Mostly rings and earrings. need sharp focus all around and all in one shot with minimal photoshop. Thanks! Thanks! I first had the 65mm macro, but that was way, waaay, too close up. Any other suggestions or tips? I don't need to be very far away, as I will be shooting in a light box, and yes on a tripod. I am shooting with my company Canon rebel XTi does this make a difference?

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The 180 mm will put you a longer distance from the jewelry, if that is your goal. You will need a sturdy tripod and of course a light tent, which I am sure you have. Controlling the depth of field is easier with shorter lenses ... You may even to want to compare the 60 mm and 100 mm to see which pulls the most depth of field

You did not say what you had, but if you shoot Canon or Nikon, they both have an excellent 100mm Macro (105 for Nikon) at f/2.8 that does outstanding work and can focus at around a foot. http://freephotographytutorials.blogspot.com/

I prefer to shoot with a high quality mid range zoom instead of a macro for this type of set up so that I do not have to keep moving the camera and tripod for every different shot. You do not mention what camera you are using but based on the 180mm I am guessing that you are talking about a Canon camera. Here are some pictures I did last week using my Olympus 12 ~ 60 zoom lens (24 ~ 120 35mm equivalent) instead of my 50mm macro lens. http://www.flickr.com/photos/robs-photo-memory/sets/72157615730825434/ Note that the longest focal length used in any of these was 50mm (100mm equivalent). HTH. Good luck.

I bought a 180 and the camera is almost too far away particularly with larger items. I though I could get better lighting on gems as you could get the lights further away from the subject if the lens was further away. I now think the 100 mm would have been fine at less cost.