Lessons Learned
South America
May 16, 2003
On the Galapagos portion of this trip 7,780 pictures were taken and the total number of pictures for the trip was 13,456. The shooting conditions varied from excellent to difficult. An advantage over other trips was that I could lag behind the group and shoot as conditions merited. The difficult conditions included shooting from the dingy which was loaded with 18 persons and just about every picture had someone blocking the shot. However, some of the best pictures came from the dingy.
The only equipment on this trip was the Fuji S2. Even though, at the time, both the Canon 10D and the Fuji S2 were owned.
Fuji S2
This continues to be an excellent camera. Certainly the most valuable aspect is the color balance. Over and over it just comes out well. I never saw a shot which required changing the color balance. Some of the difficult conditions included shooting the deck of the ship under available lamps at 5am in total darkness to the engine room with all kinds of different lighting. It is so good to shoot and not have to play with color balance. Cannot wait for the Fuji S3. My wish list includes:
More resolution;
More dynamic range – Fuji is a leader here;
Faster camera – every lag is a pain;
Battery system like a real camera – one battery type;
Better autofocus – this is in part a Nikon weakness and
Stronger body.
The major disadvantage of the S2 is speed. There are four factors here.
Startup from standby – 1 second – not good
Continuous Shooting – 2 – 3 frames a second
Shutter lag – Slight and related to continuous shooting rate
Maximum Frames before pause – buffer unload time
In all of these the Canon 10D is better than the S2.
In continuous mode the performance was acceptable but improvements here would be warmly received. Certainly the most challenging shooting was the albatross birds coming towards the camera as they flew along the cliffs. Shooting birds in flight is hard and with a slow camera there is a substantial element of luck. As a result I shot about 100 pictures of which only 2 – 3 met the spectacular criteria.
Auto focus is an area that continues to need improvement. Occasionally, I ended up going to manual focus the get the needed sharpness. Once, with the 500mm lens, on the mountain top we climbed above many islands, the focus was never right and there was not time to go to manual before we had to leave to catch the dingy. Much of what was sought from the photos was in low contrast conditions.
The sensors are getting dirty and this could be seen in the photos. Need to clean the sensors ASAP. I regret not doing this before leaving.
The dual battery system remains a pain. Most say that the camera system batteries, 2 CR 123’s are for low drain electronics operation. Garbage. I found that these batteries, on heavy shooting days, would only last 1 ½ days. Here I brought many of these batteries and still do not have enough. In spite of the fact that the same situation happened on the safari, I brought lots of CR 123 batteries and even that was not enough. The result was paying high prices on the street for a battery which should not even be required is the camera was well designed electrically.
Upon return these two S2 bodies will be sold on eBay. Yet, the only alternative is the 10D which is just unacceptable for:
Museums
Family and
Critical Travel
If I am to compromise on the above, that is, use just the Canon 10D, the 3 lenses currently owned are ok but would really like at least one => 500mm lens. Not ready to make this investment in Canon – which would cost upwards of $6,000. Once these S2s are sold there will be one S2 left. The questions is – what camera to travel with? I have already come to the decision that travel with both Nikon and Canon bodies/lenses will not work. Already it is a constant hassle at the airports trying to carry only the critical glass and bodies as hand carry luggage. With the unlocked bag policies for checked bags, having any camera gear in them is an open invitation to theft. Even if this does not happen in the US, foreign countries are suspect as your bags are rifled. It was interesting that the cable tie was cut and the bag opened when we left Galapagos and again to Lima.
Overall
If there was one lesson which dominated this trip it was shoot, shoot and shoot. It was not uncommon to take 10 pictures of the same subject. This included bracketing for focus, depth of focus, exposure and composition. Further, there were animal movements in many of the shots which compounded the task of getting a good shot. For example, getting animals to look at the camera may happen only once in a series. That picture has to be right on and this did not always happen. The sunset series was a good case in point. Once the sun began to set I took about 100 pictures in every combination I could think of – all while riding the dingy back to the boat. The result was a wealth of pictures to choose from and a few really spectacular ones.
This “over shoot” method might be characterized as an amateur approach to photography. Maybe so. For example, only with the 500mm lens was the monopod used and this was great. Yet, my “style” is to compensate for many shooting conditions by high levels of exposures, while a professional might have a tripod, carefully frame the shot and do some exposure bracketing. For many of the conditions in Galapagos this just would not work, however, in others it might but the number of shooting conditions would drop as there would not be enough time to cover as many as I did. It would sure be interesting to go on a photo expedition with a professional and learn how others do it and compare my style with the results of others.
