Need bonsai camera and accessory recommendation

[barrosinc]

I agree here. More than any specific equipment, I believe it is critical to use a tripod with the right exposure of course. And the right set up such as a clean background as mentioned. I use a Canon Rebel T4i, far from professional equipment but does the job.

Once you go down the road with tripod, ISO 100 and a sharp aperture (depends on each lens) looks very good on any dslr. I could probably pull off the same pictures with a canon xti from 2006 I have (after it are the xsi t1i t2i t3i t4i t5i t6i).
I will try to make a video this weekend using what I posted in post 7 here, with a reflector, the xti and a regular 100 dollar point and shoot.

It can be as much about the set-up as the camera. For all the photos we just shot we used the east side of our garage. We did it all in the afternoon when the sun had passed. You get all the light of daytime, without any of the harsh effects of the bright light. my suggestion is that no direct sunlight should be anywhere near your trees or backdrop.

This is actually a very good idea, watch out that once the sun goes down, light goes away quickly, and a tripod is very helpful.
I wanted to add that add some directionality to the light helps, for example if you are in the middle of the patio, light will be very even. If you are closer to a wall on one side the light will fall off from the non wall side.

 

[crust]

Any thoughts, Crust?
Preferences of one sort of camera over another? Lighting, natural or flash?

Truthfully, as usual, I am overwhelmed. And it's all pretty expensive. My tendency with this is to go simple. I am into too much already--I just can't decide what to do. I would be nice to have a little more multi-purpose camera I suppose. Setting up lighting will probably be the way for me, this is what I have done before with my little Canon Powershot A3000. A lot of the photos end up being taken in winter in my shop with a backdrop and lights. I really appreciate all the expert advice, that for sure.

 

[0soyoung]

... and a 60mm macro lens.

Why a macro? I think of macro lenses for close-up (short subject distance) pix - next step would be a microscope. It seems to me that a standard 50mm or 85mm lens would be preferred. So, I'm not understanding something and need some education (please).

 

[barrosinc]

Macro lenses are made to be used to take photos close, so the focus ring actually is dedicated a lot more to close up fine tuning.

check out how much you can spin the focus ring at the beginning of that video.

You can take pics of details and nebari and the lens is super sharp.

 

[chicago1980]

I would definitely look to buy a cheaper camera and focus on lighting.

Lighting will make all the difference in photographs with any camera.

On my Canon 7d I use my 50mm 1.4. Honest with solid lighting and a firm understanding of photography basics you could snap decent photos with a phone.

I use my 85mm on my FF Canon.

 

[barrosinc]

I use my 85mm on my FF Canon.

I usually use a longer lens. 135, you need a smaller background.

 

[chicago1980]

I usually use a longer lens. 135, you need a smaller background.

Which 135 lens? Do you have to edit for Barrel distortion? I use my 50 mm the most but that I probably because I favor it for portraits.

 

[chicago1980]

I usually use a longer lens. 135, you need a smaller background.

I use my telephoto lens a bit more at gardens, especially when photographing flowering trees from a distance.

 

[barrosinc]

Which 135 lens? Do you have to edit for Barrel distortion? I use my 50 mm the most but that I probably because I favor it for portraits.

Canon EF 135mm f/2L, longer fixed lenses barely have barrel distorsion
http://www.imaging-resource.com/lenses/canon/ef-135mm-f2l-usm/geometric-distortion/sub-frame/

 

[chicago1980]

Tha

Canon EF 135mm f/2L, longer fixed lenses barely have barrel distorsion
http://www.imaging-resource.com/lenses/canon/ef-135mm-f2l-usm/geometric-distortion/sub-frame/

That is a wonderful prime lens.

 

[barrosinc]

I like to think of it as magical. Sometimes I think the pic looks better than real life.
I use only primes 24L 35L 50L and 135L. the 50 is on my camera 90% of the time. I do wedding photography but I took pics of 300 spinning 360° trees for my teacher (the budget was not enough to rent a couple more lights and buy paper backdrop) http://bonsainebari.cl/bonsais-360o/ I used the 135 and 3 flashes. I would have liked 1 more with a softbox. But these flash 32 times for each tree so batteries run out and refresh time is a pita. So I used two flashes in the main softbox to get half the refresh speed.

 

[chicago1980]

I like to think of it as magical. Sometimes I think the pic looks better than real life.
I use only primes 24L 35L 50L and 135L. the 50 is on my camera 90% of the time. I do wedding photography but I took pics of 300 spinning 360° trees for my teacher (the budget was not enough to rent a couple more lights and buy paper backdrop) http://bonsainebari.cl/bonsais-360o/ I used the 135 and 3 flashes. I would have liked 1 more with a softbox. But these flash 32 times for each tree so batteries run out and refresh time is a pita. So I used two flashes in the main softbox to get half the refresh speed.

Wow! Very nice. My phone is uploading slowly. I will view on my laptop today. 50 mm is on my camera a lot also. I do use my 16-35 a bit also.

 

[barrosinc]

Wow! Very nice. My phone is uploading slowly. I will view on my laptop today. 50 mm is on my camera a lot also. I do use my 16-35 a bit also.

some were uploaded with really low quality, but that's none of my business