# General > Member's Lounge > Photography >  Which lens to use when you want to take full tank photo?

## Shadow

Which lens to use when you want to take full tank photo? What I mean is which focal length is the best?

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## valice

You can use your kit lens at 55mm.
With sufficient lighting, it will be enough.

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## Shadow

Should I use 18mm or 55mm? is wide angle better? I was thinking if I'm using wide angle, I can move closer to the tank and I can take the reflection by water surface.

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## hwchoy

the best is try many shots and different focal lengths and see for yourself.

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## ranmasatome

Actually for a full tank shot.. you want to be as far as possible to reduce the anglulation of the sides..but depending on how much space you have in front of you and the tank..you might want to use a different lense..

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## zQ.

Im using Tamron 17-50 and take pics from 1,5-2m away from the tank.

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## trident

I think a 55 mm will do fine, but must have plenty of light.
The on board flash on my camera is simply not enough 
for a 5 ft tank.

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## benny

Ideally, I would use a range between 85 to 135 mm. 

Cheers,

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## juggler

> Ideally, I would use a range between 85 to 135 mm. 
> 
> Cheers,


Provided the tank is small or you have enough working space to shoot from.
I hear Amano uses telephoto lens to shoot his tanks to give a feeling of "depth" to his setups.

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## hwchoy

not to mention the seven studio strobes.

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## Shadow

o... so the higher focal lense will give you beter feeling of depth?

My tank is small 2ft only. I just try and I should be able to use 70mm. That is the maximum, longer than that, I have to jump out of the window  :Razz:

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## hwchoy

longer focal length gives you a narrower field of view, so the depth axis is exaggerated by the lack of width.

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## luenny

Robert,
Again there's no right or wrong answer to this. A longer lens will give you depth as well as DOF but you have to stand further. Also longer lens can give you tanks that look rectangular. Shorter (wider) lens, you get to go near and shoot but tank may look distorted. Also shorter lens brings out subject closer to the lens so if you want a tank shot with the emphasis on certain scape in the middle of the tank, that's the lens you should try. You have zoom lens right, just try and try. Good thing about digital is it's free to try. 

Oh, and remember to post your results.  :Grin:

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## hwchoy

actually longer lens gives you less DOF, all else being equal. but it may look like you have more DOF because you tend to be further away from the subject when using a long lens.

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## Shadow

it is difficult for newbie there are so many know to turn and try. So if I know what is the recomended setup, that eliminate big chunk of the issue and can focus my attention to the camera setting it self. At least that what I'm thinking  :Razz: 

It may end up like when first time start planted aquarium, buy those test kits, but after a while never use it and plant grow without problem.

I guess the only way is just get on with it, take few shot with different setting and take the best out of it.

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## hwchoy

but thats the great thing about digital photography, you can try to your heart's content and see what works and what does not. and it costs nothing to your pocket nor the environment.

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## trident

Robert,
Looks like both of us got a lot of trying to do.
You can try with your 70-200 but make sure you don't fall out the window!

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## luenny

> actually longer lens gives you less DOF, all else being equal. but it may look like you have more DOF because you tend to be further away from the subject when using a long lens.


Yeah, being further away gives a picture which has more parts sharp, that's what I mean. That's what macro people do when they can't focus on the whole bug, they move back and shoot and crop the pic.

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## hwchoy

yes I knew you meant that, just don't want the newbies to catch the wrong technical understanding.

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## luenny

Thanks choy.

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## StanChung

Hi all,
I tend to agree with some of the thoughts here but I also disagree with a lot of the thoughts. lol. Being in the TV commercial industry, I should know what I'm mumbling about so please bear with me.

Shoot with the wide angle setting if you want dynamic perspective. The lines from the front corners going into the back corner of the tank enhances perspective- 12-17mm [APSC]

Shoot with a telephoto setting if you want a compressed look. If you want the objects at the back to look larger then set it to a longer focal length. 35, 55mm [APSC]

IMO using a telephoto to shoot full tanks shots are undramatic. Look at last year's ADA winner and you'll see how wide he shot it with. I'm guessing full frame DSLR at around 14-17mm. The back corners of the tank are so close to the center.

