Any chance of taking actinic shots with a point and shoot?

[yannicksjh]

Just wondering if there is any chance of taking descent actinic shot with a point and shoot camera. I have a Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ5 (9mp, 10X zoom, 28mm widw lens). It does have some manuel settings like : ISO ranging from 100 to 1600, intellegent ISO from 400 to 1600, white balance, I.Exposure (which can only be turned ON or OFF, shutter speed from 1 to 1/200, exposure -2 to +2 and all the other ones that i don't think have to do with the actual picture like the zoom's, stability etc. Thanks for any advice or suggestions you might have (except for buying another camera please, LOL, i can't afford one right now, this hobby is taking all my money and i we're expecting anyday now)

 

[TitusvileSurfer]

ISO isn't what we mean by manual settings, although it is 1/3 of the exposure triange. "Intelligent" is just another name for automatic in the camera world. I feel like a broken record but what you need is the ability to shoot RAW.

 

[yannicksjh]

Thanks for reply. So there is NO way of doing so with out shooting in RAW. I really don't think my camera has the ability to shoot in RAW so i guess i'm SOL?

 

[nickb]

There is an option you can try. The TZ5 has a 'white set' choice under the White Balance control (p58 of the manual). Place a white object in your tank under the actinic lights. Select set on the camera and press menu/set. Point the camera at that white object and press menu/set. Then, press menu/set twice more. That should set the camera to the correct white balance adjustment for the actinics. You should then be able to take pictures.

This won't be as good, or as flexible, as RAW. But, if you ain't got RAW, it is fallback option you can try.

 

[TitusvileSurfer]

Yeah I think that is the best you've got. :/