Hey Lanny,

Nice pictures already! But I'm sure if you could keep the camera steady...they will become even better. Lighting setup is very important...low ISO setting and the rest you'll have to set up manually to achieve best results. I'm not getting into details as there are a few other people here on OTD which can help you much better then I'm able to do ;-)

I'm only an amateur when taking pictures (despite that I have a library with over 35000 pictures I took from watches). All I can tell is that taking pictures of watches and jewelry is very difficult (just try to take some pictures from a watch with black dial and domed crystal without having disturbing reflections ;-) ). And yes...ofcourse you could take great detailed pictures with today's iPhone too.

Untill 2007 I took all my pictures with my digital Sony videocamera. I was able to shoot nice pictures...but was forced to mainly take them outside with sunlight (a lot of you guys will remember my tree stump which I used for a lot of pictures LoL well,don't worry, I still have it here and will come back some time ;-) )...then I switched to a smaller Canon point and shoot camera, with very satisfying results for myself. About half a year ago I finally bought some more "serious" equipment and I must confess...I regret not having done so earlier.

Now, a thing what most of us will recognise very good...is that you have to get as close as possible with the camera to the watch to achieve a good macro shot. I struggled a lot with this issue over the years as you'll always interrupt with the lighting setup at some point...moving the lights and the object multiple times over and over again...a thing that could give me serious frustration.

One of the best "investments" I did was the switch to a camera which could take a 100mm Macro lens. Making me able to shoot very detailed pictures from 30cm distance from the watch, meaning you'll have no interruption with the lighting setup. Really a dream for me...as I was really getting frustrated by taking pictures so close with the object itself.

I agree that photoshop can do small wonders...that's a sure fact. But I'll have to agree with John, just try to get it as good as possible from the start, it makes life easier ;-) Untill now I did not edit or improve one single photo I took untill now with photoshop or any other software. It can take your photograph up to a higher level, but it's most important to get it as good as possible from the Camera itself.

Paul Gavin is the man I spoke with before I bought anything at all regarding Camera's and lighting setup regarding my last purchase. It's certainly worth contacting him to have a chat, but I presume you already did?

For what it's worth...here's my humble setup;

Regards,
abel.