What am I going to do?

[AlwaysOnAuto]

I've been ruined I tell you, ruined.
I blame this forum and all the other photography forums I visit too.
I'm trying to take pictures of my wife's quilts. She's got another stack of them waiting to be photographed. Been ready since last month. Anyways, I'm using the stands my new son-in-law gave me to hold them up, rather than pinning them to the wall like I did before.
My problem is I can't get far enough away from them, at least indoors, to allow me to use my sharpest lens on either my Nex-7 or my Nikon D7000. With the crop factor of both cameras it's like shooting with an 83mm lens. I tried using my 24mm Nikkor, but it doesn't have the sharpness at the corners/edges that the 55 Micro does. You can't make out the stitches at the edge of the quilt. Before I was a somewhat regular here, this wouldn't have bothered me much if at all. Now it bugs the he!! out of me. I can't set everything up outside as it's a bright sunny day here and there's too much breeze too.
Ruined I say, just plain ruined.

[dem]

What aperture setting are you shooting with? If you are using the lowest f-number, change it to a higher value, e.g. f/5.6 or f/8.0. This will decrease the amount of light coming in (so will require a slower shutter speed or a higher ISO value) but will help you with corner sharpness.

[James G]

Alan, how about a mozaic of shots horizontally and vertically, (overlapping each by about 30%) and then merging to create the final image.

I've done this a few times when photographing large stained glass windows in cathedrals.

Couple of points though:-
1) shoot on a levelled tripod
2) centre the camera on the quilt
3) overshoot the edges of the quilt by 20-30% to allow for cropping to eliminate sharpness probs in corners.


Watch out for light changes while you shoot, but it you shoot using bracketted sequences you should be home and dry.

Else ... find a multistorey car park, lay the quilt on the ground and go up about 5 levels.....shoot away

or... from my wife... boil wash the quilt for abot 3 hours and it will shrink!!!!! I think she might have been serious

Good luck!

[Black Pearl]

Your 24mm is a full frame lens so you're using the centre sweet spot on your DX body so it should be pin sharp.

Edit.......then again it's not as good as I would have thought. : http://www.photozone.de/nikon--nikko...report?start=1

In that case what are you using them for?

[AlwaysOnAuto]

My biggest problem is I don't have the room to back up far enough.
Next is the fuzziness at the edges using the 24mm which is an old manual focus by the way. My Micro Nikkor 55 is great, sharp as a tack but again, I can't get far enough away to frame the whole quilt, even a smaller than usual one. (sigh)
My wife asked why I wasn't setting it up out in the garage. Dirty floor (she actually said it wasn't that dirty, but she's not the one trying to keep the quilts clean is she), and lighting only from the open big door, which lets in the wind (we do love our sea breeze here).
Guess I'll have to delve into the manual on the D7k and see how I can better use my flash with the 24. It should work, but if not I'll have to set up in the garage in the morning before the breeze starts.
I don't have the software to do a stitch photo. I leave the stitching to the wife. (I know, bad pun.)

[Polar01]

Ok Alan calm down I know exactly what is happening and what to do about it. How here is how I see it, the quilts are on the stands that your son-in-law gave you, the 55mm micro is on the D7000 and now you just can move back far enough. So the solution is easy two options: one as your wife loves those tack sharp images you need to purchase the new D5 FX camera as the crop factor of the D7000 is not letting you achieve those images that she so loves as the room is not long enough or remodel the room by moving that wall back about 8ft so you can continue to use the D7000 with the 55mm micro lens. Both will likely cost about the same. Me I would go with the new D5 as it is really for your wife so the images will be tack sharp, more space only means that I have to spend more time cleaning along with more or bigger windows also to clean. She because of the additional space needed for use of the D7000, will again see those tack sharp images, thus be inspired to create more quilts which will mean less time to help me around the house.

