what camera + lens is right for me ??

[jasonfodor]

Bit different opinions for the lighting. Do you think I'll be fine with a camera mounted flash or do I need to get lights and umbrellas ?

I like the jeans in the first pic, a lot of pro product photography pics (basically what's sold on 99% of clothing web sites), I think they use the whole lighting with umbrellas, looks some what plain in my opinion. I like when the product is shown bright and the background is a bit darker, and camera flash reflects off the clothing to make the clothing glow in the dark almost. The ones with the super white backgrounds makes the clothing appear dark and in my opinion not tasteful.

[FastGass]

I would abesolutely recomend off camera lighting!!! It will by far make the biggest difference (along with a good sturdy tripod and the rest of the works) in your situation. Also I would not recomend a flash for this type of work, they are much more expensive than monolights or continuous lighting for the amount of light you get.

I would recomend continuous lighting because for a beginer it is much easier to compose your lighting than with flashing lighting. There are monolights that have small continous lighting in them to aid in composition so if you go that route make sure to get that type, it makes it MUCH easier.

I would get at least two but preferably three light sources, with umbrellas and soft boxes for each. You can add latter on different light modifiers later once you have some experience on what you want. But this will serve you well in the mean time.

I would also recomed a good post processing software like DxO (My personal favorite), Adobe Light Room and something by Topaz. And I'm sure there are others out there that would be on the level. It will give a professional look done properly that DPP just can't quite match.

You could also get manual focus lenses for dirt cheap in your situation, but it will be a pain for any other type of photography that has any sort of moving subject. Unless you are very good at manual focusing (like me).

Hope this helps,
John.

[francongphotography]

T3i and 18-55 kit lens is fine. Something like the Photoflex First Studio 2-light kit ($250 from B&H, constant lighting). Manfrotto 190XB with 496 ballhead (B&H kit, $186).

+1 Tripod and lighting is far more important than lenses in product photography imo. This will be a good starter kit, and you can expand your arsenal as you reach the limitations of your gears, or when you just want new gears .