Best Camera for Color Accuracy (Gemstones, Jewelry)

[lilyrose5818]

Hi everyone, I really need some advice.  

I take some photos for my wife's eBay store, and I find that there are certain gemstones that just don't come across quite right, color-wise (especially oranges and certain vibrant blues).  I'm not a photographer by any means, and I don't know an f-stop from my elbow.  So I'm hoping to find something that's as easy to use as my old Nikon Coolpix P5000...very easy to use with pre-settings for close ups. I basically point and shoot, maybe change the exposure compensation, but that's about as fancy as I get.

So, the questions are:

(1) Are there settings I can change that might make the colors more accurate, or, more likely...

(2) What new cameras do you recommend for (a) color accuracy; (b) sharp close-up photos; and (c) ease of use?

I really appreciate your input - thank you!

~ Mark

[slippinjimmy]

1 - White Balance and in a similar vein your lighting setup itself

2 - if you want a "simple" camera you pretty much get what you pay for which means that between Nikon, Canon, Pentax, Fuji etc. within a similar price range you will mostly get similar results. Color issues are often lighting related (see above)

3 - Are you doing any tweaking afterwards or just using what comes out of the camera?

Forgot to mention, it could be your monitor, are you looking at them on different displays? (including phones/tablets).

[lilyrose5818]

Hey Jimmy,

Thanks for the info...as for white balance, I have it set to incandescent, which is the type of lighting I use...I have aluminum reflector lamps.

I really only have issues with orange-y reds and certain types of "electric" blue colors, for everything else, I just usually have to brighten the photos, as other colors come out accurate.

These 'problem' colors look wrong, no matter what monitor or device I'm looking at them with, so I think it's really just those.

Do you have a recommendation for a camera that will yield better results? I'm open to spending a bit more, but I'm not sure where to start.  The Nikon is super easy to use, so hopefully something better will be - even more easy? LOL

Thanks!

[gamersbaystore]

Strong LED lighting would be ideal for taking good quality pictures. But the more lighting you have, the more it will cancel out the flash on your camera. I often use free graphics editing programs like paint.net to brighten my images up if they appear to dark, as well as resize images for uploading.

As for those "Problem Colors" you mentioned, its likely they're being masked/cancelled out when you take the initial picture. You can often bring the colors back by adjusting the hue with graphics programs.

I use a Cannon Power Shot to take all my pictures, and the color representation almost always looks perfect. But I too end up with colors getting cancelled out at times, you just have to edit them.

[chapeau-noir]

Just on the issue of using a certain camera - I would stick to the Nikon Coolpix series.  You can't beat good optics and sensors as the basis of good product photography.  I used a Nikon Coolpix 750 for 9 years, and even at 9 years old (and only 2 mp) it was still better than the new cameras coming out.

[chapeau-noir]

Also, I've worn out three cameras doing this (I'm full time) - after 9 years my poor Nikon coolpix got broken when I fell through our back deck taking shots outside. I went through two Canon Power Shots (not happy with either, really, they tended to be muddy) and then a Nikon DSLR - very good camera, recommend the entry level 3500 series.  I'm just using a borrowed Lumix (Panasonic) right now.  Most of my equipment, admittedly, has been hand-me-downs from other people.

I forgot to mention - a small soft box (light box) may help - you can research online where to find one and how to make one yourself - it's easy.  I used to use when when I was a hat seller.  They work excellently for smalls like gems, jewellery and the like.

[gamersbaystore]

My Canon is over a decade old, 8MP, does great hi-res photos. The battery is dying though, but it should be given its age. But Canon also makes great products that really last. I have a Canon printer that's almost 20 years old and still works like its brand new. Nikon's I haven't had much experience with.

The digital camera's I'd really cautious of are Sony's. Their products are horribly unreliable.

[disneyshopper]

The digital camera's I'd really cautious of are Sony's. Their products are horribly unreliable.

I use a Sony Mavica, which uses a floppy disk.  Bought it for close to $800 brand new when I first started selling on ebay.  Little did I know that new computers no longer come with a floppy drive, so I had to search for an external floppy drive when I had to upgrade computers.  I love my camera!

[consignmentworld-bg-ky]

Okay, so there are many factors that can affect the color accuracy in photos, ranging from things you can control including white balance, type of lighting used (correlates with white balance), monitor used for viewing/editing photos (white balance can be an issue here too.)  to things that are hardware limitations.  

First, the type of lighting you use matters.  You say you use incandescent lighting for your photos and  you set the WB in camera also to incandescent.  However, Incandescent lights can range in color temperature from around 2400 K (standard incandescent) to 2550 K (soft white) to about 3000 K (warm white) in color temperature, while the Color temperature at which the Nikon incandescent setting is fixed at 3000 K. So, if your lights are a lower temperature than the preset. in the camera, the color accuracy could be affected.  

