Bow front / bent glass photography

[Gordonious]

I had been thinking about getting a bow front tank, however I was curious what it would be like to take photos through bent glass. I thought this may be somewhat of an obstacle, but when discussing this with my reef club they said it would be very difficult on the photos. Opinions?

Jon

PS.
I am going to be buying my tank tomorrow night and I am currently going with a flat, rectangular tank mostly for this reason.

 

[Rockitmakr]

If you want a tank for pictures do NOT get a bowfront! The only way to take good CLEAR pictures is through flat, clean glass. Bowfront tanks look nice but you will never be able to get a clear shot through the front of the tank. My 2 cents................
:beer:

 

[Gordonious]

Thanks. Give me more confidence in my choice not to go with a bow front.

 

[VoidRaven]

Yeah, you made the right choice. Bow-front tanks are not easy to take pics of. Curvature of the glass and all. It can be done but is extremely difficult. If you want to photo the tank a lot then you certainly made the better choice going with a flat-sided tank.

 

[MinibowMatt]

I disagree. I have taken many pics thru a bowfront, and never had a problem.
examples:

those were all taken through a bowfront.

 

[Gordonious]

Wow Matt, those are some nice photos. What type of camera do you have? Was the room perfectly dark when you took the shots? Do you have any shots of the fish?

 

[Rockitmakr]

You have a nice looking tank, however the pictures are still slightly distorted. If Jon is looking at serious photography he will need to shoot through flat glass, no way to get good Macro shots through a bowfront.
:beer:

 

[Gordonious]

I debated how great of photos I needed to take because for time being I will have a French Angel and a snowflake moray in there. Not animals typically photos closely unless there is a disease or injury. However I'm young and at least the Angel wouldn't be staying in the tank permanently, so the occupants in the tank may change. I'm also just starting to get into photosynthetic corals so it's possible the tank I buy could end up being a full out reef tank.

Jon

 

[MinibowMatt]

Thanx.
Those pics are from an old Olympus D690(i think?) No, the room wasnt dark. I just got lucky. Believe me, those are some of my best pics out of hundreds! Im not near as good of a photographer as you guys all are. I just wanted to point out that good pics can be taken through a bowfront.
Sorry,no fish pics
BTW- thats a aga minibow 7g...

 

[Lpabsolute]

IMO it's harder taking pics of a tank with a curved glass. I've got a 54g corner tank with a curved front glass. It's hard taking pics and getting good quality. I'll take 100 pics and might get 2 that are good. On the other hand i've got a 5.5g tank with a flat glass and it's pretty easy to take good quality pics. If you plan on getting a tank just in order to take good quality pics i would go against the bow front. But if you like the bow front, i say go for it....

 

[Duce]

I have a bow front for some reason I always end up with my reflection at the glass

 

[Gordonious]

If I ended up with my reflection in all of my pictures no one would look at my threads or go to my website, lol. "OMG what an ugly coral!...no wait, thats Gordonious."

Gordonious

 

[FateX8]

i have two bowfront tanks and just looking at them strains my eyes unles i'm close up
you can get some decent pics on bowfronts but the sides will usually be distorted
even in matts tank you can see the distortion on the left and right sides
the center is ok the but i am actually trying to get rid of my 7gal, already sold the 46