dicky109
15th of February 2010 (Mon), 13:41
I’ve recently returned from a 19 day flight/cruise to Buenos Aires, Tierra del Fuego Falklands, sub Antarctic islands and Antarctica which took place December to January. Tried doing some research prior to the trip, but couldn't find much from "regular folk", only professionals and thought others contemplating this might profit from my experience. I am an amateur whose photos may grace my computer screen, office walls and be shared with some friends who would be impressed with Kodak 110 snapshots and while I want to make the best photos I can, publication is not a consideration. These are strictly my opinions and experience and others may feel differently. I will concentrate on the Antarctic experience since that is so different than the other landscape and wildlife areas.
The weather was significantly milder than one would expect; most temperatures ranging from the mid-30’s-40 degrees and one day hitting 58 F, since we were in the Antarctic summer. This was not a photo expedition, but a regular cruise, so there was no opportunity to “wait for the light” or set up for “that” shot. You had to run by their schedule and were generally only ashore for 60-90 minutes at a time. Since one goes ashore via Zodiac and its always a “wet landing”, its difficult (although a very few did) to bring tripods. Couple that with the airline baggage weight restrictions, I left mine home. I would recommend a good collapsible walking stick/monopod, as some of the terrain, even at the beaches, is quite rocky and uneven and I prefer using a walking stick for support on hikes.
When you go ashore, you dress in layers, but we didn’t have to wear heavy items. Mostly, I wore insulated socks & liners, upper & lower long underwear, jeans and a rugby shirt and over that, waterproof pants and jacket (supplied by the ship) which was basically a water-proof wind shirt with a hood. They also provided knee-high rubber boots for wading ashore. These kept us more than comfortable and the one day we wore heavier shirts or vests, sweated off about 5 pounds. Because of the winds, you do need gloves, but didn't need the heavy duty down mittens I brought and mostly wore neoprene liners on my "trigger" hand. You also need to bring a warm hat and something to cover your ears and face because of the winds and being in the open zodiac. They also make you wear a life vest going ashore and you have to tote it around with you once you land. Its strapped around your body and between your legs-not the typical cruise ship life vest. Most people left them on, but I found it to be too confining so wrapped it up and hooked it to my daypack.
A few photography pieces of advice is use as high an ISO setting as your camera reasonably supports without excessive noise and if you see something, shoot it quickly, because in the next instant it will be gone. That goes for the landscapes and icebergs while you’re sailing and the animals at all times. None will wait for you to compose, change settings and set your shot. Also, I shoot in AV mode and highly recommend you don't forget about exposure compensation. Since you may be shooting white snow against dark landscapes, this is essential. Most of the time, it was set at anywhere between 1/3 & 1 full stop, but experiment with your equipment's characteristics.
The kit consisted of a Canon EOS Rebel XT, Canon EF-S 10-22 lens, Tamron 18-270 VC lens, Sigma EG 500 Flash, CL-polarizing filters, Grad-ND filter, Canon Powershot DS-700 IS, 16GB of memory cards (shooting RAW & JPEG and to carry it all, Lowepro Orion AW Belt pack. Since I can’t use a neck strap, I purchased a Cotton Carrier system and attached a Crumpler lens case to it. Also, make sure that you have some water protection for your equipment, especially during the landings, but also during rain which is common at this time of year. I had brought the Op-Tech Rain Sleeves that I found absolutely worthless and clumsy and wound up using zip lock bags and/or carrying the camera under my waterproof coat (2 sizes larger than I’d normally wear).
It wound up that the only purpose to bringing the flash and batteries for it was for extra weight and volume. Since most of the effective-range shooting is wildlife, and by International Antarctic Treaty you can’t use flash when shooting the animals (not even your camera’s built in) I may as well have left it home. While I’m glad I brought the 10-22 lens, I used it a lot less than I thought I would. Since a lot of the weather is dreary and overcast, the Grad-ND filter became less important than anticipated, however, the CL-Polarizer almost never left the lens.
The Lowepro bag is an excellent choice, since the two halves separate and one can carry just the upper as a daypack. Since I had the camera and extra lens mounted on the Cotton Carrier, I didn’t often need the camera case itself. When connected, using the outside pocket and the 2 loops on the bag, it made an excellent carrier for my walking stick, since when getting on and off the Zodiacs, you need both hands free without a metal stick swinging around to smack you, the other passengers and crew.
Prior to the trip, I researched replacing my Canon 18-75 and 75-300 lenses with a Superzoom (http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1029&message=32497241). While I realize the quality may not be the same as better lenses, my goal was to fit that range without a lot of lens changing. The Tamron 18-270 did that and while it has the shortcomings one would expect for that lens, especially not having sharp focus, met my expectations with one caveat. Because of a lot of low-light overcast, auto-focusing was pretty bad and I had to manual focus most of the time (how 90”s!). Fortunately, because of the mild weather, there was no danger of frost-bitten fingers. On the other hand the optical stabilization was amazing and reminded me of the dogfight scenes in Top Gun when Tom Cruise declared, “I Have Tone”. You actually saw the lens locking in on the target.
