Equipment Help choosing an entry-level dslr and len(es) for several purposes, pls?

I am no pro I just know you're going to need a real expert on cameras and such for what you have in mind.

Personally I love my Canon DSLR. I have a Ts3i and three different lenses. But for dolls I would only really use my basic lens, and for tinies to get really close my macro lens. If you're looking to do size comparison shoots you will need maybe a wide angle lens so you get close, but can do longer rows. Also it seems a good solid background is all you need for those photos so a solid flat sheet washed, ironed and rolled onto a tube or pole. For a stand to hold the sheet I can recommend a set up I just bought. I opted for the less expensive one without the sand bags, but you may want to go for the extra cost to get the bags and maybe instead of sand, use small rocks. Anyway hopefully someone can give you better advice.
https://smile.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00DVRER0I?psc=1&ref=yo_pop_mb_pd_title

Good luck.

 

Just chipping in with dslr suggestion: I've seen Canon's 750D is a really good purchase for it's price, it's a nice entry level with many auto sets too but gives you complete control of setting also. (I just got a 700D, it's a tiny bit behind it, but still looks great.) It comes with a nice kit lens but for doll and small object photos it is recommended to get the 50mm lens. What I noticed that the photos colors are much more correct than on other brands so it saves you from a lot of editing and such.

Also if you are looking around and search flickr, some photos might have some EXIF data on what camera the person uses, so if there's a photo you like you can check that out ^^

 

The crop factor is just a way to express the relative size of the camera's sensor. Think of the sensor as the film in an older camera. Because 35mm cameras were so popular people got used to the field of view that could be captured for a given lens focal length (say 50mm) at a given distance. Really this is determined by the angular field of view. Longer focal lengths give narrower angles and thus smaller fields of view. When you put a smaller (cropped) sensor behind the lens it intercepts less of the angle which makes the *effective* focal length of the lens smaller. (Note the physics of the lens didn't actually change, you're just capturing less of the light that goes through the lens because of the smaller sensor.)

From a doll photography stand point this means that for the same lens you need to get a little farther back to capture the whole doll with a cropped sensor than a full frame sensor. You don't have to get that far back to capture a 1/3 scale doll even with a cropped sensor and a 50mm lens. If your brain isn't trained to think of lenses in terms of 35mm film fields of view the cropped sensor will probably mean nothing to you and they're a lot cheaper than full frame sensors.

The other thing to keep in mind is that lens distortion is at its worst at the edges of the lens. One advantage of using a cropped sensor with a full frame lens is that you actually don't even capture the light at the edge of the lens so you have less distortion in your finished imaged. (You could achieve the same effect by cropping your image from a full frame camera after the fact.)

As to which camera to get, all the major brands make nice cameras and lenses. Since you're looking to stay at a budget a cropped sensor and a prime lens (fixed focus) are probably your best bet. You can find charts on lens distortion and sharpness for each lens. Generally spending more gives you a better image in terms of sharpness and less distortion and fixed focus lenses give better image quality than zoom (adjustable) lenses for the same price.

If you don't intend to use the viewfinder but rather the LCD screen you should also consider mirrorless cameras. They're smaller than dslrs but can still provide excellent quality.

Really what I would suggest is to go to a store (or stores) where you can try some cameras and pick the one whose controls feel best to you. As I said all the brands offer good cameras and lenses, but if you hate to use the one you buy then it is a bad buy.

One final note. I have a canon and one thing about canon really annoys me compared to nikon. Canon makes special lenses for their cropped sensor cameras which cannot mount on their full frame cameras. (Full frame canon lenses can mount on either.) So if you buy a nice crop sensor lens and ever want to switch to a full frame camera that lens is useless. Nikon doesn't do this. I'm not sure about Sony and the others.

Finally, since you want to take this on the road I suggest you also get a gray card. It's just a simple neutral gray card (either cardboard or plastic, I prefer plastic) that you take a photo of and then you can use it to correct for the color of the lighting automatically in post processing or for some cameras in the camera itself. They're cheap and it will make the colors much more true for comparing images. (Even with your own lights the background light will change the overall color of the light.)

 

If you're looking for a decent entry camera, Best Buy has the Canon EOS Rebel T6 on sale right now for like $200 off. It also comes with a standard lens and a zoom lens, as well as a carrying case. Its a pretty decent little camera, and the price point is excellent right now.
I'd still recommend going into a store to test it out before you buy, and asking as many questions as you can. BB does allow returns if it turns out that you don't love your purchase but I know my local store charges 15% restocking fee, so you want to be sure before you buy.

 

Based on what you want to do, I think the crop sensor with a 50mm lens could make you very happy. You can get amazing shots with that combo and it's easy on the wallet compared to other setups. If you need close-up shots, a macro filter on the lens works for most static/product shots when the tripod is in use.

Looking at your photos above with the white background, you'll want to pay attention to white balance and use that grey card before every shoot. If you're using natural light, the color of the background will keep changing every time the sun goes behind a cloud and it will drive you nuts. So I'm going to suggest you close the curtain or shoot at night with a tabletop lighting setup so your white background will be the same white in every shot. I recently got this Linco tabletop studio light set for about $40 which I'm loving better than my big softboxes because these little guys give soft light but setup and store super fast. Sometimes we think we need more camera or lens options when what we really need is reliable lighting. Hope that helps!

 

While I grant you that a prime lens is a bit sharper than a
zoom lens, it's not nearly as versatile. You're looking to use
your kit in a wide range of circumstances and I personally
think that a wide range zoom lens would be a better choice
for you. Personally I use a 28-300mm lens on my Nikon D750
full frame sensor camera. That would be similar to an 18-200mm
lens on an APS-C sensor or 15-150mm on a 4/3 sensor camera.
I had an Olympus E-3 4/3 DSLR with a 15-150. I have printed to
20" x 30" from both of those setups and the quality of the poster
print is just fine thank you. My personal opinion is that the image
you post to the web or the print you make is more mportant than
the performance of your lens on an optical test bench.

Further, your DSLR will support RAW image capture.

Shooting RAW will do more for the quality of your images than any
other single step.