How to photograph 2D works — a National Services Te Paerangi resource

Posted on October 10, 2013 by ShutterBug

Te Papa photographer, Michael Hall demonstrates how to take high quality digital photographs of 2D works like photographs and works on paper. A National Serv…

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6 Responses to How to photograph 2D works — a National Services Te Paerangi resource

  1. ECLHnz says:
    October 10, 2013 at 7:55 am

    Canon’s EOS Utility is a great app to tether your camera to your computer to have all the control at your fingerprints and it’s free with Canon SLR’s.

  2. Cy Leow says:
    October 10, 2013 at 8:09 am

    With due respect I disagree on “a good quality zoom lens also suffice”, zoom lenses are not “flat field” by a long shot; even the “Best” one. For instance, the Canon EF 24-105mm f4 L IS lens ($1,950.00) have more distortion and much less resolving ability than a $1,800 Canon MP-E65 F2.8 Macro Lens.
    When it come to critical copying work, ANY zoom lens is a no,no.

  3. Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa says:
    October 10, 2013 at 8:33 am

    Some people swear by enlarging lenses which are designed for flat field reproduction but you would need to find an adaptor to use one of these.
    An F stop of around F8-F11 will ensure maximum sharpness in your images.
    Michael Hall

  4. Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa says:
    October 10, 2013 at 9:16 am

    The equipment used was to illustrate the setup NOT to dictate which lens/equipment you should or shouldnt use.
    For copy work a lens somewhere between 50mm and 100mm is preferable, ideally use a prime lens and or one that is designed for flat field copy work, a good quality zoom lens would also suffice.

  5. Cy Leow says:
    October 10, 2013 at 10:01 am

    I notice you are using a 35mm f1.4 lens to do the copying, surely that is the wrong lens to use for such work? I thought a “flat field” lens like a 55 Macro is better?

  6. Warrick Taylor says:
    October 10, 2013 at 10:57 am

    Superb video thank you! We have most of this setup already but have not tried using glass to flatten originals or the black mask to eliminate reflections.

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