As a still life product photographer, lenses are one of the essential tools needed to capture stunning imagery for clients. Clients expect their product to always look sharp and pleasing to the eye. In this article, we will chat through some of my favorite high-end lenses to achieve the best possible still life images for your product photography.
What are the best lenses for still life photography?
When it comes to finding the best lenses for still life photography, the ultimate goal is to find the lens that gives you the sharpest focus with almost no distortion. Since it’s easy to move your tripod around to set up the perfect scene, the best lenses to achieve tack focus are prime lenses. Prime lenses are lenses where there the lens is optimized for only one focal length.
Most still life setups have a tripod involved, so the weight of the lens shouldn’t be a factor. In my camera bag, I always have the following four lenses. You’ll want a 35mm and 50mm to shoot more significant scenes, an 85mm to shoot small setups, and a 100mm to shoot macro products.
My top lenses for still life photography:
- Sigma 35mm f/1.4 DG HSM ART Lens
- Zeiss Milvus 100mm f/2 ZF.2 Macro Lens
- Sigma 50mm f/1.4 DG HSM Art Lens
- Sigma 85mm f/1.4 DG HSM Art Lens
Best lens for large scenes:
Sigma 35mm f/1.4 DG HSM ART Lens
When shooting for high-end clients, they expect their product to always be tack sharp. The Sigma 35mm f/1.4 on the Nikon D850 is great to shoot large scale sets. When using the autofocus feature, the products will look crisp throughout the scene. The price is reasonable for the incredible quality achieved with this lens.
- Lens Mount: Canon, Nikon, Pentax, Sigma
- Focal Length: 35mm
- Angle of View: 63.4 deg
- Focus Type: Auto Focus
- Maximum Aperture: f/1.4
- Minimum Aperture: f/16
Best lens for macro sets:
Zeiss Milvus 100mm f/2 ZF.2 Macro Lens
In the past, I’ve had trouble achieving a sharp focus on small objects like cosmetic packaging or cosmetic textures that I’m shooting at a close range. I also had issues focus stacking with other macro lenses because my tripod couldn’t handle the weight. I tried out about three different lenses before I found the Zeiss Milvus 100mm f/2 lens, and it’s changed my life. The most important thing for me is getting the products extra sharp, and this lens does it.
- Lens Mount: Nikon
- Focal Length: 100mm
- Angle of View: 25 deg
- Focus Type: Manual Focus
- Maximum Aperture: f/2
- Minimum Aperture: f/22
- Filter Size: 67mm (Front)
- Minimum Focus Distance: 1.44’ (0.44m)
Best overall still life photography lenses:
Sigma 50mm f/1.4 DG HSM Art Lens
The Sigma 50mm f/1.4 DG HSM Art is one of my favorite lenses to use. This high-end lens has speedy autofocus to allow you to shoot beautiful portraits and medium-size scenes. I find myself using this lens a lot when I need to shoot flat lay photography (images of clothing without models) and large food scenes. There is little distortion, so I know the photos will look great the moment I click the shutter.
- Lens Mount: Canon, Nikon, Sigma, Sony
- Focal Length: 50mm
- Angle of View: 46.8 deg
- Focus Type: Auto Focus
- Maximum Aperture: f/1.4
- Minimum Aperture: f/16
- Filter Size: 77mm (Front)
- Minimum Focus Distance: 15.7” / 40cm
Sigma 85mm f/1.4 DG HSM Art Lens
The Sigma 85mm f/1.4 DG HSM Art is probably the most useful lens in my still life photography kit. I find myself shooting tons of food, portraits, and cosmetic sets with this lens. It works super well with smaller sets and medium size portrait scenes. I also use this lens to shoot short videos and stop motion animations. I love how tact sharp the image is throughout the entire scene, and the focus is very snappy.
- Lens Mount: Canon, Nikon, Sigma
- Focal Length: 85mm
- Angle of View: 28.6 deg
- Focus Type: Auto Focus
- Maximum Aperture: f/1.4
- Minimum Aperture: f/16
- Filter Size: 86mm (Front)
- Minimum Focus Distance: 33.5” / 85cm
Feature photo by Jenna Gang
