What is a good camera for indoor fish photography (aquariums)? I guess the needs would be very fast focus in low light; low noise for decent aperture in low light; decent available lenses from around 18mm to 70mm (zoom would be prefer after all by the time you change the lens the fish will have gone into hiding). All my aquariums are freshwater but range from very dark blackwater to very bright well planted tank. I've been using a note 20 for the last 4 years but it just doesn't cut it esp the auto focus. Not really into 'movies' and the phone is fine for video anyways.
(10-18-2023, 11:17 AM)Klaus Wrote: Why not a submersible DJI Osmo Action 4 (1" sensor) with a remote control?
Not sure whether it supports photos, but maybe worth to investigate?
As far as conventional cameras are concerned - interesting question which one would do fish detection AF ;-)
Sony has still the best AF.
So a7 iv or something else ? Under water might be a cool twist but generally not effective for what i do as the tanks are heavily planted and usually i'm trying to capture more scenery. The blackwater aquarium is more of an exception though it has some nice hardscape once the tannis thins a bit.
Good to see there's a fellow aquarist and photographer.
For aquarium photography your worst enemy is the aquarium glass itself, the bigger the aquarium, the thicker the glass the more massive CA you have, if the aquarium glass is curved keep your expectations really low.
A golden rule is having the focus plane parallel to the aquarium glass otherwise expect nothing but a color soup whatever gear you are using.
Fish aren't birds in flight, you have your time, focus isn't an issue, anything will work, you can repeat your shot as many times as you want.
In my own experience, forget about using any focal above 50mm wide lenses yield far better results, my 100mm macro is totally useless shooting aquariums: nothing but a color soup despite being a very sharp lens otherwise.
Now if you want to shoot from inside the tank, this will need a lot of training and experience, I don't use remote live view, I can assume framing while looking from outside.
inside the aquarium you need a wide lens 20-24mm equivalent is awesome.
I have had very good results using my phone (umidigi bison pro waterproof) and fuji XP90, now my preferred is my Olympus TG5 because it has RAW, you will always need to adjust white balance not only for the blue, since driftwood often changes water color.
(10-18-2023, 06:41 PM)toni-a Wrote: Good to see there's a fellow aquarist and photographer.
For aquarium photography your worst enemy is the aquarium glass itself, the bigger the aquarium, the thicker the glass the more massive CA you have, if the aquarium glass is curved keep your expectations really low.
A golden rule is having the focus plane parallel to the aquarium glass otherwise expect nothing but a color soup whatever gear you are using.
Fish aren't birds in flight, you have your time, focus isn't an issue, anything will work, you can repeat your shot as many times as you want.
In my own experience, forget about using any focal above 50mm wide lenses yield far better results, my 100mm macro is totally useless shooting aquariums: nothing but a color soup despite being a very sharp lens otherwise.
Now if you want to shoot from inside the tank, this will need a lot of training and experience, I don't use remote live view, I can assume framing while looking from outside.
inside the aquarium you need a wide lens 20-24mm equivalent is awesome.
I have had very good results using my phone (umidigi bison pro waterproof) and fuji XP90, now my preferred is my Olympus TG5 because it has RAW, you will always need to adjust white balance not only for the blue, since driftwood often changes water color.
The aquarium are quite large (550 gallon) and glass very thick but low dispersion which seems to help with colour shift.
(10-18-2023, 11:17 AM)Klaus Wrote: Why not a submersible DJI Osmo Action 4 (1" sensor) with a remote control?
Not sure whether it supports photos, but maybe worth to investigate?
As far as conventional cameras are concerned - interesting question which one would do fish detection AF ;-)
Sony has still the best AF.
So a7 iv or something else ? Under water might be a cool twist but generally not effective for what i do as the tanks are heavily planted and usually i'm trying to capture more scenery. The blackwater aquarium is more of an exception though it has some nice hardscape once the tannis thins a bit.
Everything is a money question in this game ...
I'd probably go for the A7C II for the latest in AI AF if you want to optimize it and don't mind the low-res viewfinder. Or an A6700.
As far as fast lenses go ... well ... there are a bunch but zoom lenses won't go faster than f/2.8 normally.
I suppose that due to the aquarium glass, you won't need the greatest lenses around so a Tammy/Sigma would do.
Is the panasonic G9 any good with regards to auto focus? the only advantage of a 2/3 or fuji body is i have some lenses with better options in the 4/3 range; the full frame of the sony seems nice but lens options will be a nail biter. Of course being used in the home weight won't be an issue but finding decent quality and low dispersion (apo) lenses might be an issue.
(10-19-2023, 11:05 AM)Klaus Wrote: You asked for fast lenses ... and on MFT, you effectively lose 2 f-stops due to the sensor. I, for one, love the G9 (& Panasonic colors).
I suppose few people can give you an answer as to how the AF will perform in your specific use case though.
yea i guess fast is relative after all i've been using a phone camera which i find quote slow and focus in-accurate. You do need a little shutter speed to freeze thing else there is some bluring even if the focus managed to be accurate; i'd think f2.8-f4 with 1/250 to 1/500 is probably good enough; faster lenses are sometime useful for isolation if the fish is in a crowded field; but there will be times you want a phone like aperture for good depth of field - so maybe f8. I just don't know how good the panasonic g9 auto-focus is - i do like the idea of the sony even if it is over-kill but not really the idea of a large lens collection. A zoom is really useful for this sort of thing given the fishes constant change in depth (most of my aquarium are now 4 feet front to back and it is not always that the fish will be near the front); and once you move to full frame you start staring at monster zooms.
10-21-2023, 08:31 AM (This post was last modified: 10-21-2023, 08:32 AM by toni-a.)
(10-19-2023, 01:27 PM)you2 Wrote:
(10-19-2023, 11:05 AM)Klaus Wrote: You asked for fast lenses ... and on MFT, you effectively lose 2 f-stops due to the sensor. I, for one, love the G9 (& Panasonic colors).
I suppose few people can give you an answer as to how the AF will perform in your specific use case though.
yea i guess fast is relative after all i've been using a phone camera which i find quote slow and focus in-accurate. You do need a little shutter speed to freeze thing else there is some bluring even if the focus managed to be accurate; i'd think f2.8-f4 with 1/250 to 1/500 is probably good enough; faster lenses are sometime useful for isolation if the fish is in a crowded field; but there will be times you want a phone like aperture for good depth of field - so maybe f8. I just don't know how good the panasonic g9 auto-focus is - i do like the idea of the sony even if it is over-kill but not really the idea of a large lens collection. A zoom is really useful for this sort of thing given the fishes constant change in depth (most of my aquarium are now 4 feet front to back and it is not always that the fish will be near the front); and once you move to full frame you start staring at monster zooms.
An advice from an aquarist and fish preeder with 5 plus large tanks and photography enthusiast: for fish behind glass forget about full frame and the high resolution thing, shoot any black and white thing inside the water and check yourself for the massive CA you have and the slight tilt of the focus plane that must be 100% parallel to the tank glass will destroy all details.
I don't want you to waste your money and get nothing in return.
In my own experience I had better results from smaller sensors, aquariums require patient, forget about sports photography style autofocus.
One last thing, make sure to clean algae from the interior aquarium wall, even the tiniest amount you don't see might cause issues.
If your aquarium is curved, forget about shooting close ups of fish from outside altogether, you can however shoot the aquascape however of course.
