New underwater Camera

[melev]

I got to try out one of these cameras over the weekend while I was in Connecticut, and here are a few of the pictures I took.

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13721611#post13721611 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by hans1976
I let Marc play with my camera...

 

[memorisa]

hmmm marc, i can't seem to be able to view the pics...

 

[melev]

They are loading for me; I just did a forced refresh to see if Geocities had an issue. Maybe it will work for you tomorrow.

 

[memorisa]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13723141#post13723141 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by melev
They are loading for me; I just did a forced refresh to see if Geocities had an issue. Maybe it will work for you tomorrow.

oh man apologies, after following the link to the pics before the page can load, i did get the geocities adress and suprise suprise, the connection is closed due to a court order (in turkey that is) :mad2: :furious: (just like youtube, it blows) i'd really love to see them sometime hopefully...


to get back on track, i have been messing around with a few settings with this badboy, here are a few frag shots of me new zoas (and may i add how extremely happy i am since it is uber hard to find good looking zoas here):

the white ceramic rock piece looks ghostly here, i tried to mess around, but couldnt get much out of it:

i love these guys, cant wait to get a few more of them as they grow:

here they are under actinics, sadly i cant keep my hands steady enough:

i have high hopes from this fella i call the "loner lunar" (as you can see im having trouble with the focus, marc (and anyone else) how were you able to adjust the focus on the fly?, am i just retinaretarded?)

same issue with focus, and sadly i lost one of these guys (think my lobster or urchin ate it?)

 

[memorisa]

the problem with the grain, the pics were cropped btw: (also about this frag, it came on a dead acro, and with my chitty lights they look exactly like the eagle eyes i also were able to get my hands on:

i like how this one turned out:

the guy told me these were miami hurricanes (again the grain):

i tried to fix this pic, but it became a little weird, like photoshopped (i was using lightroom for the first time btw) and also i think these look a lot like kryptonites (sp?) but can't be too sure since I am yet to see one in person. do they have small polyps?

and last but not least, my newly acquired hermit

 

[melev]

If you can't see the pictures in this thread, I'll just put them on my own site and repost them from that URL.

The camera has Macro, Super Macro, and S-Macro LED. I shot a few in the last one, and a few in Super Macro.

I also tried to use the countdown timer, but waiting what felt like 15 seconds for the shot was just too long for me. Some shots, I took it with the LCD screen above water so I could see if it was focused, and other shots the camera was fully submerged.

Cropping a picture to a smaller size (cutting off the outer border that does nothing for the picture itself) is fine, as long as the subject of your image doesn't grow larger. Example:

Picture is 2000 x 1400. Cropping so the picture is 1024 x 768 is fine, plus it fits most monitors. However, cropping to get a tiny zoanthid polyp that is 200 x 150 and making it display as 800 x 600 - that causes lots of noise / pixelation. Never do this unless you absolutely must.

Shooting under actinics is tough because it is a low-light situation. The shutter has to be open longer. An acrylic tripod in the tank would stabilize the camera, which you would have to fabricate.

The first shot with the very white rock - that looks like you used the flash, as does the second shot. Sometimes flash helps, but for the most part, I don't use it. It just washes out all the colors and portrays the reef in a way we normally never see it.

 

[fishkillers]

very cool

 

[memorisa]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13724603#post13724603 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by melev
If you can't see the pictures in this thread, I'll just put them on my own site and repost them from that URL.

The camera has Macro, Super Macro, and S-Macro LED. I shot a few in the last one, and a few in Super Macro.

I also tried to use the countdown timer, but waiting what felt like 15 seconds for the shot was just too long for me. Some shots, I took it with the LCD screen above water so I could see if it was focused, and other shots the camera was fully submerged.

Cropping a picture to a smaller size (cutting off the outer border that does nothing for the picture itself) is fine, as long as the subject of your image doesn't grow larger. Example:

Picture is 2000 x 1400. Cropping so the picture is 1024 x 768 is fine, plus it fits most monitors. However, cropping to get a tiny zoanthid polyp that is 200 x 150 and making it display as 800 x 600 - that causes lots of noise / pixelation. Never do this unless you absolutely must.

Shooting under actinics is tough because it is a low-light situation. The shutter has to be open longer. An acrylic tripod in the tank would stabilize the camera, which you would have to fabricate.

The first shot with the very white rock - that looks like you used the flash, as does the second shot. Sometimes flash helps, but for the most part, I don't use it. It just washes out all the colors and portrays the reef in a way we normally never see it.

Thanks for offering to post them on your site, that would be swell. i've been following many advice you give, and have been using ur site for reference ever since i found out about it. i'd like to see your shots in this tangent.

as for using the pics, i've also been using macro and s-macro and s-macro w/ led. but for some reason it just wont focus how i want to shoot my subject. not sure if its too close or its just the colors messing around with the focus. one thing i'm bummed about this camera is the manual focus option - that would have been wonderful. (or maybe there is that option, i just haven't been able to figure it out yet.)

i shot those pics for my own use initially, with the fine conversion and 10 mb. each pic turned out to be 4 mb or so. i couldn't send them to a friend so i either cropped it and/or resized the whole picture. i did the latter when i was able to get the camera to focus well. like the ones with the pink zoas.

i took these pictures to see what polyps are like, and show them to a fellow friend here in turkey. as i mentioned, since its so hard to find nice polyps i was showing them off as the only thing in the picture. otherwise i agree with you as far as the pics and the composition of the subject go.

the way i shoot usually is to put my arm in the tank and look at the screen from the outside. my tank is 80 cm long which is about 35 inches i believe, so with teh arm extended i can't seem to stabilize my arm long enough to capture under actinics. so i play with the ISO, but it causes noisy grain.

the original pics are 3648 x 2736. i post them into flicker and then get the URL from there and use the IMG tag to post here, i apologize if they turned out too big. i was a graphics designer for awhile when i was in US, so still use those settings to do detailed work here and there, and since they looked fine on my screen i thought it was ok. i like to keep my scrap files as big as i can so i can play around with them later w/o pixelation, but the noise is from the ISO setting.

