How to get good Above tank shots

[MarineTeng]

Do you make a makeshift tripod so that the camera faces down perpendicular to the surface of the water? all my shots handheld get bad reflection from the lights and are blurry cause i'm holding the camera rather than a tripod.

 

[cwby416]

are you using an acrylic box to look through?

 

[NaH2O]

Tagging along...even with a view box, I get reflection of the lights. I'm sure there is a way to eliminate that, but I haven't figured it out yet...

 

[edwing206]

NaH2O, Have you seen Melev's top down box?
http://www.melevsreef.com/topdown.html
He painted the sides so that there would be no reflection.

 

[Damsel13]

I saw pictures of it. Definatly worth checking out.

 

[returnofsid]

Kevin's got a great "top down box." I saw it for the first time when he let me use it to look "down" at clams to pick out the one I wanted. He uses it for photography. It's the first time I every saw anything like that and thought..."WOW, what a great and easy idea...lol."

 

[MarineTeng]

ya, these top down boxes look great, they shouldn't be too expensive either right? they should make a filter that can screw on to lenses that has a bag around it or something, seems like an easy enough idea

 

[Elmo18]

Did you turn off your water pumps??

Best,
Ilham

 

[MarineTeng]

i did when i tried my shots, helped since with them on even my eyes can't see the tank from above well

 

[NaH2O]

NaH2O, Have you seen Melev's top down box?
http://www.melevsreef.com/topdown.html
He painted the sides so that there would be no reflection.

Thanks! Wow, that box is totally different than mine. Mine just stays on the surface. I like how his goes into the water. Definately on the future DIY project list

ya, these top down boxes look great, they shouldn't be too expensive either right? they should make a filter that can screw on to lenses that has a bag around it or something, seems like an easy enough idea

If you can find someone with some scrap acrylic, then it would be easy to toss together. They do make underwater camera housings (your camera goes inside), but I'm not sure what the cost is.

 

[edwing206]

Underwater housing is expensive.
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/407388-REG/Sea_Sea_06115_DX_D50_Underwater_Housing.html
Costs more than my camera.