High ISO & File Format question

Hi There-

I have a question for everyone. First, I am going to the Newport Aquarium tomorrow and it will be my first time shooting in an aquarium. I know this poses it's own challenges, So as I was reading tips on some of the things to do, i noticed that many were saying to up the ISO and shoot in RAW. Which brings me to my question.

I have a D200 (which is not the best at high ISO) So if I shoot at a higher ISO and in raw. Does that give me better noise reduction in Lightroom than a JPEG ???

Thanks for your time. If there are any tips you could pass along to me for aquarium shooting, I would appreciate it.

Sincerely- Doug

The D200 does well up to ISO 400. Above that you start getting visible noise. Your 50mm f/1.8 should give you good results at ISO 400. Your 18-70mm used at f/3.5 should also give you good shots but I would use a monopod for slower shutter speeds. When shooting through glass shoot as close to the glass as you can and at as sharp an angle as you can. This will help eliminate reflections of yourself and other people getting in the shots, unless you want them there. Shoot everything in RAW. That will give you a lot more room for post processing. Noise is mostly a function of the camera sensor, and the ISO you are using and how how big the enlargements will be made. Shooting in RAW won't reduce noise as opposed to shooting in Jpeg.

Shooting fishes in an aquarium can be challenging. You might need a CP filter to reduce reflections or use a rubber lens hood and place it against the glass. You'll have a hard time if the fish are moving faster especially if the light is not that great. Jelly fishes are much easier to take since they don't move a lot. Do some trials and see what works best. RAW will give you more room to adjust the exposure. If the images gets too noisy for your taste, get a noise reduction software such as noise ninja. Good luck and have fun.

I came into the photography via the aquarium hobby. Basically I bought an old Zeiss microscope to study the aquaria which led to Zeiss Ikon cameras which led to Nikon...etc...

Some of the best aquarium photos I have ever seen were made by a girl named Angelique Roos aka Plukeenroos from the Netherlands with a Sony P&S camera (you can google her and find her shots they are incredible). Her biggest secret in making the photos successfully was that she used the continous shooting/burst mode. The fish will dart about making some species much harder to capture than others. Burst mode is a fantastic tool to deal with this problem.

I can't agree with Joseph more on the angle of attack between camera and glass issue. That is an old standard rule of aquarium photography. You will discover that many aquaria are very well lit particulary in big public aquariums which really helps the photographer tremendously.

If you have time run to Wal Mart or the pet store today and practice a little.

Doug, I have a D200, and depending on the lens and shutter speed I use, it does pretty well noise-wise up to 1600 --meaning the noise can be removed either via Lightroom or Dfine 2.0 from Nik Software. Make sure you don't underexpose, because then the noise is impossible to remove. So try to get your settings correct so you don't have to tweak them in pp --that tends to make the noise worse.

Hi There All- Thanks so much for ALL of your responses, you all have given me some great tips and will heed them all. I am going to take my 50mm and my 18-70. I think I will practice before I really start looking for the "money shots" if you will (LOL). I will also take my monopod as well just in case.

Thanks everybody, you all are just the BEST !!!!