I am still messing around with the camera and trying to get a feel for it. even though i had it for awhile i wasn't able to play with it too much due to work and my tank being covered w/ HA. but now its better so i'll have more chance to practice.

i agree with you about the flash, but my lights are way below par for now, and i wanted to see the colors of the polyps rather than the overall quality of the pic, but as i mentioned i liked how some turned out.

 

[memorisa]

sorry for the lengthy post and if i bored anyone. if its any constellation here's a shot i like with the subjects and composition. untouched (hope the size is ok):

 

[memorisa]

it seems too small when i post with the medium setting on flickr, but if this is better for everyone else, i will go with these settings from now on, here are two meds:

 

[melev]

Size-wise, pictures 1024 and less seem to be best for the web. I like that one of the zoas you just posted, and the rock isn't over-exposed like the earlier shot.

The pictures I took were 2000 pixels wide, according to the camera owner. I'll get them moved over later today so you can see them too.

You probably need to take the pictures from the top of the tank, rather than trying to view it from the front. Maybe you could put on a snorkel and mask if you have to reach down deeply. Or use the zoom instead to fill the subject into the full field.

 

[ziggy_impy]

Everyones pictures seem to be amazing for coral shots in the tank and snorkeling!
How does the camera do as an everyday camera? I tried one out at Best Buy and it didnt seem to have that good of zoom. I was just curious if this was an all around good camera for taking everyday pictures outside of the tank?

 

[zachtos]

I would call it an average camera for day to day shooting. It makes up for it by fitting in your pocket, and not breaking if you drop it or spill a drink on it at the bar.

You can't have it all. If you want a great camera, you need an SLR, but then, you can't carry that everywhere with you.

I have made the olympus sw 1050 my walking around party camera, and my rebel xt w/ 18-55mm AF IS lens my all around camera when it's appropriate. I find you need a small (compact) camera and a nice (large lensed) camera.

 

[ziggy_impy]

Just had to add.. after reading the whole forum I ordered my stylus 1030 sw. Tack that on to your commission... haha

 

[paraletho]

I was a good boy this year so I got myself a present. Yes you guessed it a Stylus1030sw. It seems like I've been reading this thread forever and looking at the beautiful pictures, so I broke down and did it. I can justify it 2 ways. The adult in me says "Now I can post good clear pictures on Reef Central when I have a problem" . The kid in me says " That that that I want it I want it" Thanks to everyone who posted and convinced me.

 

[memorisa]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13958817#post13958817 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by zachtos
I would call it an average camera for day to day shooting. It makes up for it by fitting in your pocket, and not breaking if you drop it or spill a drink on it at the bar.

You can't have it all. If you want a great camera, you need an SLR, but then, you can't carry that everywhere with you.

I have made the olympus sw 1050 my walking around party camera, and my rebel xt w/ 18-55mm AF IS lens my all around camera when it's appropriate. I find you need a small (compact) camera and a nice (large lensed) camera.

I agree with zachtos here - and have started saving up for an SLR already. but for a point and shoot, I'd have to say this bad boy has teh added benefits.

ziggy and paraletho, hope you enjoy your new toys. keep us posted with your photos

 

[zachtos]

Here are some I took the other day with the olympus sw1050 in 'underwater mode' on auto iso at 10MP fine.

<img src="http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q151/zachtos/New%20Tank/PC290001.jpg" border="0" height="600" width="800"></img>

<img src="http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q151/zachtos/New%20Tank/PC290002.jpg" border="0" height="600" width="800"></img>

<img src="http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q151/zachtos/New%20Tank/PC290005.jpg" border="0" height="800" width="600"></img>

<img src="http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q151/zachtos/New%20Tank/PC290008.jpg" border="0" height="600" width="800"></img>

<img src="http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q151/zachtos/New%20Tank/PC290009.jpg" border="0" height="800" width="600"></img>

<img src="http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q151/zachtos/New%20Tank/PC290010.jpg" border="0" height="600" width="800"></img>

<img src="http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q151/zachtos/New%20Tank/PC290013.jpg" border="0" height="800" width="600"></img>

<img src="http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q151/zachtos/New%20Tank/PC290014.jpg" border="0" height="600" width="800"></img>

<img src="http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q151/zachtos/New%20Tank/PC290015.jpg" border="0" height="600" width="800"></img>

<img src="http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q151/zachtos/New%20Tank/PC290016.jpg" border="0" height="800" width="600"></img>

 

[paraletho]

 

[paraletho]

More Pics

More Pics

I'm still learning but its fun.

 

[o.c.d.]

Hi all, it's been a bit but took some more pics. Thought everyone might want to check'm out.