Nikon D50

[janderson8]

I have tried every setting you all have thrown at me but it seems when I look at the pics a 100% the is a lot of noise if you know what I mean is there any filter I shoulf be using when taking pics in a tank?

[gregr]

By noise do you mean grainy? If so, try using lower a lower iso- like 200. You'll need longer shutter speeds but the pics won't be grainy.
The only filter that is commonly used for this kind of photography would be a polarizer- but you lose about a stop and a half of light so I don't think very many people use them.

[Lights Are Bright]

What do you mean by a stop and half of light. I have a UV lens thingy that goes over the lens. This is unneccesary?

[gregr]

The UV filter is mainly to protect the front element of the lens- it doesn't really effect the light.
To better understand what 'a stop and a half' means give this Reefkeeping Magazine article (http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-11/gr/index.php) a read thru. It explains what fstops are and how they work.
But in a nutshell it means that if your shutter speed is 1/250 without the polarizer then with it you would need to slow it down to 1/90 to get the proper exposure. Big difference- especially if you're trying to get a shot of a moving subject.
Greg

[reefrunner69]

when I look at the pics a 100%

Looking at a photo @ 100% on your computer monitor can be very misleading, if you print at 300ppi, the print is actually about 25% rather than 100. When you resize for the web the noise will be compressed to nothing (unless it's really bad) almost. If the noise is bad in prints or websized images, you can use one of the noise removal programs, I personally like noise ninja the best, but there are several free programs that do a great job. Even one of the pay for play versions, like neatimage, is free for non-comercial use as a stand alone program provided you only work on 8bit images.

With that said, the d50 is the cleanest (as far as noise is concerned) of the dslr's in the consumer class, so it's likely you won't need noise removal programs unless shooting VERY high ISO. You should also try and make sure your not underexposing your images, a good exposure will do wonders for the noise in a photo. If you know what the histogram is...try to shoot to the right, get the right edge of the histogram as far to the right as you can without over exposing and losing detail. Keeping in mind the meter in your camera is measuring for 18% gray, this means the meter is going to expose as if whatever it is that your metering off of, is gray, if your metering something white...it will under expose the shot, if your something something black it will over expose.

[janderson8]

What is the histogram and how do I display it? THanks Jason

[reefrunner69]

This link (http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/understanding-series/understanding-histograms.shtml) will explain histograms, as to how to display it...I'm a canon user, so you will have to consult your manual as to how to make your camera display the histogram on image review. I have my camera set to display the image as soon as the shot is taken and to displa the histogram with it, the D50 should have the same options.

[concept3]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7464525#post7464525 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by janderson8
What is the histogram and how do I display it? THanks Jason

(I know for the For the D70) Play or view the pic, and then press the right toggle on the cursor. This should display the histogram, it looks like a sine wave if the pic is "balanced" (this is what someone told me) :D

[captbunzo]

Jason, if you make it to the June COMAS meeting and bring your D50, I will bring mine as well and we can discuss some things about the camera.

[janderson8]

Paul Thanks will do