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Good lens for photographs of oil paintings.
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domenico
Joined: 25 Jan 2011
Posts: 3
PostPosted: Tue Jan 25, 2011 1:45 pm   Post subject: Good lens for photographs of oil paintings.

Hi,
can someone tell me a good lens for lens board of my C.Grafic Special?
...I ave to photograph oil paintings with professional flash
Les
Joined: 09 May 2001
Posts: 2682
PostPosted: Wed Jan 26, 2011 1:19 am

Well a 135mm Xenar isn't a bad little lens. A Symmar MC would probably be the next step up. depending on the size of the paintings, a 203 f7.7 Ektar would be great, but you couldn't do close ups as the Crown doesn't have a long bellows.

More than the lens is the lighting set up. To minimize reflections, polarize both the lights and the lens.
Henry
Joined: 09 May 2001
Posts: 1662
PostPosted: Wed Jan 26, 2011 6:46 pm

Flash photography will be a problem with oil paintings, and even more so if the paintings are framed behind glass. I would use a photoflood set-up (blue bulbs if you can get 'em). As Les said, polarized light will definitely stop the glare, but you might get away without the pola filters (they are expensive) if you experiment with light placement. Additionally, you may need to drape a dark cloth around your camera/tripod set-up to minimize your own and the camera's reflections if you are dealing with glass.

Bounce flash might yield usable results; I hear the phrase "trial-and-error" softly in the background.
C. Henry
Joined: 13 Dec 2005
Posts: 360
PostPosted: Thu Jan 27, 2011 2:27 pm

Using the front rise while keeping the subject, lens board and film plane all parallel might help to prevent the reflection of the camera showing on the film image.

C. Henry
(the other Henry)
domenico
Joined: 25 Jan 2011
Posts: 3
PostPosted: Thu Jan 27, 2011 5:32 pm

Many tanks for your advice.
...but the paintings are very large(cm 170x230) very bright and very dark and the frame makes annoyng shadow with light at more of 45°.

I'm thinking of the paolarized light ...but the colors are distorted.

(excuse me for the bud language)
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