Equipment for photographing dental patients

Perio

Hello guys! I'm a new on this forum, as I a Canon shooter (sorry!). I've just started my dental residency and I need to purchase a camera, macro lens and a macro ring flash to photograph dental patients (teeth, gums, etc.). For this purpose, I can go with any brand, including Nikon. What would you guys suggest me purchase? I need to get good equipment but really nothing very expensive. Thanks in advance!

jjb930

Hi Perio,

Listing a budget can always help with such decisions. I work in a science field and I occasionally use my gear to take macro pictures. That being said, I started off with budget gear that was still able to take nice macro pictures. Based on my experience, if I was to buy macro gear for work on a reasonable budget, I would buy the following:

Body:
An APS-C body.

A Nikon D5300 or Nikon D7100 are excellent choices.

Lens:
Nikon AF-S 60 or 85mm DX micro.

This decision will depend on budget and the minimum focus distance you are comfortable with. The majority of macro lenses are optically good (even the third party manufacturers that you may consider to save some $$$). I recommend the 60/85 Nikkors because they are decently priced and well regarded. You will also definitely want an internally focusing lens to prevent extending a lens barrel toward your patients mouth!

Ring Flash:
Sigma EM-140 DG ring light.

Nikon's macro lighting system is too expensive in my opinion. The Sigma is still a bit costly around $350-400. However, speaking from experience, the MUCH CHEAPER LED ring lights are vastly inferior. If you plan to take quality pictures, you want good lighting and something that can last.

There are some cheaper non-LED ringflashes (i.e., Phoenix SmartFlash RF46-N, and comparable ones from Bower & Vivitar); however, I have no experience with these.

Hval

Hang on a minute! There are specific dental camera systems.

Perio

Hi guys, thanks for your input. Budget is around $1900, so I think it should be enough for D7100, Sigma flash and Nikon 85 micro. Yeah, there are intraoral cameras but they are typically used just to see some distant areas of the mouth. In my case, I'll need to take pictures let's say prior to procedure, during the procedure and upon its completion. You'll need much better quality than those from the intraoral cameras to monitor treatment and for legal purposes, as they are attached to patient's history.

TomB

Lester Dine is your friend. Do a search.

T

Perio

Thank you, Tom!