[nathanm]

My company recently purchased a Canon 5D digital SLR and a 17-40mm wide zoom lens for it as un upgrade from our previous Olympus E1 which we've been using for years.  We shoot primarily small items like model train cars and such on a tabletop with three softboxed strobes.  The big problem between the Olympus and the new Canon is that the depth of field is lousy, even at f/22.  Of course what we really need is a nice view camera with movements, but we're stuck with this for now.    Hey, it wasn't my idea to get this stuff!

Is the lens the main culprit or perhaps the increased sensor size?  I don't shoot the photos myself and didn't have anything to do with this selection of gear, but I do have to retouch these shots and they look terrible.  Blurry ends of the cars and such.  I'm not really up to speed on the digital SLR world so I'm not sure what type of lens would be a better solution.  I know that there are some tilt-shift lenses out there.  With that damn wide ass zoom, even at 40mm you have to jam it in really close.  I think it was not the greatest choice.  Hmmm.  Any suggestions for how to fix this?  Thanks!

[SET Man]

Hey!

  Yup, different sensor size. The Olympus E1 use the 4:3 sensor of which is smaller and this double the focal length of the lens compared to standard 35mm size.

   Just like with large format f8 on 150mm will be pretty wide but for 35mm with 50mm f8 will have a deeper depth of field.

   I assumed that what your company do is take the picture of the model train on it side and try to get the side from the front to the back in focus right?

   But! on the bright side you your company is in luck Canon dose make a few shift lens.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=search&A=search&Q=&sb=bs%2Cupper%28ds%29&sq=asc&ac=&bsi=&shs=&ci=8429&at=Brand_Canon&at=Lens+Type_Tilt+Shift

This is one thing that I have to take my hat off for Canon for still making specialty lens like this.

Take care,
Buddy

[shooter]

Get a Canon Tilt shift lens to carry focus, the 45 mm TS does have CA problem though, the 90 TS is fantastic, the 17-40mm is a poor choice for table top in my opinion.

[nathanm]

Here's a sample image.  This thing is about 8" long or so.  As you can see the front and back ends are very soft.  With the Olympus it wasn't a big problem, as long as you stopped down the whole car would be sharp, but not so with the Canon.  We have Helicon Focus software which auto-combines and masks together multiple images of incremental focus points, but I am not terribly impressed with it.  You have to take a bazillion steps in order for it to work right and even then you get artifacts.  Mostly it would be just a huge drain on our workflow.

[drphoto]

Hmmm......that lens choice seems odd. One would normally choose a short tele (105 on 35/210 on 4x5) for product photography to minimize distortions.

Sure you could get a tilt/shift 90mm, but I wouldn't think it really necessary. I would think the Canon 100mm Macro for $450 would do the job. Seems to me that at f16, you could get all in focus.

The 90 tilt/shift is close to $1100.

[craig223]

My wife has an online jewelry business.  We bought her a Canon Rebel XTi and a Sigma 70mm macro lens.  We also got the jewelry setup from www.tabletopstudio.com.  The lens works out to about a 105 with the form factor.  The lens would set you back about $400 and the studio with tents and lights is $325.  The results are fantastic.  You can view my wife's photography at www.rubylane.com, do a search on Mitsis Marvels.  The Sigma lens is fantastic, research it.  This setup takes all of the work out of getting great table top shots.

Craig

[nathanm]

I guess part of their thinking was to be able to shoot large dioramas, which we also do.  Those are complete scenes on 4x8' sheets of plywood, or smaller.  But the 17-40 isn't cutting it for the small product stuff.    I will have to try and convinve the powers that be that we might need to spring for a 2nd lens.  One of the normal zooms would have probably been more useful.

[JohnR]

Can you move the lens further away and crop?

BTW I've just been researching macro lenses and so just happen to know... DOF is determined by aperture and reproduction ratio only. So a longer lens won't help any.

This page has a bunch of formulas, but also a handy table near the bottom:

http://xoomer.alice.it/ripolini/Introduction%20to%20closeup.htm

At f/22 and R of 1:5, DOF = 44mm. You've got an R of more like 1:10, which should give you a DOF of around 150mm 

[JohnR]

By the way, I don't know anything about trains or models, but that model train does seem very nicely made...