Best camera set up for $1k

[Camaro Show Corals]

Hello, I am looking to get into better quality pictures of my high end corals. If I said I had $1k for a DSLR camera, macro lens, porthole, the whole kit and set up. What would everyone recommend? Looking for something that beats my iPhone 11 pro and lens kit.

 

[snowhite]

You're going to get 4-7 different suggestions. Everyone has an opinion based on what they own.
Any modern camera and a decent lens is going to take more than good enough photos of coral inside an aquarium. Shooting through glass and water does more damage to the quality of photo than any camera/lens choice.

Honestly, it's more about spending the time to learn the gear you own than the gear itself. None of them are going to "omg fantastic" photos when you first get it. It's about knowing the gear and the post processing.

incoming suggestions will be "i use"
Canon DSLR or Mirrorless
Nikon DSLR or Mirrorless
Sony Mirrorless
Fuji
Olympus

followed by "just use your phone, it's as good as a DSLR"
iPhone
Android
etc
etc
etc

and... because it will inevitably get asked... I use a Sony A7riv body with 90mm macro lens most of the time.
I also do not use any porthole type equipment.

Here's some recent shots from the last week or two.

 

[Legendary Corals]

Hey there! I was in a similar situation when I was looking for a camera set up. I get asked a lot about my set up, and it's a pretty simple one. It's over your $1k budget, but it's also still a good value for what you get.

Body: Canon 6D Mark I
Lens: Canon 100mm w/ image stabilization
Porthole: Building an Obsession (I've used other ones, and this one is the best by far)

The Canon 6D Mark I is an older model, so it might be hard to track down. But it's pretty cheap for a full frame DSLR, and I know Vivid Aquariums is using the same camera last I saw Brandon (their main photographer and sps god reefer). I purchased mine for roughly $1k back in 2017. You might find some deals on eBay or your local marketplace for a used one. The Canon RP is the new and mirrorless version of this camera, and is a great camera for those looking to get into photography. Much lighter and smaller! This would be my choice of body if it was available to me back in '17. You can purchase a Canon lens adapter to use their EF lenses (like the 100mm). This would be great for general photography for vacations and trips, or if you want to get your feet wet into photography in general.

The Canon 100mm is a workhorse! I use it almost daily and it's great. Than of Tidal Gardens also highly recommends this lens as well, and his photos are phenomenal. Unfortunately it costs as much as the camera body, but this is the norm. Camera lenses hold their value very well and good glass will last a long time. It's a pretty long lens though, so your coral subjects will need to be about 12" away from where you're looking at.

The Building an Obsession porthole is a pleasure to use. It's lightweight and attaches to the bottom of your camera's mounting. Other portholes use plastic screws to basically pincer themselves onto your lens, which can damage your equipment overtime. You also have to make sure that you've attached all 3 screws evenly, or your porthole will be angled compared to the lens. It ranged from $50-$80 depending on which model you purchase.

Here's some examples of photos I've taken to show what the current gear I've listed can do. I've borrowed my friend's Canon EOS R, which is similar to the EOS RP, and it produced the same results but faster and more efficiently. Due note that the photos don't come out like this straight out of the camera. You will need to use a photo editing software like Lightroom to help out with White Balance, cropping, etc. Everyone has their own style of editing.

Cheers,
Darwin

 

[Camaro Show Corals]

Hey there! I was in a similar situation what I was looking for a camera set up. I get asked a lot about my set up, and it's a pretty simple one. It's over your $1k budget, but it's also still a good value for what you get.

Body: Canon 6D Mark I
Lens: Canon 100mm w/ image stabilization
Porthole: Building an Obsession (I've used other ones, and this one is the best by far)

The Canon 6D Mark I is an older model, so it might be hard to track down. But it's pretty cheap for a full frame DSLR, and I know Vivid Aquariums is using the same camera last I saw Brandon (their main photographer and sps god reefer). I purchased mine for roughly $1k back in 2017. You might find some deals on eBay or your local marketplace for a used one. The Canon RP is the new and mirrorless version of this camera, and is a great camera for those looking to get into photography. Much lighter and smaller! This would be my choice of body if it was available to me back in '17. You can purchase a Canon lens adapter to use their EF lenses (like the 100mm). This would be great for general photography for vacations and trips, or if you want to get your feet wet into photography in general.

The Canon 100mm is a workhorse! I use it almost daily and it's great. Than of Tidal Gardens also highly recommends this lens as well, and his photos are phenomenal. Unfortunately it costs as much as the camera body, but this is the norm. Camera lenses hold their value very well and good glass will last a long time. It's a pretty long lens though, so your coral subjects will need to be about 12" away from where you're looking at.

The Building an Obsession porthole is a pleasure to use. It's lightweight and attaches to the bottom of your camera's mounting. Other portholes use plastic screws to basically pincer themselves onto your lens, which can damage your equipment overtime. You also have to make sure that you've attached all 3 screws evenly, or your porthole will be angled compared to the lens. It ranged from $50-$80 depending on which model you purchase.

Here's some examples of photos I've taken to show what the current gear I've listed can do. I've borrowed my friend's Canon EOS R, which is similar to the EOS RP, and it produced the same results but faster and more efficiently. Due note that the photos don't come out like this straight out of the camera. You will need to use a photo editing software like Lightroom to help out with White Balance, cropping, etc. Everyone has their own style of editing.

Cheers,
Darwin

Thank you Darwin! I don’t have a problem spending a little more to get what I want. You have a very nice set up!

 

[sas226]

You're going to get 4-7 different suggestions...
.

Amazing pictures, had to say.

 

[Cook]

It all really depends on what you are going for, there is a local club member just using his iphone with one of the macro attachments taking great photos. Once you start towards a dedicated system there are some sensor format choices to be made among other considerations and your choice really depends on what you want to do with your photography and what system you find you like for ergonomics, ease of use, and potentially other real life stuff.

You've gotten some great advice already. I'm using a Sony a6500 with the Sigma 70mm Macro lens. The Sigma telescopes when focusing, so it's probably not the best choice if you intend to use a porthole. The Sony 90mm Macro is better, but it's much more expensive as already noted. The photo I have included has a white balance adjustment using Adobe Lightroom, but no saturation or color adjustments. This is shot straight through the low iron glass of my Planet Aquarium 90 gallon with the frag positioned on a magnetic frag stand. I'm using a tripod with a macro rail to make setup faster and easier.

 

[Camaro Show Corals]

It all really depends on what you are going for, there is a local club member just using his iphone with one of the macro attachments taking great photos. Once you start towards a dedicated system there are some sensor format choices to be made among other considerations and your choice really depends on what you want to do with your photography and what system you find you like for ergonomics, ease of use, and potentially other real life stuff.

You've gotten some great advice already. I'm using a Sony a6500 with the Sigma 70mm Macro lens. The Sigma telescopes when focusing, so it's probably not the best choice if you intend to use a porthole. The Sony 90mm Macro is better, but it's much more expensive as already noted. The photo I have included has a white balance adjustment using Adobe Lightroom, but no saturation or color adjustments. This is shot straight through the low iron glass of my Planet Aquarium 90 gallon with the frag positioned on a magnetic frag stand. I'm using a tripod with a macro rail to make setup faster and easier.

I’m a hardcore collector and seller with about $25k worth of corals, who wants to showcase pictures better then my iPhone and macro lens seems to do. I do know some about cameras and editing as I took numerous photography and video editing classes in school. Looking to take things to the next level I suppose. Here are pictures from my iPhone so you get an idea what I’d like to improve on.