[jkeithh1969]

Have a question. What would be a good lens for my new Nikon D40? It came with this lens:
3x 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G ED II AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor Lens.

I just can not get decent aquarium pictures with it no matter what settings I use.

[zhenya]

I just can not get decent aquarium pictures with it no matter what settings I use.

Do you have any samples so we can take a look at them?
I can;t really help with anything Nikon as all I have and use is Canon gear, but perhaps there is something that could be done to correct the problem without going out and shelling out a grand for a lens. D40 uses all DX lenses(AF-S, AF-I), right? I read somewhere that other lenses could be used but you loose the autofocus and some other lenses you can only use in manual mode, is that true? I know Nikon has some exellent glass that is made for digital only, but boy are they pricey...
Hopefully Mike has some ideas on the lenses for you.

[Poseidon]

Hi Keith,

I too hope someone can recommend a good lens for you. I know that the 3rd party Sigma, Tamron, and Tokina 90-105mm Macro lenses work well for tank pictures. A friend of mine uses that Tokina 90mm and it works GREAT for him.

Here is a link to a review....

[jkeithh1969]

Gene,

You are correct in that I need to use AF-s or AF-I or I will lose the autofocus.

[zhenya]

Originally Posted by jkeithh1969

Gene,

You are correct in that I need to use AF-s or AF-I or I will lose the autofocus.

Yeah, that puts some limitations on your selections. I just read up on it and can;t understand why Nikon chose not to include autofocus drive in the body, but I digress... From what I read about the camera and that kit lens it should produce adequate images, so I'm not sure what the problem may be when you are taking shots of your tank. Are images aside from tank shots come out nice?
Also, could you barrow a lens from someone to try and see if the problem is in your lens or the body itself?

PS. I bought el cheapo Vivitar macro lens that I had some decent success with. It came with the diopter that you had to screw on to achieve true 1:1 magnification, however, I used it as a regular prime lens without the diopter and it gave me some good results. Especially if you stoped down to f5.6-f8. Unfortunately it is not available anymore at the B&H, I guess Vivitar is out of the lens business? Anyways, it was like $139.00 bux. I don;t use it anymore because I have two macro lenses already and two good primes, so I'm set. Mike has good idea though if the problem is in the lens. That Tokina has exellent reviews.

[jkeithh1969]

I think a lot of the problems are probably me not knowing what I am doing. It just seems to be when I try and take pictures of things in the aquarium that doesn't look good every thing else looks really good. Maybe I just haven't hit upon the right settings.

[Poseidon]

Are your pictures out of focus, or is the color bad? Several things to try,

Change the ISO from 100 up to 400 or even 800.

Use a tripod or other method of keeping the camera still if you are taking pictures or coral.

For pictures of moving fish, look for a setting that has to do with "focus Tracking" or "predictive focus" and use a higher ISO, like 400, 800, etc.

What type of lights do you have? Are they Halides, if so what color temp? With 14K and higher, a white balance setting of "shade" will usually be pretty close to correct, and better then the cameras AWB.

[jkeithh1969]

Ok let's see..... pictures are a little out of focus. The pictures I tried to take were just some corals in my nano (as the 90 gallon still hasn't come in) with PC lighting.

[Poseidon]

My guess is Camera Shake then. What was the shutter speed of the pictures you have taken so far?

Any thing more then 1/60th of a second is hard to hand hold. (1/30, 1/15th, 1/8th etc....)

[zhenya]

Hi Keith,

Are you using preset modes when taking aquarium pictures?
Like MIke had pointed out already, out of focus images are result of camera movement( hands shaking). I have similar problem simply because my hands shake slightly whenever I hold anything that weigh more than a half pound. So I either bump ISO to ensure faster shutter speeds or use manual mode so I can control it myself and not the camera. Takes some practice but results are worth it.

[jkeithh1969]

That could be it. I am using the preset modes to take the pictures as I have no idea what I am doing when it comes to the other stuff. Maybe I just need a "SLR for dummies" book or something.

[zhenya]

Originally Posted by jkeithh1969

That could be it. I am using the preset modes to take the pictures as I have no idea what I am doing when it comes to the other stuff. Maybe I just need a "SLR for dummies" book or something.

Yeah, I feel the same way at times.
I'll give you a link to a bunch of lessons that Gregory Ho had compiled on his website. Gregory is a professional photographer and I found his lessons very easy to understand and follow, furthermore, they helped me a bunch to understand what some of the settings do.

Ximina's Photography [Lessons - Index]

[jkeithh1969]

Thank you so much. Here's an attempt I made before seeing the message with the lessons.

[jkeithh1969]

It looked better before I edited it and saved it smaller and lower quality.

[zhenya]

Well, it looks pretty darn good even after JPEG compression, at least to my eyes. What software do you use to edit your images?
Regardless, though, I think the image itself is in focus and probably could be made even better in post processing but I know what you mean about getting quality image straight from the camera.That;s what all photographers are striving for, I believe.

Also, the colors could be a bit off on the yellow polyps but that is a white balance issue and not the lens. Sometimes the camera gets confused with the lighting that we have over aquariums and setting custom white balance could be a good idea. I think all you need is just more practice and more practice... Just like the rest of us...

[jkeithh1969]

It is a software package that came with the camera called PictureProject. I did most of the editing in it and then pulled it into Photoshop for compressing it and I am still trying to learn how to use both pieces of software which may be part of my problem too. I did take everyone's advice and used a tripod for it.

[Poseidon]

Very Nice! There is no camera shake there. Like Gene mentioned the WB is off a tad, but that can be fixed.

Did you try the shade setting? If that is not working then like Gene said a custom WB will fix the blue cast.

[jkeithh1969]

I will be sure to give it a try tonight.

[jkeithh1969]

Another attempt at picture taking..... my new double yellow leather. DO you guys think I got a good deal on it.... both of them plus a tunicate that I didn't see on it's rock until after I got home plus a hitchhiking turbo snail for $59?

[zhenya]

Not bad at all as far as image goes, a tad noisy for my taste but not bad at all. What ISO did you shot that image? 400 or higher? Next time try taking it with ISO set at 100 and see if the image will look smoother. You may need to either use a tripod or faster shutter speeds to avoid images becomming blurry due to camera shake but the images will be much smoother in appearance, I think.

The leather is beautiful and I think you got the better part of the deal with all the extra life on the rock.