Nikon SLR Cameras

What lens suitable for toy photography?

artis
29.08.2017
artis

My camera is nikon d3300

Added (1). mostly scale toys like model kit 1/144 cm like that

James
29.08.2017
James

I guess you don't need to pay much for your camera. A basic DSLR like a Nikon D3300 or even a camera like a Samsung Nx300 would do the job really well for you.

keerok
29.08.2017
keerok

How big is the toy? How far or near will you be from the toy? How much of the toy would you want to appear in the photo? How much of the background would you want to appear in the photo? These are a few things to consider when choosing the right lens for you. If you think it's that complicated, shoot with your kit lens. It is sufficient enough if only you know how to use it properly.

John P
29.08.2017
John P

What size toys? Your 18mm to 55mm kit lens will work well generally unless the toys are very small. Go with that for a few months at least, and then review the situation and think about what you might be lacking.

At least as important will be background (have several colours and shades available) and lighting - you can do wonders with natural light if you are clever. You might need a tripod.

fhotoace
29.08.2017
fhotoace

If I were shooting small toys like Match Box or HOt Wheels, I would use a macro lens and shoot multiple shots of the product, moving the focus from front to rear and then stack those images to produce in focus, sharp images of the toy.

You also need to consider the lighting you will use. A soft lighting ratio of from 1:1 to 1:1.5 will produce the most pleasing images. I would use a light tent to produce even lighting over the whole toy

Kalico
29.08.2017
Kalico

Check Youtube.com for toy photography AND action figure photography; you'll find that some experienced photographers are getting great results EVEN with a cell 'phone but I recommend using a DSLR like your nice camera with the kit zoom lens (18-55mm) and a sturdy tripod. The results will vary, depending on your own personal skills, talents and experience; concentrate on focusing and vary lighting height and distances, experiment (you can always delete what you don't like, yes or YES?). Use different color backgrounds. HALF the fun is setting up, fussing with the subject (action figure, model car or toy) and lighting, so relax and enjoy it.

Youtube.com has many good instructional and tutorial videos that are fairly good, with examples of lighting and posing the subjects, setting up different background colors or small little props.

Frank
29.08.2017
Frank

What kind of toys? What's the largest and smallest toys you'll photograph? Will you be photographing the entire toy or will you need to do detail shots?

What is your budget? Makes no sense to recommend a 24-70 at $1,600 if you don't have that kind of budget.

Have you tried your 18-55mm kit lens that came with your camera? If not, then why not? If so, how did work for you?

For small toys like Hot Wheels cars, a macro lens around 100mm would be great. With such a lens you can photograph the entire car, or get in tight to show any imperfections such as dings or dents if you're photographing used toys. Using a long macro like the 100mm as opposed to a short macro like a 50mm won't get you closer or a tighter shot. In fact, it'll do just the opposite which is what you want. The longer the macro lens, the further back you will need to be. This is beneficial because it allows you to get out of the way of your lights, reflectors, and other lighting/photo gear. All macro lenses with a reproduction of 1:1 produce the same exact image. It's just as the focal length increases, so will the working distance. These macro lenses around the 100mm range are also great portrait lenses too, so it's like two lenses in one.

If your studio is tight, then a 100mm could be too long where you can't back up enough. For that reason, a zoom lens like the Tamron 28-75 f/2.8 at $500 is a good option. For those times where you need to get more macro, you just add on a $80 extension tube. I would go with a standard zoom like the 28-75mm instead of a telephoto zoom which will be too strong. An ultra-wide zoom like a 10-22mm is far too wide with far too much wide-angle distortion. So a standard zoom would be just right.

What makes the 28-75 f/2.8 so good is that it's only $500, it is very sharp, and it has a constant f/2.8 aperture. While most of the time you'll be shooting at much smaller apertures like f/22, if you should find the need to shoot wide open you won't have to be worrying about your exposures as you zoom in. If, on the other hand, you had a lens like the kit lens which has a variable aperture of f/3.5 - f/5.6, then your exposures would shift.

You can compare image sharpness, distortion and bokeh at photozone.de which provides great analysis of lenses making it super easy to know which lens is best and by how much. This allows you to know if spending a lot more will produce results worth of the added expense.