Jealous Reefer

[pulpfiction1]

im so jealous of the camera shots some are getting with these new cameras.im still using my kodak dx4330,gotta be 12 years old,maybe more.only preset selections,so i thought id take a few before the lights go out so i at least see my tank is getting better,at about 5weeks running now i think,damn im gonna get me one of those cameras
look so frag-tastic the pics

was gonna photo shop it but to be honest i havent a clue,gonna have to read about it some

last shot is basically same as the second night shot,

 

[teebone110]

nice work.. any way to work that you can adjust the whitebalance through a photoshop program to make things more "real to the eye"

 

[pulpfiction1]

might try to mess with it,ill get photoshop tomorrow and give it a try,but the pics are nowhere near as clear as the tank,i think my phone prob takes a better pic

 

[Zakk]

Jesus your camera sucks, 


Seriously though, of the cameras I have used, kodak and fuji have the worst colour reproduction qualities.  Canon is just so damn fine when it comes to the SLR market.  They really took the bull by the horns.  They do have sales though...watch for the 50% off.  I use mine for photographing houses and virtual tours, the thing can do anything.  I'm just now experimenting with trying to get it to do LED reef photography.... but I think it will do it when you get the settings right. 

 

[El concistador]

nice coraline

 

[phi delt reefer]

pulp - buy the cheapest camera that you can find that is a brand name (canon, panasonic, nikon, sony, olympus) that shoots RAW and has white balance adjustments built in. You can probably find something for under $200 - possibly less on Kijiji - lots of kids graduating from Fanshawe's photography program realizing there is little to money in the hobby and needing to pay rent

 

[Petercar (RIP Dec 2017)]

where the hell is RAW?..i have a rebel and i dont see RAW in white balance

 

[pulpfiction1]

i will keep an eye open in the new year,this cam has no real adjustments,and closer i get to anything like the tank i think it has some kind of auto focus that i cant turn off,so i think its focusing on the glass but not the object in the tank.its done me well for a 3.1 mega pixel.when i bought it ,it was the highest at the time(2001 i think) for digital cameras.

 

[phi delt reefer]

where the hell is RAW?..i have a rebel and i dont see RAW in white balance

peter you probably cant shoot in RAW if the camera is set to the easy to use "auto" mode. You will need to turn the selector dial to one of the manual modes then go into the menu and make adjustments to picture quality (RAW) and white balance. Should be able to google it for your specific camera model - they have lots of online tutorials for DSLRs - some are even model specific.

 

[Zakk]

What's the white balance setting you found worked best phi, 'florescent'?  Or do you tune it in custom?  I have to pull the blue out with photoshop but is sometimes leaves a strange glowing red effect on the rock and substrate...

 

[phi delt reefer]

go to custom autobalance where you can pick the kelvin and pump it up to the max (usually 10,000 or 15,000k)

OR use the CLOUDLY setting.

theres this other mode that blob showed me on my camera. Its called "Evaluative" - i have two versions, i use the second one. But i have the option to drop a white card into my tank, take a picture and tell my camera that is what white is and then the camera will adjust colors accordingly. I find when i shoot in raw the color adjust without getting wierd during white balance changes in photoshop.

 

[Zakk]

Ahhh, okay, in my menu there is a "custom WB' setting, and a little lower there is 'Custom WB' that asks you to pick a picture for what white balance is supposed to be, is that the one? 

If you say no, I have to go out and buy a whole new camera, and my wife will not be happy with you. 

 

[phi delt reefer]

yeah go to Henrys and ask for a White balance card.

see if you can get a laminated one.

put that in your tank then pick that setting that asks you to take a pic for WB setup. Put the card in your tank with the lights on and take a pic. That should get the colors very close to real life then you can tweak. 

if you pick up that white balance card give me a shout and i will swing by with my camera or you can come by my place. I dont have any LEDs so its easier to take pics in my tank but i was able to get some decent shots at Bills under Royal blues only.

 

[Duke]

in a pinch you could use anything you have thats really white. something plastic maybe? a white plastic plate would work good.

 

[Petercar (RIP Dec 2017)]

white plate ?..put in tank and hold camera at it from outside?

 

[Zakk]

I'm going to see if I can dig up something, maybe even a laminated card from one of the test kits I don't use anymore. 

Pretty neat if it works, and I was impressed with just iso film speed settings being 'virtual'.  [old prospector's voice] We used to have to go and BUY 1600 film if we wanted 1600 film, not just turn some dang thingamajigger!! [\old prospector's voice]

What about flash?  The one built in just bleaches everything, but I have a good hotshoe one from my old SLR setup.  I wonder if it's possible to bounce in a little light to help counteract the blues.

Jeez, now there's going to be a tripod and who knows what else in my dining room. 

 

[Duke]

no flash, and even just using the sandbed to set the white balance will make for great pictures.

 

[phi delt reefer]

only problem with using the sand bed is it needs to be perfectly white. if you have shadows or diatoms or crap all over it wont work as well. An old test kit card should work pretty well. I might experiment tonight with it, the salifert phophate kit has a nice one .