What lenses to take to Galapagos Islands

We're less than 30 days away from embarking on what sounds like a very similar Galapagos trip. CyberDyneSystems was a great help in getting us prepared for the trip.

It does sound like my idea of carrying "light camera gear" is the same as CyberDyne's. I plan to carry a 7DMKII & 1DsMKIII with a 16-35mm, 24-70mm, 100-400mm MKII and 400mm f4DO + 1.4x TC. My girlfriend will have the 70-300mm L and 24-105mm on her Rebel. As for cruising through the airport I'm carrying the bulk of the gear in a F-Stop Tilopa with Large Pro ICU. My thoughts are that I can pull the ICU out if anyone gives us crap on the planes....although we're flying Delta first class the whole time (purposely upgraded to reduce gear damage risks). We plan to carry everything on. Fortunately, the galapagos doesn't require a lot of packing!

I'll pack some light clothing in a duffle that attaches to the F-Stop while my girlfriend is going to have a partially empty camera bag (just in case we have to move stuff around) and a roller suitcase with our shoes and snorkel gear. My only concern is the flight from Quito to the islands because the weight restrictions are different. But I think we've done all we can to prepare for that.

As others have told you, this is one of those trips of a lifetime. Having been on a few like these before, I can assure you your only regret will be not spending the money to make this trip an amazing success. You'll totally forget the money later, but you'll never forget the experience.

Aweseom, and enjoy!
Looking forward to your photos!

Don't be afraid of the Ceviche, we had some of the best I've ever had served to us on the boat, caught that morning!

I'll echo what others have already posted. My wife and I each had a 100-400mm and a short zoom. I had a 24-105mm and she used a 17-85mm. Each lens on its own body. We covered pretty much everything we wanted at a reasonable weight.

I'll throw in a couple of other suggestions. Managing 2 bodies while maneuvering over rocky terrain can be challenging. We used Cotton Carriers and they worked great. They distributed the weight, kept the cameras handy, and left our hands free.

The other thing I'll mention is to consider the panga/zodiac rides to the islands. We might have been overly cautious but we stowed our gear in waterproof bags. That way we didn't have to worry about inadvertent spray or accidental dunkings. We saw instances where a camera bag was dropped when trying to get on the boat and with unexpected spray coated everything on the boat.

If you're interested I have a blog posting on Galapagos photo tips: https://columnsix.word​press.com …ints-1/hints-3/#PhotoTips

Art

Well I bit the bullet and on Cyber's advice picked up a Canon 100-400 IS 2. Thanks for all the comments.

Awesome, have a great trip, and go out and get some practice in this summer

I just got back. The 100-400mm was the most used lens. I also used a 400mm DO + 1.4 teleconverter quite a bit. The 24-70mm was used for about 200 of the 7,000 images I snapped.

A lot of that is due to my shooting style. I like to shoot long.

Cyberdyne, this was the best I could manage:

Poindexter wrote in post #17606274
..

Cyberdyne, this was the best I could manage:

Isn't it just amazing to watch though!?
These birds are positively comic, bafoons on land (they do call them "Boobies" for a reason)
And yet when they take to the air, and when they are doing their thing they are ace pilots, acrobats and sharpshooters of the highest order!

Very cool and good job with the timing!

CyberDyneSystems wrote in post #17606469
Isn't it just amazing to watch though!?
These birds are positively comic, bafoons on land (they do call them "Boobies" for a reason)
And yet when they take to the air, and when they are doing their thing they are ace pilots, acrobats and sharpshooters of the highest order!

Very cool and good job with the timing!

Have you ever had them land around you? Nesting time on Lord howe Island is a treat, if you take the day long walk up Mt Gower. Our guide called to the local flesh-footed shearwaters (just like a booby), and they started crashing through the trees all around us - basically crash-landing. Hilarious.

But oh so graceful in the air and on the water.

Here's a short synopsis of our trip: https://photography-on-the.net …/showthread.php​?t=1432844

And thanks CyberDyne. I wouldn't have tried so hard to get a diving booby if you hadn't talked about it!

Wow, this is great information and photos. I put the deposit on my trip to the Galápagos Islands two months ago. I'm scouring the forums to get as many tips as I can.

I want to buy a 70-300 mm lens for my canon 700D for the trip. I am new to photography with a limited budget. I am hoping that the 70-300mm will do the trick. I also have the sigma 10-20mm and sigma 18-125 that I plan on taking with me.

Well we just got back a week ago. First off thats all for the recommendation on the new Canon 100-400 zoom. Other then a few shots with the wide angel it never came off the camera.
A couple of tips. If you are on a smaller boat that is safe see if you can store your camera in an outside locker. I lost some great shots because I had the camera with me in an air conditioned cabin and when we got to the beach it was fogged over.
Buy walking sandals that you can wear in the water and also on rougher terrain. This will save time having to change footwear when you land.
Make sure you are ready to shot when you get to the beach, the birds are most active in the early morning.
We had brought shoes to wear on the boat, you cannot wear anything that has been on the islands. I ended up just in bare feet on the boat.
We also did a 3 night stay in the watershed of the Amazon, MUCH more difficult to get pictures but amazing also.

Welcome back. Where did you stay in the jungle? We added that on to our trip last year as an after thought but it turned out to be a wonderful few days at Sacha Lodge.

Douglas Conway wrote in post #17721135
.... I had the camera with me in an air conditioned cabin...

Well, that sure made my trip "ghetto" Needless to say I never had this particular issue

We stayed at the Yanui lodge for 3 nights.

Douglas Conway wrote in post #17721135
Well we just got back a week ago.

Hopefully you've had enough time to process some photos by now, so where are the photos!

Douglas Conway wrote in post #17721135
A couple of tips. If you are on a smaller boat that is safe see if you can store your camera in an outside locker. I lost some great shots because I had the camera with me in an air conditioned cabin and when we got to the beach it was fogged over.

That is a key piece of advice. Even though we were on a safe ship I wanted to keep my gear close, so it all stayed in the A/C with us. Fortunately we're early risers so my routine became:

Wake up
Get Coffee
Pack camera bag according to the day's itinerary
Place bag in a chair on the poop deck with the top part of the bag slightly unzipped
Get more coffee
Hear breakfast bell and grab some food
Easily pickup camera bag after securing my life vest a few feet away from the panga launch

I figured this out on the third day when I lost a good hour of shooting on day two to the fogging issue. Hopefully you're on a boat where the poop deck has space that the crew won't need to work in because it is so nice not having to move the camera bag 15 times before you jump in the zodiac.