[SpotmaticGuy]

If I understood correctly, you aim at performing PROXI and/orMACRO STACKS.

I have no idea what you're talking about. What are these things?

[ron post]

I've an assignment to photograph a knife collection with the intent of publishing the pics online to advertise and sell the knives.

While I've done some limited macro work, it wasn't much and it was quite a few years back.

I was wondering what a good focal length might be for such work. I was thinking along the lines of 90mm - 105mm or so, but I have some concerns about the depth of field with such focal lengths. I'm starting to lean towards something in the 50mm range. If I could get adequate DOF, the extra distance between lens and subject with the longer focal lengths might be nice to have.

So, what are your thoughts on this?

Hello; I have been making knives for almost 40 years and i take pictures of them as well. I use a 100 macro -iso 100, F 10 to 16 , tripod, a 2 second delay, I am about 3 feet away from the knife. If the knives are antiques with a tarnished patina, you should have no problems with reflections. If they are stainless steel, hollow ground.polished, with a guard, it is like taking a picture of a convexed and concave mirror. If you take the picture outside on an overcast day it helps cut reflection of the sky. If you tilt the knife and change the position and do the same with the camera, you can eliminate reflections from other things. With the longer lens there is less chance of you being in the reflection on the blade. You can see pictures of my knives with this set up on our website. Homepage - Post Knives Stacking in photoshop is not necessary.

[Sandy Hancock]

Like Ron above, I also photograph the knives I make. I would echo the advice he gave. A longer lens like the 100 macro will minimise the chance of shade from the camera (or its reflection!) impinging on the subject matter. Even light is crucial. Tripod for sure. Focus stacking should rarely be necessary.

Long, thin things are notoriously difficult to compose. Arranging more than one knife to fill the frame better is a good idea, or if it's just one knife, using photoshop to make a composite image of different details and angles of the same knife is a popular technique. Have a look at "Sharp by Coop" for examples.

But you can make just about any lens work

DFA 50/2.8 macro


DFA 24-70/2.8 @ 38mm


A* 135/1.8

[tryphon4]

Proxi is the french for 'close up' (from 1:10 to 1:1 enlargement) while macro goes from 1:1 to 10:1.

[Jonathan Mac]

The DA 35mm Limited is the best macro lens I've used and the most useful due to it's normal focal length.

[tryphon4]

the most useful due to it's normal focal length.

What do you mean?

[cyclone3d]

My first post in a few years... yay me.

I've gone through a bunch of different macro lenses, most of them being manual.
The 50-55mm ones were really not cutting it for me for the types of stuff I generally took macro shots of.
I ended up buying a used Pentax FA 100mm f2.8 macro lens and it stays in my bag. It is just as sharp as any of my older manual macro lenses were, and has the advantage of not having to be as close as the shorter focal length lenses.
Current eBay prices of the FA 100 f2.8 macro are around $100. It really is an awesomely excellent macro lens.

[Jonathan Mac]

What do you mean?

I mean that the field of view is "normal" - neither wide angle nor telephoto. Most macro lenses are telephoto to allow a greater distance between photographer and subject but a "normal" macro is more useful when space is restricted, can be used as a standard lens for non-macro work and helps to tame the crazy shallow depth of field you get from using telephoto lenses for macro.

[Sandy Hancock]

I mean that the field of view is "normal" - neither wide angle nor telephoto. Most macro lenses are telephoto to allow a greater distance between photographer and subject but a "normal" macro is more useful when space is restricted, can be used as a standard lens for non-macro work and helps to tame the crazy shallow depth of field you get from using telephoto lenses for macro.

But this thread is specifically about shooting knives.
Depth of focal plane is generally not an issue, and the highly reflective nature of the subject makes a bit of extra distance pretty useful.

[SpotmaticGuy]

My first post in a few years... yay me.

I've gone through a bunch of different macro lenses, most of them being manual.
The 50-55mm ones were really not cutting it for me for the types of stuff I generally took macro shots of.
I ended up buying a used Pentax FA 100mm f2.8 macro lens and it stays in my bag. It is just as sharp as any of my older manual macro lenses were, and has the advantage of not having to be as close as the shorter focal length lenses.
Current eBay prices of the FA 100 f2.8 macro are around $100. It really is an awesomely excellent macro lens.

Thanks! Hadn't thought about eBay ... now I will.

I've decided to go with a 100mm macro lens. I'll certainly consider your recommendation.

[TwoUptons]

I have one of the Cosina-made Pentax FA 100mm f3.5 lenses.
It only does 1:2 without its magic closeup lens, but that would be plenty for knives.

Unless you do knives for fairies...

It was a bargain if you're looking for one... otherwise, I think all of the Pentax 100 macros are well regarded.

I'll add that focus stacking in post is a very cool thing that is particularly useful for macros...

-Eric

[tryphon4]

I have one of the Cosina-made Pentax FA 100mm f3.5 lenses.
It only does 1:2 without its magic closeup lens, but that would be plenty for knives.

Unless you do knives for fairies...

It was a bargain if you're looking for one... otherwise, I think all of the Pentax 100 macros are well regarded.

I'll add that focus stacking in post is a very cool thing that is particularly useful for macros...

-Eric

I totally agree, my first macro lens was a Cosina 100mm F/3.5. It reaches 1:1 using the achromat dedicated close-up. This lens is often called "cream in a yogurt cup".

Shooting knives is not a macro work, except if your knives are very small, it is more a close-up work.
Thus DOF is huge compared to real macro shooting, you may not need to use stacking.

I took these pictures using the Cosina 100mm:

[jjdgti]

Hello,

If autofocus is not a requirement, the M50 f4 macro is my favorite go to lens for product photography. But as others have said, lighting is very important.
I did this a while back to show my product photography setup.
How I photograph Scale Models and other objects - PentaxForums.com

Thanks,
Ismael

Ismael,
Thanks for sharing the link. Unbelievable pictures.