KM Posted March 13, 2005 Report Share Posted March 13, 2005 Hi Everyone I'm looking for a bit of help. I'm in the market for a new digital camera, and I would really like one that takes good photos of my fish. I currently own a Canon Powershot A80, which iasn't bad, but isn't too good when it comes to taking photos of my fish. Ideally, I do not want to spend a fortune either! Any suggestions??? I'm not a technical wizz either, so I'm looking for one that is good for people just like to take a photo without years of fiddling! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chimera Posted March 13, 2005 Report Share Posted March 13, 2005 a higher megapixel camera is important for maximum resolution - the higher the megapixel the larger the shot which means you can crop it down nicely and make it look 'zoomed in' - but its not everything. make sure the camera has fast processor and preferably can be manually preset (eg: for ISO etc to account for fast movement) also check it has a macro setting for those close up shots. i use a sony dsc-p100 5mp camera which seems to do ok. while its a good point and snap camera, it's still not the best (even though it has all the goodies on it) i think mastering photo's of fish etc is more user than camera. IMO, turn the (camera's) flash off and use natural lighting of the tank instead otherwise the shot can look "washed out" (excuse the pun ) others may disagree, if they do, I can give you many reasons why not to use the cameras flash however, you should use an 'external' flash where possible (more expense ). a tripod (or at least table to put the camera on) is ESSENTIAL. even the steadiest of hands can blur your shots! i dont use the optical zoom (where possible) and NEVER use digital zoom (and never buy a camera based on digital zoom - it's pointless) make sure the glass is EXTREMELY clean on both sides obviously. Also, it depends if you are shooting fish or just the background. If fish, then their movement is unpredictable which makes it difficult to get focus. If you can manually preset the focus then have patience to wait til a fish swims in the path of focus, you should get a nice shot. Set auto-focus mode to single AF and use the lowest aperture setting your camera offers (remember a lower aperture number represents a larger opening = more light) i have always been impressed with the high-end canon camera's. of course, going to the 10D or 20D means a second mortgage but their middle of the range camera's are very good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ira Posted March 14, 2005 Report Share Posted March 14, 2005 I find I get better pictures WITH the flash. Though, they ironically tend to be darker. Need to figure out how to fix that... Anyway, most of the blur comes from movement so the faster shutter with the flash helps the most. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
misnoma Posted March 14, 2005 Report Share Posted March 14, 2005 I have a sony DSC-F828 which I find takes pretty nice pics (you'd hope so though given the price ). planning to get an external flash for it though, as taking pics of fish with a flash pointing straight at them doesn't tend to come out so well - not to mention I'm pretty sure the fish don't like it too much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caryl Posted March 14, 2005 Report Share Posted March 14, 2005 I have the same sort as misnomer. We chose it as it had the best reviews for use in low light so takes better tank shots. We got an external flash and it makes a big difference. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
misnoma Posted March 14, 2005 Report Share Posted March 14, 2005 The other thing I've found lately is if your water is anything much other than clear (mine's a bit yellowish due to a newish piece of bogwood) it'll confuse the hell out of the camera - although this can create some entertaining effects (the direct flash would have effected this as well) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pies Posted March 14, 2005 Report Share Posted March 14, 2005 A flash is important and often the difference between OK & good photos. Remember a camera is only a tool, a bad camera in good hands is better than a good camera in bad hands. Practice makes perfect. For fishtanks I would look for a camera with 'white ballance adjustment', a good optical zoom (3x or greater), as high a mega pixel rating as possible (3 at the lowest) and 'macro' or 'super macro' functions. Macro means closeups, 99% of all the photos you take will be macro shots. I take all my photos with an Olympus C5050 zoom, probably the best camera in its class, 5 mega pixels. They can be picked up new for less than $1,000.00. If was buying a new camera, I would be looking at the Olympus C8080, 8 mega pixel. If you want to read reviews of digital cameras check www.dpreview.com Happy shopping. Pies Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ira Posted March 14, 2005 Report Share Posted March 14, 2005 Another thing a friend that's a photographer for a living says is, "Half of taking good photos is being good at tweaking them in photoshop." Or something to that effect. