Fujifilm S3000

[Ape]

Hello all,

Found the forum on a google search and it looks a great place to learn about photography and fish.

I have a 60g marine fish-only tank and have decided that I want to get some decent photo's of the fish to show off to other people and keep for myself. However I am experiencing alot of difficulty in getting the camera to focus onto the fish and all of the photos come out blurred :( - I can get really crisp pictures using a flash however this produces really fake colours and looks awful.

Here are the settings in Manual mode which I have used;

EV: -1.8 (Experimented with alot of settings and none seem to improve quality)
A.Priority: F2.8
Sharpness: Normal
WB: Flurescent 1
Macro: On (Tried turn off and just as bad)
Flash: 0 (Ranges from -0.6 to +0.6

I can't seem to change the ISO or anything else, I don't have a tri-pod either. Can anyone provide some tips for this camera (and me) on how to get better shots - I understand it isn't the best. When I've got some cash I will be upgrading to the Fujifilm S7000 which seems alot better and has alot more which you can edit.

Many thanks in advance for your time and effort,
Sam

[phishphorphun]

Welcome aboard APF, Sam. You may want share one of your best photos with us later so we can see more of your results and give some suggestions.

Using any camera for aquarium photography without a flash is normally going to provide less sharper images than with flash. With that said, you can take decent photos without flash, but you must have more than adquate light from above. So you have to add more lights to your tank when photographing.

I would reccomend you use the flash and diffuse it with tissue paper. This trick really works well and eliminates blurry fish. Slightly angle your camera so that your flash is coming from the 10:00 or 1:00 o'clock positions to the sudject that is almost parralell to the lens.

As for your camera settings. When shooting with the flash, try "Manual Mode". Set your f/stop to the lowest aperature (higher number) your camera allows. Shutter speed can be anywhere from 1/80 to 1/200. WB will probably work okay in "Auto". As for your Exposure Compensation, start at -/+ = 0. You can adjust it after you start seeing some results. If your images are too light, try -1 to -2. And as for ISO, your camera should allow you to set it at the lowest ISO when shooting flash.

Try these settings and make adjustments as you get more familiar with the camera settings.

Also, a tripod isn't neccessary for aguarium fish photography. You can get better results hand holding your camera very firmly.

And post some pix soon.:-D

[Ape]

Hi Bobby,

Thanks for the speedy reply and advice - I will try out your suggestions and post my best images here tomorrow - However I am a bit embarassed as alot of them are really really bad - Hopefully it's just me and not completely the cameras fault.

Regards,
Sam

[Ape]

Well heres my (crap) attempt following your guidelines

http://aquatic-photography.com/gallery//files/1/9/3/5/DSCF0042_thumb.jpg (http://aquatic-photography.com/gallery//showimage.php?i=3399)

http://aquatic-photography.com/gallery//files/1/9/3/5/DSCF0029_thumb.jpg (http://aquatic-photography.com/gallery//showimage.php?i=3398)

I took them with the following settings;

EV: 0
A.Priority: F8.2
ISO: 100 - 200 (Cannot change this checked manual)
Shutter Speed: 1/60 (Again I had no control over this even in manual mode - If close the flash it went to 1/2)
Macro mode: On

I also haven't got any tissue paper atm so will get some and try again. Is it my technique or is the camera letting me down with lack of manual settings? :confused:

Thanks,
Sam

[phishphorphun]

I think you are too hard on yourself. This isn't too bad. You should have a bathroom somewhere near you that has tissue. When you tape it over the flash, just be careful not to have it actually touching the flash lens. You want to be cautious as to not scorch the flash lens.

[Ape]

Thanks for your comments I will give the tissue paper/bog roll trick a go when I am back from work, and post my results here.

Regards,
Sam

[Ape]

We'll I attached the tissue paper to the flash and I got some slightly better results - However I did cheat a little as the camera is way to slow at focusing on moving objects (Read this in the majority of reviews);

http://img413.imageshack.us/img413/6769/dscf00580jm.th.jpg (http://img413.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dscf00580jm.jpg) http://img435.imageshack.us/img435/3361/dscf00631oi.th.jpg (http://img435.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dscf00631oi.jpg) http://img413.imageshack.us/img413/3364/dscf00644ql.th.jpg (http://img413.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dscf00644ql.jpg)

In a few months I might be in a position where I can upgrade to an SLR camera (Always wanted to expand to this in the hobby) - I was thinking of the Nikon D50 would this be a wise choice or could anyway recommend anything cheaper with the same specs?