Digital Dental Photography

Digital Photography and Workflow for Dentists

Charles Payet

How Many Megapixels Do You Need?

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This is one of those questions that always comes up when new photographers are asking what camera they should get.  When you consider how much the advertising for digital cameras seems to focus on the number of megapixels, it’s not really surprising, but still a bit unfortunate, because it gives the impression that one must have the camera with the most MP to keep up.

The truth of the matter is, when we’re talking about digital photography for dentistry, in particular, any DSLR since Canon came out with its Digital Rebel (6.3MP) back in ’03 has been totally adequate.

BTW – I still use the same 100mm macro lens that I bought with that Rebel back in 2004, so it may be reassuring to know that you won’t need to keep upgrading lenses every few years.That’s one of the keys to quality pictures that most people don’t understand: it’s more important to have quality lenses than a camera with high megapixel count for sharp, clear, colorful pictures.

So the simple answer to the question?  Any digital DSLR that has ever been made has more than enough megapixels, so don’t worry about that at all.  🙂

5 Good Cameras for Dental Photography

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Now to the real question: Which camera/flash/lens combination should I buy?

I’ll start off with what I think are simply THE standard lenses and flashes to get, as these won’t change much over time, even though the camera bodies will.

For Canon lenses (overall, more dentists use Canon than any other brand in my experience), you want EITHER the:

  1. Canon 100mm f/2.8 macro lens OR
  2. Canon 60mm f/2.8 macro lens

There is only 1 Canon ring-flash commonly used (while the twin-light flash is really nice, it’s trickier to learn and definitely more expensive), and that is the Canon MR-14EX ring flash.

For Nikon, the comparable lenses are:

  1. Nikon Telephoto AF Micro-Nikkor 105mm, OR
  2. Nikon Macro AF Micro-Nikkor 60mm

As far as I know (which is a lot less about Nikon that Canon, admittedly), Nikon does not make their own ring flash comparable to the Canon MR-14EX.  The one I’ve seen commonly recommended is the Sigma EM-140 DG TTL Macro Ring Flash for Nikon.

So does this mean that these are the ONLY combinations of DSLR lenses and flashes that you can get?  NOPE, not by a long shot!  However, they are the most common selections used by skilled dental photographers, and so….if you happen to need help from a colleague, it’s easiest to get help on these.  So rather than give out every single combination of lenses, bodies, and flashes that could be used, to keep it simple, these are the ones I recommend you consider.

Remember that the most important feature in the lens is it MUST BE A MACRO.  Otherwise, you will not be able to get close enough to the teeth to photograph them well.
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Now on to the Camera Bodies:

For Canon, as of today (12/18/2010), I recommend the Canon T2i for 1 very simple reason: not only does it have all the nice features necessary to take high-quality pictures, it ALSO has 1080p HD video recording capabilities.  And with the Internet rapidly becoming a major force in reaching both new and existing patients, video can be a powerful tool for influencing them; follow this link to see some of my patient testimonials on YouTube! The sheer convenience of having both a video camera and a DSLR in 1 is just too nice.  And, if you happen to be a microscope-using dentist (which I also highly recommend), you can hook up the T2i to your camera adapter and record both video or still images.
Of course, you can also use any of the following Canon camera bodies: 10D, 20D, 30D, 40D, 50D, 60D XT, XTi, XS, XSi, or even go really upscale with the Canon 5D, 5D Mark II, or 7D.  However, I don’t recommend those because of the price.

For Nikon, I recommend the (for the same reasons as above) Nikon D5000 or the D90.  If those don’t float your boat, you can choose any of the following (just be aware that none of these have the video either): D40, D60, D80, or D200.  Again, if you want upscale, go for the D300s or D700.

OK, if you count up all those possibilities, you’ll realize that’s actually WAAAAAAY more than 5 possibilities.  I’ve given you the criteria I use when recommending, though, so you should be able to make your choice.  If not, please ask questions!

I’ll cover some of the alternative DSLR camera bodies, lenses, and flashes in a future post.

What kind of digital camera should I buy?

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Of all the questions I receive, the single most frequent one has to be, “What camera should I buy if I want to take pictures of patients and teeth for my office?  The second is often, “Do I have to get one of those big cameras with interchangeable lenses, or can I use a Point-n-Shoot?  Might as well get these covered right away.

Let me give you my personal bias first:
Point-and-Shoot (POS) cameras have come a long way in the last few years, and they can take very high quality, high resolution pictures.  The primary limitations are:

  1. Inability to control both exposure and f-stop to get pictures completely in focus and well-lit.
  2. The flash angle is such that the front of the mouth is super-bright and the back is very dark.
  3. Many do not offer a manual focus option, and the mirror reflection can really screw with the auto-focus.

Digital SLR (DSLR) cameras, on the other hand, offer complete control over every aspect of taking pictures, which means all you need is the right settings, and you’ll capture virtually perfect pictures every time with just a little practice.  The 2 biggest advantages to using a DSLR for dental photography are:

  1. Can choose from several macro lenses to get extremely close-up pictures; dental photography is mostly a variation on Macro Photography, or the art of shooting small things very close-up.
  2. Can use a ring-flash or dual-mount flash for bright, even, shadow-less pictures even in the very back of the mouth.

Therefore, I am a BIG proponent of using DSLR cameras for dental photography.  Yes, they are more expensive, but given the importance of quality images when communicating with patients or documenting work for all kinds of purposes, they pay for themselves extremely quickly.

Next post……WHICH camera/lens/flash combination to buy, and where?