difficult lighting in the rainforest

[molly]

I went to the jungle in Borneo last year and took my faithful Canon Ixus 400 which coped pretty well. I'm back again this year and have upgraded to a Rebel 300D, 18-55, 75-300.

The problem I had last year was that under the jungle canopy the lighting is often pretty low or very dappled, ie bursts of bright sunlight. When taking shots of orangutans in the trees they were often backlit which made the subject pretty dark. I'll also be able to get reasonably close (esp with the zoom lens) as the site where I'm going has a population of ex-captive OTs which tend to just wander about.

Any recommendations, hints or tips would be gratefully received.

Cheers

[Murph7355]

Shoot in the "creative modes" (ie P, Tv, Av, M etc) and set your focus point to be a specific square. It's then easier to get the camera to meter where you want it too (ie on the animals). If it's dark, watch the ISO setting too.

I guess flash would be a problem.

The only other thing to consider would be to get hold of some faster lenses - but that's not cheap...

[Conk]

You should consider buying a 550ex or 420ex flash.