What Glass for fish PIC's

Nemos Janitor

Nemos Janitor

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:( i am still at a near and far place when it comes to selecting lenses for fish pic"s.

i have at my disposal for my canon 350D

18-55 standard lens
18-135 is usm 3,5-5,6
17-40 usm 4
70-300 is usm 4-5,6

suggestions?
 
following, also have the 350D and the only lens I have that allows relatively close focussing is the kit lens. Would love to buy a reasonably priced lens for fish photography.
 
The only issue I personally have have with those lenses are the fact that they are quite slow (meaning higher aperture which lets in less light). And since you will most likely use the longer end of the focal length that means F5.6. So in order to get a decent shutter speed you will have to up the ISO which will give some noisy results on the older bodies like the 350D. So the only way to get away from that is to get a faster lens such as a F2.8 or faster. Unfortunately they do not come cheap and the best one out of the lot that would give you a close focusing distance in the 100 F2.8 macro (Not the L, unless you want to blow some extra cash). They retail for around R5300 but second hand ones can be picked up for around R4000 IIRC.

The other lenses that I have used in the past is the 85mm F1.8. Only issue is that the focusing distance is not that short which means you will have to crop the image.The amount that you can crop will of course depend on the amount of MP of the actual camera. The more there are the more you can crop. Lately I have had some good results with a 30mm F1.4 prime. You do have to crop quite a bit but it allows for nice shallow depth of field and low ISO pics. And for fish pics you don't really need lots of depth of field in anyway.

Most of my pics gets taken with the 24-105 F4 lens, but I find myself using ISO speeds of 1000+.

If this was me I would get the 100mm F2.8 macro lens. It is not just for macro and many photographers out there use it for head and shoulder portrait work.



If you dont want to spend money on another lens then I would suggest the 18-135 as the amount of light it lets in is the same as the 18-55 but gives better reach. Put the ISO on 400 and see what shutter speeds you get. Go higher if needed. Biggest tip is of course to shoot in RAW and then do some post noise reduction in something like adobe camera raw.
 
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Thanks Marius, that is exactly what I have found. In some of my pic's, to avoid a blurred image, I have increased the shutter speed by 3 or 4 stops which results in a under exposed pic. I then fix that in Lightroom.

The 100 macro is on my wish list and hints have been dropped in that department.
 
Another thing that you could try when taking pics of fish is to pan with the fish. It will allow you to use a slower shutter speed and will give you a moving effect with a blurred background but a sharp fish if done right.
 
I swear by my 100mm macro lens. Fortunately I was working overseas when I bought it and therefore able to splash out and get the L series lens. The image stabilizer is awesome when taking handheld macro pics. What I love about this lens in terms of aquarium pics is the fast focus and shutter speeds that I can get from the F2.8 focal length. This lense is very versatile and can be used as a 100m telephoto or for portraits. So if you are into your photography and you have correctly chosen a canon :p, a macro lens is a must! :thumbup:
 
A 100mm f2.8 will be great for corals and close up of corals etc, but I find it too long for fish pictures. You need to stand away from the tank then, which means that you pick up reflections from the glass. For fish I like the inexpensive 35mm f1.8. It lets in loads of light and being a wideish angle, restricts the effect of camera shake. It's also a great walk about lens as it's light, focusses fast and accurately and is very sharp.
 
Mudshark said:
inexpensive 35mm f1.8
Click to expand...

Hi @Mudshark, do you mean the 50mm f1.8? I have played with this lens before (not in terms of marines pics though) and it is also an incredible lens. I tried to google the 35mm but didn't get any results. I have always wanted to get the 50mm and now that I can further justify the purchase for taking great fish pics, I might have to add it too my growing xmas list :whistling:
 
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Valid point mudshark. I now remember Oceanseeker also recommending the 50mm F1.8 prime. Its like R1100 and gives very good results.
 
hermie said:
Hi @Mudshark, do you mean the 50mm f1.8? I have played with this lens before (not in terms of marines pics though) and it is also an incredible lens. I tried to google the 35mm but didn't get any results. I have always wanted to get the 50mm and now that I can further justify the purchase for taking great fish pics, I might have to add it too my growing xmas list :whistling:
Click to expand...

Mudshark shoots on the dark side.....:p. Thats why you wont find it.
 
mariusmeyer said:
Valid point mudshark. I now remember Oceanseeker also recommending the 50mm F1.8 prime. Its like R1100 and gives very good results.
Click to expand...

I agree that a great way to capture fish is a lens with a higher aperture using a faster shutter speed and lower ISO is the most desirable. Added to this, is to have patience. Try and get to know your fish. They dont swim completely random, but track their movement and look for a pattern and wait for the moment. I do this with shooting birds.

I suggested the 50mm f1.8 last time because of price vs performance. I havent tried the 35mm which must be a great lens to have.

To be honest, I havent tried my canon 50mm f1.4 for shooting fish, will try it when I have time and post some pics

Agree that the 100mm macro is awesome, but dont discount the Tamron 90mm for sharpness according to my experience and the web reviews.
 
Instead of the 50mm f1.8 rather go for the 50mm f1.4 or the 85mm f1.8, the build quality on the 50mm f1.8 is sketchy to say the least and is known to just fall apart (you will see this for yourself if you ever get a chance to handle that lens)

24-105 f4 L is a nice lens but for fish pics the f4 is not so good...
70-200 f2.8 L USM will be better and is R1.5k more than the 24-105...


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70-200 f2.8 and 50 f1.4
 
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Another vote from me for the 100mm f2.8 macro lens specifically for "tank pics" including corals and other goodies.

The 70-200 2.8 would be great for fish pics and it's a great all round lens. Note that the 70-200 comes in 4 flavours from canon:
f4
f4 IS
f2.8
f2.8 IS
The f2.8 without IS is considerably lighter and cheaper than the one with IS. When shooting fish the IS isn't likely to help much.
For "all round" use you can even add a teleconverter/extender the f2.8 for a nice long range lens for game viewing etc.

Depends if you want to spend 6k or more than double that :p
 
Yes I think the 100 macro is going to be the next lens to acquire. I can use that for my underwater photography as well.

Thanks for all the input guys. Much appreciated.
 
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