CannaDaTaBiz
Welcome to the CannaZone
Hi all,
I have been photographing for quite many years and it used to be my #1 hobby, so i have looked quite a bit into gear etc whats best value and where new cameras and lenses are good at and where old can give just as good results and all that. So i thought id share some tips for those new to photography gear, but are interested in investing into taking pics of plants.
Im not going to go into exact models of cameras or lenses, because thats not the important thing. Important things are certain specs and you can find many cameras and lenses that cover those needs, i will explain the requirements and you can google if some particular cheap camera or lens you see at ebay or where ever local used markets, meets the criteria or not.
It makes no sense for me to say the #1 lens and camera, because there is no such thing. What you find at your used markets varies. Especially with old lenses there are tons of them around, some good and some not. Usually google will help to tell you if they are good or not. If google doesent say anything about it, its likely crap that no one even wants to talk about. So dont buy stuff like that.
So the rule #1 is that you do not buy a new camera or a new lens, neither you will buy the latest model used. If you want a great all around camera then go ahead and spend thousands on it, but its not needed if you just take pics of your garden with a flash. Trust me, it makes no difference if you have a new camera that costs 3k or the 15 years older model that costs 300€ used. That is IF you have strong enough flash and right lens, i will get back to this later.
There are many different brands of lenses that are good, some brands you maybe never even heard of and they made the best lenses some decades ago.
The thing many people dont realize is that you can use old lenses made for film cameras back in the days on new DSLR cameras using adapters. They are way way cheaper than the new lenses. You can get an old manual focus lens for 100€ that is optically on similar level to new 500€ lens if you know what to buy, and tons better than most new 500€ lenses are.
m42 lens system was popular in film cameras back in the days and can be used in modern nikon and canon cameras with adapter. There are adapters that make the focus indicator work and they dont cost much more. However since when taking macro photos you use very high f-numbers, the focus indicator would most likely not work and ideally you want a camera that has a live view function anyways. Meaning that you dont need to look through the lens, but the camera shows the image on its screen live, like how phone and most digital pocket cameras do.
You do not want a zoom lens for macro! You want a lens that has a fixed focal length. This is because zoom lenses are not optically nearly as good as fixed focal lenght ones because they need to have extra lenses etc. This is why even the canon 50mm 1.8 lens that is something bit over 100€ new, beats most new 1000€+ zoom lenses optically. However 50mm focal length is bit too short, so even tho its a good lens optically for a great price, its not for this use, but better for portairts or as regular all around lens thats not too wide, depending on the sensor size of camera.
Different uses require different focal lengths and larger sensor size gives larger view with same lens. However for this purpose we will focus on 1.5x or 1.6x crop factor sensor cameras. Which are the lower end nikon, canon and some others. 1.3x crop factor cameras(canon 1d, not 1ds series are also good, but need a bit more focal length to get same wideness for photos). The reason why we want to avoid full frame cameras like canon 1ds and some pro nikon cameras is that because they need longer focal length to get the same wideness and longer focal lengths mean smaller depth of field(area in focus), you need to use higher f-numbers to combat the overly small depth of field, which lets less light on the sensor and forces you to use higher ISO values, meaning you get more noise. While some brand new pro cameras can handle such high ISO values without too much noise, we want to use lower ISO with older cameras and for this we need more light. This could also be combatted with using brighter flash, but that could mean spending quite a bit more money on it or having to do other complicated fixtures for different type of flashes etc.
Wide lens:
So if you want all around pics of your grow, well you need a wider lens and wider old manual focus lenses are either extremely valuable or crap even compared to the cheap kit lens that comes with cameras. So if you are on a budget, i recommend just using some kit lens or other zoom lens that goes to at least around 18mm wide. Do note that this kind of lenses do not exist on 1d series, but they can use these kind of lenses made for old canon film cameras, but they are complete crap compared to newer kit lenses and are not worth using at all. If you get canon 40d for example, its kit lens is ok and if you are on a budget, dont dream of much better wide angle lens.
This lens should also cover a bit on the around 50mm length or bit wider for some all around pics.
