Bowfront Photography

[jwedehase]

I need a little experienced advice. I'm considering buying a fellow reefer's 72g bowfront acrylic tank. It's 48Lx24Tx14-18"D. One major concern is the bowfront and shooting through it. Does anyone have any experience with this? Photography is a major part of why I have the tank, so if the bowfront is less than optimal, I need to rule it out.

How are wide shots?
How are macros?
How about distortion, in general?
How does acrylic compare to glass for photography?

Thanks so much for any help!

- Jason

 

[gregr]

Here's my take on it- having had a little experience with bowfronts:
wide shots- ok.
macros- somewhat distorted even at best, although with much care you can get good shots.
distortion in general is gonna be a problem in my opinion. contrary to what I expected, I got less distortion if I shot at an angle (from the side a bit).
Acrylic has almost always been better than glass tanks for me. Starfire is a step in the right direction but it seems to me that acrylic has less distortion overall. Less color cast too.
Just my opinion so take it for what it's worth

 

[Sk8r]

It magnifies. I'm not a great aquarium photographer, but I can show you a few of my 52 bow.

 

[flameangel88]

Jason,

I think you found the camara in this thread here:

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=834053

LOL. All joking aside, I would think its quite difficult as I've enough problem would a normal tank with lots of flow.

 

[jwedehase]

I ended up picking up the tank (it was such a screamin' deal), but have already decided against it, now that I see it in my house. I can't get over how acrylic looks like plastic toys, and the bowfront is already losing its novelty, and it's never even seen water.

In the meantime, I'm going to fill it with some plain ol' tap water, and put something in it to shoot, to see how macros work, while I have the opportunity.