Photographing The Tank Life

[CluelessInNY]

I hope you guys can offer some help. It seems that my camera (admittedly not the best one..a Canon 560) has a world of trouble finding a focus through the glass of my aquarium. I love taking pics and I love the critters I have in my tank, but can't get even one good clear pic of anything in the tank. How do you guys get past the distortion the glass creates to get focused, clean pics of the tank?
Thanks!

 

[meegosh]

Clean the outside of the glass, don't use windex! Sometimes shooting at an angle helps get a clearer shot. Also, I don't know much about cameras but my Fujifilm E510 has a macro function. I get the best closeups when using the super macro feature with the flash off, all lights in the room off, and some patience!

Edit:
I did some digging around and it appears your camera does have a macro mode. I can't read the horrible manual to figure out how to turn it on but heres the link:

http://gdlp01.c-wss.com/gds/0900001212/PSA560CUGad_ENg.pdf
Page 15 has all the modes and in the top right corner it should show if macro is enabled. HTH.

P.S. - I'm assuming it is an A560?

 

[Sharkrocket72]

If your camera has it try using manual focus. It takes some getting used to but it works well.

 

[ryshark]

I have practically the same camera A570 and the Macro feature seems to be the exact same. It definitely does help with the focus. Just push the flower button on the circle part of the camera. This activates the macro for closeups. It is still not as good as other pictures I have seen out there, but it makes it better.

 

[Fluff]

I'm not sure if you've tried or not but it also helps if you turn off all the pumps in the tank while taking pics. The water movement makes it almost impossible to get clear pics. HTH

 

[kimo]

9/10th's of it is having a camera that has manual focus. Auto-focus only focuses on the first pane of glass that it hits. To get around that the f-stop would have to be on the high side (f-22 > f-32 for depth of field of view) but that closes the size of the opening when the lens triggers so you need extra light (or faster film). Shooting at a low f stop (f-4, f-8) opens the lens, don't need as much light but field of view is shallower. An SLR with manual focus and complete f-stop control (digital or film) will always give you the better shot. Try bracketing your shots with different speeds and f-stop settings. You might find a certain distance where fish are in close enough focus to be an acceptable shot.