Anyway, have a look at our amateur photography workshop here at http://www.my-mac.net/forum/viewtopi...t=4744&start=0

Depth.
If you have out of focus things in front and at the back, the shot produced has lots of depth. This is achieved by using full open apertures and mid-long telephotos like demonstrated by Choy here - especially those shots showing frontal outfo and back outfo from point of focus. http://www.aquaticquotient.com/forum...ad.php?t=36201

However, this defeats the purpose of showing off the whole tank. We can have only the middle of the tank sharp whereas the bg and front plants outfo. Use a smaller aperture to get the front and back for reasonable front to back sharpness. 
Teles have lower DOF for the equivalent f-stop compared to wide angle lenses so consider this when you have limited light and want high shutter speeds freeze the fishes.

Tanks with large HC lawns IMO should use a very wide angle to exaggerate the expanse of the lawn.

Tanks with a 'Tree' as a focus point somewhere near the midpoint of the tank should not use a very wide angle as the tree would look very small. eg- The number 10 entry of last year's ADA.

To me photography for ADA competition is 50&#37; of the unseen marks. If you fail to produce a striking image, you'll not get very high marks.

ok end of rambling... :Grin:

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## StanChung

> Should I use 18mm or 55mm? is wide angle better? I was thinking if I'm using wide angle, I can move closer to the tank and I can take the reflection by water surface.


You are right.
You should use the 18mm- the water reflection is very beautiful to look at. Capturing the ripples also gives the tank a sense of liveliness and sparkle or else it will look like still water and dead in most cases.

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## Shadow

thanks for the link, very informative, I love those water ripple  :Grin: 

Some of the background is light blue, some of them is white. Did you put light blue paper/cardboard behind?

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## StanChung

It's just the wall. The light is blue because of the '20,000' kelvin Dymax bulbs from the luminaires if you notice. In the last pic, the bg is white because we were using flash and not the fl tubes.

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## valice

> Shoot with the wide angle setting if you want dynamic perspective. The lines from the front corners going into the back corner of the tank enhances perspective- 12-17mm [APSC]


This indeed brought about a very interesting point. Something worth trying out and think about it.
Like the effect the lens choice created with the tank.

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## trident

The master have spoken, that is some project, Stan.
the result is simply beautiful. Thanks for the link.

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## luenny

So that's how people win ADA competition. Hmmm ... watch out for me the next competition. Just kidding!  :Grin: 

Anyway, agree with Richard that was very informative. I always thought when you send for ADA you need to present the tank as normal shape as possible so the usage of a tele-lens would lessen the distortion. I guess I was wrong. And it never came to me that those impressive HC lawn is exaggerated. No wonder I can never achieve the effect in real life.  :Grin:

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## zenscape

Thanks Stan for the link. 

I am inspired! I had been using a P&S camera for 2006 and 2007 entries and it looks like I better try harder next round.

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## benny

Maurice,

We will support you. Just let us know when we can recce the tank and we will plan a shoot. You don't have to worry about equipment.

Cheers,

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## zenscape

Thanks Benny! Will contact you once it is ready.  :Jump for joy:

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## Shadow

Stan Chung, just wondering how big is the tank on the photo?

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## trident

Maurice,
I'll go hold the black cloth or hair dryer, anything to help.  :Shocked: 





> Maurice,
> 
> We will support you. Just let us know when we can recce the tank and we will plan a shoot. You don't have to worry about equipment.
> 
> Cheers,

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## valice

That tank is a standard 3ft tank.

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## StanChung

It's a 36X20X20".

You're welcom Maurice, it's great to have Benny with the gear... My wish list is the f2.8 AFS trio from Nikon. 14-24, 24-70, 70-210 + a D3

I'll probably never get all I wish for but it good to aim for something... :Grin:

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## zenscape

> Maurice,
> I'll go hold the black cloth or hair dryer, anything to help.


Thanks for the support, Richard! I will let you know the place, date and time once I hear the confirmation from Benny and Vincent.

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## zenscape

> It's a 36X20X20".
> 
> You're welcom Maurice, it's great to have Benny with the gear... My wish list is the f2.8 AFS trio from Nikon. 14-24, 24-70, 70-210 + a D3
> 
> I'll probably never get all I wish for but it good to aim for something...


