Tip for capturing moving fish with digital camera setup?

Can anyone recommend settings for the moving fish? I know my setup is not the best but what settings should I use? It does have manual mode that allows you to adjust the f stop and shutter speed I believe.

Thanks very much for any advice.

depends on the fish.

First thing is know the nature of the fish and understand where it most likely will do.

For example.

Juvenile spotted drums (caribbean fish) swim in a figure 8. Focus you camera at the intersection of the 8 and wait for him to show up.

depends on the fish.

 

First thing is know the nature of the fish and understand where it most likely will do.

 

For example.

 

Juvenile spotted drums (caribbean fish) swim in a figure 8. Focus you camera at the intersection of the 8 and wait for him to show up.

Right but what settings do I use? That is helpful but I was wondering what settings? Thanks.

You want to search for any setting that will improve the autofocus speed and reduce shutter lag. I have read that if the camera has an "underwater" mode to use that. I have also heard that on some cameras (don't know about yours) there are certain settings (in the menus) that will improve shutterlag.

Cheers

James

Obviously the biggest issue is lag time from when the button is pushed. Even with the shutter speed set high enough (like in the sports mode or in manual) the problem is the focus to shutter closure the fish is moving. So far I have not been too successful in photographing a quicker moving fish with the G7. I assume the 640 is about the same. This isnt to say I havent gotten some good shots. So far though I have realized that the only good shots I have gotten is from a fish quartering away or towards me. A faster fish moving perpendicular to my camera angle always seem to be just OOF or not centered in the frame. The quickest animal I have ever gotten a good shot was of a cuttlefish swimming away almost perpendicular to me. I maintained constant swim speed with him, focused the SPOT on him and continued to pace it until the camera exposed the image. Only a DSLR I think is quick enough to catch a fast-mover at this point. I will continue to work on it though!

If your camera has a manual focus mode, you can preset a distance and shoot with a high DOF and a shutter of like 160. If not, most digital cameras will set the flash setting, focus and white balance when you halfway depress the shutter (difficult to feel underwater with a lever instead of a button) then will snap the picture when your subject shows up...as in the drum. This also works with peek-a-boo type fish as well. In any case, its tough with a P&S. What I've learned to do is anticipate behavior..ie the shot before it happens. I've also learned to use my telephoto 3x a little better. Its harder to lock focus but fish get more nervous and move faster when you get closer to them. So staying at a distance might settle them down a little.

Cheers,

PS...here are a couple of my most recent attempts. There's still room for improvement but I'm much better than when I started The squirrel fish would sit there until you got about 3-4ft away and then they'd leave so all I was getting was fish butts. So I set my strobe and zoomed out to capture this guy. The Parrot fish was one of the most beautiful fish I saw this day and he was flying by. The first time I missed him but as I was swimming away I noticed he was coming back my way and snapped the other photo.