Need Advice For Gemstone Clicks

pankjz

Hi my name is Pankaj, I'm from India.
Started online business.
My product line is Gemstones/Jewelry
Right now I'm using Nikon digital camera but not happy
with the Quality, the problem is when I' upload it to Ebay
and scroll down to the picture - they have zoom view (preview)
where my products image get blur.

Friend Could you please suggest for me a camera? I was thinking
of the D3300 or D5200 - my price range is below $500.

Also suggest for me some Macro Lenses. Most of my products are
5mm to 25mm in size or the jewelry like 10 inches around.

Thanks and Regards,
Pankaj Mishra

bruto

First of all, if the images are getting blurred in the ebay zoom, make sure that you have distinguished between photographic blur and pixel blur caused by an image downsized or compressed too much for the zoom. Check the images you're getting on a computer before you send them in, and see how the zoom looks there. If you cannot get a sharp zoom on the computer, you can't get it anywhere else, but if it looks good on the computer, check that you're not downsizing or compressing your images too much. If your current camera is a point and shoot, it can be difficult to hold steady, and difficult to control things including focus, but some things can be improved if you work at it. Among other things, many small cameras offer various options for image size and compression, and you're likely to do best if you choose the largest and least compressed in the camera, and do any downsampling later.

Assuming the problem is true image blur, make sure that your subject is well lit, so that you can shoot it at a reasonable shutter speed and allow for sufficient depth of field. Make sure your auto focus is hitting the correct spot. Use a tripod if you can.

Just about any modern SLR should be able to do what you need very well if the subject is well laid out and well lit. You can browse around the internet for further hints on product photography, and the cheat sheets sold here also deal with that, among other things. There's a lot of product photography going on, and a lot written about it, so pick as many brains as you can.

The D3300 or the earlier D3200 ought to be more than able to do this. If you're doing very small objects, you might look at the 40mm f/2.8 DX macro lens. This is a more or less normal focal length lens, said to be well behaved and sharp at normal distances as well as macro. For macro work it must get very close to the subject, making it less than ideal for bugs and critters, but good for stationary subjects.

But for many purposes the kit 18-55mm zoom lens should be adequate. It can focus close, and because the demands of an Ebay photograph, even with the zoom, are likely to be far below the capability of a 24 megapixel sensor, it should be possible to crop in if you cannot get close enough, and still have plenty of sharpness.

A table tripod and a dedicated lighting setup will help greatly. Even though it may be possible to make a point and shoot camera behave for this job, a good DSLR will likely make it easier to get really nice results, but you'll still have to put some effort into it. If you control your lighting and set the camera up right, I imagine you could do very well.