Kodak Easyshare Z730

[cocobirdi]

i've had this camera since this past christmas, and so far i've been pretty happy with it. however, some of the features still confuse me.

i've been mostly taking pictures of aquarium fish lately, and i've been having trouble with focusing on what i want focused on. naturally, the camera wants to focus on the glass, so i have to pick something to focus on in the tank, like decorations and such, press down the button halfway, and then get the fish i want. this is still very hit-and-miss... it can take me an hour to get something decently in focus enough to use. and yet occasionally i'll get a random fish off to the side in focus... but never the one i wanted. some examples:


the first one is wonderfully in focus, no major glare, but i think you can see the problem with it. the second, also wonderfully in focus, even got the nice sparkle effect in the tail (just ignore his raggedness please ;) it's growing back!) but i think you can see the problem here as well... he's cut off at the edge of the picture. neither of these were supposed to be the subject of the picture.

any suggestions for getting better focus? unfortunately i can't just tell hyper fish to sit still so i can get them right ;)

i've also been having trouble with glare from the flash, but i'll deal with that later.

[Copy_Kot]

How far away is your lens glass from the aquarium glass when you are taking the pictures?

[cocobirdi]

i usually sit back about a yard or so... any closer and the glare from the flash takes over the picture and removes all the color.

[Copy_Kot]

I haven't tried taking pictures of fish in aquariums but I read an article recently on the subject. In the article, it was said that the trick to getting good images, is to get as close as possible with your lens glass to the aquarium glass without touching the two together. The article also mentioned it isn't easy (lol), to take these kind of pictures... you may have to take a lot of them just to get a few good images.

I'm also wondering if you've tried taking the pictures without your flash and with the light from the aquarium on? If your aquarium does not have a light, maybe you can try lighting up the tank from above it (safely with another light source).

[Copy_Kot]

Maybe you should ask your questions in the Help Files? I think you might get some more answers from the more experienced photographers here. I also think people are passing over this thread because they do not have the Kodak Z730, your questions might be asked about any camera.

I would like to see what more people say about this because it is something I would like to try.

[cocobirdi]

i was wondering if there was a feature on the camera that i was missing, lika a manual focus there are still a number of things about the camera that escape me.

should i repost in the help section, or have a moderator move me?

[Copy_Kot]

should i repost in the help section, or have a moderator move me?

I'm not sure, I think I would repost using more general questions (not mentioning that you are using a Z730).