My 348 keepers from the trip are posted at http://picasaweb.google.com/rgberson/Antarctica?feat=directlink but the thing to keep in mind is that the extraordinary scenes in Antarctica make it difficult to take any bad pictures or keep any bad memories of the shots you didn’t take.
The weather was significantly milder than one would expect; most temperatures ranging from the mid-30’s-40 degrees and one day hitting 58 F, since we were in the Antarctic summer. This was not a photo expedition, but a regular cruise, so there was no opportunity to “wait for the light” or set up for “that” shot. You had to run by their schedule and were generally only ashore for 60-90 minutes at a time. Since one goes ashore via Zodiac and its always a “wet landing”, its difficult (although a very few did) to bring tripods. Couple that with the airline baggage weight restrictions, I left mine home. I would recommend a good collapsible walking stick/monopod, as some of the terrain, even at the beaches, is quite rocky and uneven and I prefer using a walking stick for support on hikes.
When you go ashore, you dress in layers, but we didn’t have to wear heavy items. Mostly, I wore insulated socks & liners, upper & lower long underwear, jeans and a rugby shirt and over that, waterproof pants and jacket (supplied by the ship) which was basically a water-proof wind shirt with a hood. They also provided knee-high rubber boots for wading ashore. These kept us more than comfortable and the one day we wore heavier shirts or vests, sweated off about 5 pounds. Because of the winds, you do need gloves, but didn't need the heavy duty down mittens I brought and mostly wore neoprene liners on my "trigger" hand. You also need to bring a warm hat and something to cover your ears and face because of the winds and being in the open zodiac. They also make you wear a life vest going ashore and you have to tote it around with you once you land. Its strapped around your body and between your legs-not the typical cruise ship life vest. Most people left them on, but I found it to be too confining so wrapped it up and hooked it to my daypack.
A few photography pieces of advice is use as high an ISO setting as your camera reasonably supports without excessive noise and if you see something, shoot it quickly, because in the next instant it will be gone. That goes for the landscapes and icebergs while you’re sailing and the animals at all times. None will wait for you to compose, change settings and set your shot. Also, I shoot in AV mode and highly recommend you don't forget about exposure compensation. Since you may be shooting white snow against dark landscapes, this is essential. Most of the time, it was set at anywhere between 1/3 & 1 full stop, but experiment with your equipment's characteristics.
The kit consisted of a Canon EOS Rebel XT, Canon EF-S 10-22 lens, Tamron 18-270 VC lens, Sigma EG 500 Flash, CL-polarizing filters, Grad-ND filter, Canon Powershot DS-700 IS, 16GB of memory cards (shooting RAW & JPEG and to carry it all, Lowepro Orion AW Belt pack. Since I can’t use a neck strap, I purchased a Cotton Carrier system and attached a Crumpler lens case to it. Also, make sure that you have some water protection for your equipment, especially during the landings, but also during rain which is common at this time of year. I had brought the Op-Tech Rain Sleeves that I found absolutely worthless and clumsy and wound up using zip lock bags and/or carrying the camera under my waterproof coat (2 sizes larger than I’d normally wear).
It wound up that the only purpose to bringing the flash and batteries for it was for extra weight and volume. Since most of the effective-range shooting is wildlife, and by International Antarctic Treaty you can’t use flash when shooting the animals (not even your camera’s built in) I may as well have left it home. While I’m glad I brought the 10-22 lens, I used it a lot less than I thought I would. Since a lot of the weather is dreary and overcast, the Grad-ND filter became less important than anticipated, however, the CL-Polarizer almost never left the lens.
The Lowepro bag is an excellent choice, since the two halves separate and one can carry just the upper as a daypack. Since I had the camera and extra lens mounted on the Cotton Carrier, I didn’t often need the camera case itself. When connected, using the outside pocket and the 2 loops on the bag, it made an excellent carrier for my walking stick, since when getting on and off the Zodiacs, you need both hands free without a metal stick swinging around to smack you, the other passengers and crew.
Prior to the trip, I researched replacing my Canon 18-75 and 75-300 lenses with a Superzoom (http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1029&message=32497241). While I realize the quality may not be the same as better lenses, my goal was to fit that range without a lot of lens changing. The Tamron 18-270 did that and while it has the shortcomings one would expect for that lens, especially not having sharp focus, met my expectations with one caveat. Because of a lot of low-light overcast, auto-focusing was pretty bad and I had to manual focus most of the time (how 90”s!). Fortunately, because of the mild weather, there was no danger of frost-bitten fingers. On the other hand the optical stabilization was amazing and reminded me of the dogfight scenes in Top Gun when Tom Cruise declared, “I Have Tone”. You actually saw the lens locking in on the target.
My 348 keepers from the trip are posted at http://picasaweb.google.com/rgberson/Antarctica?feat=directlink but the thing to keep in mind is that the extraordinary scenes in Antarctica make it difficult to take any bad pictures or keep any bad memories of the shots you didn’t take.