Hi all
Would really appreciate some help! I’ve been looking at some cameras for product photography but as a beginner I am quickly over whelmed!
1)What matters the most when picking a camera for product photography?
2) does crop frame vs full frame really make a difference - should I lean more towards full frame camera?
3) can you suggest any cameras that have good video quality too?
4) DSLR or Mirrorless - does it matter which one/will it make a difference?
Thanks so much!
Welcome to the Folksy Forums! I use the same ancient Canon PowerShot for my photos that I’ve been using for years, and I know a lot of people just use their phones and their photos look OK… sorry I’m not very technically minded so I can’t answer your camera-related technical questions, my only criterion is that the customer should be able to see an honest representation of what they’re going to be buying! So my own photos tend to over-emphasise the flaws if anything, that way the customer isn’t going to be disappointed 
It’s not clear from your post as to whether you are planning on becoming a professional product photographer or if you are looking to photograph your own products for online selling, I’m going to assume it’s the latter. So as a beginner I’d recommend that you start by using the camera on your phone and using the money to get some sort of lighting set up/ back drop/ props to go in the images/ tripod (for camera phones you can get all in one rigs with lighting and phone holder). Most camera phones will shoot video as well.
Once you’ve found your photography style and figured out how you are going to use the images then you might want to consider getting a different camera if you are not getting the images you want.
Hiya
Sorry should have been more clear - I plan to do product photography professionally - not for anything I am personally selling
Your best bet is to go on a course and learn from there. There’s so much to photography, and if you want to do it professionally you need to have another professional teach you.
Hiya
Thanks for your reply - yes definitely thinking about a course. However, if there’s any advice you can give related to the question at hand I’d really appreciate it. Don’t worry if not. Thanks
Well, I use a Canon. My brother is a professional photographer and he recommends them as being pretty good. Depending on what you want and how much you can spend, the features are good but they are complicated to use sometimes.
Would you be better asking this question on a photography forum?
I think you’re asking the wrong people, tbh.
Thanks for the heads up - I thought this was a photography forum 
Well, this just blows the lid off why Folksy needs to get their act together with more advertising. 
Ah if you’re just Googling for answers it can be quite easy to end up in random places sometimes! This is a forum for a marketplace site mostly used by sellers of handmade items - so we all need to do a bit of product photography, but we’re not all experts on photography and it varies from quick shots on a phone to using DSLRs with more professional looking backdrops.
But I’ll still answer what I can (and being a bit more general) because it might be helpful to others wondering about cameras too.
I’m not a camera expert and don’t think I have the best photos, but this is what’s most important to me.
Although I have a mirrorless camera, I do most of my product photography on my high end compact camera because it just seems a bit quicker and easier. Although some people might find the photos from their phone are fine, I’ve only got a budget smartphone and the photos from either of my cameras are significantly better (even if I was comparing to my 4MP standard compact from 20 years ago 
).
If you’ve already got a decent smartphone then the photos from that may be great, but if you’re like me, it can be a lot cheaper to get a separate compact camera than a phone with a great camera.
For a seller, you probably don’t need anything overly fancy and a compact/good phone with a few of the right settings will get the results you need, like @SashaGarrett suggested, a good photo for online is probably more about getting the lighting/set up right.
The settings I find most useful are a good macro (especially if you’re photographing jewellery or other small things, you need to be able to focus up close) and white balance controls (something my phone is terrible at) so it takes away that blue/yellow/pink tinge you get in certain lighting to show the true colours. I also use the option to select focus area a lot, useful if your item isn’t always in the centre of the shot, and for those that like a blurry background, you’ll be looking for a camera that can do a low aperture (f number) - those sorts of options may require a camera with at least some manual settings, but you can get those on compacts as well as DSLRs.
For professional photography you probably do want DSLR or mirrorless… I haven’t used enough of both to be able to compare, but from what I’ve read the main advantage to mirrorless is that you can get faster shots, which will be important if you’re taking action shots such as for sport or gig photography, but it shouldn’t matter for product photography as your subject isn’t moving. However as you mention video quality, I believe mirrorless is meant to be better for that.
I think the main advantage to full frame vs crop frame is about low lighting (full frame being better for low light), so how important that is depends on what you’re photographing and your settings. If for example you were doing gig photography, it’d be very important that your camera performs well in low light because most of your photos will be taken in a fairly dark setting. If you’re taking product photography, you’re in control of the setting so you can just make sure you have enough light to get a good photo. But it can also affect other things, and then which is best may depend on your preferences, such as is it more important to you that your photos look a bit closer, or that you can get a wide angle shot? Would you prefer to have a slightly smaller/lighter camera, or doesn’t it make a difference.
Looking at cameras can get a bit overwhelming, and they might often shout about features that sound impressive but often aren’t that important to you. Such as megapixels - I often think cameras/phones go really overboard on this these days, making it sound as if you need 40MP+ when really for sharing online, 8MP would be perfectly fine and could be just the same quality. As most cameras/phones would be at least that these days, I wouldn’t really pay attention to megapixels unless your photos are needed for print (which a professional product photographer would need), and then work out what the maximum size print you’re likely to need is and what the equivalent MP is. Once you’ve narrowed your choice down to cameras that meet that, focus on the other features that will make more difference to the quality/ease of use.
Remember, if you’re just taking photos of your products to use in your shop online, you’re probably not going to need the biggest, fanciest camera. If you’re not familiar with what all the camera controls do, a fully manual camera isn’t going to get you great photos without a lot of time learning - it’s more likely to overwhelm you and put you off taking photos. The best camera may not be the best camera for you, make sure you pick one you feel comfortable using rather than than one that confuses you.
Gosh you’re so knowledgeable…I read with interest but admit most of it went over my head.
My son was helping me today with some product photos, we tried the camera which is a fairly decent one and my iPhone 11. The backdrop was pale cream/ivory. The ones taken on the camera were darker, had a more creamy colour, the iPhone was brighter and lighter off white background. The clarity on the embroidery was better using the iPhone. I’ve previously been using my tablet. Going forward I will now use my iPhone on the tripod with the shutter thingy then I can’t shake and cause blurred photos. He also has a super duper camera with a lot of settings but too technical for me, I would never remember it all, I havn’t seen the photos from it yet as I need to get them onto google to edit still but will be interesting to see the difference. The images from my phone are clearer than they were on my tablet so it was worth the time trying them all.
I’ve spent this afternoon redoing the photos using my iphone, 2 days just to photograph 3 items 
in the conservatory on the hottest day of the year, absolutely melting but finally I may have what I need. I also decided I didn’t like the garland on my large bear so spent last night and this morning taking it all apart, remaking differently and with more leaves, finally happy with her and might now get back to making and restoring bears. It’s been a learning process and pleased I’ve taken some time to do it as I would have still been using my tablet to take pics otherwise.