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chimera Posted March 14, 2005 Report Share Posted March 14, 2005 Found this on a website regarding aquarium photography and flashes: Unless you have a heavily planted tank and are using a lot of lights, the lighting in the tank usually won't be good enough to use a fast enough shutter speed to stop the motion of the fish as they swim around (remember, they are not known to pose for you). This means supplemental lighting, and for most people, that means a flash. Flash photography presents several problems, and unfortunately, you have to have a very flexible setup to overcome these issues. Do not use a built-in or on-camera flash. The best thing to use is an off-camera flash. Any camera with a hotshoe can have an accessory attached to the hotshoe which will allow you to move the flash anywhere you want (within the length of the cable). This is best. If you are using a camera that has a built-in flash, or a flash that sits on the camera (almost all point-and-shoot and SLR's), you will have a problem of the flash reflecting off the front glass and into your lens, ruining all photos. To combat this problem, there are a few possible solutions: Use a rubber hood on your lens and press the hood on the glass. This will eliminate the flash reflecting off the glass into your lens. This method introduces another problem -- the lens now may be too close to focus properly. If you can't use a rubber hood on your lens, then get the lens as close to the glass as possible (don't hit the tank because it will freak out your fish -- trust me). This will prevent most of the light from being reflected by the glass. The closer you are, the better. Turn off the flash if you can, or put some black gaffers tape across the flash if you can't turn it off. This means that the flash won't illuminate the tank, and you are back to the general lighting issue again (not much of a solution, eh?). Assuming you take care of issue #1, most camera's today use something called TTL (through-the-lens) technology to shut off the flash output when it reaches the proper level for exposure. Problem is that the flash reflecting off the back of the tank will influence TTL and you will not get good illumination of the subject you are shooting. Again, there are a few possible solutions: Turn off TTL. This is not an option with most point-and-shoot cameras or SLR's that have build-in flashes. Almost all external flashes support this in one way or another. It is almost always set on the flash itself and is usually called "Manual" or something similar. If you can do this, be careful! When the flash is in manual mode, it means that it will fire on full power because the camera will not tell it to turn off early. If you fire the flash at full power near your tank, it will definitely freak out your fish, possibly stun them for a moment or even cause more serious problems like blindness. Fish don't have adjustable irises like we do, so any sudden light will stress them (which is why you should always bring up your room lights before turning on your tank lights). Most external flashes that can be put into manual mode can have their output adjusted. I suggest testing the flash in manual mode at it's lowest fire power and then increasing it until you find a suitable output level. If you cannot turn off TTL, eliminate as much reflective material in the back of the tank as possible. Most scenic backgrounds are made of a plastic or plastic coated material (to resist water that might get on them). They are highly reflective and should be removed for photo taking. You should drape a soft, non-reflective, dark material on the back of your tank. A black piece of felt, a dark colored sheet (black, blue, green) would work, so would a dark sweater or coat. The less reflective and darker the better. This will prevent the reflection from the back of the tank from shutting off your flash too early. OK, now you've got reflection from the front of the tank and the TTL issue taken care of (hopefully). The last flash issue I've found is that some light is still being reflected by the inside glass of the back of the tank, and will wash out or back-light a photo if the reflected light is directly seen by the camera. The only way to eliminate this is to drape dark, non-reflective material in the tank itself in front of the back glass. This is not the easiest thing to do. Other than that, just try not to take a photo of a fish if it is near the back glass, and there is nothing behind it but the glass. Plants or decorations between the fish and the back glass will do an OK job of minimizing the reflection, and preventing a silhouette photo of your fish. The best way to light an aquarium photo would be to use hot lights positioned equidistance away on either side of the tank. The tank itself would be painted black on the inside, and the tank would be very small so that the fish doesn't have a place to hide, move, etc. In the absence of that (and who really has that?), the best thing to do is to use an off camera flash, and aim it an an angle (preferably up or down so that the bulk of the flash hits the top or bottom of the tank) to the fish you want to photograph. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snowman Posted March 14, 2005 Report Share Posted March 14, 2005 I have a Panasonic FZ-20 5MP & 12x optical (macro is brilliant ) that takes real good pics of my tanks or anything else , part of it is patience in waiting for the fish to slow down or stop preferably , its got full manual controls so i play around a lot to capture the best pic , can take quite a few with different settings to find the perfect one , cost $1300 but would like an external flash (have sent a letter to santa LOL) so that should help , i find the exposure and flash settings make the most difference but in the end its still completly reliant on the fish co-operating to a certain degree , its nearly impossible to get a good pic of a fast moving fish though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chimera Posted March 16, 2005 Report Share Posted March 16, 2005 http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/feb2005/tips.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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