Need advice re: magazine photo with iPhone for InDesign CS6 (sizing question)

[Turnpike]

I'm SO glad there's a forum for digital photography here- this is by far the most helpful forum I'm a member of, and I'm in a pinch. I'm hoping there's someone in here who can tell me if this will work or not...

I have taken photos of some custom made machine parts for a magazine that are small... like a micro sim card in size. I've taken many of these over the course of a month as they were produced, to show tooling marks, how the edges are crisp, the lack of small nicks or burrs, that kind of thing.... small details and how they improved over the 30 days of fine tuning the machine.

For most of the month I've used a Nikon D810 with a Nikon 105 f/2.8 Macro lens. Not only was it fun, it took great photos in great detail.

Now, I am at another manufacturer (thousands of miles away) and want to include photos of HIS production pieces, in what will be a magazine that is put together with Adobe InDesign CS6 I think. I don't have the camera or lens here, all I have is an iPhone 8 Plus. With my camera (and the help of a cheaper clip-on Macro lens thing) I am able to take some pretty good photos that show what I want to show, but will these work as additional photos in the same article for comparison with other photos that were taken with the Prime Macro lens on a DSLR?

Will I be seriously disappointed when I go to put both sources of images in InDesign, or will I be able to show them together with the iPhone photos just a smaller size on the page? I want the photos to be clear and crisp, but I'm fine with them being smaller on the page.

Does this sound like a reasonable expectation, as long as I'm ok with them being smaller on the page? Or do I need to go find or buy a serious DSLR and Macro lens to take photos that will be anywhere near similar?

I'm amazed at the quality and crisp of a photo I can get with my iPhone and the clip on lens, does it sound reasonable to expect a sharp, similarly clear photo on paper if I'm willing to keep the photo a bit smaller? Or does it sound like I will have a tiny 10mm photo on paper if I want to keep it clear?

Thanks in advance! Any input from those who know is appreciated.

 

[Apple fanboy]

I'm SO glad there's a forum for digital photography here- this is by far the most helpful forum I'm a member of, and I'm in a pinch. I'm hoping there's someone in here who can tell me if this will work or not...

I have taken photos of some custom made machine parts for a magazine that are small... like a micro sim card in size. I've taken many of these over the course of a month as they were produced, to show tooling marks, how the edges are crisp, the lack of small nicks or burrs, that kind of thing.... small details and how they improved over the 30 days of fine tuning the machine.

For most of the month I've used a Nikon D810 with a Nikon 105 f/2.8 Macro lens. Not only was it fun, it took great photos in great detail.

Now, I am at another manufacturer (thousands of miles away) and want to include photos of HIS production pieces, in what will be a magazine that is put together with Adobe InDesign CS6 I think. I don't have the camera or lens here, all I have is an iPhone 8 Plus. With my camera (and the help of a cheaper clip-on Macro lens thing) I am able to take some pretty good photos that show what I want to show, but will these work as additional photos in the same article for comparison with other photos that were taken with the Prime Macro lens on a DSLR?

Will I be seriously disappointed when I go to put both sources of images in InDesign, or will I be able to show them together with the iPhone photos just a smaller size on the page? I want the photos to be clear and crisp, but I'm fine with them being smaller on the page.

Does this sound like a reasonable expectation, as long as I'm ok with them being smaller on the page? Or do I need to go find or buy a serious DSLR and Macro lens to take photos that will be anywhere near similar?

I'm amazed at the quality and crisp of a photo I can get with my iPhone and the clip on lens, does it sound reasonable to expect a sharp, similarly clear photo on paper if I'm willing to keep the photo a bit smaller? Or does it sound like I will have a tiny 10mm photo on paper if I want to keep it clear?

Thanks in advance! Any input from those who know is appreciated.

I personally think there might be a difference, but I've never used anything other than my DSLR for macro.

