New to Photography, Going to Costa Rica...

Hey Folks,

So I am very new to photography. I got my 30D around a month ago, and still really don't know much about what I am doing. I am enjoying the camera none the less. I will be going to Costa Rica in about a month and I was hoping to get advice on two topics. First, what more do I need to buy for the trip (I know I need a decent bag, probably an extra battery, lens and sensor cleaning stuff). I also just want general advice about traveling with camera equipment.

So here is what I have right now;

Canon 30D
28-135 USM IS Lens
50 1.8f
16GB CF Card
8GB CF Card
2 x 1GB CF Card

Some details on the trip;

7 day trip. Visiting Monte Verde (Cloud Forest), Arenal (Active Volcano and Rainforests), Puerto Viejo (Caribbean Beach Town) and possibly Turtugero (Sea Turtles). Will will do several hiking/national park tours, hot springs, a butterfly sanctuary, canopy tour, and maybe a boat tour to see dolphins. This is trip, and future travel is a big part of the reason I wanted to get a nice camera.

Thanks for any suggestions!

Joe

Are you taking laptop to download images from cards?

I would recommend some more small cards (2GB?). This sounds counterintuitive but if you have a card failure you will only small part of your valuable photos rather than most or all.

A blower and a lenspen would be great as cleaning tools (the lenspen is more for oils that get on the lens element and lcd screen)

Don't forget a garbage bag or two for the bag/camera in case it downpours. Otherwise I can't really think of anything other then an extra battery and bag. The lenses you have should work fine. Just remember to bring the camera gear as carry-on luggage (at least I do).

matonanjin wrote in post #8460257
Are you taking laptop to download images from cards?

I would recommend some more small cards (2GB?). This sounds counterintuitive but if you have a card failure you will only small part of your valuable photos rather than most or all.

We were not planning on bringing the laptop. I just got the 16GB card from newegg. I was thinking of returning it and getting a few 4GB cards instead. If I am shooting in Large Jpeg and not dumping to a Laptop, how many GBs would you guys recommend for this kind of trip?

Anyone have any small bag suggestions? I would of course like to go as small as I can and still fit the body, both lenses and few small accessories.

bdifr78 wrote in post #8461378
We were not planning on bringing the laptop. I just got the 16GB card from newegg. I was thinking of returning it and getting a few 4GB cards instead. If I am shooting in Large Jpeg and not dumping to a Laptop, how many GBs would you guys recommend for this kind of trip?

Only you can answer that--how many photos do you expect to shoot? Do you find yourself capturing everything you see and taking your camera everywhere, or do you limit the photos you take to very important/picturesque events?

As for bags I'd recommend some kind of backpack. Lowepro's Fastpack series is well-regarded. Most also have laptop compartments.

30D is an APS-sized sensor camera, which means that you really don't have a very wide view lens. Your 28-135mm lens gives the same view as a 44.8mm to 216mmm lens in full frame format.

You might find it very useful to pickup one of the digital specific superwide zooms from Canon, Sigma, Tamron or Tokina.

Consider a hardrive with slots to insert CF cards as a backup to your pictures. www.hyperdrive.com has excellent ones, and you can buy the case and add the laptop hardrive yourself if you want to save some money. There is a thread here on how to do that.

Maybe an extender for the long lens. You need at least a 400mm lens for birds, and the expense is minimal. Or consider renting a 100-400L lens, and an extender for that may be a good idea too.

A light weight travel tripod and head? Depends how much you want to spend.

The bag...check the Lowepro Nova series and Stealth Reporter series. They have built-in waterproof covers which you'll need in C. America.

My favorite idea for travel is a backpack, with which you can spread the weight over both shoulders and your waist. The ThinkTank Rotation 360 is my favorite for the amount of gear you have. It allows you to access half the pack contents without taking it off. But you'll pay a premium for that, and for half the money, look at the Tamrac Expedition 5X.

if you want suggestions for what to buy, thats a different story, but why wouldnt you take all the gear you have? add more memory though.

tvphotog wrote in post #8461480
Consider a hardrive with slots to insert CF cards as a backup to your pictures. www.hyperdrive.com has excellent ones, and you can buy the case and add the laptop hardrive yourself if you want to save some money. There is a thread here on how to do that.

Maybe an extender for the long lens. You need at least a 400mm lens for birds, and the expense is minimal. Or consider renting a 100-400L lens, and an extender for that may be a good idea too.

