Reefkid88 Posted April 13, 2016 Share Posted April 13, 2016 Anyone have any pointers on what settings to mess with ? I got one for free yesterday and haven't messed with a DSLR camera in some time. On the camera they look amazing,but once uploaded they don't look as good lol. Link to comment
ajmckay Posted April 13, 2016 Share Posted April 13, 2016 I want to know how to get one for free hehe... Anyways, SLR isn't too bad, I usually use a shutter speed priority mode (1/120 +) and choosing a high ISO keeps things bright. Some say to use a low ISO (100-300) but my photos usually come out too dark or blurry if I do that. I think some people use remote flashes to accomplish the low ISO look. I usually shoot in jpeg fine at a pretty high resolution but a lot of people swear by RAW format (I think that's particularly helpful if you do a lot of post processing in photoshop or whatever). The white balance is another adjustment - but you'll have to just mess with that some. Start with auto and once you're comfortable with getting a nice and clear shot start messing with that. Honestly there's a learning curve. Take tons and tons of photos and post the few very best ones here or a photography forum for feedback. Link to comment
Reefkid88 Posted April 13, 2016 Author Share Posted April 13, 2016 I want to know how to get one for free hehe... Anyways, SLR isn't too bad, I usually use a shutter speed priority mode (1/120 +) and choosing a high ISO keeps things bright. Some say to use a low ISO (100-300) but my photos usually come out too dark or blurry if I do that. I think some people use remote flashes to accomplish the low ISO look. I usually shoot in jpeg fine at a pretty high resolution but a lot of people swear by RAW format (I think that's particularly helpful if you do a lot of post processing in photoshop or whatever). The white balance is another adjustment - but you'll have to just mess with that some. Start with auto and once you're comfortable with getting a nice and clear shot start messing with that. Honestly there's a learning curve. Take tons and tons of photos and post the few very best ones here or a photography forum for feedback. Thankfully it was a gift lol. Last night I messed with it for about a hour and was shooting in manual mode with a low iso and like you said it was coming out a little dark,and then shooting in raw stuff came out good,but not crystal clear. Looked a little distorted honestly,maybe even grainy. The stock lens I believe has a macro as well ? Which worked out good but I need to get something where I can get right up on the pieces I want to shoot. I'll post some pics here later tonight to show what I get. Link to comment
ajmckay Posted April 14, 2016 Share Posted April 14, 2016 Yeah I would practice in regular jpeg mode for now. easier when taking tons of pictures. At least that's my thought. I like the following chart. To sum it up all else equal, - A lower aperture lets in the most light but has the shortest depth of field/focal length. That is to say how much of the scene you will have in focus vs. blurry. - A faster shutter speed will capture motion better (I find 1/120+ good for fish) - A high ISO will capture more light per shot, at the expense of image quality. A high ISO image will be grainier and a low ISO image will be finer. This is different than the camera menu image quality setting (normal, fine, super fine, etc..). IME unless you have a super bright aquarium light or you use a flash a high ISO is pretty much necessary though. Good luck with taking pics - try to take a ton and experiment with the settings. Don't rely 100% on the in camera screen though because it's small enough that it can mask the effect of being slightly out of focus or blurry. On a practice session I probably take 200 pictures over 20-30 minutes and keep like 5-10 of them maybe. I also hand hold too. I have a tripod but it's kind of a pain for anything but coral pictures. Even then though I don't like to just take pics of corals only when there's always interesting fish to shoot. Link to comment
Reefkid88 Posted April 14, 2016 Author Share Posted April 14, 2016 I appreciate the advice,thanks a lot. I will try and work all the kinks out and try and adjust everything accordingly and see if I can come up with some decent pictures. Is there any good free editing programs running around nowadays ? Link to comment
ajmckay Posted April 15, 2016 Share Posted April 15, 2016 https://www.google.com/nikcollection/ Link to comment
Reefkid88 Posted April 20, 2016 Author Share Posted April 20, 2016 So,I'm debating on what lense to get still... I'm thinking this lense with some add on macro diopters which I can get on amazon for about $15- $20: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/801344764-USE/sigma_659101_28_80mm_f_3_5_5_6_aspherical_mini.html I'm also looking into a "nifty fifty" as well for just normal messing around. Link to comment
Reefkid88 Posted May 1, 2016 Author Share Posted May 1, 2016 Did some shooting today,still trying to get settings down fully. These were shot with a 50mm lens and uv filter: Link to comment
brad908 Posted May 2, 2016 Share Posted May 2, 2016 When someone tells you to shoot jpeg over raw, everything they have said should be disregarded. Link to comment
Reefkid88 Posted May 2, 2016 Author Share Posted May 2, 2016 When someone tells you to shoot jpeg over raw, everything they have said should be disregarded. All of these were shot in raw. Link to comment
Reefkid88 Posted May 6, 2016 Author Share Posted May 6, 2016 Also,does anyone know if a Pentax-EOS adapter without AF Conformation with act any differently the one with AF Confirmation ? I don't use AF whatsoever so I'm not to worried about it if it won't pose a problem. Link to comment
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