[Buddha Jones]

So after all of the great tips I got from everyone about taking shots of the fishies behind glass, and in lieu of my upcoming trip to the Atlanta Aquarium this weekend I headed over to Lowes to look for something to attach to my lens hood. I decided that I wanted to use my Tamron 70-300mm because it has Macro focussing from 180-300mm so I took the hood with me. The peeps there were very helpfull and after telling them what I felt I needed and took me directly over to plumbing.

The results....
The American Valve Flexible Coupling...

which will go over the standard lens hood...

and fit so dang snugly its awesome, and looks like this.

and when pressed up against the glass of my back door takes images look like this.
WITHOUT HOOD

WITH HOOD - just a wee bit more contrasty

The only problem with this setup is the lens is not IF which is a major drag but I think that the potential is still on the upside and worth the effort to try it out.

[Buddha Jones]

Here are a couple more shots in macro mode from my backyard just messing around. These were shot handheld, which suprisingly with the hood was a bit easier because it made the whole thing easier to hold steady.

[Mechan1k]

Nice little setup there for the glass ... should work a treat keeping stray light and glare out.

Looking forward to your aquarium shots.

[rormeister]

Makes Rube Goldberg a rookie. Clever idea. Plus you get the added benefit of not 'surprising' the fish should your lens tap the glass. Did I also detected a straightening effect on the shot out the back door?

[jmbower]

brilliant, I needs me one of these.

[Tom M]

That pipe coupling straightened your image!!

[jmbower]

IS THERE NOTHING IT CANNOT DO???


heheh

[frogger]

IS THERE NOTHING IT CANNOT DO???


heheh

In its next iteration, it unlocks the door! :-)

Looking forward to seeing some aquarium shots.

[Confused]

Hi Buddha

Re your latest experience:

In lieu of my upcoming trip to the Atlanta Aquarium this weekend I headed over to Lowes to look for something to attach to my lens hood.

You've obviously missed your vocation in life........so plumbing clearly beckons as a career opportunity....lol !
Bet you get some 'funny' looks from the fishes, never mind the general public !!

Best regards
Richard

P.S. Don't forget to take along some PFTE tape, just in case the aquarium springs a leak !

[Tom M]

You should just mount a hole-saw to the end of your lens! Focus a few times and no more glass to look through. Problem solved!

[Buddha Jones]

HAHAHA!!!! No, I dont think that it straightened the image. Don't say things like that the newbs out there might believe you. I dont think that it is going to do anything too significant to the image quality overall, but at the aquarium, it may prove to be invaluable.

[Lensvision]

I think it's a great idea. Can't wait to see the results in the aquarium.

[Grimlock]

I wish I saw this thread sooner-I tromped through that fish tank last year. Guess I can offer a few bits of advice:

1-Eat before you get there. No outside food or drinks allowed, not even gum or straws. And they search your bags before ya enter. And the food prices inside are absurd.

2-They have automated kiosks near the entrance where you can buy a ticket. I didn't see them because the line to get my pre-purchased ticket was almost 2 hours long. I was seeing folks that used the kiosks get in almost as soon as they bought their tickets! BTW, they have this little area just before the entrance where they take your picture for souvenir sales-just another annoyance trying to get into the place.

3-The bathrooms nearest the entrance were the most-heavily used. The ones in the upper level over the food court/highway robbery area were the cleanest, and sparsely-occupied.

4-One of the staffers there told me that the best time to go is on Tuesday mornings-they aren't very crowded then (I had gone in on a Saturday in July-couldn't get time off of work).

5-There's an observation bubble in the penguin exhibit. You might want to hold your breath when ya enter it-there's no air circulation and the sweaty stench of 40 people was soooo pleasant to experience. But at least I got this shot for my suffering:



6-While the larger areas, like the central hall and the food court/money vacuum are well-lit, and the sea lion & penguin exhibits are partly outside, I found that the rest of the place was lit like a freakin' cave. The swamp-life area was particularly dark, IIRC.

It didn't help that I was tooling around with just the kit lens & a DA 50-200 then, and I didn't have the Katz-Eye and O-EM53 that I now use for my 50mm 1.4. That and my staggering inexperience back then made it a miserable time for me. I took over 1500 pictures that day (I bracketed a lot) and I hate almost all of them. I think I'm almost ready to go back-I now use a Sigma 17-70 instead of the kit lens, and I have a brand-new Tamron 19AH, along with a monopod and a slightly-better idea of WTH I'm doing (I think). I'll either shoot RAW this time, or try using Flash white balance since everything's so blue; trying to color-correct all those jpegs I got last year was a freakin' nightmare. I'd like to get the K20d to replace my K100 (better viewfinder and the live view to verify manual focus) but realistically that's not happening anytime soon.

[Buddha Jones]

That is a great load of information there Grimlock, much appreciated. Unfortunately I have to go on a Saturday myself. Good call on the monopod, I saw a nice Manfroto in the shop today, as well as a Trekpod, I should of bought it. Oh well, guess I will have to make a return trip.

[benplaut]

Now just paint it white for the hell of it