Hi all,
this is not really a tutorial, but I havent found a category that seemed more fitting.
Inspired by another thread I wanted to compare the quality of a mobile phone picture and a medium class DSLR with a macro lens.
I took all pictures using my lightbox - a selfmade card box with cutouts covered with transparent paper. For light I use desk lamps from IKEA with special but cheap daylight lightbulbs (I have some from wallimex).
You can see my set-up here (on top of my untidy workbench )
I took some pictures of my current projects using my mobile phone and also using my camera (on a tripod),
I also did some adjusting to all pictures in Adobe Lightroom (really quickly, 3-4 minutes for all pictures)
NOTE: You see some conversion/reposes that I blatantly stole from inspiration from this or the official forum. The minis are primed and dipped in black wash and wait to be painted. I do not have any completely painted miniatures yet or I would have used those for this comparison. I just cant finish painting a mini :-/
EDIT: DSLR f/22 + 1/4sec (chosen by me) / iPhone f/2.4 + 1/160sec (chosen by software)
I think the iPhone-pictures are really great. The DSLR pictures could be better but I was a bit hasty with taking the pictures and also with the postwork. The automatic adjustments the iPhone makes are really good while on the other hand I have disabled all of those effects on my DSLR - so I have total control, but if I dont invest the time the pictures are lacking.
What you maybe can see is that the depth of focus on the iPhone is very limited (see saitos raised foot or the back wheel of maghariba-aragoto). Its okay-ish for most miniatures, but with some poses some parts are impossible to get sharp. With the DSLR I have much more control over this.
On the other hand this effect is lessened by the reduction in image size.
In the end I guess my conclusion is: your lighting is much more important than the camera you use. Yes - a cheapo camera will limit your results, but you can get good pictures if your lighting is good!
(Okay, given, this iphone-camera is neither cheap nor bad)
Hope this interesting for you folks.