Hi, I am a complete novice when it comes to photography but would like to be able to take good close up shots of my watch collection. A friend of mine has given me his Nikon D3300 to play around with. It comes with an 18-105mm lens but no macro.

I'm not sure whether to buy this combo from him and in addition purchase a macro lens and tripod, or buy one of the macro lens attachments you can attach to an iPhone.

I'd only really use the camera for watch shots and cannot imagine getting seriously into photography.

Can anyone please recommend a macro lens to go with the above camera within say £100 (is that even possible?!)

If I go for a phone lens, can they still be used if my phone is upgraded or will I have to buy a new one each time I upgrade. I believe I could buy something decent for less than £100.

I have been reading various posts on this forum and that has been very helpful but would be very grateful for any advice from the knowledgeable OF members.

Thanks!

 

Your Nikon should have a macro setting. With proper lighting and camera set up,this should give reasonably good results. For really close photography, an accessory lens would likely be an asset. Can a cell phone camera compete with a quality DSLR camera? I suppose it depends on the cell phone and technique.

 

Setting up the shot is more important than the gear. Lighting in particular.

 

+1. A backpacker’s tripod is an asset that will contribute to good images. And once you are set up, adjust your camera to delay the shot for a couple seconds after you trip the shutter. Camera shake is a huge cause of bad focus. Once you learn how to get good results, photography can become addictive. Now if only I could consistently get results that are as good of some of my better shots.

 

99% of my photographs are taken with an iPhone 6 and occasionally I will use my Olloclip which I find works well https://www.olloclip.com/shop/lenses/iphone6-4-in-1/

 

Thanks, it does have a macro setting which I had a look at yesterday. I will give it a try with the inexpensive light box I received at Christmas.

 

Thanks, This is what I am thinking of buying rather than the more expensive DSLR option. Still looking at both options though as I have a few weeks to play around with the Nikon.

 

So much more can be done with a quality DSLR camera than can be done with a cell phone camera. The danger in a DSLR camera is that you will become much more involved in photography than you likely would with a phone camera.

 

As a slight aside, there are many mirrorless options these days that are fantastic. I used to be a hardcore dSLR user but I actually prefer mirrorless interchangeable lens cameras.

 

I've owned a few Nikon dslr and find them wonderful for most applications.
To me it's a no-brainer for watch pictures: iPhone. Much longer depth of field of the iphone camera makes it much easier to take sharp pictures of the watch. You may not even need a phone "close-up" lens. Taking macro shots with a dslr is a bag of hurt in comparison with the iPhone.

 

Guess it depends on how the pic taken is being used....a lot of sites compress images to a much smaller image so doesn't it impact the quality again. When using ebay I would use my phone with a macro lens, but for personal use or emailing an image of a watch I have for sale, a dlsr would be preferable.7