I need to look into a new digital camera. 90% of it’s use or more will be taking pictures of the animals in my tanks. Any strong opinions? I know there are some good articles about this topic somewhere anyone run across them recently?
i think pending price, an SLR camera would be great coupled with a macro lens…
point n shoot cameras r crap settings wise, its what u see what u get…
but a mid price camera like canon s3is is great, that whole family of cameras is great
i think pending price, an SLR camera would be great coupled with a macro lens....
+1 the only way to go for serious photography. ive got a canon rebel xti which is a pretty nice entry level SLR with a reasonable price tag. the lenses are what kills you. i “decent” macro lense will set you back $300-$600 just for the lense and thats not even top of the line. the one im saving for is $600 which pulls double duty as a decent mutipurpose lense because the kit lense blows.
my best advice if you go SLR is to purchase only the camera body and buy the lenses as needed instead of shelling out money for a body/lense package.
So with an SLR I am pretty much not going to get a good FTS and close up on a coral?
Figured an SLR would be the way to go. I used to be on top of this kind of stuff, but I’ve lost touch.
i got the nikon D40 for around $500 or $550 i forget, wasnt that much. you can get like the D90 for 2 grand lol
a good macro lens is going to run you around $300 to $500 as well but you can go the cheaper way with diopters for the simulated macro shots, meaning you will get the shot you want but lose alot of depth of field.
+1 on the SLR
I use the Cannon Rebel (XT I think) and it does a great job. Like Shawn said the kit lens blows but with a little practice you can still get some nice shots with it. And if you’re stepping up from a PHD camera (press here dummy) it’s ging to be a HUGE improvement over what you’re used to.
You can always look in to a magnification filter for the kit lens to get nice up close shots. They are SIGNIFICANTLY cheaper then a macro lens. $60 vs. $600.
I keep looking for , but not buying yet, a cheap digital camera for tank and GP photos. I have come accross some that have great macro focusing range capability , like 4 inches to infinity. with both lens and digital zoom. Im just trying to get edjucated on the features and capabilities of these things. so i can get what i need and not take a second mortgage on the house. so i go to the specs to look for zoom features and the focal ranges. some have several ranges, for different settings. nice. and it seems most cameras on the market now have 8-12 mp definition. so clarity shouldnt be a problem. I also want something small, slim, and no big protruding bumps, to fit a pocket. and durable. those lens shutters open with the slightest brush. not sure i like that, when its in my pocket with keys and stuff.
maybe something like this
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=9064718&type=product&id=1218014553926
I think it sounds like the optical zoom is all internal. no protruding parts to break or jam.
or better still, this one with the sliding metal lens cover.
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=9245694&type=product&id=1218067379876
or a little water proof for unterwasser photos in the tank.
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=9223761&type=product&id=1218062133321
so many to choose from. are these any good? any experience?
unfortunatly none of those cameras you listed will give you any good macro photos of your corals, consider this as well, because i made the mistake of buying a point and shoot camera that i took back the same day, point and shoots have auto focus and its nearly impossable to focus on what you want it to in the tank, sometimes it wants to focus the glass or the rock behind and the zooms are terrible on them.
you need macro slr to get photos like this
at least thats what i wanted it for
completely agree with TimH07.
to add to the confusion: i really doubt that anyone who is not a professional needs something like 10 megapixels. it’d be better to put the money toward lenses or macro capability. the huge mp is advertising crapola designed to make people think that more is better, imo.
are you intending to blow up any pictures larger than 11X14? 8 mp would work for that size.
a macro i took, with no loss of detail, with only 5.1 mp on an old nikon koolpix
not as close as Tim’s shot, but c’mon. i could have gotten the shot closer, but the acan was a bit too far from the glass
do you need to get closer than this:
look for close up capability in the macro lens or phase. mine can focus down to slightly less than 1/2 inch. neither was taken using a tripid, which makes a lotta difference in sharpness
tripod, clam right against the glass, so it’s essentially focusing to the thickness of the glass
also keep in mind that megapixels really only come in to play when you want to print pictures, in which case the photo printer you use is even more important then the number of megapixels you have in your camera. General rule of thumb is 4 MP is sufficient for pictures up to 11x14.
If you’re not using photography as a means to make money then I agree with the above - out the money towards a lens.
(Of course mine is 10+ mo ;D)
for the record i didnt take that pic i posted just used it as an example. im still in the market for a good macro lens for my nikon
edit. also some people get macro confused with zoom… zoom is the ability to see far objects, you can zoom in on close objects but you lose all focus, zoom and focus combined makes macro lenses unique
this is the one im looking at, but need to get over the price (not making money with it after all)
holy clams! $949.99
that’s a bit much for what jon’s needs are, seems to me. half of that price will buy lotsa corals and critters, with the other half going to a nice versatile camera.
For top down shots an underwater housing makes a TON of difference…a TON, you have to worry about blocking the lighting with the camera, but if they are for pics of frags in a frag system that are mostly top down shots, underwater housing. Probably doesn’t even need to be very professional, just something to let you get through the water surface. (i.e. you don’t need a housing rated to 500FSW)
jon,
Point n shoot cameras I believe we can all say are crap at what your tying to do. So above PNS and Below SLR’s are really great camera’s, they just dont have every feature available on an SLR. Maybe only a 10x zoom instead of 15 etc…
On ebay or Best buy Check out the S3IS and the likely of that line. they accept new lenses just like an SLR and have dozens of features including Super Macro even with the standard lens i can press mine right up against the glass and shoot, it has Manual Focus…
Buying a camera Used like that for like 250$ would be more than worth it… I’d post pics of mine but I still have to get batteries…
just something to consider…
on a used camera, i’d wanna take some pix to make sure there are no scratches [they really are MAGnified in macro] and that all functions work before plunking down the $200 or so. on this particular one, i’m not too thrilled about 4X zoom, assuming that there might be a reason to use that feature. digital zoom has no real purpose inj taking the pic.
digital zoom is terrible, its the same when viewing a photo on a computer as clicking the magnify button, but its before you take the pic
yep, tim. so jon, whatcha gonna do?
Lol, little frantic getting ready for company coming over this weekend/you guys coming over next week end. Not sure I’ll have time this week to narrow my options.
I have to disagree a little bit with what Craig said about only when printing does megapixels come into play. I kind of like when I can take a full tank shot and then zoom in on a particular coral and stuff have a full image. Or like when I took a shot of a tall ship with my brother in front of it… My brother was only about 1/20th the size of the tall ship, but I could zoom in on my brothers face on the computer and the image was still clear.
Often times you can get a useable image out of a larger image. Now if there is much of a difference between a 9mp and a 10mp or if it is just stretching the terms and marketing, that’s a different story. But between a 4mp and a 9mp is huge in my humble opinion.(Correct me if I’m wrong, I’ve been out of touch with this stuff for several years now)
if you are going to buy a camera now… do not get anything lower than 12mp. that is pretty much the norm right now and imo the 9 or 10 mp cameras are similarly priced so id get the better now… more future proof .