Hi Stan, it is good to aim and i am sure it will come by soon.. but you are doing great now.

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## StanChung

> The master have spoken, that is some project, Stan.
> the result is simply beautiful. Thanks for the link.


Richard, I'm only a mr. kepoh lah. It's just that i got a lot of friends to help condense ideas over here and at MAC. It's just to level the playing field. For too long, we lost out on photography IMHO. I once told my lfs that yuor tank actually deserves a higher ranking but lost out on photography. He looked at me like i was from a different planet.

With a little cash to get the right setup, we can do wonders. Now everybody can be expert liao. oops! hahaha

Maurice, we try to get top ten this year ok? We let Luenny win la... oops forgot about the rest of the world! kekeke.

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## wasabi8888

My 2f t pleco scape in the aquascaping section was taken at 42mm. I used a 18-200 Nikkor lens to take. Remote flash though.

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## StanChung

> Thanks Stan for the link. 
> 
> I am inspired! I had been using a P&S camera for 2006 and 2007 entries and it looks like I better try harder next round.


I'm glad you are and with Taikor Benny and the AQ team behind you'll definitely keep your top 100 placing at the minimum! I also wish you the best of luck. 

I think our objective of our workshop is accomplished on the awareness of photography as an important aspect of showing off your work.

The master is Takashi Amano himself. His publications and aquajournals are my inspiration.  :Wink:

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## zenscape

Thanks Stan. I am happy that we encourage and support each other here. 

2 years ago, I was observing folks from CAU and I knew very soon they would grab the spotlight and really this year there are many CAU big winners. Their passion in this hobby and unreserved support to each other and their keen sharing of knowledge is now getting the world's attention. 

Looking at your link and the way MAC members are conducting awareness workshop, I am very sure MAC members will be the next big thing, not to mention one of them already ranked 14 this year.

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## luenny

Maurice,
Let me know when you're doing shoot for your tank also. I also want to kaypoh ... erm ... help out.  :Smile: 

Stan,
Me?? How to win? I don't even maintain my tank anymore. Sigh! With so many tanks, I really don't feel like touching it anymore. Maybe it was wrong to add to so many high maintainance tanks (you know what I'm talking about) in such a short time.

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## StanChung

Lol, Luenny, we will support you for 2009 ok? Actually You stil have time for 2008. 4 months is plenty. Just don't go for too many shade plants.
[or buy plug and play shade plants!]
Maurice, all it takes is people like us to show we can and the self belief of the rest will come. The standards are getting higher and higher every year so playing catch up is quite a challenge. I was very happy that the participants of the workshop learnt something and were receptive but I was also disappointed the turnout was low.

I think my friends now know why I wanted the 12-24 so badly for full tank shots.  :Grin:

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## Burnz

> Lol, Luenny, we will support you for 2009 ok? Actually You stil have time for 2008. 4 months is plenty. Just don't go for too many shade plants.
> [or buy plug and play shade plants!]
> Maurice, all it takes is people like us to show we can and the self belief of the rest will come. The standards are getting higher and higher every year so playing catch up is quite a challenge. I was very happy that the participants of the workshop learnt something and were receptive but I was also disappointed the turnout was low.
> 
> I think my friends now know why I wanted the 12-24 so badly for full tank shots.



12-24mm Sigma?

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## StanChung

Hi Burnz,
It's a Neekor but the sigma would be good value for money. Do read some reviews before you plunk your money.  :Smile:

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## Burnz

> Hi Burnz,
> It's a Neekor but the sigma would be good value for money. Do read some reviews before you plunk your money.


ah thanks Stan for advise. I can't Neekor as i'm with the Canon Camp.
I have my eyes on the Canon EF-S 10-22mm  :Wink:

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## StanChung

No worries, I think the majority here is in the Kwanon camp.  :Roll Eyes:

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## Shadow

just wondering is there such think as canon to nikon lens corveter and vice versa?

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## luenny

Have, I read it somewhere before.

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## hwchoy

I think the Canon lenses cannot be mounted on Nikon as the mount is too small. Most lenses can be adapted onto the canon EF mount because it is fairly big. But it is not a good solution, the mount is very precisely machined and most good adaptors cause a bomb (not to mention hard to find) but the lousy ones have problems such as inability to focus to infinity.

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