[VW2010]

Nice pictures there Nilanjan. Do share your photo link in your signature

The way the sensor design is going forward a 100MP sensor in 2-3 years may kill the need for cropped sensors. Canon/Nikon if they can squeeze performance into that 50MP sensor of theirs like a 1DX series i wonder if we need a cropped sensor post that point.

Wishful thinking though. Rumours are canon is going back in MP to increase performance at levels never seen before in video terms. Their latest announcement or claimed by various sites talks about the 1dx Mark II bringing in the first 4K recording at 60FPS. Its an interesting few years ahead with respect to cameras and development.

At the moment i am going to be content with what i have and not burn my pocket . Om. Om .Om

[nilanjanray]

Originally Posted by VW2010

Nice pictures there Nilanjan. Do share your photo link in your signature

The way the sensor design is going forward a 100MP sensor in 2-3 years may kill the need for cropped sensors. Canon/Nikon if they can squeeze performance into that 50MP sensor of theirs like a 1DX series i wonder if we need a cropped sensor post that point.

Thanks. Some of the photos are here: https://500px.com/nilanjanray
A few more are on Facebook.

I have read that full frame sensors cost a few times more than cropped sensors, so cost is a big factor.

Edit: I would love a 54 MP Nikon designed Sony sensor that would give me 24 MP even if I do a DX crop. Need to wait 1-2 years I guess for a D850.

[varunraizada]

Originally Posted by nilanjanray

Some of the photos are here: https://500px.com/nilanjanray
A few more are on Facebook.

These are some inspirational pictures Nilanjan !! Awesome.

I don't think crop sensors will ever go out of fashion. A 400mm lens is equivalent to a 560mm one with more than just acceptable IQ

[VW2010]

Edit: I would love a 54 MP Nikon designed Sony sensor that would give me 24 MP even if I do a DX crop. Need to wait 1-2 years I guess for a D850.

You got some lovely pictures there. i am looking in a crappy T440 monitor and still is good. waiting to go back home on my Dell XPS 4K monitor

I agree, the MP war can only help wildlife shooters. I am so tempted to pick a 120-300 Sigma lens that is coming for darn cheap simply to use the 42MP for its effect.

But my current wildlife is restricted to this guy. So can manage with even a 24mm

[acurafan]

Originally Posted by Samurai

But, m4/3 rarely has the resolution of FF cameras. When FF has 24MP, same gen m4/3 has 16MP. So it is more like 1 stop more noise.

That is why pixel size is a better measurement unit than resolution. For example, D5 (21 MP) has 6.4 micron pixels, D500(21 MP) has 4.2 micron pixels, Olympus(16 MP) OM-D EM5-II has 3.75 micron pixels and for the heck of it Samsung Galaxy S6 (16 MP) has 1.12 micron pixels. All things identical (which rarely is), the bigger bucket collect more photons and hence lower noise. Also the bigger bucket rarely overflows, so the dynamic range improves. Most of the research goes in making these buckets more responsive and also in removing the number of obstacles from the lens to the photo-diode. You can google, Front Side Illuminated and Back Side Illuminated for more info.

To make things slightly complicated, we do not really measure the no of photons hitting the sensor but we measure the no of electrons coming out of the sensor in unit time. This relationship that governs no of incident photons to converted electrons or in other words photo-electric sensitivity is called Quantum efficiency which very much dependent on the wavelength of the light hitting the photon bucket. So your noise is actually dependent on what time of the day you are photographing. Unfortunately the lower QE coincides with the golden hour

[VW2010]

That is why pixel size is a better measurement unit than resolution. For example, D5 (21 MP) has 6.4 micron pixels, D500(21 MP) has 4.2 micron pixels, Olympus(16 MP) OM-D EM5-II has 3.75 micron pixels and for the heck of it Samsung Galaxy S6 (16 MP) has 1.12 micron pixels.

Just adding the below link to this post is impossible, so adding a new comment
http://www.dpreview.com/articles/536...sizes-on-noise

[Simhi]

Hi Friends, after going through few pages of thread, I am feeling nervous posting this query. Hope you don't find helping fellow bhpian who is novice when it comes to photography.

I and spouse have just started a food blogging site and we quickly realized the importance of high quality photos. Till now we have been using point and shoot camera (Canon IXUS 110HS) for taking photos and doing basic editing like resizing, cropping.

Few submissions to site such as foodgawker.com made us realize that our photos are not up to standards / quality.

We are leaning towards purchase of DSLR and using software tools to enhance images.

We are tight on budget and looking for something within 30K (at the max 35k).

Here are our queries
1. Is DSLR a must for high quality photos especially food photography?
2. If yes, can you suggest a good DSLR for 30K budget? I had shortlisted Canon EOS 700D and Nikon D3300?
3. Software - We are looking at learning GIMP (instead of investing in licensed software like photoshop)

Please advise.

[VW2010]

@Simhi,

Back in the days the first question would be answered directly as *YES. But these days the P&S market has very good sensors to manage your requirement. Having said that recommendation would be to search what is best affordable for your budget. There are 1inch sensors doing wonders to Point and shoot like canon G series making it a wonderful option.

As you already know lighting is the key for this type of photography and for online submission you dont need huge megapixels (8mp is more than sufficient)Considering you are already doing these kind of images, you should be good with light set up which takes out light set up cost from this equation.

A simple Rebel series or even the D50/D70 series with a nice 50mm Prime will do the trick. And being food photography dont worry about AF on the lens and look for even manual lenses. 50mm will give around 80mm equivalent focal length which is perfect.

Mirroless is also a great option(like the Fuji X(-X) series.