A light weight travel tripod and head? Depends how much you want to spend.

The bag...check the Lowepro Nova series and Stealth Reporter series. They have built-in waterproof covers which you'll need in C. America.

My favorite idea for travel is a backpack, with which you can spread the weight over both shoulders and your waist. The ThinkTank Rotation 360 is my favorite for the amount of gear you have. It allows you to access half the pack contents without taking it off. But you'll pay a premium for that, and for half the money, look at the Tamrac Expedition 5X.

Thanks for the advice. I am going to Costa Rica for my honeymoon. This is not really a photography trip. Shooting is secondary. I have no plans on purchasing additional lenses or even taking a tripod with me. I actually have a Lowepro Nova 5 that I use for my audio field recording, and I am looking to go with something even smaller than that. Maybe that will help clarify my needs.

As my photography hobby/habit/addiction grows, I am sure I will want to invest more into the accessories. Right now I am really trying to keep it simple.

Does anyone know where I could purchase Lowepro pad inserts? I do also have a Lowepro LX150 that could be perfect, but I bought if for carrying audio and lost some of the extra pad inserts in a move several years ago.

I spent a couple of weeks down there 14 years ago and I can't remember what lenses I took. I was shooting with Minolta film gear at the time and I carried my gear around in a medium sized backpack.

From looking back at my photos, I don't think you are going to need a lens much longer than what you already have. You might want to consider a flash, though. I found I needed mine a lot when shooting in the rain forest. I took my tripod with me and didn't use it once on the trip, so I don't think you'll miss it much. It would be handy if you try to take night shots of the Arenal volcano. I don't know about now but back in 1995 it was spitting rocks and fire all the time.

My ex wife now lives in Puerto Viejo...

JWright wrote in post #8461954
I spent a couple of weeks down there 14 years ago and I can't remember what lenses I took. I was shooting with Minolta film gear at the time and I carried my gear around in a medium sized backpack.

From looking back at my photos, I don't think you are going to need a lens much longer than what you already have. You might want to consider a flash, though. I found I needed mine a lot when shooting in the rain forest. I took my tripod with me and didn't use it once on the trip, so I don't think you'll miss it much. It would be handy if you try to take night shots of the Arenal volcano. I don't know about now but back in 1995 it was spitting rocks and fire all the time.

My ex wife now lives in Puerto Viejo...

Hmm... Good advice as well. Thank you.

Our hotel in Arenal is a place that has individual Haciendas for each room. Each room has a porch with view of volcano so I am sure I will want to take a bunch of shots of it at night when all of our tours and such are over. I have a super compact bogen light stand that I also use for audio, I could travel with that, but I don't think it would support the weight of the camera and lens without lots of wobble. Might be worth a test, but would have to find thread adapter first since I think it has a 5/8" thread.

Keep those suggestions coming. I love the help!

If you run out of media (cards) you can get more in Costa Rica. Have fun and pay attention to light and composition. Instead of hurrying through a scene spend some time with it to maximize the experience. Edit in camera, (kill the obvious bad images). You might want to shoot to 2 cards in order to have a backup of the image in question.

jetcode wrote in post #8464461
If you run out of media (cards) you can get more in Costa Rica. Have fun and pay attention to light and composition. Instead of hurrying through a scene spend some time with it to maximize the experience. Edit in camera, (kill the obvious bad images). You might want to shoot to 2 cards in order to have a backup of the image in question.

Didn't think you could shoot to two cards. How would I do that?

jetcode wrote in post #8464461
If you run out of media (cards) you can get more in Costa Rica. Have fun and pay attention to light and composition. Instead of hurrying through a scene spend some time with it to maximize the experience. Edit in camera, (kill the obvious bad images). You might want to shoot to 2 cards in order to have a backup of the image in question.

bdifr78 wrote in post #8464492
Didn't think you could shoot to two cards. How would I do that?

I wasn't sure about that either. The only body that will shoot 2 cards is the 1D series and I never do that.

I think he means if you see a scene you like and shoot, shoot one card. Then take that card out and shoot it again. Probably not very practicle. You'll drive your bride crazy

I'd strongly recommend a backup for these priceless honeymoon photos. If you don't take a laptop, get a hard drive such as the one I mentioned above. It's a small price to pay if a card corrupts or you lose one or two in a rush to pack or make a plane.

I made the mistake of not having backup when a card imploded and that won't happen again because of the Hyperdrive.