maroun.c
Moderator
Staff member
Super Moderator
Excellence Award
Reef Of The Month
Photo of the Month
Article Contributor
My Tank Thread
looking at your need out of the camera you will most probably doing top downs in a top down box for frags and possibly a few shots of main colonies in your tank through glass or top down.
for top downs in a frag tank you need a lens that can focus very close, a crop sensor camera can also help a lot add some magnification. I would look at those bodies/lenses keeping in mind to keep cost down and still be able to get decent pics.
D300s Older body but still good focusing and a crop sensor so you get a bit more magnification.
D500 a more expensive choice but much better performance.
you can investa bit more in a full frame body like the D610 or the D750. I have the D750 and LCD at the back can rotate for easier top down shooting and iamge quality is perfect. Price is a bit higher though. you will also have some limitations using DX glass.
for lenses you need something that can focus close enough and have good performance in lower light.
Nikon 60mm 2.8 macro would be best for that and will also allow you to shoot corals in your tank regardless if close or far from glass with good magnification and image quality. 2.8 aperture will allow you to shoot in lower light as well.
other manufacturers Namely Tamron and Sigma make decent lenses for Nikon I own and use the tamron 17-50 2.8 and it can focus very close and is still a 2. 8 lens so quality and low light performance is there. you can get those at around 400 usd new. most of the pics on my build thread are taken with Nikon D300 and 17-50 2.8 by Tamron.
if you still need to focus closer on top downs a 12 mm extension tube is more than enough but you need to stabilize the camera a bit.
for top downs in a frag tank you need a lens that can focus very close, a crop sensor camera can also help a lot add some magnification. I would look at those bodies/lenses keeping in mind to keep cost down and still be able to get decent pics.
D300s Older body but still good focusing and a crop sensor so you get a bit more magnification.
D500 a more expensive choice but much better performance.
you can investa bit more in a full frame body like the D610 or the D750. I have the D750 and LCD at the back can rotate for easier top down shooting and iamge quality is perfect. Price is a bit higher though. you will also have some limitations using DX glass.
for lenses you need something that can focus close enough and have good performance in lower light.
Nikon 60mm 2.8 macro would be best for that and will also allow you to shoot corals in your tank regardless if close or far from glass with good magnification and image quality. 2.8 aperture will allow you to shoot in lower light as well.
other manufacturers Namely Tamron and Sigma make decent lenses for Nikon I own and use the tamron 17-50 2.8 and it can focus very close and is still a 2. 8 lens so quality and low light performance is there. you can get those at around 400 usd new. most of the pics on my build thread are taken with Nikon D300 and 17-50 2.8 by Tamron.
if you still need to focus closer on top downs a 12 mm extension tube is more than enough but you need to stabilize the camera a bit.