Regarding software, if you can get a licensed copy of lightroom, you should be good. GIMP is great for editing but is just time consuming as it was not aimed at photo editors but more so on creative designers. Similar to Photoshop. I piked up lightroom licensed version from 80 bucks which had two copies to install. I shared it with a friend and i am sure you can find some one to share.

Keep the Gimp for it may be useful to do focus stacking.

Lenses advice would be to have something that can also do macro like the canon 60mm. Tamron 90mm is also a great lens for this type. Other lenses i can suggest cost very high like the tilt shift lens (90mm or 45mm).


http://www.handletheheat.com/food-photography-setup/

[sdp1975]

@Simhi, a canon 1200D with a 50mm prime will do a good job. As for software, I use Canon's DPP software that's bundled free with the camera - that does a pretty decent job at handling contrast, brightness and color saturation.

Tried GIMP for a while , but I found DPP easier to use, and it could handle the Canon raw files as well.

[DevilsCry]

Originally Posted by Simhi

Few submissions to site such as foodgawker.com made us realize that our photos are not up to standards / quality.

Why don't you link us some pics and/or your blogging site? A look at the pics will tell us what you need.

[Samurai]

Originally Posted by Simhi

We are leaning towards purchase of DSLR and using software tools to enhance images.

We are tight on budget and looking for something within 30K (at the max 35k).

An entry level dSLR with cheap portrait lens should take care of your requirement within your budget. I doubt any mirrorless or big sensor P&S comes within your budget.

Just sharing a food shot I took just before eating it, handheld shot with available light. This is with OMD EM5 + 45mm F/1.8 lens, won't come in your budget though.

[vikash49]

Originally Posted by nilanjanray

They are more or less equal re all these aspects, the difference is marginal - not worth splitting hairs about.

The main difference is that the 80-400 is a more flexible/ one size fits all lens, and also lighter and easier to carry and handhold. The 200-500 is larger and heavier, a more specialised lens.

Great to note that the new 200-500 is comparable to the 80-400 in AF speed, AF accuracy & sharpness in spite of being only about 50% in cost.

Thanks for the quick response there!

[Aroy]

Originally Posted by Simhi

Hi Friends, after going through few pages of thread, I am feeling nervous posting this query. Hope you don't find helping fellow bhpian who is novice when it comes to photography.

Here are our queries
1. Is DSLR a must for high quality photos especially food photography?
2. If yes, can you suggest a good DSLR for 30K budget? I had shortlisted Canon EOS 700D and Nikon D3300?
3. Software - We are looking at learning GIMP (instead of investing in licensed software like photoshop)

I use a D3300 for all sorts of shots. Two lenses are most used
. 18-55 kit lens. This is my goto lens when there is enough light and when i need a lot of DOF (shooting at F/8 or more)
. 35mm F1.8 DX. This is the lens I use for low light of for shallow DOF

First get the D3300 with 18-55 kit lens and then at a later stage get either the 35mm or 50mm "G" lens.

Here are a few of my food shots


at F/1.8 - shallow DOF


at F/4 - reasonable DOF


at F/8 - lots of DOF

Here are the latest deals
http://www.amazon.in/Nikon-D3300-Dig...00+dslr+camera

http://www.amazon.in/Nikon-Nikkor-Pr...kon+35mm+f1.8g

[nilanjanray]

Originally Posted by VW2010

But my current wildlife is restricted to this guy. So can manage with even a 24mm

Cute fella :-)

Originally Posted by Simhi

Hi Friends, after going through few pages of thread, I am feeling nervous posting this query. Hope you don't find helping fellow bhpian who is novice when it comes to photography.
Here are our queries
1. Is DSLR a must for high quality photos especially food photography?
2. If yes, can you suggest a good DSLR for 30K budget? I had shortlisted Canon EOS 700D and Nikon D3300?
3. Software - We are looking at learning GIMP (instead of investing in licensed software like photoshop)

Buy a Nikon D3200 + 50mm 1/8G. Will cost you ~ 27-28K. If you can stretch by 2-3K more, buy the D3300 instead of D3200. You will have one of the best DX sensors in the market.

Download the latest version of Capture NX-D. Free software. You are good to go.

[Simhi]

Thanks VW2010, sdp1975, DevilsCry, Samurai, Aroy, nilanjanray.

Originally Posted by VW2010

A simple Rebel series or even the D50/D70 series with a nice 50mm Prime will do the trick.
Regarding software, if you can get a licensed copy of lightroom, you should be good.

Yes. Plan to download and try out Lightroom.

Originally Posted by sdp1975

@Simhi, a canon 1200D with a 50mm prime will do a good job.

Originally Posted by Aroy

First get the D3300 with 18-55 kit lens and then at a later stage get either the 35mm or 50mm "G" lens.

Originally Posted by nilanjanray

Cute fella :-)

Buy a Nikon D3200 + 50mm 1/8G. Will cost you ~ 27-28K. If you can stretch by 2-3K more, buy the D3300 instead of D3200. You will have one of the best DX sensors in the market.

Download the latest version of Capture NX-D. Free software. You are good to go.

After going through all the above suggestions and few links on internet, I understand that I can go far a basic DSLR with 50mm f/1.8 prime lens. So I can look at Nikon D3200/D3300 or Canon D1200/750D. I am planning to try first with kit lens and then buy a prime lens.

Originally Posted by DevilsCry

Why don't you link us some pics and/or your blogging site? A look at the pics will tell us what you need.

Not sure if an external link to my site or picture is allowed or whether it will be considered as a promotion. Let me attach one snapshot and please provide your feedback on quality. This is taken using Canon IXUS P&S camera in auto mode.