New camera in the Nocturnal House

[Hix]

I recently upgraded my camera body and bought a Canon EOS 550D. One of the main features that attracted me was that it has an ISO range of up to 6400, plus an extra setting (called "H") the equivalent of 12,800.

Some photos I'd taken inside of family members turbned out quite well at ISO 3200 (the camera selected the high ISO automatically inorder to have a decent aperture - around f5-f7 - and shutter speed of 1/100). Playing around, I took a photo at the 'H' setting outside on a farm at 10pm in the dark and was amazed at the resulting image; although hopelessly out of focus, the light levels were extremely good!

Naturally, I became keen to try it out in a Nocturnal House, and I got the opportunity yesterday at Taronga.

Even though the ISO was set to 'H', the shutter speeds varied between 1/6 and 1/13 of a second, meaning I had some challenges to overcome:

• Holding the camera steady - I didn't have a tripod (stupid!) so I tried bracing the camera against a wall or fixture when I could. Otherwise I tried handheld (with little success).
  
• Catching the animal still - even if I could keep the camera rock-solid, the animals were all moving and I had to catch them when they were immobile. Often the sound of the camera would cause them to move their heads.
  
• Focusing - the AF didn't work in the dark so I had to focus manually, and I discovered that my eyes don't work well in the dark either!

The following shots are the only half-decent ones worth posting. And while they might be grainy, they give you an idea of what is capable (I haven't attempted to compensate for the light sources).

http://www.zoochat.com/34/longnosed-potoroo-186183/
http://www.zoochat.com/34/longnosed-potoroo-186182/
http://www.zoochat.com/34/longnosed-potoroo-186181/
http://www.zoochat.com/34/northern-quoll-186184/
http://www.zoochat.com/34/northern-quoll-juveniles-186185/
http://www.zoochat.com/34/northern-quoll-juvenile-186186/
http://www.zoochat.com/34/australian-water-rats-186187/
http://www.zoochat.com/34/australian-water-rat-186188/
http://www.zoochat.com/34/australian-water-rat-186189/
http://www.zoochat.com/34/long-beaked-echidna-186178/

Because of trees in the exhibit, and trying to wedge the camera against a wall up high enough to see the subject, I had to use the Live-View function to frame and focus (my 0previous camera didn't have Live-View) - I was surprised how well it turned out and it's the only non-blurred photo I got of this species

http://www.zoochat.com/34/black-footed-tree-rat-186177/

Bacause the high ISO reduces the quality of the final image, no shots taken at this level will be suitable as posters, but it does make it possible to get a decent small image for records etc.



Hix

 

[SMR]

Those photos show a lot of promise. I don't know about the 550D, but on the 5D2 you can zoom the Live Focus view, so you might find that aids in focussing. Also, if you take the photograph while in Live View (with the mirror locked up) the camera should be much quieter and hopefully the animal won't react quite so much.

If you're not in need of a deep DOF, then I'd also suggest trying a wider aperture or faster lens, an f/1.4 or 1.8 would enable you to drop the ISO or increase the shutter speed.

Final tip would be to process outside of the camera and not shoot JPEG, its much easier to control the ratio between removing noise and keeping detail.

 

[gentle lemur]

Nice work, particularly with the black-footed tree rat.
I find that with my Nikon, I have to dial in some underexposure to get reasonable shots - my normal 'daylight' setting is -0.7 and my 'moonlight' one is about 1 stop less to get some sort of nocturnal effect.
Slow shutter speeds are quite possible for animal photography (think of the pioneers like the Kearton brothers all those years ago) but you have to accept a high failure rate and to use every trick in the book to keep that camera steady - bracing, wide apertures, vibration reduction technology (if you have it - but you must remember to switch it on too - I have about 30 blurred photos of the Omani blind cave fish at Chester because I forgot to do so ).
In particular you have to be extra patient and wait for the static pose which is also characteristic of the species - I like to be the first visitor in the nocturnal section at Regents Park, so that I can spend as long as I want in front of one enclosure without being jostled or distracted by other visitors. Almost every species will spend some time stationary - but I do remember being really frustrated by a truly hyperactive kowari at ZSL many years ago.
Post processing is important too, noise reduction helps, so does changing the colour balance - if the lighting is too red or too blue, change it to the way you think it ought to look.

Alan

 

[SMR]

...vibration reduction technology (if you have it - but you must remember to switch it on too...

And remember to turn it off, both for fast moving subjects (where it slows down the AF) and when the camera is tripod mounted, otherwise it can introduce its own movement.

...if the lighting is too red or too blue, change it to the way you think it ought to look.

Or carry a little grey scale card for accurate results. Failing that, grab a quick shot of something white under the same lighting conditions - a piece of tissue, guidebook, sheet of paper - all of which will get you closer than trying to guess (naughty Alan).

 

[gentle lemur]

Or carry a little grey scale card for accurate results. Failing that, grab a quick shot of something white under the same lighting conditions - a piece of tissue, guidebook, sheet of paper - all of which will get you closer than trying to guess (naughty Alan).

No good in a nocturnal house! The lighting may be different in each enclosure and the public areas will be almost pitch black. In such circumstances, the Mark 1 Eyeball (plus built-in nervous system hardware and software) is the only available tool.

Alan

 

[SMR]

No good in a nocturnal house! The lighting may be different in each enclosure and the public areas will be almost pitch black.

If the animals are all behind glass then that poses some problems, but many enclosures have something of a neutral colour in them and one can always eye-dropper that. In open areas - Chester's Fruit Bat Forest for example - if there's enough light to photograph the subject, there's enough to photograph a reference.

...the Mark 1 Eyeball (plus built-in nervous system hardware and software) is the only available tool.

Unfortunately, also one that is almost completely unreliable.

 

[gentle lemur]

If the animals are all behind glass then that poses some problems, but many enclosures have something of a neutral colour in them and one can always eye-dropper that. In open areas - Chester's Fruit Bat Forest for example - if there's enough light to photograph the subject, there's enough to photograph a reference.

Unfortunately, also one that is almost completely unreliable.

SMR has hit the nail on the head. I should have mentioned grey points: I use Capture NX2 to set black, white and grey points on this sort of image.
BUT don't think for a moment that this is objective. If you magnify an image you will see many differently coloured patches within an area that originally appeared uniformly grey (unless you have managed to include an 18% grey card in your picture) - so you have to select the one that you want to be really neutral. I can only do this by trying a range of 'grey' points and choosing the one that makes the photo look right, which has to be subjective. Then your software will make everything else match that point objectively.
The other problem is that raw processors and image processing software assume that light sources produce light which matches blackbody radiation for a particular temperature. This is not always true, some types of lighting have peculiar spectra which inevitably distort some colour values. In which case I use Photoshop to adjust the colours that I feel are wrong. If it's my photograph, I have to decide what's right.

Alan