I was sitting on a river bank in western South Dakota last Saturday, eating lunch and taking a few shots with my Leica IIIc. I liked the Summaron 35mm f3.5 because it was very light and short, and didn't interfere with my eating an apple. I consider it a great lens with food.
Two23 wrote:
I was sitting on a river bank in western South Dakota last Saturday, eating lunch and taking a few shots with my Leica IIIc. I liked the Summaron 35mm f3.5 because it was very light and short, and didn't interfere with my eating an apple. I consider it a great lens with food.
Two23 wrote:
I was sitting on a river bank in western South Dakota last Saturday, eating lunch and taking a few shots with my Leica IIIc. I liked the Summaron 35mm f3.5 because it was very light and short, and didn't interfere with my eating an apple. I consider it a great lens with food.
Kent in SD
Well-played sir!
But to answer the op, how about the AIS micro-nikkor 55mm f/2.8 (or f/3.5).
Food photography pays some of my bills. I own a goodly selection of macro lenses, and by far my most used for this purpose is the 60mm AF-S. It's plenty sharp, has lovely optical characteristics and is short enough for the cramped spaces available for shooting in most restaurants.
I also own the 200mm AF - way too long for food; 85 PC - on paper, the ideal glass for this work, but in practice, too fiddly; 55 f2.8 ai-s - nice, but no benefit over the 60; 105 vr - very nice, but again, too long. I also sometimes use the 24-70 if I need more focal length flexibility.
The one lens I do lust after is the Zeiss 50 makro - never used it, but if it performs anywhere near as well as it reviews, then it should be a force to be reckoned with.
jaboki wrote:
Sorry! I have the D7000 and my wife wants me to get a lens that'll make our food from date nights come out nice.
Look into the nikon 35 1.8g dx, it might help with what you are looking for
this is given that you will be seated when doing the shooting, as in a foody-date with your girl in a restaurant.. you won't be able to be moving, doing lighting etc... you'll be seated in front of the food, right?
I my opinion, anything longer on a dx camera when seated in front of the food will just be too tight... even so, the 35 1.8g dx might be borderline tight...
jaboki wrote:
Recommendations for lenses that work well with foods?
My go-to food lens is the 45 PC, gives me total angle and depth of focus control.
glo
I'd think that Guari is correct in that, for shot of your plate from your seat, anything longer than 35mm will be way too long. Even 35 I would think would feel cramped. I'm not sure how dim the restaurants you eat in are, but if you can get away with F2.8, you might look at the 24mm 2.8 AF-D.
There aren't really any macro lenses that will give you proper working distances for dining, so maybe a Canon 500D close up filter to go along with it with the appropriate step up ring.
From the title, I thought this was a desperate trade offer
I know common wisdom says to use the 60/2.8 macro for food shots and that's what most pros use. In my view, food shots benefit from the perspective distortion that comes with a wider lens -- somewhere in the 28-35mm range on DX. It makes for a more lifelike shot by giving the viewer a point of view that's more like being there. If you prefer your shots more flat/compressed, use a longer lens.
A set of extension tubes might help, as well, if you want to get close in on the food. Also depends on the size of the table you're sitting at, some restaurants have roomy tables, and others barely hold dinner for two. No extension tubes on these two shots in this post.
Wow. Thanks for all the responses! Looks like 35mm seems to be the general consensus. I think I'll try out the 1.8g. I'll let you guys know how that turns out
This is a little late, but what lenses do you have? And, what problem are you having making your food look good? You might be suffering from post processing issues, rather than a lens problem. Could you post an example of a bad food shot?
James R wrote:
This is a little late, but what lenses do you have? And, what problem are you having making your food look good? You might be suffering from post processing issues, rather than a lens problem. Could you post an example of a bad food shot?
Actually, I just got an SLR for my wife. I haven't received it yet and was just asking ahead of time what type of lens I could get for her. She loves to take food pictures when we travel.
The nano coated lenses are a bit on the sweet side but if you follow up with a canon fluoride coated lens your teeth should be good afterwards.
You probably would want to go with a zoom lens that has close up capabilities. This way you can capture large table settings down to individual products. The old Zeiss 35-70 was a macro type lens that was wonderful. If yo could get a native mount lens with similar capabilities you should be good.
