Help with DSLR settings.

[derek_SR]

Decided to play around with my wife’s Canon EOS 70D, but not getting very good pics. She has a few lenses, these were taken with a 24-100mm AF.

Pics just seem really dark, despite being taken when the tank is at its brightest. I am totally clueless with photography and just have everything on auto now. Are there some baseline settings that are recommended? Do I need an orange lens filter?

 

[CaseyP]

Can you post the pictures' meta data, like this? I assume you're in automatic mode so the camera is going to try to determine what's the best setting but won't always get it right when it comes to aquarium photography. The big three settings F-stop, ISO, and shutter speed. It's a balance between them depending on the shot you're trying to get.

 

[derek_SR]

Hey thanks! This is the data for the first pic in my post above.

 

[CaseyP]

The f value is your aperture size.
Lower number (f2-5): larger aperture size and ability to gather in more light
Higher number (f6+): smaller aperture but less light gathering.

Your picture is at f22 which is waaaaay too small so is not gathering much light. The trade off between big and small aperture is focusing. A larger aperture like f1.8 to f2 will have a lot of image separation which is nice if you're taking a closeup of a coral. Smaller aperture will get you more subjects in focus if they're at varying distances. Good for full tank shots but realistically you won't need any more than f12.

Looks like the 70D has an aperture priority mode (Av), meaning you can specify the aperture and the other settings will be on auto. Your first photo try anywhere from f6-10 and the bottom anemone photo try anywhere from f3-5. If you're still not getting the right look post the image and meta data again and we can see what else needs to be tweaked.

 

[ReyDeFarts]

View attachment 50907

Hey thanks! This is the data for the first pic in my post above.

First of all, fantastic L series lens! A couple points that could possibly help. Your exposure value is set at -1 which means you are telling the camera that no matter what settings it wants to use, you are overriding it by making it 1 "stop" of light darker. So that's one. Next is your ISO. If you're getting a 1/60th shutter speed at f22, then you could easily get that down to say ISO800, f8, and boost that shutter to a much faster setting. That will reward you with a crisper image right out if the gate. The next point to tackle would be the color temperature. Are you taking the picture during the day with lots of natural ambient light? Or during the evening with ambient house lights on which will have a different color temperature. Or all lights turned off and only seeing your reef light? These are scenarios you'll need to figure out on your own as every person's tank setup is different.

You can setup a custom setting that will store all your different preferences until you find the right balance so you don't have to fiddle around too much in the future.

Currently, I'm being a lazy bum and only using my phone for pics. I haven't brought out my cameras yet to start playing around, but I should. So far for me the most frustrating has been trying to dial in my color temperatures. Something I'll need to do much more research regarding reef lighting and capturing better images.

 

[CaseyP]

Currently, I'm being a lazy bum and only using my phone for pics. I haven't brought out my cameras yet to start playing around, but I should. So far for me the most frustrating has been trying to dial in my color temperatures. Something I'll need to do much more research regarding reef lighting and capturing better images.

White balance is pretty hard with blue light so an orange filter is usually needed. If you're looking for screw on lens filter, the Tiffen 85B has been good for me. A couple companies make clip on orange filters for phones but i haven't tried those out.

 

[ReyDeFarts]

White balance is pretty hard with blue light so an orange filter is usually needed. If you're looking for screw on lens filter, the Tiffen 85B has been good for me. A couple companies make clip on orange filters for phones but i haven't tried those out.

Yes. Agreed. A filter would be needed in order to get a decent balance. Discerning realistic to our eyes versus what the camera can actually capture is two entirely different worlds. I picked up some filters for my phone for quick shots. I'm still playing with them and figuring out what my settings should be. I also picked up the Flipper DeepSea magnifier with snap on orange filter. It's decent.

 

[derek_SR]

The f value is your aperture size.
Lower number (f2-5): larger aperture size and ability to gather in more light
Higher number (f6+): smaller aperture but less light gathering.

