Lens for photographing greeting cards

Guido

My wife makes her own greeting cards and wants me to start photographing them for her web site (see here).

I'm wondering what is the best lens for my 60D for this purpose. At the moment I have two canon lenses, which are the EF-S 15-85mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM and a EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM. I'm also looking to buy a light box for photographing the cards. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Moose

Howdy @Guido - I would definitely spring for the "nifty fifty" Canon EF 50mm f/1.8. It's affordable, it's sharp and it will allow you to capture an extremely shallow depth of field (small area in focus) for more dramatic shots of the cards.

The nifty fifty has a super bright f/1.8 maximum aperture, which means you'll be able to focus in on specific details or designs and blur everything else into oblivion. This really makes subjects (like greeting cards) "pop".

As for lighting, you can setup a makeshift light box using white foam board, white paper and some utility lights with daylight bulbs. Just Google "DIY Lightbox" and you should be able find some good tutorials on how to make one. Happy shooting! :)

Guido

Hi @Moose - Thanks for getting back to me so quickly, this sounds like a great lens but what about the EF 50mm f/1.4 USM, would be a better option for a little more or would money be better spent else where.

Moose

@Guido - Honestly, if you're just using it to shoot greeting cards I would save your money and put it towards something else. The 50mm f/1.4 is a bit sharper and has smoother bokeh (blur), but I'm not sure you'd notice a big difference for the types of shots you intend to take.

If you and your wife take lots of photos indoors (portraits, parties, family and friends, etc...) you might think about taking the extra money and applying it towards a starter speedlite, like the Canon 320EX (see here). This speeedlite will allow you to bounce light off a ceiling rather than directly at your subject. This "bounce" effect spreads the light evenly throughout the room, giving you more natural looking shots indoors. It could also be used to "bounce" light onto your greeting cards. Happy shooting! :)

Guido

Hi @Moose - I still have not brought myself a 50mm lens yet. I'm just wounding what you think of the Sigma 50mm f/1.4 EX DG HSM lens. The Sigma lens seems to have a bet build quality & also better reviews, I do realize that this lens is worth lot more, but if I can use to in more application this should be ok.

I don't just what to use this lens for photographing cards, I'd like to use to for other shots too. As for a speedlites, I'm using my old flash which is a Yashica CS-250A.

Moose

@Guido - If you're planing on using the 50mm for other subjects/scenes AND you have the budget, the Sigma 50mm f/1.4 (see here) is one amazing piece of glass. The biggest knock on the Canon 50mm f/1.8 and f/1.4 is softness when shot wide open (using the lowest available aperture for that lens), whereas the Sigma 50mm is incredibly sharp at f/1.4. It's honestly one of the best 50mm prime lenses currently on the market. Happy shooting! :)