dSLR for shots like this?

[jsatek]

I currently use a Fuji F30. Im not completely happy with the results. These are the types of shots I will take with the camera. I'd spend $750 if I was confident my needs were met.

I was thinking of a D40, D40x, D60, D80, Xti, XSi? am I wasting money? Is there a better point-and-shoot for my needs. These pictures need to be crystal clear for my business.

F30:

[rylan]

use low iso settings, and make sure the camera focuses before u slam the shutter button
pick up a rebelxt/xti you will be happy with the results

[jsatek]

So force 100, 200.

Will a tripod help?

[jsatek]

In the second to last picture, how can I capture detail? Slower shutter time?

[rylan]

a tripod will be a MUST if using slower shutter speeds, and you would need a better light source seeing that the lighting is giving a bad reflection in the paint.
also i would purchase a circular polarizer filter aswell because that gets rid of alot fo the nasty reflections from lighting


high iso will create fuzzy, grainy photos

[jsatek]

So I guess I cant pull this off with my Fuji F30.

[rylan]

probobly not but what i would go out and buy is a fuji s700, its a great camera i used to have one. u can control iso, shutter, aperture and all that for under 200$

[jsatek]

I dip and go for a dSLR. I just dont know if I should wait for the Xsi Rebel. Will I use any of the features? Am I better off with an Xti or a D40 and a decent lens?

[rylan]

xt retails for 500$ and it would work fine for what you want to do

[jsatek]

no problem. How about a lens for such photos? I know Ill use a filter.

[rylan]

im sure a kit lens (18/55mm) would be fine with the polarizer filter

[jsatek]

wow, that was cheap...
Usually these things end up costing CHA-CHING...

[photophorous]

What is your business? Are you photographing these cars to sell them or show off body work or something?

From what I can see here, I don't think a better camera will solve your problems. The F30 has a great reputation. I think you just need to learn a little about lighting. Unless you are trying to get some particular effect with the harsh lighting in these shots, I would suggest you shoot the car in early morning or late evening...indirect light...or on an overcast day. Your camera should be capable of recording quite a bit of detail as long as you stick to the lowest ISO settings (50 or 100), keep the camera steady (tripod), and make sure you're getting a good exposure (use the histogram).

I would not use the on-camera flash. If you can't shoot the cars under better natural lighting you may need to upgrade your camera so you can use an off-camera flash. That would be a much more complicated set up, and it would cost you more than $750. Knowing more about what you're trying to accomplish would help determine if you need to take it in that direction.

Paul

[Frog]

It isn't the camera...nikon, canon will do fine. You do need the tripod but you'll never get good shots in a garage with halogen lights. You need a better spot to shoot, better background, lights. I'm sadly lacking in knowledge of exactly what. You might ask in the studio lighting forum.

[jsatek]

What is your business? Are you photographing these cars to sell them or show off body work or something?

From what I can see here, I don't think a better camera will solve your problems. The F30 has a great reputation. I think you just need to learn a little about lighting. Unless you are trying to get some particular effect with the harsh lighting in these shots, I would suggest you shoot the car in early morning or late evening...indirect light...or on an overcast day. Your camera should be capable of recording quite a bit of detail as long as you stick to the lowest ISO settings (50 or 100), keep the camera steady (tripod), and make sure you're getting a good exposure (use the histogram).

I would not use the on-camera flash. If you can't shoot the cars under better natural lighting you may need to upgrade your camera so you can use an off-camera flash. That would be a much more complicated set up, and it would cost you more than $750. Knowing more about what you're trying to accomplish would help determine if you need to take it in that direction.

Paul

Yes, this is for my business. I need to show the vehicla under harsh lighting while it is indoors to demonstrate the correction I do. The "swirls" are amplified under halogen lighting, I actually work with them on the paint full blast. I can only photograph the cars outdoors once they are complete, moving them risks getting dust on the paint. i need them to be in lighting where they look their worst. After I am done, I park them in direct sunlight and take pictures of the sun reflectign off of the surface. Nothing can hide....













It's the indoor shots that torture me.....

[photophorous]

I still don't think a DSLR would help significantly, unless you want to really get serious and start using some studio lighting in place of your halogens. That would give the best results, but it would require a lot of learning and more money. If you want a DSLR, go ahead and get one. They're nice and it will make things a little easier, but for this scenario your biggest challenge will still be the lighting.

If you want to keep it simple, definitely try a tripod for the indoor shots and keep it on the lowest ISO setting.

In the second to last picture (and several of the other indoor shots) your problem is underexposure, and that is happening because the extremely bright reflection of the flood light is fooling the camera's light meter. For this shot you need to increase exposure if you want to show detail in the black area, but that will result in pure white (overexposure) where the light is reflecting. This is simply too much contrast for any camera to capture detail in both the bright and dark areas of the shot, so you have to decide on a compromise between the two. Or, you could compose the photo so that the direct reflection of the lamp is not included in the shot.

Experiment with manual mode or exposure compensation. Just remember that the camera meter tries to average all of the light in the scene to be a middle grey. If there is one small but very bright part of the photo, that's going to cause the meter to underexpose the rest of the shot. If the entire scene is very dark the meter will cause the camera to overexpose and you'll get a grey picture. You have to fine tune it yourself.

Paul

[Photo-John]

For cars, reflections are the biggest problem. The reflected information needs to be controlled. The way to do that is to have a big black or white wall that reflects nothing at all. Car photography is tough!

[RP Racing]

Well your camera you used is good enough to pick up the orange peel on that Jeep.

On a side note, I test drove a brand new 03 or 04 Hummer H2 that had worse orange peel from the factory. $53K shouldnt come with any orange peel what so ever. Not even gonna go into how crappy it drove also.

[Greg McCary]

You can buy a fairly good DSLR for almost as much as you would tie up in a P&S camera. The prices of a DSLR have really came down in the last couple of years. Even if you picked up a used one it wouldn't be a big problem to get an Olympus E-500 or E-510 for less than $500.00. Or a CanonXTi. I think I would read some reviews here and pick out a good DSLR.