Doh ! I was mistaken !

[Fish Chris]

{of course I've never been wrong... once I thought I was wrong, but I was mistaken ;-)  LOL

Seriously though, I screwed up. I inadvertantly reported that that 10.5 lb Northern Bass I caught a couple weeks ago was my new PB Northern...... Beeeep.... Fail.

My previous, and still PB Northern, was this beautiful 10.6 that I caught last year on a crawler. I could have sworn it was 10.4 lbs.... But I was showing my fish photo folder to a guy earlier today, and flipped past this one, noticing it was actually 10.6.... and darn was it a pretty one. Probably a younger fish than the 10.5 was also. I'd sure like to catch it again in a year or two....

Anyway, my mistake.

This is the 10.6 that is still my PB

Peace,

Fish

[Paul Roberts]

Yup! That's a pretty fish.

Hey Chris, I know you love photography: What kind of camera and pod do you use? Is it a full SLR, or something smaller?

[Fish Chris]

Hey Paul, great questions.

First off, "definately NOT an SLR for fish photography". I'd consider that to be a BIG mistake, and here's why.... DSLR's typically have a very shallow DOF (Depth of field / focus). So, it can be quite difficult to get both you, and the fish, tack sharp.

Also, for self taken shots, the greater DOF of a fixed lens camera, allows you to fudge it a lot more. I set my fixed lens (point and shoot) cameras for 1 meter.... the fish might be a bit closer... I might be a bit further, but with the greater DOF, it's not near the issue.

Now, here's the bad news :-( The camera(s) that I'd most recommend, the Canon A600 series (A630, 640, 650) are not made anymore :-( Luckliy I have one of each :-) It was one of those deals where the cameras did too much, for too little $$$, and it was hurting sales of other more expensive models in Canon's own list of models :-(

As I keep telling people, if you can afford it right now, spur of the moment, I'd start scrambling to find one of the cameras I mentioned above on E-bay or somewhere.... even used, but like new.

Now, when these cameras first came out, they were going for like $149, $189, and $229 (the prices I paid) (from the best online discount camera places). But as people started finding out how great they were, the prices climbed to like $199, $239, and $299.... then even a little higher yet as the last ones were going out.

Anyway, their are 3 primary reasons why I think these cameras are the best for fish photography;

1) because they use AA batts, so you can easily aquire rechargeables, which last a long time, and cost only pennies a charge + help to keep batts out of landfills..... but you can / should still carry 1 set of old school alkalines, which have a VERY long 12 to 15 year shelf life. This means you will NEVER be stuck without juice, on a spur of the moment photo shoot, of the biggest bass of your life.

2) They have an articulating screen which is just the coolest and most important thing ever, when trying to take photos of your own fish, when by yourself. You can see where the top of your head, and the end of the fishes tail is, and make adjustments before the shot(s) is taken.

and 3) these cameras have a function called the "C" (custom) mode. This allows you to set up every possible aspect of the camera ahead of time... aperature, flash, manual focus distance, timer length, number of shots after countdown, ISO.... I'm sure I'm missing something, but you get the point.

So, you stick a big one, your adrenalin is pumping, you can hardly sit still without shaking.... but its okay.... Your turn on your camera in the "C" mode, and its ready to do everything you set it for the day, or the month before.

BTW, you can still tweak things.... like say its a cloudy day. Well, you can leave every thing else the same, but maybe bump your ISO from 100, to 200.... or change your F-stop from say 6.3, to 5.0. If that works great, you can hit a couple buttons to save the change.... or not, and when it is turned back on, on the next "sunny day" it will remember your old / previous settings.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Don't get me wrong, I do own an Olympus DSLR, and its a fine camera for some things.... "when I'm standing behind it" and especially in lower light situations (or my long exposure stuff using really dark filters).

But otherwise, a high quality point-and-shoot for fish photos, all the way ! :-)

Hope that helps,

Fish

[DINK WHISPERER]

Lucky you Mr. Chris! I am still waiting on my first double digit!  

[FishingPirate]

Nice pair of fish regardless which was bigger. I like how the 10.6 looks like its an inflatable version LMB with the little handle on your vest

[Hammer 4]

That's a purdy fish..and healthy too..still waitin for my dd lmb..

[Paul Roberts]

Thanks, Chris.

I recently bought an Olympus 1030. It's not the sharpest (lens is small) but I chose it bc I'm in a float tube a lot -it's fully waterproof and has a very wide lens, that allows me to shoot in very tight quarters. And with my long arms I can almost make it look like someone else took the shot LOL.

Here are a few shots. I practiced pleasing angles at home with a wood carving of a bass I'd made a while back.

[Sam]

What!

An ounce off?

How horrible.

Better go out and catch her again as she has probably grown some and is now pushing 11 pounds.

Wonderful news about the two ladies.  Keep on catching them for all of us.  

[Dwight Hottle]

Chris, Your pictures are always so perfect. I assume you use a timer?

What type of delay? Mine has a 10 second delay which makes hitting the shutter & getting the fish out of the livewell quickly a real pressured moment. Keep those pics coming.  

[Fish Chris]

Paul, those are great shots taken with your Oly ! Especially the underwater shot. They actually make a really nice underwater housing for my Canon A series (I think it will fit all three of them, but at least two of the three) but that darn thing costs about as much as those cameras did !

Still, I'd like to buy one.....

Hey Dwight, yes, I always use the timer for my self taken shots, but with my Canon A series, its totally customizable. So, I set it for 6 seconds, and then it takes 3 shots in a row with about 1 second between each. Not really any pressure to take them really fast though, as I just pull the fish out of the livewell, first, holding it in the hand that I want to for the photo, then use my other hand to hit the timer, and sit back. While the shots are clicking off, I can adjust in between shots too..... and I can set it to take as many shots in a row as I want to, also. (up to 10 at least)

And all of these settings are saved in my "C" (custom) mode. So I don't need to set anything up on the spot. Its all set up ahead of time.

Even when I hand the camera to someone else, I usually just leave it in the "C" mode nowadays, just changing it from the timer setting, to single shot. But as soon as I turn the camera off, and back on, it goes right back to my custom timer. It's all really easy.

I'm telling you, these A series are the best ever for self taken fish shots..... and now discontinued, with nothing to take their place :-(

Peace,

Fish

[Branuss04]

Hey Chris,

I own the Powershot A720 IS and while looking for an underwater case for mine I found a cool little pouch in place of the expensive ones you were talking about.  They are called dicapacs. (www.dicapac.com.  While they aren't as nice and functional as the expensive ones, they are waterproof, submersible, and allow you to take underwater photos.  I think they are around 20-30$. Might want to check it out