With this kind of pics the photo quality doesent show as much as in macro or close up shots with tons of detail. So dont make this the #1 priority, just get some thats not the worst and doesent cost too much or preferably already comes with the camera. Hell you could even skip this and just use your phone for this sort of pics, its not that big of a difference unless you dont have enough light or zoom in too much.
Telephoto/macro/close up lens:
This is where digging into some old lenses will really come handy.
There are a few focal lengths that i should talk about a bit.
Around 80-100mm is good for getting pics of nugs. This is ideal for photographing stuff thats around 3x6 inches framed or around that. You can get to macro distances with them(like with any lens) naturally using extension tubes(i get back to these later), but the problem is that if you want to get real close for some trichome shots etc. you would need to have the lens way too close to the subject and its not good for lighting or anything. You would likely end up staining the lens with some resin..
So this 80-100mm is perfect for some detail shots, but you want longer focal length for macro.
130-150mm I find quite ideal for macro and they are not too long that they would be hard to handle when taking detail shots like with something around 80-100mm. This is a nice balanced focal length for macro and for bud shots.
180mm + Honestly this is the best for serious macro photography. And i dont mean just getting closer to subject, but in general it gives the best lighting etc for macro. You could also use it to take some bird pics. However!!! There are some major downsides for this long focal length. First it starts to be so long that its harder to take detailed shots as you need to be further away than with shorter lenses and because of the stronger magnification, your hands shaking etc really start to show. It might be harder to find the bud you wanted to take pic of since you are so far away from it etc. Also the real major downside is what i already mentioned with the sensor size. Longer focal length means that you need to use higher F-numbers, letting less light in and having to adjust with higher ISO, giving more noise. And thats not even all. 135mm old manual focus lenses seems to be a great value and most often best optics. Especially with older lenses this long lenses start to show stuff like poor lens coatings they had back in the days etc. If you want a brand new best macro lens and are willing to spend on expensive camera + lens + flash etc 2k+ dollars, then get a around 180mm macro lens.
I have a old zeiss 135mm f/3.5 lens i paid 80€ for with an adapter. Its really good optically, especially for the price
One thing with old lenses is that they did not have as good coatings back then as we do now. This means that some lenses that are not really high quality glass well sanded etc tend to get chromatic aberration(where you see some green or purple hues shifted on brightly lit corners) easier and they tend to get lower contrast if light hits the lens from the side. This is why its especially important to have a lens hood on the lens!
Camera:
As i mentioned a live view function is great and helps with macro especially and even more with old manual lenses. old manual lenses are dimmed before the shot, so you get less light though the lens all the time with them. This helps to figure out the correct f-number, but also makes it harder to see through the finder. Live view will compensate for the lack of light and show a brighter image <- This is the main reason why we preferably want a live view. But you could get camera without one that is just as good for quite a bit cheaper if you find just the right one for good price. However for example canon 40D which was canons first DSLR with live view doesent cost muhc more than 30D, which is not worth getting over 40D. But i dunno if canon 1d mkII price has gone much under canon 40d for example. Its older and relies on older technology, but with enough light, as good if not better than 40D. I have had both at the same time at one point.
But remember 1d is 1.3x crop factor while 40D is 1.6x crop factor, meaning 40D has a smaller sensor and i talked why this might be good earlier. Also 40d kit lens is ok, but you cant fit 1.6x crop factor only lenses like it with 1d series because of the sensor size difference. EF-L lenses are for 1.6x crop in canon terminology. Nikon also had different lenses for their full frame(1x crop = no crop) and 1.5x crop cameras, but i would not recommend full frame camera for this, unless its some brand new pro camera and you already know your shit. If you want to spend bit over 1k€ for your camera setup and want to get pro shots, go with nikon d700 or canon 5d mkII or canon 1d mkIII. I think there is some 180mm macro lens thats quite new that would go nicely with them, but i havent checked the used markets lately.
I dont remember nikon models so well, but for canon first live view was on budget 450d(1.6x crop), semi pro 40D(1.6x crop) and pro 1d mkIII(1.3x crop) and 1ds mkIII(full frame). Nikon had live view at similar times.