Additionally, while not an issue that plagues incandescent lights sources as they are basically black bodies.  However if  you upgrade to LED you need to ensure you get a high CRI (Color Rendering Index which is is a quantitative measure of the ability of a light source to reveal the colors of various objects faithfully in comparison with an ideal or natural light source.) LED lights as some LED lights don't accurately reproduce colors, this topic is too in-depth for today's purpose but I provided enough information that if you want to learn more you'll be able to get a good start.  

Back to White Balance, a good way to calibrate an accurate white balance is to get a target such as the WhiBal G7 Certified Neutral White Balance Card.  What it does is it allows you to take a photo of it, and then in the camera settings set a custom and accurate white balance based on the lighting conditions.  (A white balance card is not the same thing as an 18% grey card that photographers use for checking exposure.)  

Next issue is twofold.  The Coolpix P5000 doesn't even have the option to shoot RAW which is severely limiting you. Instead the camera creates a processed JPEG from the RAW data.  In your case it's a setting called "Optimize Image" which has options such as "Normal" "Softer" "Vivid" etc. based on this setting the Camera automatically adjusts hues and tones so this can be a cause of inaccurate colors. The second part of the issue is also a part of the post processing that the camera automatically applies to the RAW data is what color space is it in  (the color space of the CoolPIX P5000 is sRGB)  The photographer's standard for the past 20 years has been Adobe RGB (1998).  Basically, a color space is a representation of the variety of different colors that the device is able to reproduce. sRGB is the standard for most consumer electronics unless you purchase a product that specifically states it can accommodate and covers approximately 35% of the CIELAB color space whereas Adobe RGB covers approximately 50%   This means photos taken in the Adobe RGB color space will have more vibrancy in their colors, whereas sRGB will traditionally have more subtle tones. In situations where you're photographing strong color tones, sRGB may need to dull them out to accommodate, whereas Adobe RGB is able to display those colors with more accuracy.  

Having said all this.  Even if the devices are able to display the more vibrant colors in the Adobe RGB color space, doesn't mean that they will be the same across all devices.  This is caused by many different variables.  However, that's why many photographers, especially ones who photograph items where color accuracy is paramount spend a good chunk of change on equipment, and the time investment into calibrating every piece of hardware in their workflow.  From the camera, to the computer monitor, to the printer.  This ensures that the colors seen in the camera are the same as seen on the monitor are the same as seen on a photographic print.  

So with all that said, it isn't simply buying a camera with high color accuracy, but learning the science and skills needed to be able to utilize the hardware (camera)  properly and get the best results.  

Finally, I'll leave you with a few videos that will help in your pursuits.

Color Spaces: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKX08oOTMkk

White Balance and the WhiBal Card: http://michaeltapesdesign.com/whibal.html

White Balance vs the Grey card: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZ8lPKmYGc4 

[mudshark61369]

@lilyrose5818,

  "I find that there are certain gemstones that just don't come across quite right, color-wise (especially oranges and certain vibrant blues).... I have it set to incandescent, which is the type of lighting I use...".

Without knowing a little bit more about your "studio" set up except for incandescent lighting with aluminum reflectors, off hand I would say based on the colors you have issues with, that the incandescent lights are causing color shifts.  The wattage of the bulbs being used can mean more yellow is being introduced which can cause shifts in yellows reds and some shades of blues (especially if those blues run towards turquoise aquamarine).

  The white balance setting on the camera you are using may not be able to compensate depending on the color output of the bulbs you are using.  That is measured as Lumens and/or Kelvin rating or "K". You can search online for Kelvin color charts

  I use 6,500 K LED (daylight)  lights on my 12 aluminum reflectors. Depending on the item being photographed I often use diffusers which clip on to the reflectors to cut down on hot spots. You can tape white paper towels over the reflectors as well to act as diffusers.  

Other ambient light in the room from light fixtures and/or wall covering/paint can cause color shift as well.

For example: I do my photography by the north facing door wall in our kitchen/breakfast nook.  The walls in the nook are close to a maroon color, and on very bright days, I have to use a tri-fold white Project board to block the maroon reflection from the wall, it works as a reflector as well evening out the shadows. (I use a white top sheet hung over the door wall to soften the incoming light as well). 

If I am shooting on dark days or at night and leave the overhead light fixture on which has warm 3,200K bulbs in it, If I were to photograph in that light only, there would be huge color shifts.

Just as wall covering/paint and overhead light fixtures can shift color, so to can your backdrop.  Depending on what I am shooting, I use three different color backdrops. white, medium (18%) gray, and black made of non-reflective cloth material. I use the gray most often.

