fishdave739
Premium Member
How in the world can I get some decent macro shots with this camera? Things close to the glass come out fine, but corals further than 6 inches or so from the glass are just a blur.
Sony DSC H1
- Thread starter fishdave739
- Start date
MrSandman
Team RC
The H1 is a pretty capable camera. First off, since you say that things close to the glass come out fine, i'll assume that you've found the macro feature for your camera and activated it.
Secondly, blur will typically occur due to 3 reasons.....shutter speed is too slow, camera is shaking too much, or the lens/camera/subject is out of focus. Sometimes it is also a combination of those 3. You can throw out one of those factors immediately if you have a tripod. If you can, get familiar with your camera and play around with adjusting the shutter speeds. Put the camera in shutter priority and play around with the settings until you can freeze the subject. Also, i find that the aquarium can play tricks on the autofocus of the camera. Since the min. focus distance of that camera is 2cm in macro mode, it might just be that the camera is focusing on the aquarium glass and not on the coral behind it. Put the camera right up against the glass.
You can also put the camera in manual focus mode and manually have it focus 6" away. This is where a tripod comes in handy. Instead of trying to fine tune the focus range on the camera, you can just move the tripod closer and further until you find that sweet spot. This works especially well when shooting corals and other "still" subjects but not so well when shooting things that move. HTH.
Secondly, blur will typically occur due to 3 reasons.....shutter speed is too slow, camera is shaking too much, or the lens/camera/subject is out of focus. Sometimes it is also a combination of those 3. You can throw out one of those factors immediately if you have a tripod. If you can, get familiar with your camera and play around with adjusting the shutter speeds. Put the camera in shutter priority and play around with the settings until you can freeze the subject. Also, i find that the aquarium can play tricks on the autofocus of the camera. Since the min. focus distance of that camera is 2cm in macro mode, it might just be that the camera is focusing on the aquarium glass and not on the coral behind it. Put the camera right up against the glass.
You can also put the camera in manual focus mode and manually have it focus 6" away. This is where a tripod comes in handy. Instead of trying to fine tune the focus range on the camera, you can just move the tripod closer and further until you find that sweet spot. This works especially well when shooting corals and other "still" subjects but not so well when shooting things that move. HTH.
fishdave739
Premium Member
Mr Sandman, thanks for all the info! Your suggestions are sure helping with focus, I think a tripod needs to be on my Christmas list! Now if I can just get accurate color. Can't get a good shot of my superman against the black background. With the lights on it comes out white!
MrSandman
Team RC
What is a "superman"? I mean, i know who he is an all, but is that what you named one of your fish? Or is it some red/blue zoanthid? 
Not getting accurate color sounds like a problem with your white balance. That camera has a custom white balance feature. If i recall correctly on that camera, you can just hold a white piece of paper under your lights, point your camera at it and tell it to set the white balance based on that paper. Read the manual for more info. It might also work well if you point it at a clean portion of your sand, or try putting a coffee filter over your lens and aiming it at your tank. There is alot of info regarding white balance (including the coffee filter technique) here in this forum.
Oh yeah, i wouldn't recommend using the on-board flash when doing aquarium photography unless you know what you're doing. It could reflect back and cause problems. If you must use the flash, then i would do so at an angle to the pane of the glass and not shoot squarely into it.
Not getting accurate color sounds like a problem with your white balance. That camera has a custom white balance feature. If i recall correctly on that camera, you can just hold a white piece of paper under your lights, point your camera at it and tell it to set the white balance based on that paper. Read the manual for more info. It might also work well if you point it at a clean portion of your sand, or try putting a coffee filter over your lens and aiming it at your tank. There is alot of info regarding white balance (including the coffee filter technique) here in this forum.
Oh yeah, i wouldn't recommend using the on-board flash when doing aquarium photography unless you know what you're doing. It could reflect back and cause problems. If you must use the flash, then i would do so at an angle to the pane of the glass and not shoot squarely into it.
afex
New member
MrSandman: superman, for your reference http://www.rarefrags.com/superman.html (encrusting montipora)
spankey
Active member
I have the H1 and you have to make sure what you are shooting isn't so close that you are trying to focus on it. What I mean is you can only zoom in so far until you loose the focus capability....
Here are some actinic shots of some of my corals I took tonight with my H1 and most are over 8 inches into the tank if not more...
Practice...
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=933669
Here are some actinic shots of some of my corals I took tonight with my H1 and most are over 8 inches into the tank if not more...
Practice...
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=933669
mskohl
Active member
Those are great pictures. Do you remember how far from the glass you were standing? Were you using the manual (ish) features or the auto focus? If you used the manual, what were your starting points to get the best pic?
I think I got a couple of decent pics tonight too. My first try. I'll post here in a bit.
I think I got a couple of decent pics tonight too. My first try. I'll post here in a bit.
Mr.Firemouth
In Memoriam
Sony has an $80 macro filter that screws onto the conversion lens ring. It works much like an SLR macro lens. I ordered mine last week and will posts pics with it. I have one pic in my gallery without a macro setting.
astrogazer
Premium Member
mskohl;
try to shoot more perpendicular to the glass and it will lessen the effects of refraction.
try to shoot more perpendicular to the glass and it will lessen the effects of refraction.
astrogazer
Premium Member
I think Picture It has a 'remove dust and scratches' command, that should help on the 'flecks'. I does tend to 'soften' the image ever so slightly.
Mr.Firemouth
In Memoriam
Here's a pic with the macro filter lens. This lens will not let me use the macro setting.
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this is a pic without the filter with the macro setting on. I don't see any differences...What's up? They told me that the filter would get tighter pics. Am I doing something wrong?
this is a pic without the filter with the macro setting on. I don't see any differences...What's up? They told me that the filter would get tighter pics. Am I doing something wrong?
Mr.Firemouth
In Memoriam
Mr.Firemouth
In Memoriam
MrSandman
Team RC
Macro filters, depending on their magnification and if you have several of them stacked upon one another, will decrease your depth of field. Almost to the point where it is paper thin.
Also, it can confuse the autofocus system of the camera.
Both of these can cause blurry pics like you have shown.
Practice on something outside of the tank. Like a page out of the newspaper but at a 45 degree angle going away from you. Then focus on a specific letter on that paper. Once focused, take the photo look at the result on the PC. You can see how the text gets more blurry the further away you are from the focused letter. This is your depth of field. This should give you an idea of what the filter is doing. If you can't get it to focus correctly on that letter, then switch to manual focus and try again.
This is a test that i perform on every new lens that i buy. It gives me a good idea of how well it focuses, and what the depth of field is at different f-stops. HTH.
Also, it can confuse the autofocus system of the camera.
Both of these can cause blurry pics like you have shown.
Practice on something outside of the tank. Like a page out of the newspaper but at a 45 degree angle going away from you. Then focus on a specific letter on that paper. Once focused, take the photo look at the result on the PC. You can see how the text gets more blurry the further away you are from the focused letter. This is your depth of field. This should give you an idea of what the filter is doing. If you can't get it to focus correctly on that letter, then switch to manual focus and try again.
This is a test that i perform on every new lens that i buy. It gives me a good idea of how well it focuses, and what the depth of field is at different f-stops. HTH.