Great thing about Nikon is that old manual focus nikon lenses fit straight to the newer DSRL bodies, even to the crop factor camera(but you cant use cropped lenses on full frame nikon). But on the other hand you can fit old nikon lenses to canon crop factor camera body with an adapter. Adapters cost like 10-20€ and are easy to get, so its not that big of a deal.
Even canon 450d has good enough sensor that you wont notice the difference to a new DSLR cameras if you dont use very high ISO values. So for well lit macro and close up shots, it rally doesent matter much, you want camera that is not way too old and newer than that just gives you nice things like live view and 40D has more buttons than 450d for adjusting the exposure settings easier, its also built more rugged etc. Because the price difference between 450d and 40d is not big, i would go with 40d instead 450d, but 450d takes just as good pics and has similar ISO sensitivity etc. I think canon 500d had quite a big upgrade on its screen, so you get better live view with it. Personally i like the controls on 40D over that, but some might like to have a better screen instead. So it comes down to personal preferences really.
If you want to get as cheap as possible and find some dirt cheap what ever canon or nikon DSLR, its much better than your phone or some pocket cameras if you give it enough light.
Remember that many old lenses are total crap, but some are really good for the price, while some are total gems even compared to best lenses today, but the real gems cost as much as new lenses. You want to aim for around 100€ valued lens that is the best you can find, you wont get anything real good for like 50€, unless you get real lucky. Also an important thing when buying old lenses is that if they have been stored improperly and not taken care of, it might have mould in it, oils might have gotten crap in them and hardened, requiring force to focus etc and cleaning them would cost more than the lens and you would likely not be able to put it back together properly calibrated so that it focuses properly etc without having any prior experience.
So look at your local camera forums, maybe not some random ebay sellers that sell everything they find cheap. It could had been poorly stored for 40 years all mouldy and the seller might not even have idea that lens can go bad.. People at camera forums know this stuff and have a reputation to keep up on the forums etc and are usually much much more trustworthy than some random ebay sellers. Also you might want to look at their post history. Many of the guys who trade this sort of stuff on camera forums usually hand out on forums more and its not hard to look at the guys post history and evaluate if he is trustworthy or not.
Light/flash:
What you want for macro is a ring flash or strong leds on a ring around the lens. And honestly the best possible budget light system is the cheapest, but its too much hassle to use
But maybe you could do some DIY thing using similar idea.
So what you want from the flash or leds is extremely diffused soft light that comes equally from each direction <- This!!!! is the key for good macro and also portrait light(depending ofc which kind of portrait you want, but the fashion model type at least).
You could achieve this by aking a hole on a basic A4 size paper that you put your lens through and shoot the paper with two dirst cheap flashes, so that the light gets through the paper and gets diffused heavily. You could find some old flashes really for even 15€ a piece. So you can basically get the most pro lighting for under 40€ when you count in some cable you also need! This thing would likely beat many of the way way more expensive ring flashes.
Then you have these products that you insert a flash into and it reflects it inside a ring, which it comes out as diffused, like this:
The problem with some might be that the light doesent shine from the bottom as well as from the top, making the light come out unequal and not giving THAT good light. But it seems like there has been tons of new products released in this category since i last checked, dunno if they have gotten much better. BUT even some cheap crappy this kind of thing would give pretty damn good light and could be worth it if it seems that all really good ones cost tons more.
You could also make a fixture for two flashes on the side that ave some small diffusers on them. But this i think would not be needed unless you got some really crappy camera that cant handle much more than 100 ISO without getting noisy or unless you want to use really long focal lengths and get reaaaaaallly close on the trichomes or unless you go with full frame camera. Nice thing with 2 separate flashes besides giving you much more light is that you can do more artistic lighting setups with them as well. Like a bud shot on a black background with super strong light coming from behind the bud and on front of it you only get regular amount of light. Making a sort of glowing effect on it, creating harsh shadows, but then putting a tiny amount of light on the shadow areas also or what ever you come up with.
