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OK, I would like to ask for some advice. I want to make shots of various PCBs. Game consoles, PC motherboards, etc. Since this needs the camera to be pointing downwards, I figure I need either a camera stand that can either
- flip the center column upside down, or
- tilt the entire center column at 90 degrees.
The latter is unreasonably expensive for my budget (around $100), so instead I'll be going with a huge tripod standing above the things I want to shoot.
I'm using an old Canon EOS 450D (aka Rebel XSi), with the EF 50mm 1:1.8 II lens. I also have a EFS 18-55mm IS lens, but I like the prime lens better. Obviously this will mean adjusting the camera height often, depending on the size of what I'm shooting.
What camera stand would be the most ideal for this? I'm looking at the Manfrotto Compact Advanced as being the best choice for my purposes. It can do what I need, and it is very cheap. It also comes with a normal head, not one of those ball-joint free moving ones. Those don't strike me as less precise (since you adjust everything freely, instead of being able to manually adjust each rotation axis).
My other question is, what settings would be the most ideal to achieve a high depth of field? From what I've read (and experimented), I'd need a high F-number, and either good lightning + low shutter speed or high shutter speed in bad lightning (since high f-number means less light comes through the closed lens). I figure with a tripod and an improvised lightbox with 2-3 light sources, I can use high F numbers comfortably, since neither lightning nor stability will be a problem.
