Costa Rica Lens suggestion needed

[irishtn]

I have 2 great lenses but not sure if I should bring them or rent a longer one, maybe rent something like the 18-270mm and leave mine at home. Will be staying at a tent camp in Corcovado and will be primarily shooting wildlife with some beach/landscape. Will be doing alot of long hikes in the jungle and on the coastal beaches. Will be during the dry season but I still imagine most of the hikes being deep in the dark jungle.
Any thoughts will be greatly appreciated.

[abbypanda]

70-200 seems like a good option. Renting one might not be a bad idea. I'm guessing they have some sort of optional insurance which could come in handy of u had an accident. Might be worth it over risking ur own but not sure. Worth a look.

Costa rica is absolutely wonderful. Don't forget ur charger like I did :/. At least when I went there was only 1 mall in the entire country where u could buy camera stuff.
It rains there daily. Lots of nice volcanos. I visited both coasts. Saw a lot of sloths monkeys birds and iguanas!

[irishtn]

I guess the 17-55 will be good for all the beach landscapes, but my dilemna is what to use for the jungle and the wildlife. I'm worried the 70-200 wont be long enough but then Im worried the 100-400 might not be as good in the lower light. We will be there in the dry season so I expect conditions to be sunny, but we will be in the jungle so I'm torn. Do I go with a shorter lens, but f/2.8 or do I go for double the reach, but sacrifice the low light ability?

[hazwing]

Originally Posted by irishtn

I guess the 17-55 will be good for all the beach landscapes, but my dilemna is what to use for the jungle and the wildlife. I'm worried the 70-200 wont be long enough but then Im worried the 100-400 might not be as good in the lower light. We will be there in the dry season so I expect conditions to be sunny, but we will be in the jungle so I'm torn. Do I go with a shorter lens, but f/2.8 or do I go for double the reach, but sacrifice the low light ability?

I guess it depends on how close you get to the animals and how much cropping you can tolerate. I find even at 200mm on a crop, it doesn't really cut it for small birds, unless you are fairly close. Might be less of an issue for larger animals.

Having the f2.8 would come in handy in low light though. Especially since lot of birds seem most active at dusk/dawn.

If it helps to give you perspective; this photo was taken from about 4m away at 200mm focal length. No cropping. It is a largish bird though

IMG_1818 by hwingas, on Flickr

[irishtn]

Very nice photo. Also I plan on doing alot of sunrise hikes so thats a great point about the f/2.8.
While I am definitely interested in birds, they are probably down the list a bit.
Reptiles, mammals, creepy crawlies, then probably birds.
I wish I could bring both my 200mm and rent a 400mm but just cant. We will be on long, hot hikes and for alot of it I will have my 5 year old on my shoulders.
Hmmmm...decisions, decisions.

[mike21951]

My wife shoots with the tamron 18-270 and loves it. On the 60d like you have she gets plenty of reach. You can also rent a 1.4 or 2x teleconverter. The teleconverter works well with the 70-200. The 18-270 and the teleconverter wouldn't add much weight but would give you amazing reach. We're going to Costa Rica in December so I'll be facing the same decisions.

[abbypanda]

I was also going to suggest renting a teleconverter, would give you the best of both worlds. In the jungles, etc I think the 2.8 will be best for low light. Not sure where you're going but we visited 1 park with butterfly and hummingbird gardens. You could get relatively close. There was also monkeys relatively close at the beach, as well as crabs and giant iguanas and a few sloths. You could get quite close to the crabs and iguanas, and If I remember correctly the sloth let you get quite close also (being that they move so slow). Went on a river boat tour and also saw a 6ft caiman relatively close to the boat. I can't' comment much on the birds, not much in to them, but we did see some smaller parrots or love birds (can't remember which) at another place.

[irishtn]

We will be staying in Drake Bay (Osa Peninsula) for 7 nights. We will be hiking deep into the jungle half the time, and the other half will be on the beach.
I seriously have went back in forth in my mind, from the 2.8 to the 100-400mm atleast a dozen times.
Maybe the teleconverter is the way to go. Would that essentially give me a 280mm at F/4?

[mike21951]

The 1.4 teleconverter would give you 280 at f/4 or the 2x teleconverter would give you 400 at f/5.6. I'd suggest renting the 2x teleconverter. You'd have the same reach and light as the 100-400 (which is 5.6 at the long end). Your 70-200 IS II has a better IS system than the 100-400 which is an older generation IS. The teleconverter rents for about $40/week from lensrentals.

[irishtn]

Sounds good. I might rent one for the weekend sometime to try it out.
Thanks everyone.

[jamganz]

Just back from Costa Rica myself. I took my 70-200 f4 IS, Tammy 17-50 non vc and my Canon 10-22. I used them all in different situations. You'll do well in the shade with your 70-200 2.8 and, as others have suggested, you may have to crop a bit but you'll still have some wonderful shots. enjoy, the colors of the birds and wildlife are brilliant!!

[irishtn]

Awesome. I'm also going to have to learn how to shoot macro for the night hikes. Love learning new stuff though so I'm pretty excited for it.

[jamganz]

Forgot to mention...It is very hot and steamy. If you have your equipment in air conditioned room...be prepared to give your lenses a chance to adjust to the outside temps when first venturing out. They will fog up and then clear up in 10-15mins or so!