The Best Equipment and Software for Photographing Food

9. Canon 5D Mark III $2300.This is in middle section of cameras that Canon makes. File size is only 22 mp so for commercial work, this could be too small for some jobs. I have this camera and use it often for the blog here and for my personal photography testing. For jobs I use cameras with bigger file sizes. It's a great camera and a great workhorse. You can find deals on this used at Keh Camera. I buy a lot of gear from them.

Full Frame Sensor, it has 61 focus points, NO autofocus in video mode, no touch screen.

10. Nikon D810 Camera Body $2800.This is in middle section of cameras that Nikon makes. Large file size at 36mp. This really is the minimum file size you will need for commercial work. Of course it's a full frame camera.

Full Frame Sensor, it can have 9, 21 or 51 focus points (depending on the lens used), HAS autofocus in video mode - you need to change it from AF to AF-F to use that, no touch screen.

1. Canon 24-105mm f/4L IS USM Zoom $780. This is probably the lens I use the most for shooting overhead shots in the studio and also when I'm shooting out at a farm and need the convenience of multiple focal lengths. I am using this on my full frame cameras. Canon makes a pro version of this that should be sharper but you'll pay about $1100 for that. That lens has the "II" added to the name. It's a newer lens that is supposed to have smoother and faster focusing. The focusing mechanism is different in the newer version.

This is a great lens to look for used as it's been around a long time and should be under $600 used.

2. Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro USM Lens $600. This is my favorite fixed lens for 35mm food photography. Even though this is the consumer level lens, it's very sharp. I've been very happy with this lens. I am using this on my full frame cameras also. Canon makes a pro version of this that should be sharper but you'll pay about $850 for that. That lens has the "L" and "IS" (image stabilization) added to the name. It's a newer lens that is supposed to have smoother and faster focusing. Also great for portraits.

This is a great lens to look for used as it's been around a long time as well and should be under $400 used.

3. Canon 70-200 f/4 L IS USM Lens $1100. This lens is a big heavy lens, but it takes great portraits. If you shoot for restaurants, you will be asked to shoot chef portraits. I also use this for shooting video close up shots on a two camera video set up.

This is a great lens to look for used as it's been around a long time as well and should be under $800 used.

4. Canon TS-E 90mm f/2.8 Tilt Shift Lens $1400. This lens is incredibly sharp. It can be used to get a very large depth of field to get almost everything in focus for your shot, which is needed a lot for commercial work. You can also use it for the opposite - make an extremely shallow depth of field with just a tiny portion of your shot in focus. Though it's not a macro lens, you can get very close to your food. The only problem is that it is NOT auto focus. You have to manually focus this bad boy and with bad eyeballs like I have, you have got to shoot tethered to do that to make sure you got your shot in focus. If you plan on doing food photography for a living, this will be a must have. The price of this lens has never changed. It's always $1400.

1. Canon 24-105mm f/4L IS USM Zoom $780. I'm mentioning this lens again in this category because it would be an excellent lens for a cropped sensor camera. You can use this for overhead shots as well, even on a cropped sensor camera. This lens would be a great buy because you will still get lots of use out of it when you upgrade your camera body to a full frame sensor camera. Canon makes a pro version of this that should be sharper but you'll pay about $1100 for that. That lens has the "II" added to the name. It's a newer lens that is supposed to have smoother and faster focusing. The focusing mechanism is different in the newer version.

This is a great lens to look for used as it's been around a long time and should be under $600 used.

2. Canon EF-S 60mm f/2.8 Macro USM Fixed Lens $400. This lens on a cropped sensor would be like using a 100mm macro lens. It's very sharp and great for those 3/4 tabletop shots of one dish. The "macro" enables you to get closer to your food. The 50mm lens or the 18-55mm lens that comes with your camera, will not let you get as close to your food as you might need to get.

3. Canon EF 50mm f1.4 USM Lens $330 Many bloggers tell other bloggers to use this lens for food photos because that is what came with their kit camera and that's what they are used to using. If you like your 50mm kit lens, then you really should upgrade it to a better quality one, and that's what this is. It is NOT a macro lens, so you can't get as close to your food as you would with the 60mm macro above.

4. Canon EF 17-40mm f/4L USM Lens $750 I use this lens all the time when I shoot video. It's a pro lens, sharp and though it's considered an "ultra wide" angle lens, on a cropped sensor it ends up acting like a 27-64mm which is handy for video.

