what camera

[ulibaloo]

hello
i keep tropical fish and want to take better pictures of my tanks and fish.
in the moment i hve a olympus c-350 zoom which is ok but useless for what i want to do.
i have looked at the fuji finepix s7000 and s5500 zoom.
which one would be best and what flash could be used to be mounted above the tanks
thanks a lot

 

[Big Mike]

Welcome to the forum,

Have you considered a digital SLR? Although they are more expensive than the cameras you are looking at...you get a lot more for your money and have many options in terms of expanding you system in the future.

There are plenty of ways to fire a flash above the tank, especially if the camera has a hot shoe. You can get a cable from the hot shoe to the flash, you could even trigger it wirelessly with the right accessories. To get the best results, I would think that some sort of TTL (through the lens) flash metering system would be best.

Maybe ask Sharkbait, he is a mod here and he has reef tanks. He could give you some tips for this type of thing.

 

[ulibaloo]

thanks for the quick reply

i have no idea about the specs and things you need for a digicam or what a slr is. i can get both cameras from my wifes catalog and i was wondering wich one is better suited. as i also have to buy a new aquarium, one is leaking, i was hoping one would fit the bill as they are not too expensive

 

[DocFrankenstein]

You're looking at around 900 bucks.

I'd use a digital rebel, some lens and a Vivitar 285 flash... Or you might go nikon and get D70 and some lens, and some vivitar

BTW: It may take some time to learn the photography related stuff before you take that cool picture.

cheers

 

[ulibaloo]

i have a lot to learn.
i only want to take quality shots of fish and tanks. everything else is not important as far as i'm concerned. it's my hobby and i want to document it.
my family snap shots aren't to bad so i'm not wanna focus on that

 

[Rob]

I would recommend using as much natural light as possible and a gentle soft-box. Fish can be easily upset by flash and a flash-gun falling into the water would be a very bad thing (it'd probably kill them all!).

I would say that your best bet is to try the following:

Clean the tank to get any marks off the glass.
Get a good constant light source.
Get a big heavy blanket and get yourself under it with the camera on one side of the tank.
Get up as close to the glass as possible - shoot parallel to the glass.
Use a tripod.
Shoot.

A 28mm lens is about right for balancing field of view and low distortion.

You should be able to get something like this (if your tank has a shark in it)

 

[hobbes28]

Check out www.dpreview.com and check out the different cameras. Some of the lesser expensive cameras are the Canon 300D, Canon 350D, Nikon D70, D70s, D50, and the Pentax *istDs...I'm sure there are more in that range but I have to agree that you'll be happier with a digital SLR instead.

A SLR is a Single Lens Reflex camera that has interchangeable lenses so you're not stuck with the one lens that comes on the front of the camera, so if you want your camera lens to be different, you don't have to buy a new camera, just a different lens.