Peterff Loc: O'er The Hills and Far Away, in Themyscira.

Any decent camera will support raw. Pentax is a good choice, but so are others such as Canon, Nikon, and Sony. You may not need a DSLR, nor a full frame. That would be your choice. I would start by looking at your form factor choices of articulated LCD and NFC. NFC is likely to to eliminate more options from your shortlist given its relatively recent addition to the feature set. Why do you need NFC and how important is it?

canon Lee

I have shot in studio products, and it is most important that you use the correct lens. 100mm macro lens. That you set up a backdrop of white seamless . Most important use a digital camera as well as a wireless wifi to a large monitor. Check out CamRanger.com Use external lighting with soft boxes. The background seamless color can be selected via the customer. Canon FF 5D is most used in studio for this type of shooting. Yes the equipment is expensive but if you are going into business you will need professional equipment. External lighting is very essential especially for reflective products like jewelry. For some products like bottles or tubes you might want to consider using Plexiglas as the base to get some reflections. Other than that it is pretty routine. Suggestion. Keep it simple, avoid shadows unless you are artful using them.

boberic Loc: Quiet Corner, Connecticut. Ex long Islander

You haven't really discussed your skill level as yet. Many of us here are amateurs, (meaning not professionals) and skill sets run the range from expert to newbies. That said- any DSLR will have a learning curve. But starting to take photos immediately after taking it out of the box will only take about an hour or so of reading the manual, which by the way is an absolute must. So let us know what your experience level is (both film and/or digital) and maybe we can be more helpful.

SharpShooter Loc: NorCal

Sky, welcome to the Hog.
It's difficult to know what you don't know.
I'm sure you'll get more than enough cameras suggested. Since you have a table-top set-up, you obviously have some sort of camera to go with it.
My suggestion is that you use the money you'll spend on a new camera and use it to buy a small lighting set-up and learning how to use it.
Natural light is the absolutely most difficult to use for product. It's rarely ideal and changes by the minute. And on cloudy days there is none. Kinda like a sailboat with no wind.
Presentation is everything in sales and the camera doesn't play much role in sales, but the lighting does. But that's assuming sales is your goal.
Yes, I'm fully aware what they say about assume!!!
Again, welcome and good luck!!!
SS

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

Given the information you have provided, you can probably use an iPhone or other phone or tablet camera. The big thing that will make your stuff look good is lighting. Available light is ok for some subjects, but not a one-size-fits-all solution by any means. Jewelry and reflective objects like gift bags look best with light tents to cut down reflections, and those require 2-3 lights.

I am not kidding when I wrote that an iPhone is ok - seriously - any camera that produces an 8mp image or bigger is all you need - even point and shoot cameras will be fine, as long as you have enough light so you can use the base ISO for the best image quality.

Peterff Loc: O'er The Hills and Far Away, in Themyscira.

My wife who sells jewelry online has just started working with a high end jewelry designer. Their photographer uses all the 'usual' gear, but for one product line uses natural light and a smart phone. Need to find out about that when I meet him...

Sky

I am so grateful for all of the input.
I can describe myself as a third step newbie. I used to develop my film and print in the darkroom. i imagine there are many people who know less than I do, with all of the reading that I have been doing I am very aware of not knowing much. Somewhat adept with Photoshop. Taught photography to NYC school kids, and actually one of my JHS students was first place winner for all five boroughs in the Kodak I Love NY photo contest, so long ago.
Most recently was using an Oly C-5050. The close up focus appears to have stopped working. I just acquired the table top setup, with seamless backdrops, have not yet used it. Was planning to give it a go with an iPad, to see how it functions. I have Nikon and Canon film cameras that havent been used since digital came on board.
Recently compiled the elements for the "paper project". This is a new line. Color is the most prominent aspect, metallic or slightly reflective qualities to some of the paper items.
I am really drawn to the Pentax K-1. Not sure that this level of camera is warranted at this point.
Would this be a good choice for my purpose?
Is it too much camera for a third step newbie?
Any other specific recommendations for a camera?

I thought that NFC would be needed when using wireless wifi tethered to a large monitor.

Thank you all so much

Peterff Loc: O'er The Hills and Far Away, in Themyscira.

Mr. Google may be able to help: http://tethertalk.com/2016/02/14/shooting-tethered-with-the-pentax-k-1/

First hit from "pentax k-1 tethering"

Good luck....

boberic Loc: Quiet Corner, Connecticut. Ex long Islander

Thanks for the info. As it turns out we have a similliar background. You did your own darkroom work and had a lot of experience with manual film cameras, as did I, and a lot of people here. Don't sell yourself short. You know far more than the basics. I made the switch to digital only 2 0r 3 years ago with a Canon 7d. I was taking pictures in about a week. the posted photo is among my first few digital pics. The Pentax K-1 would be my choice if I would buy a full frame. I used it for a Christmas card

Christmas card image

(Download)

canon Lee

dcampbell52 Loc: Clearwater Fl

As others have mentioned the camera body isn't as important as the setup. A good neutral or white background and shadowless light (which could be 2 or more external strobes plus the on camera strobe, constant (non-coloring room light), or available outdoor light and reflectors to eliminate shadows and bright spots. The main key is focus, depth of field and lack of shadows. A good working height / table height stage large enough to place your product on it and to fill the field of view of the lens you choose. Personally, I probably wouldn't go less than a 50mm lens on either a full frame or DX (Crop sensor) camera but you might get away with a 35mm on the DX crop sensor. You want a stage large enough to extend beyond the front, left and right limits of your image (the back being covered by having your seamless paper extend up through the upper limit of your lens height. (Note: a bar across the front of the stage (table) to hold the roll of seamless paper would make it easier to control as well as a rear elevation (wall or raised bar) to lay the other end of the paper on to form a natural background. From that point you could (sense you are shooting digitally) experiment and see what works best and what doesn't. Seamless paper in white, grey, light blue, and other light colors would be a good beginning but don't be afraid to experiment with dark colors if you have enough light and can avoid shadows. Again lighting is the key and there are several good articles on product photography available on the web including (I suspect) some on Nikon and other camera websites.

Architect1776 Loc: In my mind

I would use what camera you have and add the Canon TS lens. Additional depth of field would improve the images.

lamiaceae Loc: San Luis Obispo County, CA

I concur on the 100mm Lens as well.

Mojoni Loc: Eastern Tennessee

👍👍👍

GENorkus Loc: Washington Twp, Michigan

Lots of camera suggestions but it seems to me that as a beginner you'd be checking out the use of light modifiers and with constant lighting, (led lights are pretry good now days), at least until you get your feet wet in product photography.

Get the shot right first. If the client(s) is happy then go for a different camera.