PDA

View Full Version : Sharp aquatic photos made with P&S without flash - an oxymoron?


Andreas Werth
06-19-2006, 4:03 PM
Hi!
Have you ever tried to make aquatic photos with your P&S camera without flash?
Since integrated flash is a big problem to use for aquatic photography and a source for many errors (reflections, false colours, strong shadows...), abandonment of flash could be a way to success.

The problem: you need enough light to get sharp photos. Therefore you need to adjust high ISO and small f/stop numbers to be able to use suitable shutter speeds.

The difficulty: you canīt go very high with ISO (since this is not a strength of P&S cameras)
ISO 200 is already very noisy with most of the cameras. Of course you can (and should) use a denoising tool to improve the results. Another problem: shutter button lag.

The advantage: depth of field is bigger with P&S at the same object distance than with dslr. Therefore you can work with larger f/stops (smaller f/stop number) to get the whole or at least the necessary part of the fish into focus.

In my opinion one can be successful with slow fishes. Fast swimmers are very difficult if not impossible under normal tank illumination.

Iīm interested in your best results.

Andreas Werth
06-20-2006, 7:39 PM
Nobody?
Okay, i make the start:

http://www.aquarienfotografie.net/archiv/fotos/01066_600s.jpg

chubasco
06-20-2006, 10:09 PM
Don't know how sharp these are, Andreas, but I shot these last year with my Sony D770 using aquarium
lighting, ISO 400, I think at f2.2, have to check. I used Neat Image to clean up some of the horrorshow
noise you get with ISO 400 and 1.5MP with these old Sonys.:-|

http://aquatic-photography.com/gallery//files/1/6/3/5/2ef.jpg

Second photo gone, because it is super awesome wicked bad;)

CDM
06-21-2006, 2:43 AM
Hey Andreas, thanks for bringing this topic up. Here's one of a lionfish (DOF demanding subject), also taken from Sony F707.

http://photos.imageevent.com/codomo/fishes/othermarinespecies/lionfish/websize/DSC03304-1.JPG

paradise
06-21-2006, 3:32 AM
Nice one CDM. Here is mine, one of my fave shots of all time by myself, done a few years ago with my Sony 717 (almost exactly same as 707) . This camera (717-707) used to be the Staple for aquatic photography before DSLR. We all used to have one, Yuchia, myself, Aaron, Mikal and countless others. Great P&S camera. Zeiss glass.

http://egfoto.com/gallery/aquatic/subs/cichlids/large/0004.jpg

CDM
06-21-2006, 4:07 AM
I still remember those old days. My 707 is still alive and kicking, and becomes my boy's start up camera.

Andreas Werth
06-21-2006, 7:55 AM
Hi Bill, Yuchia and Ed
thanks for joining in :-)

@Bill: i like the first photo. It is not exactly sharp and there are some problems with highlights, but you did a good job to catch a pair - much more difficult than only a portrait of a single fish, especially under these circumstances. In addition, i guess these two have been moving fast.

@Ed: i like your photo, too. Good colours and sharpness. Nearly no highlights (as far as i can see on this TFT at work).

@Yuchia: you did a very good job with that lionfish. Another difficulty here is the high contrast between dark red and white colours, leading to some color fringing.

This is another one from my available light-killi session:

http://www.aquarienfotografie.net/archiv/fotos/01048_600s.jpg

chubasco
06-21-2006, 8:39 AM
Ed, that's a great photo! And I'm not a Chicklid lover...altho I saw some Africans in my fave LFS yesterday
that gave me pause.

CDM, that's a very respectable shot of an expensive fish! Gonna be looking for a 707
or 717 on ebay (have 2 more old Sonys to sell, a D770 and DKC-FP3).

Andreas, luv the luminosity of the gold in that profile shot, and it being a killie of course.:-) I added a new
definition to navy corpsman folklore: an oxymoron is an idiot with a good airway.:lol:

Lastly, thanks guys for pointing out why I took these older efforts down in the first place.:-)

t_chelle16
06-21-2006, 11:23 AM
I took this one years ago with my old Sony Mavica CD250. It took quite a few blurry shots before I got this one.
http://chelle.mine.nu/art/pics/fish/sherbertcharlie.jpg

-Chelle