Question about lenses for Digital Rebel

[Heart Fire]

Hi Guys, I take all my pictures with a digital rebel and have a good macro lens for it--my question is this: When I shoot a large set of beads or a long necklace I have to back up the camera in order to capture the entire set, then I end up with a picture that has the nearest beads in focus but not the beads that are further away. I assume that I need to change lenses but don't enough to know what type of lens I need.

Does anyone have some expertise in this area?

Thank you, Lois

[bolimasa]

Hi Guys, I take all my pictures with a digital rebel and have a good macro lens for it--my question is this: When I shoot a large set of beads or a long necklace I have to back up the camera in order to capture the entire set, then I end up with a picture that has the nearest beads in focus but not the beads that are further away. I assume that I need to change lenses but don't enough to know what type of lens I need.

Does anyone have some expertise in this area?

Thank you, Lois

No real expertise here, but I'll throw out an idea....
How about a fisheye lens?
I bought one for my son for his a canon A610. He wantes it for skateboarding pictures, but I swear that while I was researching it I found some pages that mentioned using it for close up shots.

One of these days when I have time I plan to try his out. It's a fisheye and also came with a macro attachment, perhaps you can get a fisheye that screws on to the front of your macro?

[Heart Fire]

Thank you, I will look into that! Lois

[SuzyQ]

Two things you can do. One is put your aperature on the largest number you can with the lens you have and see what you get. You will probably need a tripod because your shutter speed will slow down.
The other is to get a wide angle lens. Look for Canon EOS lenses. That is the type that fits your camera.

Now perhaps a fisheye is different these days but back when I did photography a fisheye would distort.

[Heart Fire]

Thank you for the help, I am going to try a wide angle lens first, see it that works. TY, Lois

[Cosmo]

Use just a plain old lens. No macro. Macro lenses have shallow depth of field, which is what causes the results you are getting.

On my Digital Rebel, I use the stock 18-55 lens for everything. I don't use macro for anything.

[InspirationToolworks]

Actually, depth of field is not that related to lens focal length.

See this calculator:

http://www.dofmaster.com/dofjs.html


The only things you really can do, is to up the F stop number ( think 16 or 22 ) and keep the jewelry more perpendicular to the lens. Use a tripod.

Unless you want to get into tilting lenses :)

-Jeff

[SuzyQ]

Cosmo, macros are great lenses for beads and jewelry. It is in how you use it and your lens. Mine has enough depth of field for what I do.
Your 18 to 55 is a great lens for the job too. There is more than one way to skin a cat.

[bolimasa]

Two things you can do. One is put your aperature on the largest number you can with the lens you have and see what you get. You will probably need a tripod because your shutter speed will slow down.
The other is to get a wide angle lens. Look for Canon EOS lenses. That is the type that fits your camera.

Now perhaps a fisheye is different these days but back when I did photography a fisheye would distort.

Hey Suzy, I went looking for that page I found on macro/fisheye but of course I couldn't find it. (why don't I bookmark mark stuff?) If may have been about photographing bugs or flowers or something that makes use of the distortion. I may still play with my sons one of these days to see what it does with beads.

The wide angle lens I have for my slr film camera has a macro mode. Maybe they all do. A lens like that may be a good choice.

This discussion is really making lust for a digital slr!

[Heart Fire]

Thanks for all the infor everyone, I am trying out some of the options including using the regular lens---it's a really good camera, I just need to learn how to use it. LOL
TY, Lois