Another route for light is to use LED ring around the camera. The nice thing is that it shows you al lthe time in care there are some shadows etc. But at least like 10 years ago when i researched these LED rings more, they only had pretty low powered LEDs. I bet the LEDs on them are much better today! But this is not something i know. You might want to research it a bit if you want LED setup, or you could DIY it yourself pretty easily and surely get enough power on it. Also the leds back then didnt have a good spectrum on them, making them look a bit artificial, get good full spectrum leds if you do this! Not too warm or too cool, but the temperature of the leds doesent matter much if there are no other light sources, as the camera adjusts to the lights white balance.
Flashes doesent matter much, there are some dirt cheap new ones as well on the market, but 20€ old used made in germany/japan flash is likely much much better and built better than a new 20€ made in china crap flash.
You dont need any automatics on the flash, so pretty much anything that can be triggered does the job! Maybe some worst flash you could possibly find would not be strong enough on some worst ring diffuser things with long lenses on a full frame camera, but this is not something you need to worry about. If you decide to go with LEDs, then you need to worry and make sure that they are strong enough!
So what you need is:
DSLR: About 150-250€
Lens 80-180mm and possibly an adapter for it: About 80-130€
Extension tubes, so that you can focus the lens real close even if its not a macro lens: 10-30€
Flash with something to diffuse it and trigger cable or LED ring lighting around the lens: 0-50€
In total you should get away for as little as 250€ to get really good bud and macro shots! Or you can spend 1k€+ easily and not get nearly as good pics.
Here is a random 40D from UK ebay with kit lens for GBP 169.00 as an example:
Kep in mind that this is no point and shoot type of setup. You need to adjsut the cameras exposure time, f-number and ISO manually, and also the strength of flash. So there will be a learning curve if you only shot with an iphone before. Even if you get some new pro setup, its still not point and shot, even if there would be a bit more of automation, like with the strength of flash or automatic ISO.
As a bonus you could some small tripod or monopod to make shooting easier. Those go for like 20-50€. Some small ball head is great on it also!
Let me know if there is something you are missing. I know this is much info Im not going to spoon feed you with everything, like searching you local forums for you or googling if some particular lens you found is good. You can do those yourself, but i will gladly help you understand this stuff!
- Cheers
I have been photographing for quite many years and it used to be my #1 hobby, so i have looked quite a bit into gear etc whats best value and where new cameras and lenses are good at and where old can give just as good results and all that. So i thought id share some tips for those new to photography gear, but are interested in investing into taking pics of plants.
Im not going to go into exact models of cameras or lenses, because thats not the important thing. Important things are certain specs and you can find many cameras and lenses that cover those needs, i will explain the requirements and you can google if some particular cheap camera or lens you see at ebay or where ever local used markets, meets the criteria or not.
It makes no sense for me to say the #1 lens and camera, because there is no such thing. What you find at your used markets varies. Especially with old lenses there are tons of them around, some good and some not. Usually google will help to tell you if they are good or not. If google doesent say anything about it, its likely crap that no one even wants to talk about. So dont buy stuff like that.
So the rule #1 is that you do not buy a new camera or a new lens, neither you will buy the latest model used. If you want a great all around camera then go ahead and spend thousands on it, but its not needed if you just take pics of your garden with a flash. Trust me, it makes no difference if you have a new camera that costs 3k or the 15 years older model that costs 300€ used. That is IF you have strong enough flash and right lens, i will get back to this later.
There are many different brands of lenses that are good, some brands you maybe never even heard of and they made the best lenses some decades ago.
The thing many people dont realize is that you can use old lenses made for film cameras back in the days on new DSLR cameras using adapters. They are way way cheaper than the new lenses. You can get an old manual focus lens for 100€ that is optically on similar level to new 500€ lens if you know what to buy, and tons better than most new 500€ lenses are.
m42 lens system was popular in film cameras back in the days and can be used in modern nikon and canon cameras with adapter. There are adapters that make the focus indicator work and they dont cost much more. However since when taking macro photos you use very high f-numbers, the focus indicator would most likely not work and ideally you want a camera that has a live view function anyways. Meaning that you dont need to look through the lens, but the camera shows the image on its screen live, like how phone and most digital pocket cameras do.