Your picture is at f22 which is waaaaay too small so is not gathering much light. The trade off between big and small aperture is focusing. A larger aperture like f1.8 to f2 will have a lot of image separation which is nice if you're taking a closeup of a coral. Smaller aperture will get you more subjects in focus if they're at varying distances. Good for full tank shots but realistically you won't need any more than f12.

Looks like the 70D has an aperture priority mode (Av), meaning you can specify the aperture and the other settings will be on auto. Your first photo try anywhere from f6-10 and the bottom anemone photo try anywhere from f3-5. If you're still not getting the right look post the image and meta data again and we can see what else needs to be tweaked.

First of all, fantastic L series lens! A couple points that could possibly help. Your exposure value is set at -1 which means you are telling the camera that no matter what settings it wants to use, you are overriding it by making it 1 "stop" of light darker. So that's one. Next is your ISO. If you're getting a 1/60th shutter speed at f22, then you could easily get that down to say ISO800, f8, and boost that shutter to a much faster setting. That will reward you with a crisper image right out if the gate. The next point to tackle would be the color temperature. Are you taking the picture during the day with lots of natural ambient light? Or during the evening with ambient house lights on which will have a different color temperature. Or all lights turned off and only seeing your reef light? These are scenarios you'll need to figure out on your own as every person's tank setup is different.

You can setup a custom setting that will store all your different preferences until you find the right balance so you don't have to fiddle around too much in the future.

Currently, I'm being a lazy bum and only using my phone for pics. I haven't brought out my cameras yet to start playing around, but I should. So far for me the most frustrating has been trying to dial in my color temperatures. Something I'll need to do much more research regarding reef lighting and capturing better images.

Thank you both, very helpful.

Here's a couple similar shots today taken at a similar time:

and

I was able to adjust the f value down to more reasonable levels which definitely upped the brightness, and I fixed the -1 ev as well.

It seems the shutter is staying open for a very long period of time, and the images are still kind of...murky? Is ISO something to mess with next? It's currently set to auto. Maybe an orange filter would help a lot - I've ordered one!

 

[CaseyP]

Looking better! As you play around with aperture you'll get a feel of what value you want based on what your photo subject(s) are.

The blurriness is probably related to the shutter speed. 1/60 is the slowest shutter that you can do hand held, AND that's with the photo subject stationary. Even the slightest shake of your hand will blur a picture if the shutter is open too long. Go up to 1/180 or even faster if you're trying to capture moving fish or waving coral. Tripod is also handy. With a faster shutter speed you'll lose light capturing ability so that's when you'll need to compensate with ISO. The higher the ISO, the grainier the picture will become because of the increased sensitivity of the camera sensor, but don't be afraid to go up to 2000.

btw when you throw on an orange filter, you'll probably need to tweak the camera even more because the filter will reduce some of the light coming through.

 

[ReyDeFarts]

Looking better! As you play around with aperture you'll get a feel of what value you want based on what your photo subject(s) are.

The blurriness is probably related to the shutter speed. 1/60 is the slowest shutter that you can do hand held, AND that's with the photo subject stationary. Even the slightest shake of your hand will blur a picture if the shutter is open too long. Go up to 1/180 or even faster if you're trying to capture moving fish or waving coral. Tripod is also handy. With a faster shutter speed you'll lose light capturing ability so that's when you'll need to compensate with ISO. The higher the ISO, the grainier the picture will become because of the increased sensitivity of the camera sensor, but don't be afraid to go up to 2000.

btw when you throw on an orange filter, you'll probably need to tweak the camera even more because the filter will reduce some of the light coming through.

I love that in roughly 3 replies we've gone from full auto to a manual shooter! I love it!

@SepToob What he just said basically rounded out what you need to work on. Hit every nail on the head. Slowly getting you to get that camera to the scary "M" position. Tweak it until you like it! Then save it all as a custom function. Keep posting updated pics. You've inspired me to bring out my camera now. I just wish I had a better macro lens. Never needed one. Now I have to tell the wife that some random guy named SepToob basically forced me to go out and buy one! I think it should go swimmingly.