or night and not having to wait for good weather or worrying about mixed lighting creating funny colour casts (turned room or background lights off). Item 281141672861 is a similar product.