You do not want a zoom lens for macro! You want a lens that has a fixed focal length. This is because zoom lenses are not optically nearly as good as fixed focal lenght ones because they need to have extra lenses etc. This is why even the canon 50mm 1.8 lens that is something bit over 100€ new, beats most new 1000€+ zoom lenses optically. However 50mm focal length is bit too short, so even tho its a good lens optically for a great price, its not for this use, but better for portairts or as regular all around lens thats not too wide, depending on the sensor size of camera.
Different uses require different focal lengths and larger sensor size gives larger view with same lens. However for this purpose we will focus on 1.5x or 1.6x crop factor sensor cameras. Which are the lower end nikon, canon and some others. 1.3x crop factor cameras(canon 1d, not 1ds series are also good, but need a bit more focal length to get same wideness for photos). The reason why we want to avoid full frame cameras like canon 1ds and some pro nikon cameras is that because they need longer focal length to get the same wideness and longer focal lengths mean smaller depth of field(area in focus), you need to use higher f-numbers to combat the overly small depth of field, which lets less light on the sensor and forces you to use higher ISO values, meaning you get more noise. While some brand new pro cameras can handle such high ISO values without too much noise, we want to use lower ISO with older cameras and for this we need more light. This could also be combatted with using brighter flash, but that could mean spending quite a bit more money on it or having to do other complicated fixtures for different type of flashes etc.
Wide lens:
So if you want all around pics of your grow, well you need a wider lens and wider old manual focus lenses are either extremely valuable or crap even compared to the cheap kit lens that comes with cameras. So if you are on a budget, i recommend just using some kit lens or other zoom lens that goes to at least around 18mm wide. Do note that this kind of lenses do not exist on 1d series, but they can use these kind of lenses made for old canon film cameras, but they are complete crap compared to newer kit lenses and are not worth using at all. If you get canon 40d for example, its kit lens is ok and if you are on a budget, dont dream of much better wide angle lens.
This lens should also cover a bit on the around 50mm length or bit wider for some all around pics.
With this kind of pics the photo quality doesent show as much as in macro or close up shots with tons of detail. So dont make this the #1 priority, just get some thats not the worst and doesent cost too much or preferably already comes with the camera. Hell you could even skip this and just use your phone for this sort of pics, its not that big of a difference unless you dont have enough light or zoom in too much.
Telephoto/macro/close up lens:
This is where digging into some old lenses will really come handy.
There are a few focal lengths that i should talk about a bit.
Around 80-100mm is good for getting pics of nugs. This is ideal for photographing stuff thats around 3x6 inches framed or around that. You can get to macro distances with them(like with any lens) naturally using extension tubes(i get back to these later), but the problem is that if you want to get real close for some trichome shots etc. you would need to have the lens way too close to the subject and its not good for lighting or anything. You would likely end up staining the lens with some resin..
So this 80-100mm is perfect for some detail shots, but you want longer focal length for macro.
130-150mm I find quite ideal for macro and they are not too long that they would be hard to handle when taking detail shots like with something around 80-100mm. This is a nice balanced focal length for macro and for bud shots.
180mm + Honestly this is the best for serious macro photography. And i dont mean just getting closer to subject, but in general it gives the best lighting etc for macro. You could also use it to take some bird pics. However!!! There are some major downsides for this long focal length. First it starts to be so long that its harder to take detailed shots as you need to be further away than with shorter lenses and because of the stronger magnification, your hands shaking etc really start to show. It might be harder to find the bud you wanted to take pic of since you are so far away from it etc. Also the real major downside is what i already mentioned with the sensor size. Longer focal length means that you need to use higher F-numbers, letting less light in and having to adjust with higher ISO, giving more noise. And thats not even all. 135mm old manual focus lenses seems to be a great value and most often best optics. Especially with older lenses this long lenses start to show stuff like poor lens coatings they had back in the days etc. If you want a brand new best macro lens and are willing to spend on expensive camera + lens + flash etc 2k+ dollars, then get a around 180mm macro lens.
I have a old zeiss 135mm f/3.5 lens i paid 80€ for with an adapter. Its really good optically, especially for the price
One thing with old lenses is that they did not have as good coatings back then as we do now. This means that some lenses that are not really high quality glass well sanded etc tend to get chromatic aberration(where you see some green or purple hues shifted on brightly lit corners) easier and they tend to get lower contrast if light hits the lens from the side. This is why its especially important to have a lens hood on the lens!