Auto exposure is frequently fooled.
One day was a bad day auto exposure day in the Galapagos. This happened while visiting the lava beds. The pictures were coming out overexposes and just not on the mark. In fact, shots were taken of flamingos with the 500mm lens and all were unusable. I adjusted the shooting subsequently and the images were much improved. This only reinforced the need to shoot and shoot some more.
Aperture Priority is quite useful in select circumstances.
The common compromise between depth of focus and shutter speed happened many times in Galapagos. For example, in seeking to shoot a lone cactus in a lava bed it was important to get as much of the lava bed in focus. Thus, going as low as f/32 was very valuable to gain this context that was in-focus throughout the scene. In bright sunlight using this technique with a small f stop was not an issue. However, in shooting fur seals fighting, which did not require nearly as much depth of field, and the camera was set for the smallest f stop from the last shot. This only resulted in no good shots of fighting seal shots. They just moved to fast.
Composition is critical.
One could see a neat shot but if it was not composed well the value of the shot would be much less. Some of the best bird pictures came with light head on and a blue sky in the background.
Luck plays a big role.
Over and over after taking many pictures in a day there would be a surprise frame. One of the best pictures of this trip is of a pelican looking into the sunset. Yet, this was a fluke in that the camera was set for looking directly into the sun and thus the image was technically underexposed. This only served to highlight the edges of the pelican and that is what made the shot.
There were only 2 bodies taken on this trip and I could have used 3. But three is a real burden if one has to lug these around the neck. The neck straps get entangled and one ends up getting slowed down in shooting. As a result the 35 – 105 mm lens was largely not used. The dominant lenses were the 17 – 35mm and the 80 – 400 mm VR lens. On virtually all the trips I had both bodies with these lenses around my neck. The ratio of use was about 60 – 40 in favor of the long focal length zoom lens – in Galapagos. In other locations the long lens did not get used as much.
On the second day of the tour I took out the 500mm lens for shooting animals, such as iguanas at long distances. Consistently this lens was outstanding. Some of the best animal shots are with it. The long focal length, frequently used with a 2X extender, provided enormous flexibility. This is balanced by the pain of bringing the lens. Everything is special – monopod, carrying case, time to set up and the level of overall hassle. In the right conditions it is well worth it. The auto focus is good but not spectacular and I would sure like vibration reduction.
Real shooting conditions necessitate compromises.
One of the most significant ones is the inability to review shots immediately after they were taken. Bright daylight makes such a review meaningless. This resulted in many assumed good shots that were just not so.
The ideal conditions for shooting is where the camera becomes another eye. It captures what was seen with all the light and color. Yet, all conditions are not the same and this has a significant impact on the ability to see photographically. In Galapagos the conditions were near ideal. I was free to take pictures as I saw them. This meant lagging behind the group to get shots and then catching up. Yet, the other end the spectrum was the Quito city tour where I did not take the camera. Some neat shots were missed. I would have loved to get the worshipers in mass at the San Francisco church. The latter would have been unlikely and more important there was no camera available. Even in the market in the Saquisili Indian Market there was some sensitivity to shooting. The environment was ideal to get candid facial shots of the Indians but this was difficult. I could not just camp out on a corner for 30 minutes and “hide” my shooting. The tour was not long enough and it would have taken some effort to find the right conditions for the shooting.
I can see that my ability to think out – is this a good shot? is improving with each trip. One begins to think through the lens. I shot one picture of white plants on a slope and the result was stunning. Yet, only by thinking – this could look good did the picture come out. The end result met the stunning category.
1GB Compact Flash for Altitude.
There have been recent reports that above 10,000 feet the IBM Microdrives fail due to the lack of atmospheric pressure. The drive platter is lubricated by air, and without sufficient air pressure the friction destroys the drive. Thus, it was necessary to shift to 1GB CF in Lima and Cusco.
A day with only 2GB.
At Machu Picchu when I climbed Huayna Picchu I knew that some photographic diligence would be required. If I shot with abandon style, 800+ shots would be rapidly consumed and the activities, thus, would be limited. To compensate, from the start of the day I attempted to shoot with care. For example, in aperture priority this was used only when necessary and focus was carefully checked. The net result was a high number of good images and there were 100 frames left a the end of the day.
Updated on 2/18/06
