Camera settings for LED reef tank

[Jmerriott]

Hi there,

Are there any tips out there on the camera settings for taking photos with LED (Radion Pro)? I have a decent camera but I am a complete novice. I have taken some pictures that look ok but I can't seem to find the settings to get the true color of the corals.

 

[Jmerriott]

 

[sfbayview]

This may help
http://www.wikihow.com/Adjust-Your-Digital-Camera's-White-Balance

 

[scoly]

Tagging along

 

[kissman]

try adjusting the white balance to match the kelvin of the lights

 

[Reu2]

Most cameras can't meet the Kelvin rating of the blue light from the Radion Pros. You want to create a profile that closer matches daylight around 6500 Kelvin. Which is about as high as most cameras go. I shoot with a pro level camera and it only goes up to about 7k.

The problem with this is that it takes away from the color you see with lights operating at say 14k or even 20k. 6K-7k is boring.

I've found that a setting around 10k with full UV works well. It's still too blue for the camera, but you can correct it in post processing software and get a decent outcome.

I know this post has been sitting for a while, but I came across it looking for a way to assign a Radion Color Profile to an Apex feed mode.

The idea being to have the pumps slow/off and the radions ramp to a custom color profile when I want to photograph the tank. It should be as simple as a feed mode with vortechs, but I was hoping to come across someone else who has done the same. I'll try to post results here after I get it working.

 

[psykobowler]

I wait until the halides come on after 12 hours of led lighting. Still easier to take pictures with radium bulbs than LEDs.

 

[DDon]

If you shoot in RAW and use LightRoom, Photoshop, Elements or the like to convert, you can adjust the kelvin setting (color temp) to get good color out of your pic.

 

[westreef]

I set the camera to 10K and use RAW to shoot. Then use LightRoom to adjust to about 15K or a little bit above to get the coral color closest to what I see from the tank.