Camera:
As i mentioned a live view function is great and helps with macro especially and even more with old manual lenses. old manual lenses are dimmed before the shot, so you get less light though the lens all the time with them. This helps to figure out the correct f-number, but also makes it harder to see through the finder. Live view will compensate for the lack of light and show a brighter image <- This is the main reason why we preferably want a live view. But you could get camera without one that is just as good for quite a bit cheaper if you find just the right one for good price. However for example canon 40D which was canons first DSLR with live view doesent cost muhc more than 30D, which is not worth getting over 40D. But i dunno if canon 1d mkII price has gone much under canon 40d for example. Its older and relies on older technology, but with enough light, as good if not better than 40D. I have had both at the same time at one point.
But remember 1d is 1.3x crop factor while 40D is 1.6x crop factor, meaning 40D has a smaller sensor and i talked why this might be good earlier. Also 40d kit lens is ok, but you cant fit 1.6x crop factor only lenses like it with 1d series because of the sensor size difference. EF-L lenses are for 1.6x crop in canon terminology. Nikon also had different lenses for their full frame(1x crop = no crop) and 1.5x crop cameras, but i would not recommend full frame camera for this, unless its some brand new pro camera and you already know your shit. If you want to spend bit over 1k€ for your camera setup and want to get pro shots, go with nikon d700 or canon 5d mkII or canon 1d mkIII. I think there is some 180mm macro lens thats quite new that would go nicely with them, but i havent checked the used markets lately.
I dont remember nikon models so well, but for canon first live view was on budget 450d(1.6x crop), semi pro 40D(1.6x crop) and pro 1d mkIII(1.3x crop) and 1ds mkIII(full frame). Nikon had live view at similar times.
Great thing about Nikon is that old manual focus nikon lenses fit straight to the newer DSRL bodies, even to the crop factor camera(but you cant use cropped lenses on full frame nikon). But on the other hand you can fit old nikon lenses to canon crop factor camera body with an adapter. Adapters cost like 10-20€ and are easy to get, so its not that big of a deal.
Even canon 450d has good enough sensor that you wont notice the difference to a new DSLR cameras if you dont use very high ISO values. So for well lit macro and close up shots, it rally doesent matter much, you want camera that is not way too old and newer than that just gives you nice things like live view and 40D has more buttons than 450d for adjusting the exposure settings easier, its also built more rugged etc. Because the price difference between 450d and 40d is not big, i would go with 40d instead 450d, but 450d takes just as good pics and has similar ISO sensitivity etc. I think canon 500d had quite a big upgrade on its screen, so you get better live view with it. Personally i like the controls on 40D over that, but some might like to have a better screen instead. So it comes down to personal preferences really.
If you want to get as cheap as possible and find some dirt cheap what ever canon or nikon DSLR, its much better than your phone or some pocket cameras if you give it enough light.
Remember that many old lenses are total crap, but some are really good for the price, while some are total gems even compared to best lenses today, but the real gems cost as much as new lenses. You want to aim for around 100€ valued lens that is the best you can find, you wont get anything real good for like 50€, unless you get real lucky. Also an important thing when buying old lenses is that if they have been stored improperly and not taken care of, it might have mould in it, oils might have gotten crap in them and hardened, requiring force to focus etc and cleaning them would cost more than the lens and you would likely not be able to put it back together properly calibrated so that it focuses properly etc without having any prior experience.
So look at your local camera forums, maybe not some random ebay sellers that sell everything they find cheap. It could had been poorly stored for 40 years all mouldy and the seller might not even have idea that lens can go bad.. People at camera forums know this stuff and have a reputation to keep up on the forums etc and are usually much much more trustworthy than some random ebay sellers. Also you might want to look at their post history. Many of the guys who trade this sort of stuff on camera forums usually hand out on forums more and its not hard to look at the guys post history and evaluate if he is trustworthy or not.