1. Nikkor 105mm Micro f2.8 AF-S VR $900 This is an excellent lens. It's very sharp. I used to have one of these when I had Nikon gear. A great lens for doing 3/4 tabletop food shots of a dish and getting beautiful macro shots (micro and macro mean the same thing - you can get real close to your food). VR stands for vibration reduction.

You should be able to find this used for under $700.

2. Nikkor 24-85mm f.3.5-4.5 VR Lens $500 This is a great zoom lens for doing overhead shots on a full frame camera body. 

You should be able to find this used for under $300.

3. Nikkor 24-120mm f4 VR II $1000 I'm mentioning this lens because it really would cover most of your needs for food photos. You can do overheads with this and 3/4 table top shots as well. The only thing is it has a minimum focussing distance of 18 inches so you can't do macro shots with this lens, but for normal table top work - it would be great. It won't be as sharp as the 105mm macro simply because no zooms are as sharp as a fixed lens.

You can find this lens refurbished for about $600 as well.

4. Nikkor 18-105mm DX f/3.5-5.6 VR $400 So this lens is a lens made for cropped sensor cameras so the quality is not a good as the lens right below this one. However, it's a better quality lens than the kit 18-55mm lens that comes with kit cameras. This range will work for overhead shots and for 3/4 table top shots. It's minimum focusing distance is about 17 inches, so you can't get real close to your food, but the zoom would help with that.

You can find this lens used for under $200!

5. Nikkor 24-120mm f4 VR II $1000 I'm mentioning this lens because it really would cover most of your needs for food photos and it's for full frame cameras as well. You can do overheads with this and 3/4 table top shots as well. The only thing is it has a minimum focussing distance of 18 inches so you can't do macro shots with this lens, but for normal table top work - it would be great. It won't be as sharp as the 105mm macro simply because no zooms are as sharp as a fixed lens.

You can find this lens refurbished for about $600 as well.

6. Nikkor 60mm Micro AF-S FX $600 This lens is great for doing those 3/4 tabletop shots where you get nice and close to your food. Micro means the same things as macro. On your cropped sensor camera, this lens would act like a 90. 

You can find this lens used for under $450.

1. Westcott Photo Basics 411 uLite and 20" Softbox $99 This is a great softbox. Yes, there are cheaper ones out there, but you really get what you pay for when it comes to softboxes. I have several of these and use these lights in my lighting class. Please note - it does NOT come with the stand or the bulb. See below for those. You can use a 500 watt photoflood tungsten bulb (US only). It is made for high wattage light bulbs.

This light is UL listed - that means it's safe and has been tested and certified as safe. All the cheap lights out there from China and Korea are made in such a way that they don't pass these safety tests and can't be UL listed, hence the price.

When starting out, you just need one light and a fill card. See this post about that.

2. Sylvania Photoflood Frosted 500watts $6.00 This is for the US market only. This is the tungsten bulb for the light above. Please note - these lights are also called "hot light". They can get very hot. The color of the light is very nice. It's a 3200K bulb and the CRI is very high - which means it's a clean light, not green. These lights are cheaper than the LED's mentioned below, but they don't last very long so get a few at a time.

Click here for more information on photo bulbs.

3. Westcott 8 Foot Stand $35.00 Not all light stands are created equally. You must have a heavy stand to hold your lights. This is called a lightweight stand but it's a great stand that will support the Westcott light mentioned above and won't fall over.

4. Westcott uLight 26 in Octabox $120.00 This is also a nice light as it "throws" more light on your set. So if you can afford the space, these are great to have. The larger your light source, the more light you can get over a larger set before needing to add another light. You can always cut your light off your set if your light is too big. You can't get more light of your box if it's not big enough.

5. Westcott 50 Watt Daylight Balanced Fluorescent Bulb $100.00 In some countries, these are the lights you might have to use. I personally hate these lights and here's why. Fluorescent lights have mercury in them so if you break one, you've got a hazmat situation for cleaning it up, seriously. Second, in order to get a bulb with a high CRI (color rendering index), you need to pay a lot of money for them. The cheaper low CRI lights have a very green tint - this means you can't mix these with daylight even though they are daylight balanced. Third, they are not bright so you need several of them to equal one 500 watt bulb. But again, in some countries, these are your only options.

