janderson8
Moved On
Can some one please give me some good settings to use when shooting under 3 400 Watt XM 10K's with Acctenic supplement????
Thanks in Advance
Jason
Thanks in Advance
Jason
Nikkon D50 Throw me a BONE!!!!
- Thread starter janderson8
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astrogazer
Premium Member
I'd start with an ISO of 200, manual mode ~1/180 @f/8 and go from there, use the histogram feature in the LCD display, should have data across the ENTIRE range, if there's no data towards the right hand side it means you have under exposed your subject, it needs more light, either use a lower shutter speed of use a wider aperture (smaller number) and visa versa if there's no data all the way to the right. With 20K lighting you'll NEVER get your camera to balance it correctly, you'll have to post process it out with photo editing software.
Well there you have it... Your Bone ... Chew slowly, it's a lot to digest.
Good luck ... let's see some pics.
Well there you have it... Your Bone ... Chew slowly, it's a lot to digest.
Good luck ... let's see some pics.
this is me
Active member
The setting is totally depends on the tank set up and you are shooting. I dont think that astro's setting is gonna help you much. You have to keep practicing and practicing!
janderson8
Moved On
Here are som pics I think in Auto mode
astrogazer
Premium Member
Not bad ... not bad at all...! 
I'd like you to notice your depth of field (the amount in sharp focus) in those images...
Be careful not to force it ... work with it.
Your images have a lot of potential, study them a little, you'll learn volumes.
I'd like you to notice your depth of field (the amount in sharp focus) in those images...
Be careful not to force it ... work with it.
Your images have a lot of potential, study them a little, you'll learn volumes.
janderson8
Moved On
So are you saying they are good as I am thinking they look like they have a lot of noise.
astrogazer
Premium Member
Just so you know ... depth of field is defined by 1/3 in front and 2/3 behind the point of sharpest focus. Let's say you have 1 inch of depth of field (which is a LOT for macro work) 1/3" in front of the branch of acro and 2/3" behind the branch of acro that you were focusing on would appear to be in sharp focus. This is handy to know when choosing a point to focus on.
astrogazer
Premium Member
I see the noise you're referring to, I'm assuming you are cropping rather severely, I always try to shoot at my lowest ISO, which for my D70 is 200, did they get that right in the '50', can you shoot at 100?, although Nikons' 200 is just about everyone elses' 100 and I envy those that can shoot at ISO 50.
janderson8
Moved On
Well most of those are cropped but at 100% they have not been enlarged. As for the ISO I just checked and it only goes down to 100.
Also when you posted 1/180 @f/8 what does the 1/180 mean?
Also when you posted 1/180 @f/8 what does the 1/180 mean?
astrogazer
Premium Member
I was suggesting an initial exposure setting:
manual mode, shutter speed 1/180 second, f-stop of about 8 ... when looking at the tank with these settings look at your meter , bottom right thru the viewfinder, it'll have a center mark, this is proper exposure, anything above this, or to the right means you have too much light getting to the sensor, and visa versa. It was just a starting point for you.
You seem like you're doing pretty good in your automated modes, if you want to really learn you'll start playing with the manual settings, what have you got to lose, it's digital, film doesn't get any cheaper that this.
manual mode, shutter speed 1/180 second, f-stop of about 8 ... when looking at the tank with these settings look at your meter , bottom right thru the viewfinder, it'll have a center mark, this is proper exposure, anything above this, or to the right means you have too much light getting to the sensor, and visa versa. It was just a starting point for you.
You seem like you're doing pretty good in your automated modes, if you want to really learn you'll start playing with the manual settings, what have you got to lose, it's digital, film doesn't get any cheaper that this.
janderson8
Moved On
Here are some in manual
astrogazer
Premium Member
I love the galaxia ... again ... watch your depth of field, a smaller aperture will give you more but you'll have to trade off shutter speed, work WITH it, it's a limitation, you'll have to learn to deal with it, make it work for you ... learn how to harness it, learn how to master it!
If you can visualize what you're going to get then you can 'make' pictures instead of just 'take' pictures!
If you can visualize what you're going to get then you can 'make' pictures instead of just 'take' pictures!
astrogazer
Premium Member
Photography is a beast to tame, frozen moments in time are not what we typically 'see'.
Snausages01
New member
With the D-50 I tend to shoot in the A or S mode. I usually keep the ISO at 200 (that’s the lowest on the D-50 ) unless I can't get the shot I want then I bump it up and go from there.
Looking at some of your first shots your ISO is around 500 in some of them and shutter speed is 1/60 of a second. For shooting corals with little/no flow that is fine, but with fish it helps to bump it up quite a bit (~1/250 is where I usually start when I try to shoot a wrasse) and that’s usually when I shoot in the S mode and just go off of shutter speed. Also, depending on the fish I'll change the auto focus to AF-C sometimes this works and sometimes it doesn't.
It helps to use spot metering as well. You can use auto WB if you shoot in raw, but if not try using the custom WB and evaluate it with a coffee filter over the lens.
I’m still a photo newb, and the thing that really helps me is to shoot a lot and look at a lot of other’s photo and check out the exif data.
Here is the original with no editing done other than resizing it:
) unless I can't get the shot I want then I bump it up and go from there.Looking at some of your first shots your ISO is around 500 in some of them and shutter speed is 1/60 of a second. For shooting corals with little/no flow that is fine, but with fish it helps to bump it up quite a bit (~1/250 is where I usually start when I try to shoot a wrasse) and that’s usually when I shoot in the S mode and just go off of shutter speed. Also, depending on the fish I'll change the auto focus to AF-C sometimes this works and sometimes it doesn't.
It helps to use spot metering as well. You can use auto WB if you shoot in raw, but if not try using the custom WB and evaluate it with a coffee filter over the lens.
I’m still a photo newb, and the thing that really helps me is to shoot a lot and look at a lot of other’s photo and check out the exif data.
Here is the original with no editing done other than resizing it:
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