Photographing Artwork - Archiving of a Museum Collection

[holmburgers]

Daniel, thanks much for the advice.

I'd love to do this on 4x5", but as is the case, I'm just going to be using my D*. Truth be told, they were going to just "take some pictures", probably with a crappy point & shoot (and straight on flash no doubt!). I stepped in and said 'let me do this'.

Unfortunately I'm not going to have the perfectly ideal gear. I'm going to be using my Panasonic GF1 (micro 4/3) and will have an adapter for my FD lenses. I wasn't able to procure a macro prime in time, so I've got to make do with what I've got. My choices are 28mm f/2.8, 50mm f/1.4 or f/1.8 and 85mm f/1.8, plus a 35mm f/2.5 (FL). If this was a big gig I would've done things differently (and earlier), but I know that for their purposes, this will be more than sufficient. Furthermore, this is part "gaining experience" and part a favor for my aunt, who is involved with said museum.

Any recommendation on which one might have the flattest field and best performance at the distance ranges I' looking at? How about the ideal aperture?

And good call on trying out my lighting; I better do that tonight, as I'm leaving tomorrow!

[Greg Davis]

I would think the 85mm would have the flattest field and f/8 or f/11 to be the ideal aperture for sharpness.

[holmburgers]

Thanks Greg.

The only thing that concerns me with that will be the distance from camera to subject. Considering the crop ratio, I might have to be across the room.

But, that's good to know, and I can switch to the 50mm (same aperture range?) if a large piece pops up.

[DanielStone]

if you're using it on a micro 4/3, the 50mm will probably "translate" into more of a 60-70, possibly 85mm(35mm F/F equivalent) focal length.

-Dan

[Iain W]

I used to do a lot of this type of work. It was always shot on film. Professional Ektachrome, EPN and FP4. It was shot on 35mm or 120 depending on the final use. For collection records 35mm would probably be fine. We always included a Kodak colour scale on the edge or frame of each art work.
Lens choice was usually a macro but a standard prime or short prime tele would work ok.
You will need lots of space to achieve the best lighting. Two studio flash units and of course a flash meter to ensure that the lighting is dead even.
I never used a polarising filter of any type, good lighting and plenty of black fabric to cut out reflections did the trick. Good Luck.

[Diapositivo]

if you're using it on a micro 4/3, the 50mm will probably "translate" into more of a 60-70, possibly 85mm(35mm F/F equivalent) focal length.

Micro 4:3 format has IIRC the same image size than 4:3 format, a 50mm on 4:3 is equivalent to a 100mm on 135.