What is the font you used for “Build Plate Cleaner”?
OK fine you guys, I’ll spend some more money. I just ordered a photography box with a few backdrops and trying to pick a camera now. Looking at Sony Alpha 6700 or ZV-E10 with just the 16-50 kit lens. Return on investment will take ages but this is freaking cool, and I get to pick up a whole new skill set.
@Zammer3D why did you switch to Affinity? I am just trying Canva for the first time and it’s amazing, but maybe I should just go into Affinity if it’s better.
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It’s a lot more powerful with stuff like vector drawing and masks (actual customizable ones, not frames). It’s not necessarily something I use often, but if I decide I do want a vector/mask it’s easier than having to recreate my design. I’m currently testing out Sketch, which is supposed to be for UI design (I started doing a bit of it), but I’m liking it for graphic design-esque stuff. It’s for Mac only though. But yeah, overall I really like Affinity as a more powerful (and one-time-purchase) alternative to Canva.
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before thinking of a camera you want, you need to think at which lenses you are looking for and then work backwards from there. camera bodies within the same range these days get very close in terms of quality, so looking at which lenses work best for your type of photography that fit in your budget is the first way to go, and then get a body that supports them.
you mention you want a kit lens, but that is not what i would do at all, the vast majority of kit lenses aren’t good at all, so look for which lens(es) you want and then get body only, as those kit lenses just become paper weights 
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If we were on a photography forum, I would definitely agree with you 
But here…? Honestly, I think a kit lens would be enough, especially at the beginning, and later you can gain some experience and knowledge about what lens you would need (@KYZ_Design).
In my opinion, there are things more important than the camera (lighting and background). I have more than 10 different lenses but I take pictures of my models with the cheapest kit (it’s simply the most convenient due to the focal length range and I’m too lazy) But honestly, to take decent photos, you just need a smartphone with a really good camera.
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To each is own, for me a kit lens is just a waste of money, but if it works for you than that’s fine for me
Haha I agree about kit lens, I was down this rabbit hole before years ago and I was in the e-mount system with a few prime lenses after noticing how garbage kit lenses are… But the kit lens was only 60 euros more than the body only price so I figured I’ll start with it and add a lens or two later - to spread the research time.
Hmm yeah it’s probably not optimum starting with the body first but I just can’t watch another review video… There is so much other content I gotta get through like lighting and composition and post editing, etc!
And this is why I went with the Sony ZV-1 
My main concern was getting better quality videos which lead me down the path of looking at various camera setups; more specifically I saw the ZV-1 was rated highly for both slow motion video and general content creation so it made it a pretty easy choice for what I wanted. I’ve been happy with it so far, overall a nice all-in-one camera which takes great videos and photos with the integrated lens and lets me learn more without investing too much.
sure, you need to prioritise what you want to focus on first, but 60e could get you a collapsible background, or a nice light stand 
Haha I totally get it, I downsized from a multiple lens setup to a Sony rx100 iv (predecessor to the ZV-1) and a tripod, then sold both of those and just got a higher end smartphone which I’ve been using for all the Makerworld stuff. But now I kinda miss having stuff like depth of field.
Could you just tell me what lenses to buy? Lol. All I know is that
- full frame isn’t necessary because I will have tonnes of lighting
- I probably want a mechanical shutter just in case there is strobing (and it sounds cool)
- All other fancy features like in-body stabilisation and 4K 60fps or whatever video isn’t needed
- I eventually want a ~50mm equivalent prime but don’t know if it helps if it’s a macro lens or not
How much difference do you think you could make if you did use one of the non kit lenses? In quality and in getting someone to click your thumbnail?
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lol I don’t really know what kind of photos you will want to take, but for product photos a good starting point will be a 35mm f2 on APS-C sensor - equivalent to 50mm in full frame
This is a standard well rounded lens, that will be versatile but not specialized in anything
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I don’t think there would be much difference. More expensive prime lenses usually offer wide apertures. A wide aperture gives a shallow depth of field - which is not always desirable, I usually want my entire model to be “in focus”. Sometimes shallow depth of field is useful to take pictures of details with a lot of background blur and some bokeh but for me that’s just a fancy addition.
Wide apertures let in more light but I don’t need that either because I use additional lighting. Even if there’s not enough light I’m not worried about high ISO because I can use a tripod and expose the photo longer.
Prime lenses also produce a little bit sharper and better quality photos but an ordinary person certainly won’t notice it.
And as for people, they usually click best on renders
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I am doing my first gif on this model: Soup Spinner by Froggydog10 - MakerWorld. How does it look?
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That looks pretty good!
Anyone here used Darktable? I’m an ex Lightroom user (long time ago…) and I do not remember processing raw images this difficult! I’m just trying to make the raw images look like what the smartphone does haha. Should I be using something else?
Probably yes Darktable is completely different from Lightroom, and it’s not intuitive and easy. But it has a great potential. I spent many hours there, but when I need quick processing I use other programs. (But I don’t find it necessary to shoot in RAW for a few simple photos for Makerworld.)
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(Former) Darktable dev here!
Darktable is awesome, but has very steep learning curve and doesn’t hold your hand along the way. It’s deliberately not “intuitive” because a lot of “intuitive” stuff comes from days where 8-bit per color channel on RGB colorspace was “fancy” and people learned wrong stuff It’s like learning to drive on electric car with FSD and then getting thrown into a project car with manual transmission and tons of buttons, gauges, levers and so on. Can be overwhelming, but potential’s there
Processing raws is rarely needed when straight out of the box photos are OK. If you can get by on what you can squeeze out of JPEG then go with it. If you know you’ll need the full power of darktable - start learning
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Darktable is powerful, but “clunky” to use, it takes way too many clicks for my taste, I do still have it on my Linux laptop, and use it from time to time, but I definitely favour Lightroom.
LR is pretty unbeatable (although I hear good things about capture one I never actually went and gave it a try) the only part that sucks (and it’s a pretty significant one) is that its subscription only, not a fan but it is what it is, the package I have is reasonably priced for what I get for it
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You were totally right. For what lm taking pics of, my new kit is having a hard time beating the smartphone and it’s magickery, especially with the additional light! And the workflow with the phone is soooo quick and easy.
On my camera-camera, I’m taking pics at F10 to get a crisp shot, and considering my phone camera can also output raw, there is like no advantage to using a proper camera in this particular case. I can see how depth of field will help if I have some props in the background and whatnot but defocus can be added in post (good enough for a thumbnail and on compressed images).
Here is a cellphone pic - all I did was exposure compensation when taking the pic and then in post, I only moved two sliders. (I just need to set the white point so I do want a little more editing power than the built in photo editor.)
But of course, this is just one situation, I’m sure a proper camera will be better in many other situations, especially if I’m trying to be a bit more artistic. And one I get tether shooting and a bunch of presets made, it should be quick too. Just gotta figure out what software to dive into.
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That’s an awesome photo!
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