Nikon 8700

[mfinn]

I am thinking of buying the Nikon 8700 for taking macro pictures of my corals. Mostly the zoanthids.
Will this camera do what I want?

 

[Llarian]

I am thinking of buying the Nikon 8700 for taking macro pictures of my corals. Mostly the zoanthids.
Will this camera do what I want?

I'm not familiar with that exact model, but the Nikon consumer digicams have always been some of the strongest at Macro photography, so it would almost certainly suit your needs. Also, you can put a magnifying glass (diopter) in front of the lens to get a closer focal length if the camera can't get a macro focus in as close as you'd like, although you do run the risk of distortion then.

-Dylan

 

[Nautilus]

The new Canon 20D would be nice... Comes out net month...

 

[Schottman]

Disturbed Reefer came over and took some photo's of my tank with a nice Nikon. I would think it would be a good choice!

 

[mfinn]

I bought the camera and boy do I need some lessons.
I have gotten a couple of pictures that aren't too bad.
Can anybody recomend a good book for taking macro pictures with the Nikon 8700?

 

[Schottman]

pictures look pretty god to me!

 

[mfinn]

Thanks. Those 3 are the best of about a 100 attempts. So far.

 

[wrightme43]

Those look great to me. Thats what I like about digital, instant gratification, and you can erase what you don't like. I wish my camera would do that. Steve

 

[mfinn]

Freebe zoo

This just started growing one out of nowhere.

 

[mfinn]

one more

I picked up this piece at Extreme Marine in Olympia.

 

[mfinn]

tank shot

This is my 6th attempt at a full tank picture. I just gotta figure out what all them buttons on this camera.

 

[SaltwaterTeen]

Olympia washington? I live in puyallup. A very great digital camera to get is a digital rebel, I have one and boy it is great! But its very expensive, $1000 camera. I like your tank

 

[Katchupoy]

Finn. Are you using a tripod for macro shots? Sometimes, you dont even need a macro shot. Just set your camera to its biggest megapixel 3264 x 2448 setting then fire away. Then crop it under Photoshop or any other program like "IRFANVIEW" (free), then there you go.

With that big megapixel you have (8 megapixel), that is an awesome beast. 3 cm to infinity macro... that is one camera i would like to get my hands on.

Here is an example of a 1 inch acro.

 

[big t]

I will tell you a little secret. Nobody's tank looks as good in a small picture as it does in person. Have you played with the white balance? Your camera probably has a setting to manually adjust it to a custom setting. Try using a piece of white pvc in the tank and set you camera with that, and you pictures will come across with less of a blue hue.

 

[mfinn]

Thanks guys for the tips. Keep em coming.
I do use a tripod. So far I have tried to shot everything in macro mode and using the cameras auto settings. I really need to get into the manuel and learn it.
I look back at some of the shots I thought were good and I'm like, what was I thinking?

 

[RobinL]

Finn,
You made a great purchase I have the 5700 the model prior to the 8700 and its great I agree though you wont take full advatage of the Nikon functions if you dont read the instructions....still havent read mines yet though

 

[Jeremy B.]

We just picked up the 8700 this week. My wife has gotten the itch to get into photography, so here we go..... Of course, I can't complain too much, I can have her take plenty of pics of my tank!

 

[mfinn]

Great, any tips that you learn and want to pass along would be appreaciated.
This is my first attempt at photography and I feel like I just jumped off the end of a pier and I'm trying to learn the backstroke.