Since I recently got into watches and got myself a very nice Omega Geneve 137.001 Cal. 602, I wanted to make some nice photographs of it. Little problem, as I'm rather a motorsport photographer my kit is the exact opposite of what you'd use for professional watch photography. Nevertheless, I wanted to try and get the best I can. It's far from macro photography, but at least I have my little beauty on some digital prints. And yes, with a Canon EF 70-200mm F2.8 USM II attached to a Canon EOS R (I know, not the exact definition of a sports camera either - works for motorsport, which is relatively slow and predictable compared to football or other ball- / teamsports), standing more then 1m away form the watch! First of all, I want to thank @duffy7 for offering me to buy one of his watches. Just couple of days before that I bought another 137.001 which was overpriced for the condition it was in. Thankfully I could return it and avoid to do a big mistake. Thank you OF for the feedback I received and making it able to own my first Omega watch - and man, it's a nice one! I'll save you the story how I went from not even considering a new watch, not being interested at all in watches, to consider buying a new one arount € 250 to finally buying a vintage Omega worth multiple times that amount - in just over 3 weeks time - and even getting a Tissot PRX Powermatic 80 (white dial with PVD rose golden colour bezel) in the process. I'd like to get more watches, but that's it; no money left... Whatever... here are some pictures of my Omega
Last year at this time I was getting into cameras after a long absence. I picked up a cheap APS camera for a couple of bucks. Then I found in the same bin a Canon FD lens for a couple of bucks. I have also been restoring a Kodak PhotoCD film scanner. Unlike watches old film camera stuff was going cheap on the Goodwill auction pages. I was able to pick up an EOS-R for cheap. Then as I recall an EOS-M. My dad had some old nikon lenses and a body, so I bought the adapter rings. The plan was then to dissemble and clean some of the lenses. I got as far as fixing the FT camera body then started watching watch repair videos. The idea being that I could photograph watches. Oh for the world of apertures and focal lengths. Driving up here to the pipe organs today got me thinking about it. The microscope wants to be too far in. The canon and nikon lenses my father used on his cruze trips all want the lens a meter away from the subject. I guess what I want is a macro of some sort where the camera is a foot from the subject (watch) and fills the frame with the watch having infinite depth of field across the two to five centimeters the watch take up in space. Especially for those crown/pusher angled shots the pros in the catalogs do so well.
Amazing that you get so good details from such a lens. I used Fuji 50-140 lens with extension tube and had great success.
Before my interest in watches, I thought I was pretty good to shot photos, i have Canon EOS R6 with a RF 24-105, but I can't have nice shot of watches I have also a zoom 100-500, maybe I should try with it
Julien, that is a very nice watch. Excellent photos. Feel free to add your favorite motorsport photo.
I did a similar thing using a 75-300mm lens. I just bought some 1,2,4,10x zoom filters I’m going to try out on my 18-55mm. I am a complete photography noob but just mess with the manual settings until things start to look good. Really need to work on my staging and lighting though. For me the watch and photography hobbies seem to go hand in hand. Also, welcome and congrats on the new watch!
The RF 24-105 should be great. It helped with a tripod and manual zoom. Also with the 10x magnifier option on the mirrorless cameras you can optimize your focus. Also switch of the image stabilizer and use the Canon Camera Connect app to shoot with your smartphone without touching your camera to limit vibration to zero. All through the screen instead of the EVF.
love your focus on the watch and of course the watch itself. amazing what one can do with enough time and patience.
