Before deciding upon the camera you may need to study macro lenses. The lens you use for close-up images is critical to the quality of your pictures. Review the macro lenses made by Canon, Nikon, Tamron, etc. The lens choice may drive your camera choice..

For macro lenses: find out what is offered than go to this web site: http://www.fredmiranda.comThat site has good use reviews on lenses..

I am very happy with the 100 mm Canon macro I use with my Canon cameras.thezero..

Hm, haven't done much jewelry photography..

Not sure what you mean by "flash photography" Usually on-camera flash (whether from a G7 or D80) turns out very bad for product photos - product photography is often all about the lighting, rather than camera or lens..

With an SLR, you definitely need a macro lens, and there are several options out there... sticking in the lower-budget range, there is the Sigma 50mm, Sigma 70mm, Sigma 105mm, Canon 60mm, Canon 100mm, Tamron 90mm... not too familiar with Nikon lenses, but they have many capable ones as well..

Any SLR bodies, 400D or D80 (or even an older Nikon D50 or Canon 350D) will be perfectly suitable for your task. For that matter, even your current G7 should be up to it, as compacts have pretty good macro capabilities..

You may also want to post this in the lighting forum, as they might have better ideas about how to light your subject...

Your "silver looking more like gold" issue could be something as simple as white balance. Some experimenting may help...

The problem sounds like white balance more than anything else. The G6 is perfectly capable of taking web shots of your beads/completed jewelry..

You don't need flash if you are using a lightbox. All you need are lamps on the exterior, two at least. Once you have the lighting where you want it, turn off the camera flash. Set your white balance according to the light source, or even better do a custom white balance in camera. Once that is done, you should be able to shoot away and get what you want..

You are using a tripod/bracket/support for the camera, aren't you?.

Crime Scene PhotographyA small gallery of personal work: http://picasaweb.google.com/PID885..

Thanks so much for your advise. Much appreciated..

Unfortunately my knowledge of the G6 is not as good as I would like it to be. I just need to play with it a bit more. The problem is that I need to get these shots taken of my Glass/Silver Jewellery for my website rather quickly and therefore I unfortunatley don't have the time to just play around with the camera at the moment..

Are you familiar with the Canon G6? When you mention the 'Custom in camera white balance', is that just a matter of selecting the Custom white balance feature, pointing the camera onto a known white source, and pressing 'set'? I was starting to think that I should be upgrading my camera to the Nikon D80. I haven't been using a tripod either. What other setting would you predict I should use. I taking the shot through the top of the light igloo at a distance of approx 18 inches from the subject. I have got 3 lights set up around the igloo however i'm not sure how to tell if I have the placed correctly. Are you abel to offer any futher advise? Thanks for your time, Regards, Paul...

Mglassworks wrote:.

Thanks so much for your advise. Much appreciated..

Your welcome..

Unfortunately my knowledge of the G6 is not as good as I would likeit to be. I just need to play with it a bit more. The problem isthat I need to get these shots taken of my Glass/Silver Jewellery formy website rather quickly and therefore I unfortunatley don't havethe time to just play around with the camera at the moment..

The option in this case is to get something online now, and then replace the images as you get better shots. Don't post garbage photos of your wares, that won't help sell them! Even if you only post a few decent shots now, you can always add more later..

Are you familiar with the Canon G6? When you mention the 'Custom incamera white balance', is that just a matter of selecting the Customwhite balance feature, pointing the camera onto a known white source,and pressing 'set'? I was starting to think that I should beupgrading my camera to the Nikon D80. I haven't been using a tripodeither. What other setting would you predict I should use. I takingthe shot through the top of the light igloo at a distance of approx18 inches from the subject. I have got 3 lights set up around theigloo however i'm not sure how to tell if I have the placedcorrectly. Are you abel to offer any futher advise? Thanks for yourtime, Regards, Paul..

I have played with a G6 for about 20 minutes, a co-worker bought one. I didn't even mess with the white balance on it. With other Canon's, you take a shot of a white object, display that shot, and then set the white balance off that picture. Not sure if that is how the G6 works. Nikons set WB by taking a shot of a white object....

For web work, there is no need for a DSLR. That doesn't mean you can't use one, just that it is more camera than you need to do the job. The other advantage of the G6 is that it has much more depth of field, so that the entire piece is in focus. The D80 will have much less depth of field at the same aperture as the G6..

The camera should be on a fixed mount of some sort, like a tripod or flex arm. Some of the lightboxes have a bracket that allows the camera to be mounted directly. This prevents camera shake, and assures consistency between shots. A Bogen flex arm with clamp will easily support a lightweight camera like the G6..

3 lights should be plenty. As to how you have them set... no way to tell without seeing an example. For beads/jewelry, you want minimal shadows and hotspots, with even light. If there is a texture to show, you may have to adjust the position of the lights to provide a little shadow so that the texture is visible. something like 2 lights on one side, with the 3rd opposite to keep the shadows from being very dark..

I work in silver as a hobby, and enjoy it. Taking pictures of completed pieces can be frustrating, no argument there. You have the tools, but it will take some practice to get the best possible images of your work. And if you are selling them, that is what you want..

Crime Scene PhotographyA small gallery of personal work: http://picasaweb.google.com/PID885..

Hi, thanks so much for your reply and advise. Sorry I haven't thanked you before now. You were absolutely right with all of your information. I have now practised with the light tent, Tripod, G6, Lights etc and I am very happy with the results. I am shooting in RAW format and using the Canon software to slightly adjust the tone of the light after the shoot has been taken, i.e. Tungsten.

From a 45 degree angle. The resulting pics are very nice with quite a short depth of field, which surprised me. The silver components within the jewelry is finally 'silver' not gold or yellow. Once again, thanks for your help, much appreciated. Mglassworks...

Hi, Thanks for your assistance. Sorry I haven't thanked you before now. You were absolutely correct. White Balancing was one of the things that I was not doing correctly. I have now sorted this out and i'm taking some very nice shots of my Jewelry with the Silver components remaining 'silver' not looking gold or yellow.Once again thanks, much appreciated. Mglassworks...

Now you've made us all curious  Why don't you post some of the better pictures you took, or post a link to your site?..

You are certainly welcome..

As you have discovered, all most people really need is a few pointers and some practice. I'm glad to have helped..

Crime Scene PhotographyA small gallery of personal work: http://picasaweb.google.com/PID885..