What lens to choose for this particular setup?

What I'm trying to achieve:
I'm trying to get the absolute sharpest 4k raw video of a flat surface. This surface will have alcohol inks that are interacting and thus moving around and creating interesting swirls and other effects.

Current Setup:

• Canon 90D
• Atomos Ninja 5 (to record 4k raw)
• Overhead camera mount

What I need to figure out:
What prime lens I need to get the absolute sharpest image.

Things to mention:
I tried this with someone's 16mm prime lens at around 12" distance from the surface. It was pretty good. They suggested I get a Zeiss 15mm f/2.8, but I want to get some more opinions on this. Another person told me a fixed 35mm at a longer distance from the surface.


Any help with this would be really appreciated. I feel like I have information overload about this. Thanks!

Hi ADesign ,

From what you have told so far , I'm inclined to agree with " another person "  in getting a longer prime (e.g., 50 mm) lens ,  and  position camera further back from surface , if the overhead mount caters for it .

Reason being,  if  you're not already aware ,  shorter focal lengths  will cause  more distortion of surface at the corners  from such a close distance.  Don't know if that's going to be an issue for you .  DId not the 16 mm @ 12"  make the corners distorted ?    A typical 50 mm can focus as close as about 18 " , but I would recommend  further than that  if possible .
A 50 mm will also likely have a larger maximum aperture of say, f/1.2 or f1.4 or f1.8  which may be helpful for exposure .

Do you have to be so close as 12 "?   Does the overhead mount have a short height range ?

db3348

FYI, in general, macro lenses are sharper than conventional primes, especially edge-to-edge sharpness.

You haven't said the size of the subject or why you want to be so close, but the farther away you are, the better the result will be. So select a macro lens with a focal length that will let you capture the entire subject, perhaps with a little bit of mat,  without too much background.

From what you say about the subject, I'd suggest a lens with minimal chromatic aberration. Either of Sigma's 105mm f/2.8 macro lenses would be a good choice if you can be that far away.

The advice you have so far is very good. You also need a very stable mount for your camera and a corded or wireless remote trigger to keep any camera vibration out of the process, but the ideal lens is important too.

I frequently use a camera stand, much like an old film enlarger, but with a camera attach point instead of the old film enlarger head. This stand has attached photo lights on either side that I can position easily too. When doing macros, I usually use this stand and a wireless trigger for my camera, but when shooting large old movie "coming attraction" posters for a friend, this wasn't big enough to handle them. I had built a ceiling attached lighting support grid on my studio ceiling, so I put it into use and attached one of my camera tripods upside down to it. Extending the tripod legs up to the ceiling made it very stable. I then digitized these posters for him using blue tape marks on the floor so I could repeat the positions of the posters, with LED light panels,  also attached to the ceiling grid to achieve the needed even lighting. I used a wireless trigger for the camera and managed to shoot all of the photos in a little more than an hour, if my memory is correct. 

Think outside the box, like this, when coming up with a way to achieve the results that you need. You likely don't have a ceiling lighting support grid, but there are other ways to attach a tripod to the ceiling, or a maybe some other stable structure to keep your camera as still as possible for this shoot. Maybe a solid C-Stand can be configured to hold your camera steady will be good enough. shooting horizontally isn't always the best way. Sometimes gravity can be of help by shooting vertically.

Please let us know how you did this, and how well it worked for you.

Charley