Talonstorm

Hi. I am pretty new here, but I have a few questions. I recently purchased an Olympus c-5000 zoom digital camera to take photos of my tanks. I am having soem trouble figuring out which settings and how to adjust them to get decent tank pictures. I figured out how to change the f setting, the max is 8.0 on my camera. That helped quite a bit, but my fish are still quite blurry. What other settings should I change? Another question, should I try getting a remote flash? I have tried to find the cable required to connect the camera to a remote flash, but the cheapest I find is it for like $60, then I would still have to buy a flash on top of that. Any ideas?

Thanks,
Tina

niko

Tina,

I'm about to post the "3 of 3" section of the posts "Avoiding image blur". That part will explain in very simple terms about camera settings. For now, learn how to adjust the shutter speed and try to shoot with a speed of 1/30 or faster (1/60, 1/125...)

External flash is very useful but if your tank is brighly lit you may not need it. For shooting fish, especially fast moving ones, a flash is almost a must though. You do need external flash because the on-camera flashes will force you to angle the camera to avoid reflections. Look at aftermarked cables and flashes - they are much cheaper than the original manufacturer's. Make sure they specifically say they are compatible with your flash.

When or if you get an external flash you may want to soften the light by using a diffuser in front of the flash. The cheapest/easiest to get/use looks like this - just a plastic "box" that fits snugly on the flash.

--Nikolay

Talonstorm

Thanks! I will look on ebay for a flash and cable that are compatible.

Tina