So a couple of options might be,

• Where abouts are you? Might be a friendly forum member might lend a hand.
• Could you hire some kit?
• Try some examples and see how it goes?

Not a great deal of help I know, but maybe someone else has some more relevant experience.

 

[kenoh]

I'm SO glad there's a forum for digital photography here- this is by far the most helpful forum I'm a member of, and I'm in a pinch. I'm hoping there's someone in here who can tell me if this will work or not...

I have taken photos of some custom made machine parts for a magazine that are small... like a micro sim card in size. I've taken many of these over the course of a month as they were produced, to show tooling marks, how the edges are crisp, the lack of small nicks or burrs, that kind of thing.... small details and how they improved over the 30 days of fine tuning the machine.

For most of the month I've used a Nikon D810 with a Nikon 105 f/2.8 Macro lens. Not only was it fun, it took great photos in great detail.

Now, I am at another manufacturer (thousands of miles away) and want to include photos of HIS production pieces, in what will be a magazine that is put together with Adobe InDesign CS6 I think. I don't have the camera or lens here, all I have is an iPhone 8 Plus. With my camera (and the help of a cheaper clip-on Macro lens thing) I am able to take some pretty good photos that show what I want to show, but will these work as additional photos in the same article for comparison with other photos that were taken with the Prime Macro lens on a DSLR?

Will I be seriously disappointed when I go to put both sources of images in InDesign, or will I be able to show them together with the iPhone photos just a smaller size on the page? I want the photos to be clear and crisp, but I'm fine with them being smaller on the page.

Does this sound like a reasonable expectation, as long as I'm ok with them being smaller on the page? Or do I need to go find or buy a serious DSLR and Macro lens to take photos that will be anywhere near similar?

I'm amazed at the quality and crisp of a photo I can get with my iPhone and the clip on lens, does it sound reasonable to expect a sharp, similarly clear photo on paper if I'm willing to keep the photo a bit smaller? Or does it sound like I will have a tiny 10mm photo on paper if I want to keep it clear?

Thanks in advance! Any input from those who know is appreciated.

This is beyond my competency I am afraid. I do think an iphone will struggle to produce the same quality printed large. If the images are small however, like typical magazine size then anything smaller than a full page may suffice. Will the magazine be printed at high DPI?

How do the images look on a large monitor? I am guessing if you filled the frame with the detail you need, added decent lighting to keep it crisp then I imagine a good editor could get it looking good enough but for sure, renting a camera and macro lens or getting yours shipped may be a better option to ensure consistency.

 

[mollyc]

My iPhone images rarely (if ever) match the quality of my D800/105 macro combination. That said, if the phone is all you have, make sure your lighting is perfect. We all know that photography is more about light than gear. Get your light done well and the phone images might be okay.

 

[Turnpike]

Thanks for all the info- unfortunately, I won't be able to see the printed result until after everything is submitted, but to give you an idea, the photos I'm looking to use that will be taken with the iPhone will only be 1/4 a page at most, possibly smaller.

I know that an iPhone is no match for a DSLR with a Prime lens, but I'm hoping that someone with experience can assure me that an iPhone photo can still be crisp if I keep it at 1/4 page in size or smaller...

 

[mollyc]

People have done magazine covers with an iPhone. Watch your light.

 

[Alexander.Of.Oz]

Get yourself an app that allows you to take RAW (DNG) file images, and use good light when you take the photo's. This will give you the best possible starting point to work from for editing and printing in your magazine article. Work with full sized images, don't resize them. They shouldn't be noticeably different, if you have good lighting.

A very cheap app that allows RAW file image saving on the 8 Plus is PureShot, it's only a few buck$ in cost and gives you full control of your camera, including spot metering, bracketed exposures and much more. The only thing you can't possibly control is the aperture, as there is no moving aperture on an iPhone.

Best of luck with it all, and as obvious as it might sound, make sure you clean your iPhone and clip-on macro lenses thoroughly before use, so it doesn't degrade the image.