Best Camera?

[always4lora]

I have an Olympus 520-e , awsome camera for the novice it does have loads of functions to change so you'll never stop playing with it. As for best camera it depends how deep your pockets are! my camera was £380ish inc lens.

 

[Haych]

i managed to get the D40 for £180 in a sale, extra lens cost me £100 plus accessories.

usual cost for camera and lens (18-55mm) for £240 ish i think.

 

[StrontiumDog]

I'm still using my Fuji finepix S700, macro down to 1cm and take them in raw file which helps 32mb for a pic.

 

[ellena]

Macro isn't for getting magnification;without it, most cameras can't focus very close. So oyu get the out of focus fish with the background in clear focus 'cos that's the closest the camera can focus.
On p&s and bridge cameras, it's just a setting you choose, but on a DSLR it usually means a whole other lens. And having to stnd 6 ft away and zoom in [sigh] I do miss my fuji bridge for that.

 

[StrontiumDog]

Macro isn't for getting magnification;without it, most cameras can't focus very close. So oyu get the out of focus fish with the background in clear focus 'cos that's the closest the camera can focus.
On p&s and bridge cameras, it's just a setting you choose, but on a DSLR it usually means a whole other lens. And having to stnd 6 ft away and zoom in [sigh] I do miss my fuji bridge for that.

I never said macro isn't for getting magnification, macro allows you to focus the camera, like mine to 1cm away. the macro distance depends on the camera.

Sorry ellena, I got the wrong message coming across from you if you. If you had used the quote button, and whom you where answering I wouln't have posted the above.

 

[always4lora]

On a DSLR you still have Macro Mode , it's part of the camera on most and can eb used with any lense. Although i would like to see someone try it with one of those huge zoom lenses. You can get specific Macro lense which will obviously be better and like everything cost more.
The camara is important on a DSLR but the lenses are even more important hense why most lenses cost more than the camera its self.

 

[OldMan47]

A macro mode does not give the same benefit as a macro lens. I have a macro mode on my D-80 and would really like a macro lens. The real macro lens lets you get very close and still focus properly on the object. My macro mode lets me simulate having a macro lens to a degree but it is just not the same. I have indeed, as someone already said, found that using the 135 mm setting from 4 or 5 feet away gives me better pictures than trying to get a good focus at a foot and using the same camera and lens on the 35mm setting. With a real macro lens, I could actually get that foot or less distance shot. The lens that I would like for closeups gets down to about 4 inches from the object to the sensor, much less than that distance between the object and the lens surface.

 

[dgwebster]

this is an excellent post discussing some important aspects for aquarium photography.

I first tried this with a digital compact but the flash bounce from the glass washed out too many pics. Switching off the flash decreases the shutter speed massively resulting in very blurry pics. Your average cheap compact will not allow manual setting of the AP or ISO so I tried another experiment: black electrical tape over the flash. This works a treat, maintaining the high speed whilst not washing out the picture. Below is one picture I took that was a little dark, but some editing in GIMP to provide a light source provided a fantastic result. also is a pic of my plec slightly altered in gamma levels to brighten a little to make it easier to see him.

a decent compact which lets ou have some manual control is an abolute must, super zoom compact is a next good budget buy but a DSLR is a desired requirement. I'm personally an Olympus fan, but a DSLR is a reasonably expensive affair to get into, so get into the shops and get using to find out which one is best for you.

 

[Lucky5tar5]

I do love the canon cameras. I've sworn by them for years and they have never let me down. Unusually though, I am recently favouring a Pentax Optio W80 camera which I got for my birthday. It seems to pick up all the detail of my canon with an added bonus of being waterproof. This means I can put it inside the tank and get extreme close ups of some of my tamer aquatic friends like bamboo shrimp etc. Absolutely love it.

Its also pretty darn good for snorkelling! Can't imagine how many amazing pictures I've taken off the coast round here!

This guys a pretty young bamboo shrimp measuring just shy of an inch.

Young-ish cinnamon loach chilling at the front. (This wasn't taken from inside the tank unfortunately.)

Dwarf clawed frog (hopefully not the salmonella kind) giving a bit of a wave... =P

 

[dgwebster]

An excellent recommendation and reminding me: I recently read a reviw of a "snake rod" camera intended for use by trades people to see in awkward places. It had 6Mp resolution and cost about £60 iirc. Best part is it was entirely water proof and connected direct to pcx via usb for power etc etc much like a web cam. I had a thought of getting one to install in the tank, even provide web cast feeds from it live haha.

 

[aaronnorth]

I use a fujifilm S5700. It was £88 but people have said they have seen them for around £60 in tesco.

It is a bridge camera and great for beginners.








ISO400 - max you can go to without getting considerable amount of noise, there are programs out there to remove it but it softens the image.
F/3.5
flash - taken on an angle so flash doesnt reflect back onto lens and I also use a diffuser.

minimal editing done to the pictures. I usually just change the levels & curves like most people do to bring out the colours a bit more.

 

[dgwebster]

another keen area is if you are using a tripod setup to sit and watch a particular spot and snap that fish as it passes, a camera with cable release is a fantastic feature. I think the Fujifilm finepix s1500 has this feature, and at arund £129 its another great beginners camera.

 

[OldMan47]

Those are some nice pictures Aaron. The lens that I have on my SLR seems to not be able to go beyond a 3.5 F stop so I am somewhat limited in the low end of the light intensity. After that I need to begin to use a higher ISO setting or let the flash do its job and take my chances with reflections in the picture. I prefer to use an ISO setting of 200 or less but that means a well lit subject is essential.

 

[always4lora]

I use a fujifilm S5700. It was £88 but people have said they have seen them for around £60 in tesco.

It is a bridge camera and great for beginners.

ISO400 - max you can go to without getting considerable amount of noise, there are programs out there to remove it but it softens the image.
F/3.5
flash - taken on an angle so flash doesnt reflect back onto lens and I also use a diffuser.

minimal editing done to the pictures. I usually just change the levels & curves like most people do to bring out the colours a bit more.

I had this one beforei upgraded to my DSLR its a good camera , some of the pictures when zoomed were terible but using it without the zoom they seemed good

 

[aaronnorth]

I use a fujifilm S5700. It was £88 but people have said they have seen them for around £60 in tesco.

It is a bridge camera and great for beginners.

ISO400 - max you can go to without getting considerable amount of noise, there are programs out there to remove it but it softens the image.
F/3.5
flash - taken on an angle so flash doesnt reflect back onto lens and I also use a diffuser.

minimal editing done to the pictures. I usually just change the levels & curves like most people do to bring out the colours a bit more.

I had this one beforei upgraded to my DSLR its a good camera , some of the pictures when zoomed were terible but using it without the zoom they seemed good

I dont find the full zoom too bad, in fact i usually take all the pictures on full zoom as this also helps to limit reflections as I am further from the tank.

Not enough light is my downfall too, I need a cmaera that can handle ISO 800 because that gives me 1/125sec which is great. At the minute i can get 1/60sec max so I have to wait for the fish to be still.
I have been looking at some studio lighting, and I can get some for £60 (500w) which isnt too bad, and a worthy investment!
Thanks, Aaron