Light/flash:
What you want for macro is a ring flash or strong leds on a ring around the lens. And honestly the best possible budget light system is the cheapest, but its too much hassle to use
But maybe you could do some DIY thing using similar idea.So what you want from the flash or leds is extremely diffused soft light that comes equally from each direction <- This!!!! is the key for good macro and also portrait light(depending ofc which kind of portrait you want, but the fashion model type at least).
You could achieve this by aking a hole on a basic A4 size paper that you put your lens through and shoot the paper with two dirst cheap flashes, so that the light gets through the paper and gets diffused heavily. You could find some old flashes really for even 15€ a piece. So you can basically get the most pro lighting for under 40€ when you count in some cable you also need! This thing would likely beat many of the way way more expensive ring flashes.
Then you have these products that you insert a flash into and it reflects it inside a ring, which it comes out as diffused, like this:
The problem with some might be that the light doesent shine from the bottom as well as from the top, making the light come out unequal and not giving THAT good light. But it seems like there has been tons of new products released in this category since i last checked, dunno if they have gotten much better. BUT even some cheap crappy this kind of thing would give pretty damn good light and could be worth it if it seems that all really good ones cost tons more.
You could also make a fixture for two flashes on the side that ave some small diffusers on them. But this i think would not be needed unless you got some really crappy camera that cant handle much more than 100 ISO without getting noisy or unless you want to use really long focal lengths and get reaaaaaallly close on the trichomes or unless you go with full frame camera. Nice thing with 2 separate flashes besides giving you much more light is that you can do more artistic lighting setups with them as well. Like a bud shot on a black background with super strong light coming from behind the bud and on front of it you only get regular amount of light. Making a sort of glowing effect on it, creating harsh shadows, but then putting a tiny amount of light on the shadow areas also or what ever you come up with.
Another route for light is to use LED ring around the camera. The nice thing is that it shows you al lthe time in care there are some shadows etc. But at least like 10 years ago when i researched these LED rings more, they only had pretty low powered LEDs. I bet the LEDs on them are much better today! But this is not something i know. You might want to research it a bit if you want LED setup, or you could DIY it yourself pretty easily and surely get enough power on it. Also the leds back then didnt have a good spectrum on them, making them look a bit artificial, get good full spectrum leds if you do this! Not too warm or too cool, but the temperature of the leds doesent matter much if there are no other light sources, as the camera adjusts to the lights white balance.
Flashes doesent matter much, there are some dirt cheap new ones as well on the market, but 20€ old used made in germany/japan flash is likely much much better and built better than a new 20€ made in china crap flash.
You dont need any automatics on the flash, so pretty much anything that can be triggered does the job! Maybe some worst flash you could possibly find would not be strong enough on some worst ring diffuser things with long lenses on a full frame camera, but this is not something you need to worry about. If you decide to go with LEDs, then you need to worry and make sure that they are strong enough!
So what you need is:
DSLR: About 150-250€
Lens 80-180mm and possibly an adapter for it: About 80-130€
Extension tubes, so that you can focus the lens real close even if its not a macro lens: 10-30€
Flash with something to diffuse it and trigger cable or LED ring lighting around the lens: 0-50€
In total you should get away for as little as 250€ to get really good bud and macro shots! Or you can spend 1k€+ easily and not get nearly as good pics.
Here is a random 40D from UK ebay with kit lens for GBP 169.00 as an example:
Canon EOS 40D 10.1MP Digital SLR Camera - Black (Kit w/ EF-S 18-55mm Lens) for sale online | eBay
Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Canon EOS 40D 10.1MP Digital SLR Camera - Black (Kit w/ EF-S 18-55mm Lens) at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!
www.ebay.com
Kep in mind that this is no point and shoot type of setup. You need to adjsut the cameras exposure time, f-number and ISO manually, and also the strength of flash. So there will be a learning curve if you only shot with an iphone before. Even if you get some new pro setup, its still not point and shot, even if there would be a bit more of automation, like with the strength of flash or automatic ISO.
As a bonus you could some small tripod or monopod to make shooting easier. Those go for like 20-50€. Some small ball head is great on it also!
Let me know if there is something you are missing. I know this is much info
Im not going to spoon feed you with everything, like searching you local forums for you or googling if some particular lens you found is good. You can do those yourself, but i will gladly help you understand this stuff!- Cheers
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