6. LimoStudio 2 Packs Fluorescent Daylight Bulbs $25 These are the cheap, green lights I mentioned above. When the manufacturer doesn't advertise the CRI, that means it's very low and it's a green light. When they have a high CRI, that's something to brag about so they usually list it. Anything lower than a 92 will be a green light that your camera will have to color correct out.

When I say a "green" light, this is something that your eye won't see because your eye is actually color correcting the light you see all the time. Problem is our cameras DO see this light and need to compensate for it.

7. LimoStudio 4 Socket Adapter in 1 $13 Remember I mentioned above that the CFL's and LED's have much lower wattage? Well, this is how you get around that. This adapter goes into your light socket and turns one light socket into four. Now, keep in mind you have to pay attention to the total wattage you are putting into your light head and make sure to keep it under the maximum wattage that light head is rated for.

Even though this is from the cheap Korean company, it IS UL listed and should be safe to use.

8. Hyperikon LED Bulb 16Watt LED 4 Pack $32 These are my favorite LED bulbs so far. I did a lot of testing of bulbs by purchasing them and measuring them with a color light meter to really see how green they were. These lights advertise that their CRI is 95, which is excellent. You can also pick which color temp you would like to use. You can get the daylight balanced ones and use these with natural daylight in the room. For the price, they are great and they will last for years. These are an excellent alternative to both tungsten lights and fluorescent bulbs.

9. Dracast Daylight LED Panels $360 These are pro level LED lighting panels. They have a high CRI and you can just put a diffusion gel on these to get a nice soft light.

I have a set of Dracast lights that are called bi-color. They have both tungsten and daylight color bulbs on the panel so you can change the wb on these lights as needed. 

1. Einstein Flash Unit $500 These are great little strobes. You can set your power on the back of the head in small increments. It's maximum output is 640 watt seconds (strobes refer to watt seconds instead of watts). You just put the guy into a softbox and you are ready to go. There are a TON of accessories made for these so it's very fun.

Here is the website of the product: Paul C Buff

To use these with a softbox you need to buy a speedring for this light head and then the softbox that will work with that speedring. You will also need a triggering mechanism to fire the strobes. See below.

2. Speedring for Softbox fits Einstein Alienbees $20 This is what you need to attach a softbox to your Einstein or Alienbees strobe head. If you already a have a softbox, this might work for you - just check with your softbox manufacturer to make sure it will fit.

3. Speedring with Softbox fits Einstein Alienbees $38 This softbox comes with a speedring to fit on the lights above.

4. PocketWizard 804-720 Transceiver $91 This is the slave unit you will need to plug into the strobe head in order for you to make this talk to your camera when firing.

Please note: You will also need the matching transmitter for your camera. See below.

5. PocketWizard Mini TT1 Radio Transmitter for Canon $152 This is the wireless trigger you will need to attach to your camera to send the signal to the strobe head to fire.

Please note: make sure what every wireless triggers you get that they work with your camera make and model!

6. PocketWizard Mini TT1 Radio Transmitter for Nikon $144 This is the wireless trigger you will need to attach to your camera to send the signal to the strobe head to fire.

Please note: make sure what every wireless triggers you get that they work with your camera make and model!

7. Sekonic L 308SU Light Meter $200 If you use strobes, you will need a light meter to measure the light. It will save you time guessing how bright the light is.

1. Manfrotto MKO55XPRO3 with 3-Way Head $370 This is a very popular tripod and this tripod head is excellent too. You can use this tripod for overhead shots because the center column can go 90 degrees.

2. Manfrotto MT190XPRO3 Tripod Only $200 This is the same tripod above without the tripod head so if you have one you already like, this could work with your tripod head.

3. Manfrotto MHXPRO-3W $139 This is the tripod head that is with the tripod in the first listing here. So if you have a tripod you already like and want a new tripod head, this is a great one.

4. Vanguard Alta Pro Tripod $160 This tripod is very popular with the food bloggers and it also tilts at 90 degrees for overhead shots. I personally do not like the ball heads because they tend to lose their grip over time. So you could use this with a different tripod head on it.

5. Vanguard Alta Pro Tripod No Head $120 This is the same tripod as above without the head, so you can put a better quality head on this.

