Avast Top-Down Porthole Pics

erichatesmice · Jan 17, 2014

I posted this on a different website but thought I might post my photos here. This is my first time taking photos of my corals top-down and I really love the results I got from this "porthole".

erichatesmice · Jan 17, 2014

Dtech07 · Jan 17, 2014

Very nice I just ordered one yesterday and will get it in next week. Were you using a Macro lens with the above photos or a standard?

Throttle · Jan 17, 2014

Great pics! What kind of lens are you shooting with? Is that a t3 body? I need one of these look a lot better then others I've seen

Acro76 · Jan 17, 2014

Killer photos Eric!

Badfish83 · Jan 17, 2014

Really good pics. Also curious about body and lens

Acro76 · Jan 17, 2014

looks like a canon 100mm macro

YodaHart · Jan 17, 2014

Looks great! It's amazing the colors you see from the top of the tank. I'm thinking of setting up the 12 gallon Mr Aqua tank in my office just so I can get these views everyday!

RacinRevo0818 · Jan 17, 2014

Photo's look awesome!! Details on editing program used and basic camera settings? Iso, aperture and shutter speed?

typicaltony · Jan 17, 2014

Wow amazing photos! Love that Litho and those plates!

revhtree · Jan 17, 2014

Yes amazing photos! How about you start a tank thread and share a million photos about your tank?

Also FYI people you can win a porthole here: https://www.reef2reef.com/forums/ph...tosynthetic-corals-sponsoed-avast-marine.html

SlammedVQ35 · Jan 17, 2014

nice photos bro, i love my avast!

gfox · Jan 17, 2014

erichatesmice said:

Great looking pics.Have a dumb question for you does the porthole go into the water?

SlammedVQ35 · Jan 17, 2014

yes its like a barrier between the lense and the water. your lense basically sits inside the tube, and the tube you dip in the water

erichatesmice · Jan 17, 2014

Thanks guys for the compliments!

I did indeed use a Canon 100mm f/2.8 with a 5D Mark 2. I didn't bother to turn off the pumps and I shot handheld so I had to use a wider aperture and higher ISO to get a faster shutter speed. For most of the photos I used aperture 2.8-4.0, ISO 400-800, shutter speed 50-125, and exposure of -1. I used Aperture (like Lightroom) to edit white balance, recover tool to fix some high exposure issues, and bumped up the contrast by +0.05 on some photos to some the washed out ones look a little better. A professional photographer with more prepared conditions could create some ridiculously nice images with this underwater box.

Yes, the bottom of the tube is underwater. The way it is designed, there are no air bubbles that collect on the lens!

The litho is actually from a moderator in this forum who I remember as "Soccerbag". I bought it 4 years ago. I remember at the time I was disappointed in the purchase because I was expecting something else, but it has grown and thrived and looks unbelievable under LED lights! It's definitely more common now than before so I hope more people own this piece.