Is Canon T2i and kit lens good for shooting (2D) artwork?

What are your thoughts and experience with shooting two-dimensional artwork with a Canon T2i, and will the standard lens be OK for this purpose? Or should I upgrade to the zoom lens package to save with having to move the camera distance all the time?

Short of a proper large format image scanning system I've heard the Canon EOS 5D Mark II with its 22mp imaging is the next-best photo option to capture Giclée quality prints. But that camera is out of my budget and renting one for just a week in my location will cost as much as this T2i!

so I'm wondering your thought on using this T2i for top quality reproductions? This is for hundreds of artworks, mostly prints up to 24"x30", and oil paintings on canvas and board up to 30"x40". So no super large works, but large enough..

The other matter is that really we don't plan to make Giclée prints. We just really need to archive a lifetime's worth of works at the highest feasible quality, and do so as economically as possible. If they may be used to make reproductions too, great. It's a fine line between the budget and getting adequate quality.

Taking aside the fact that proper glicee prints need to be compared and color matched to the original, etc. I realize that we'll not be able to quite get the quality on every image that would be ideal. Not to mention issues with lighting, tripod/camera table set up, etc. But if the eventual setup can do a consistent and adequate job, that should suffice. At least it should be many times better than the standard digicam shots we have now!

Also if you have any thoughts or links that you recomend on photographing artwork please let me know. The camera is just one part of the set-up

Answer

That is a good camera but you really should get a macro lens. This will give you two advantages
1. a flat field with minimal distortion (important for photographing documents)

2. high resolution to get good quality images.

Other important issues
1. Use a good, sturdy tripod.
2. Pay a lot of attention to lighting, this may be your most important issue.
3. Good colour calibration is vital, so shoot in RAW and tweak your RAW conversion profile.

While I like Matt Grum's suggestion to make panoramic reproductions, I suspect it will be far too time consuming if you must photograph hundreds of artwork.