What to use for portrait / product

[David Stallard]

Hey guys n gals,

Just throwing a question out there for all those in the know - Cory has been getting into people and product photography more n more, outside kid work etc isn't an issue as the 70-200 2.8 mkII is perfect BUT she has done a few product shots and last week a special modeling event (with Zandra Rhodes) inside / bad lighting / flash etc etc where quite a few of the wider (around 24mm) shot's distort quite badly on the edges so the people on the outside of the frame are stretched if you know what I mean.

Kit used - 5DmkIII 24-104 and the 580II flash.

If this is the way forward for her then what glass should I be looking at getting for her? Thanks in advance

.DAVID.

[David Stallard]

Re: What to use for portrait / product

So that will be a no then lol.

The search continues

.DAVID.

[planetc]

Re: What to use for portrait / product

Would lens correction in lightroom help perhaps?

[Iron Man]

Re: What to use for portrait / product

Without knowing the specifics, this is a hard/difficult one to answer.

What type of product photography? (most lens's could be suitable). If it's small things like jewelry, you should look at the canon 100 f2.8, or the L variant (also doubles up as a decent portrait lens too). As for the indoor fashion type shoots, I would be looking at the 24-70 f2.8 L II - stunning lens with exceptional quality and minimal distortion (love mine of the 5D3, and 7D2 too).

For people/portraits, you can't go wrong with the 85 f1.8 for head & shoulder shots - the 1.8 being great for creative DOF uses (yes, the 1.2 L variant is good, but not at an extra grands cost). Then there is the 135 f2 L for tighter crops, one of the sharpest lens's canon make.

Hope this gives you a little food for thought (it's great spending other peoples money .

[David Stallard]

Re: What to use for portrait / product

Thanks,
Product is socks / stockings etc some on models some on manikins. The shoot last week was in a studio flat type place in Soho with masses of people mingling with models who were showing off the stockings so quite wide but at 24mm the ones on the edges of the frame were really stretched and distorted. Can't post an example up as the files belong to the client and we all know how pretentious the fashion world can be (did I type that out loud?)

Have a few primes but really could do with a bit of flexibility for indoors - the 24-70 f/2.8 looks interesting.

Thanks again

.DAVID.

[2Beers]

Re: What to use for portrait / product

Would think at 24mm that you will need to use lens correction in LR/PS

[Paulstw]

Re: What to use for portrait / product

David I'd have a wee look at Photigy on Youtube. The guy is a master at product photography and offers some great tips on lighting. Karl Taylor os quite good too but steers you more towards buying his class DVDS.

I tried it all with Alamy but I was rubbish at it lol

[kelly200269]

Re: What to use for portrait / product

I understand the 24-105 has pretty awful distortion at the wide end, and you can correct verticals in PP using DLO etc. But this PP work won't correct for the 'stretching' you describe David.
I haven't seen this effect using my 24-70, and this is apparently much better at the wide end in this respect. DigitalRev TV did a great comparison of these two lenses in one of their videos in Taiwan.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Or7ymJi0xro

[paul linton]

Re: What to use for portrait / product

I can get way without distortion at 24mm with the 5D but you have to be careful that the subjects are central and the camera is straight which is obviously not always possible shooting lots of people.So 28mm is probable as wide as i would dare go, A few lenses i would look at is 28/35mm/50mm and also 85mm prime, sorry no Zooms not if you want to be able to shoot in low light f1.4 max f2.8 is the order of the day.

Paul