Fintastic photo gear: What are the top photo accessories for fish and coral pictures?

[Peace River]

Fintastic photo gear: What are the top photo accessories for fish and coral pictures?

Sure, you can grab your cellphone and take a quick snapshot of your tank, but there are many other approaches and a lot more gear to support photography in and around your aquarium. What accessories do you use for fish and coral pictures? How important is a tripod and do you have any preferred features? Have you ever used a lens tube and has it help you improve your pictures? Do you regularly use a lens filter for taking pictures of your tank? Are there other accessories that are important to you when taking photos of your tank? Let’s talk aquarium photo accessories!

Photo by @SuncrestReef

 

[World Citizen]

More light, less reflections. This does more than any thing you can buy.

I love Peninsula tanks due to the light that it gets. Objects could be lit up all arround, so shadows are less.

But ... the reflections are horrible.

My main goal is to get more light in the tank without the reflections. This improves my pics dramatically due to lower ISO and faster shutter options.

 

[randomfishdude]

My phone.
Ether sat on some random object or I just hold it.
It does the trick.

 

[revhtree]

My TOP 5

1. Good DSLR Camera (cell phone can work but can't take the place of a good DSLR when used properly)
2. Macro Lens for capturing coral and fish detail (I recommend a 100mm)
3. External Flash to capture fast moving fish
4. Tripod for long exposure coral shots and more
5. Post Editing Software like Photoshop or Lightroom for touching up and correcting photos

BONUS: Orange filter for capturing certain coral colors that get washed out by the blue lighting!

 

[GARRIGA]

Best photos by turning room lights off and using a DSLR with a rubber hood lens to eliminate reflections but considering that tube extension as the former only allows horizontal vs the ability to angle. Tripod helps but unless tank lights are strong enough I find it hard to stop motion and why perhaps moving forward I'm considering video since I can shoot at 60 fps. My Canon 5DM4 can create an 8 MB still from 4K video.

 

[MikeCRK]

If the equipment you are using to take a photo costs more than a tank - you are doing it wrong

The best equipment? The one with price-value ratio the best.

I bought recently ARKA myREEF-STUDIO for mobile lenses and this is more than enough for me. Cost is around $20

 

[Bertian84]

We just picked up an Orphek at RAP in Orlando. We have the new galaxy s23's and having 5 different lenses on the phone it is difficult to get the Orphek lenses situated to take a halfway decent photo.

 

[maroun.c]

I've seen a linear improvement in image quality with each new camera body and better lense I have acquired in the last 20 years. Similar to reefkeeping photography is an expensive hobby and no cutting corners.
Quality tripod: I use the manfrotto line. Center bar that goes up, oblique and horizontal is a huge plus.
Tripod head, quality heads have sturdy ball lock for better stability and video ones have controlled horizontal/vertical panning control, as well as controlled resistance.
Camera body very happy with nikon z7ii.
Amazing colors with the right lenses, Large file size for more possibilities to crop... only problem is that it shows lens imperfections in lower end lenses so u need to invest in pro lenses.
I use the 50mm 1.8 , 24-70 2.8, and 105 2.8 macro lenses and very happy with each of them.
Use the kenko extension tubes for nikon mirorless lenses which is working great.
Another great tool is post processing where I use photoshop raw and photoship for post processing ?

 

[Spicy Reef]

$6

 

[Rham1281]

I have used a Canon EOS 6D and my Samsung S21 Ultra and so far the Samsung has taken some pretty decent shots.

Took these two on the phone:

And this one on the Canon:

(and yes, that is the GSP from the 2nd photo)

I have to say, so far I am happier with the phone, but I haven't really tried again with the Canon.

 

[Subliminal]

I use a Flipper magentic magnifying glass's orange filter and just hold it in front of my phone. hehe. [HASH=76452]#cheapskate[/HASH]

 

[Floyd-]

I use a cellphone clip on filter and it works good enough for me.

 

[sawdonkey]

I HATE cell phone pics of my tank. I do it in a pinch from time to time, but they are always terrible. The camera really struggles with any amount of blue light and the clarity is always very poor.

I also HATE when people use orange filters. Sure, it takes out the excessive blue, but it looks super unnatural to me. I try my best to capture the true color with my camera.

I use a Panasonic LUMIX GX85 camera body, which is a micro four thirds. It’s about half the size of a typical DSLR, and a little bugger than a typical point-and-shoot.

