Your Guide to Aquarium Photography #6 - Top Down Shots

[maroun.c]

What type of tripod works well with the camera housing? I have a hard time getting a sharp image with my lower lighting and have never considered a tripod.

u need one that can go above the tank and which can have a horizontal support. My Manfrotto 190x pro B does it but don't think it's in production still..

 

[PedroYoung]

I tend to get the same look on Corals far from the water surface. Not sure if it's diffraction caused by water or just a bit of motion bluer due to not being as stable as when shooting through glass.
Make sure u have a fast enough shutter speed to freeze motion as well as a narrow aperture enough to avoid blurred edges of the Coral.

Thanks for the advice. I suspect it's the movement, can't keep the fish from swimming long enough to stabilize the porthole so there's always some sloshing on the surface

 

[dungdatinh]

nice pictures

 

[HCA Coral]

I am working on top down shots too here is one of my shots with a sigma 105 sony a7III. I also cant find clarity i get from front glass.

 

[Freakmachine01]

For the acrylic tube for your camera what exactly should I search for? What are the key search words. I tried to search clear acrylic tube for camera and nothing comes up. Maybe a link or two to some versions they sell online please

 

[PedroYoung]

For the acrylic tube for your camera what exactly should I search for? What are the key search words. I tried to search clear acrylic tube for camera and nothing comes up. Maybe a link or two to some versions they sell online please

Top-Down Porthole, Extra Long

Take great photos of your aquarium from the top down, the way corals are meant to be viewed! This handy lens housing mounts directly to the barrel of your DSLR lens, allowing you to (carefully) dip the housing in the water and get tack sharp photos without annoying lightbulb reflections or...

www.avastmarine.com

You mean this? This is the top down lens attachment I use. (@AVAST Marine is a R2R sponsor too!!)

 

[Freakmachine01]

Top-Down Porthole, Extra Long

Take great photos of your aquarium from the top down, the way corals are meant to be viewed! This handy lens housing mounts directly to the barrel of your DSLR lens, allowing you to (carefully) dip the housing in the water and get tack sharp photos without annoying lightbulb reflections or...

www.avastmarine.com

You mean this? This is the top down lens attachment I use. (@AVAST Marine is a R2R sponsor too!!)

Yes this is what I mean but I wanted to know what keywords to search for to see what other manufacturers also make them I know advanced makes them in a really good product. I just didn't know it was exactly called a porthole. Thank you for the information

 

[PedroYoung]

Yes this is what I mean but I wanted to know what keywords to search for to see what other manufacturers also make them I know advanced makes them in a really good product. I just didn't know it was exactly called a porthole. Thank you for the information

porthole is Avast's name brand, like twinky is a snack cake (sort of haha). Not sure what the generic name would be.

 

[legendhua]

DIY - Top down porthole


Materials: Acrylic Storage Canister / lens protector / fixed plate
無標題 by legendhua, 於 Flickr



無標題 by legendhua, 於 Flickr


leakage test
無標題 by legendhua, 於 Flickr


無標題 by legendhua, 於 Flickr

無標題 by legendhua, 於 Flickr


another camera sets
無標題 by legendhua, 於 Flickr

pictures:
DSC01325 草莓蛋糕 by legendhua, 於 Flickr

DSC01238 鈕扣 by legendhua, 於 Flickr

DSC01318 金鋼狼 by legendhua, 於 Flickr

P1295760 鈕扣 by legendhua, 於 Flickr

 

[Daniel@R2R]

DIY - Top down porthole


Materials: Acrylic Storage Canister / lens protector / fixed plate
無標題 by legendhua, 於 Flickr



無標題 by legendhua, 於 Flickr


leakage test
無標題 by legendhua, 於 Flickr


無標題 by legendhua, 於 Flickr

無標題 by legendhua, 於 Flickr


another camera sets
無標題 by legendhua, 於 Flickr

pictures:
DSC01325 草莓蛋糕 by legendhua, 於 Flickr

DSC01238 鈕扣 by legendhua, 於 Flickr

DSC01318 金鋼狼 by legendhua, 於 Flickr

P1295760 鈕扣 by legendhua, 於 Flickr

That's really cool!!

 

[maroun.c]

Here's my DIY top down box... used for years before I went with the Avast one. DiY allows u to match the diameter of ur lense and the depth based on the length of the lens and how deep u want to go underwater. This one works great for shallow tanks or frag tanks.
I'd be cautious with DIY as a leak will be unforgiving for expensive gear.

 

[legendhua]

Do you have any suggestions for camera setting on the top downs? I use an Avast Porthole with my Canon 100mm macro, but the images always look wonky compared to the ones through the glass. Might be my tripod, which I have to lean against the tank to get above the waterline, or it might be my aperture is too long,

example of top down of my Stellaria chaice

stellariatopdown by Peter Young, on Flickr

and same coral, through the front glass with the same hardware

stellaria-33 by Peter Young, on Flickr

just never as sharp with the top down.

Thanks for any suggestions.

Judging from the photo information on flickr, the aperture is too small(f=18) and the shutter is too long(s=6), causing the photo to look blurry.
The photo taken from top to bottom is more difficult to hold the camera stably, and a shutter that is too slow is even less conducive to taking clear photos.
I would keep the shutter lower than 1/125s.
DSC04423 Montipora Confusa by legendhua, 於 Flickr

DSC03567 榔頭珊瑚 by legendhua, 於 Flickr
DSC03507 草莓蛋糕 by legendhua, 於 Flickr
P4080005 榔頭珊瑚 by legendhua, 於 Flickr
P5140085 SPS by legendhua, 於 Flickr
P5140083 海珊 by legendhua, 於 Flickr
PB300034 草莓蛋糕 by legendhua, 於 Flickr
P5140093 皇冠 by legendhua, 於 Flickr
PA090021 紅奶嘴海葵 粉紅小丑 by legendhua, 於 Flickr

 

[maroun.c]

Great pics thanks for sharing, great advice as well. One thing tonadd is that the pics added by by PedroYoung are also taken with a 100mm and I feel at closer distance to his subjects than yours which results in more blurrr and less DOF thenwith your shots taken at same parameters.
PedroYoung smaller aperture technique is logically getting him more DOF at the expense of more motion blur as he's having to shoot very slow to compensate.
A good tripod and stopping flow would help with corals what don't sway or without polyps that move....another technique is focus stacking where camera takes multiple shots at shallower DOF and shifts the focus point in each shot to acquire multiple shots at different focus points on your coraland then stacks them so you get a final image with more DOF and less motion.