6. Manfrotto Overhead Extenstion Arm $99 If you already have a tripod you like, you can use this to do overhead shots.

7. Heavy Duty Sandbags $13 If you are doing overhead shots, you will need to use some counterweight on your tripod. If you don't do this, your camera will fall over.

I don't use sand in these. I use pebbles that I bought at home depot. And entire 50lb bag was $3. Or you can go to the beach and fill it with sand. Just make sure it is not wet sand as it can get moldy.

Apple 15" MacBook Pro $2600 You will have to get a computer of some sort. If you do get a laptop, you should also get a stand alone monitor to work on as well. See this post about monitors.

Check apple's refurbished computers. I've bought almost all of my macs from their refurbished list on their website. This link is always on the very bottom of the apple home page in very small text.

Apple iMac 27inch $1800 I love working on desktops for color critical work. All my digital techs use iMacs or the Mac tower. It's a computer and monitor all in one.

Check apple's refurbished computers for some iMacs.

BenQ 27 inch 2K Monitor $560 This is a professional monitor for working on color sensitive work. If you plan on doing food photography for a living, you will need to get a pro monitor.

X-Rite ColorMunki Display $170 Every monitor MUST be color calibrated or you are literally shooting blind. Your camera LCD is normally too bright, which will make you take pictures that are too dark because you are compensating your exposure to look correct on your camera's bright LCD. Same thing with monitors and laptop screens, people normally have them set too bright as well and the same thing happens there - making your images too dark. You cannot calibrate a monitor with just your eyes. You have to use a device like the ColorMunki. I've been using their devices since digital photography started. Their devices last a long time so once you get this, you'll be using it for years. Check out this post to show you how to calibrate your monitor.

SanDisk Extreme Pro 64GB $36 These memory cards are so affordable these days. The prices do change almost daily. This is the SD card that goes into a lot of cropped sensor cameras and the mirrorless cameras. Double check to see what your camera takes. This is smaller than the Compact Flash, but the size has nothing to do with the quality of the data it stores.

SanDisk Extreme Pro 128GB $159 This is the card I use in my cameras. It's great for video as well. If you do video, get the fastest biggest cards you can afford.

There is also a 64GB version for $79

G-Technology G-Drive USB 3.0 1TB $70 This is also a must have. If you don't back up your images, you will 100% lose them one day. It's not a matter of IF your drive will crash, it's just a matter of WHEN. I'm a freak about this. I back up everything as I'm shooting. I've had drives inside the computer go down during a photo shoot. Luckily because everything was backed up - we didn't lose any of our work that day.

Hi-Speed USB 2.0 Type A to Mini B Cable 2 Pack $10 For shooting tethered, you must have cables to hook up your camera to your computer. PLEASE look at your camera, or google it to find out what cable interface you need.

USB A to Micro-B SuperSpeed USB 3, 15ft cable $40 This is the other type of tethering cable I use - the USB-A to Micro-B SuperSpeed USB 3. This is for the Canon 7D Mark II and many other.

Canon Remote Cable $47 You will also need to get a remote cable for your camera. You need to put your camera on a tripod, and use this cable to take the picture. You don't want to touch your camera during the exposure or you can have motion blur on your shot.

You must make sure that what ever cable you get will work with your exact camera make and model. 

Wireless Remote Control for Canon $47 This is also very handy. A wireless trigger. I've used this on large sets where it was difficult getting back to the camera each time to take a shot.

You must make sure that what ever trigger you get will work with your exact camera make and model. 

Adobe Lightroom 6 Mac or PC Download $150 You will eventually have to learn how to edit your images. The industry standard is Adobe Light and also Photoshop. This download is for LR only. Mack sure you are downloading the right one for your system (Mac or PC). You can also get a disk of this. I have no idea how much longer they are going to offer this as it's own stand alone so if you don't want to do their monthly or yearly payment plans forever, this is a great option.

Adobe Creative Cloud Yearly Plan $120/yr This is how you get Photoshop these days. You have to buy into their Creative Cloud plan. If you do this plan though, you get all their updates for the same price and you get Photoshop and LR together.

Capture One Pro 10 Photo Editing $300 This is the other software I use for tethering and editing my larger format cameras. Capture One Pro has been around for quite some time now and if you use a Phase One digital back, you will need this software to edit and tether with.