For years, I used either extension tubes or magnifying lenses on a telephoto lens for macro shots. I recently bought a true macro lens but I’m yet to figure out how to use it properly. I don’t really have a ton of interest in photography, so the equipment I have is pretty much only used for aquarium photos.

Here are some photos using the new macro lens.

 

[exnisstech]

@Peace River thanks for posting this. I'm just gathering equipment after being out of photography for over 10 years. I just scored a top down porthole XL on eBay (avast is sold out) to go along with my Sony A7 II and a Sigma 105 macro lens. Should be an interesting combo.

 

[Dave-T]

iPhone users - I just came across an app - AquariumCam, that does a nice job removing the excessive blue that the native photo app shows.

 

[IPT]

Almost any software can remove the blue. Even on an IPhone via Edit>warmth.

Post processing is of a huge importance. Even Ansel Adams said something to the effect of; 60% of an image is done in the darkroom. A "good photo" if using a DSLR often doesn't look "good" right away. We often overexpose to get detail in the shadows and then push and pull to optimize the image with the least amount of noise and the most dynamic range and detail (the scale of light to dark. ie: Can you see details in the shadows, or are they all black? Can you see details in the highlights, or all they all bright white and blown out?

I'm also surprised no one mentioned a Polarizer. It does cost you some speed - but can be very effective at reducing reflections...or

A black box or blanket....Use it behind you to either block light, or just hide thus remove reflections of other objects that are behind you reflecting off the glass (like yourself, a light colored wall, or lamp).

Macro lens for sure (I use a 100mm lens). That, or a good telephoto lens with a short focusing distance. Extension tubes can also get you more magnification and better focusing distance.

Tripod at times.

Flash - off camera is the best and can reduce reflections and add depth to the photo.

As noted a good DSLR with a lot of resolution to allow cropping.

That's what I can think of for now. I'd like to try a box or tube. As I'm just getting back into the reef hobby I am sure I will in the not too distant future.

 

[sawdonkey]

iPhone users - I just came across an app - AquariumCam, that does a nice job removing the excessive blue that the native photo app shows.

I tried this for a while and couldn’t get things to look right. The white balance was just off and no amount of tweaking could get it where I needed it to be. I would love some way for my iPhone to produce decent photos. I just can’t make it happen and I’ve tried….a lot!

 

[xmrbob941]

Fintastic photo gear: What are the top photo accessories for fish and coral pictures?

Sure, you can grab your cellphone and take a quick snapshot of your tank, but there are many other approaches and a lot more gear to support photography in and around your aquarium. What accessories do you use for fish and coral pictures? How important is a tripod and do you have any preferred features? Have you ever used a lens tube and has it help you improve your pictures? Do you regularly use a lens filter for taking pictures of your tank? Are there other accessories that are important to you when taking photos of your tank? Let’s talk aquarium photo accessories!

View attachment 3112375
Photo by @SuncrestReef

iPhone 14 with a polyp lab lens portrait mode

 

[mhardy]

Some I recently took. Sony A7RIII with a Sony 90mmG macro and extension tubes. I have a bunch more I need to size down to be able to upload that I am fond of.

 

[sawdonkey]

Almost any software can remove the blue. Even on an IPhone via Edit>warmth.

Post processing is of a huge importance. Even Ansel Adams said something to the effect of; 60% of an image is done in the darkroom. A "good photo" if using a DSLR often doesn't look "good right away" We often over expose to get detail in the shadows and then push and pull to optimize the image with the least amount of noise and the most dynamic range and detail (the scale of light to dark. ie: Can you see details in the shadows or are they all black and/or can you see details in the highlights, or all they all bright white and blown out?

I'm also surprised no-one mentioned a Polarizer. It does cost you some speed - but can be very effective at reducing reflections.

A black box or blanket....Use it behind you to either block light, or just remove reflections of other objects (like you, a light colored wall, or lamp).

Macro lens for sure (I use a 100mm lens). That, or a good telephoto lens with a short focusing distance. Extension tubes can also get you more magnification and better focusing distance.

Tripod

Flash - off camera is great and can reduce reflections.

That's what I can think of for now. I'd like to try a box or tube. As I'm just getting back into the reef hobby I am sure i will in the not too distant future.

Lots of great pointers. I’m a new owner of a macro lens an I just don’t like it….YET. I just don’t have control over the level of zoom because I’m limited by distance between the glass and the object. At least with extension tubes, you can change the level of zoom with thicker or thinner tubes. With diopters, it works the opposite…you’re always in focus with in a set distance and you can control the level of zoom. I need to figure this out with the macro lens, because I don’t thing cropping the image is the answer?