As for simple one step cameras that are good pieces of equipment. Even though I have been shooting with Canon equipment for over 50 years, and use a Canon DSLR, most of the time, I would suggest a Nikon Coolpix, or one of the Fuji cameras.  I agree that the Sony cameras are hit or miss in terms of quality.  I happen to have one of each (don't ask why) and think the Nikon works the best, with the Fuji not far behind.

Before getting a new camera. Try searching ebay for an 18% gray card exposure set.  Then using by taking photos of the set you may be able to adjust your white balance correctly for you lighting set up.  Not all in camera white balance systems work the same.

Good luck

[chapeau-noir]

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@gamersbaystore wrote:

My Canon is over a decade old, 8MP, does great hi-res photos. The battery is dying though, but it should be given its age. But Canon also makes great products that really last. I have a Canon printer that's almost 20 years old and still works like its brand new. Nikon's I haven't had much experience with.

The digital camera's I'd really cautious of are Sony's. Their products are horribly unreliable.

---

I wear out batteries, too - those are easy to replace to keep your camera going.  Both the Canon models I had just used regular AA batteries and I had rechargeables, but those were both older models - one we still have around the house that the DH uses for various projects and it's about 8-10 years old - they definitely last.

When you get a new battery for your camera, try to get the OEM as the knock-off ones are unreliable.  I've had some that work fine, and others that die in months, and there are periodic reports of their catching fire.

[gamersbaystore]

Very good explanations, and will be very helpful to all here! I didn't realize there were issues with LED's not accurately reproducing colors. I usually keep my lighting dimmed and let the flash do the job, this seems to work best for taking pictures with my Canon powershot camera.

My only complaint is the humongous file sizes the camera creates. Every image is like 3800x2400 or some ridiculous resolution. I edit all the images to a smaller file size and resolution before uploading them here.

I noticed those alternate normal, soft, and vivid type settings on my Canon. I only use the normal setting as you're right, some of the other settings change the coloring drastically. If I use the more vivid settings, the colors may look completely different it seems.

[anthology-of-treasures]

I use a trusty old Canon Rebel T2i 18MB with its 18-55mm AF kit lens. A class 10 SD card is must have!

I use this with Canon's battery grip that holds two Canon batteries or six AA. One use batteries will end up costly you a lot more than the camera over time. I use Rayovac rechargeable AA. After the camera indicates they are too low to shoot (after hundreds of shots) I place them is several cheap flashlights to discharge the batteries completely before recharging. This is to prevent battery memory problems. They will thus last for years to come.

Kind of depends on how close you really want to go. This is a tiny 3/16" long logo printed on a vintage yardstick. The text cannot be read with the naked eye or with a hand magnifier. I attached two Kenko extensions to the lens. A remote was needed to take the picture as manually pressing the button on the camera would be enough movement to create a blurry image. The camera was mounted to a stand and the lens manually adjusted to focus and set to auto focus for the picture. This image is in focus - the logo is simply not a high quality print job and looks blurry at this magnification. The text can now be read. The image has been reduced in size - its actually 2875 x 1920.

In order to get sharper images you will need to invest in better lenses, many of which cost a lot more than the camera (thousands). The camera's sensor is limited to what it can do thus the only way to improve the output is to improve the input by using a better lens.

A full frame camera have a better sensor than crop frame such as the T2i (which in turn is better than a consumer level camera). The MB rating is pretty well worthless and used by manufacturers to con people into thinking they are getting a better camera when its the actual sensor and lenses that matter.

[a_c_green]

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@chapeau-noir wrote:
I wear out batteries, too - those are easy to replace to keep your camera going.  Both the Canon models I had just used regular AA batteries and I had rechargeables, but those were both older models - one we still have around the house that the DH uses for various projects and it's about 8-10 years old - they definitely last.

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There's one thing I have not seen mentioned here yet. Speaking as a fellow PowerShot user, I have to say that my A540 eats batteries for breakfast. It holds only two AAs, presumably because four would make it too bulky for Marketing to approve due to their competition back in the day, so a long photo session would drain them. (Before that, I had an Olympus that did hold four, and was distinctly fatter as a result, but didn't have any noticeable battery issues either.)

After burning through rechargeables, Lithium cells, etc., I finally just splurged a few bucks on an external power supply, which makes sense since the only thing I use the camera for nowadays is tripod-mounted eBay photography. Right away, all the stress over getting the photos done before the batteries pooped out disappeared, and I could take as much time as necessary to set up shots, or try different angles, etc. The PowerShot has a very tiny 3.15VDC external power port on the side that's easy to overlook, but it's there, so take advantage of it. (Yes, that's not a typo: the voltage spec is 3.15, according to the case markings.)

I should mention here also that along with the tripod mounting, I use a 2-second time delay, so that the camera will take the photo after I've let go of the button, and there is zero blur in the focus as a result, yielding super sharp photos.