[AlwaysOnAuto]

Actually Allan, I've got my eye on a Sony A7ii, which would give me the true focal length use of all my old manual lenses AND give me image stabilization as well. So I'd say we're on the same wavelength. Changing the house is not an option at this point in my life as my working days are done and besides, it's paid for now so who needs, or wants,the debt of a home improvement loan?

[mikesan]

Once you try stiching images you will be amazed at what it can accomplish. Open source (free) software is available.

http://hugin.sourceforge.net/

[mknittle]

Gotta buy a new lens

[rtbaum]

With the D5 and Sigma 24mm f1.4 Art...you are going to need a sturdier tripod

[rpcrowe]

I was in the same quandary but, not as serious as your problem. I just needed a tiny bit wider coverage when using my 70-200mm f/4L IS to take portraits of my dogs in my family room studio. I purchased a used full-frame Canon 5DII camera which gives me the wider coverage that I wanted but, at no where near the price of a new 5DIII.

I suspect that there are Nikon full frame cameras on the used market which, "just might", allow you to use your 55mm macro on your wife's quilts. At a far less expensive outlay than a new Nikon full frame camera...

One nice thing about shooting images that our wives want, my wife doesn't mind me buying photo equipment...

[James G]

Open source (free) software is available.

Mike, You beat me to it !

Alan, you are ruined....this is truly one of those rare occasions... Normally, you do not need to upgrade your kit to get better images, its the photographer/technique that has to improve....but in this case its new kit or moving to a bigger house... no brainer....

[AlwaysOnAuto]

Thanks all for the help.
I had an epiphany of sorts last night as I was falling asleep. I have a couple of 50mm lenses stashed away that I can try. I'm pretty sure they'll allow me the 'room' to get the shots. Not positive, but it's worth a try. The other good news is, I think they're going to be sharp enough too.
I'll let you all know how it goes.

[rpcrowe]

If you were shooting Canon, the 40mm f/2.8 "pancake" lens might be a good option. It is pretty darn sharp and I got mine at well less than a hundred bucks. I wonder if Nikon has come along with an equivalent lens?

BTW: every couple of months there is a used photo gear spectacular in Orange County. I have not visited it but, it might be a place to get a piece of used gear which would help you solve your problem...

I cannot find a link to it but, I get emails regularly announcing the show. If you are interested, send me a PM and I will send you the information the next time that I get information regarding the show.

[AlwaysOnAuto]

I'm aware of the show Richard, thanks.
I think I'm going to be OK with the lenses I have already.
If I do anything equipment wise, it'll be giving myself a birthday present in the form of a new A7ii.

[xpatUSA]

I suspect that there are Nikon full frame cameras on the used market which, "just might", allow you to use your 55mm macro on your wife's quilts.

Used D700s seem to be a lot cheaper than they used to be and, with their large 8.45um pixels, will mask lens abberations and diffraction to a great extent allowing one to shoot at maybe f/11 or even f/16 with the 55mm lens.

[Manfred M]

Nice try Alan - unless you are printing to a large size and pixel peeping, chances of anyone noticing any softness on a computer screen are going to be quite legible. The lens correction routines found in most photo editing software will correct some of the issues you are concerned about.

[AlwaysOnAuto]

Well it was a perfectly gloomy day here, thick marine layer overcast, no shadows, so I took a chance and set up the stands in the backyard and took some pics with plenty of room to spare. I was worried about the sea gulls flying about and the morning doves too, but they didn't drop anything on me or the quilts so I guess I made out OK.
Still have to download the files, but first it's time for some lunch here. Mowing the yards made me hungry today.

[AlwaysOnAuto]

Here's one I'm pretty pleased with. Did a little PP, but not much.

[AlwaysOnAuto]

Just to demonstrate how tough a crowd I'm working with here at home, my wife was asking why I didn't have the backdrop set up behind all the quilts so she could crop the pictures easier.
Guess I'll have to modify the light stands I was given so they can hold the quilts next time and the stands I used today will hold the back drop, which it was intended for anyways. (sigh)
Are they ever happy?