hi everyone,
i'm heading to antarctica and really need help- have spent endless hours searching for info.
I have just bought my first digital camera- canon eos 350D with 18-55mm lens. i already have a canon slr eos something and a telephoto lens.
pplanning to buy
1.the sigma 12-24mm lens + polarising filter
2. memory card 1GB x 2- which one? i'm worried about the low temps (-20 deg celcius) currentlt tossing up between sandisk extreme 3 ($$$$)
or ultra 2 ($$) vs kingston
3. I think i need a card reader? i have access to electricity on boat
4. water proof bag for camera? plastic cases semt o be extreme.
5. spare batteries: any brands?

really need some help.

slt

slt:
Congratulations on your trip, from where are you going and for how long? I'm sure that some of the folks that were on the recent workshop there will be able to give you specific advice about the cold, but here's my .02:

1. You know that you won't be able to use a front-mounting polarizer with the 12-24 unless you hold it in front of the lens yourself? With the built in lens shade, there are no threads for a filter. Gel filters fit behind the rear element of the lens, and you can't get a polarizing gel filter.

I have this lens and find it quite effective, but there are some crummy copies out there so you may want to check all is well before your trip.

I find a very effective combination to be the 12-24 with the canon 24-70 (or even the new 24-105). I don't know what telephoto you have, but you have fair amount of overlap with the 12-24 and the 18-55.

2. I'll leave that to the workshop members.

3. Card reader is very useful to have - faster than pulling the stuff from the camera itself, and doesn't drain the camera batteries.

4. Another one I'll leave to the workshop members.

5. I'd be inclined to buy Canon batteries - if you're going to Antarctica it would seem to be silly to try and economise on batteries only to have them fail on you in the cold. Definitely bring at least a spare set. If you don't have a battery grip, it might be worth while investing in one - allows you to use two batteries at a time. Make sure you keep your spare set in an inside pocket to keep them as warm as possible.

Cheers,
Peter

Fine Art Prints: www.petercox.ie

thanks peter- i am going for a month and i just bought and paid for the sigma 10-20 bc of that filter problem. this can only go on the digital camera unfortunately but i jst wanted to get things organised since i am leaving pretty soon(jan 7).

currently have film canon lens 28-80, and i think 80-300 (u can see how knowledgable i am!!)
have bought the ultra 2 compact flash cards 1 GB x 2- do you think that will be enough? (one month trip in very scenic territory). i will be taking my film camera.

i am taking my laptop which holds about 8MB - should i buy a driver? (i think there is such a thing) to increase storage?
also, does anyone have tips on cold weather info?

sharon

If you're going on the kind of expedition Michael just led, where you land in Zodiacs multiple times per day for a couple of hours each time, shooting the whole time, your two 1GB cards in a EOS 350D will be filled up in about a day, at most. You need a way to offload images from the cards to other storage. If your laptop has only 8GB of space left, you should get a portable hard drive to supplement. An external hard drive would be a good idea in any case, so you can keep two copies of your images.

The cold weather is not extreme enough to worry about equipment performance. I found that the batteries held up just fine in the unprotected camera. If you aren't as lucky with the weather as we were, at worst you'd need a spare battery to swap out of a warm pocket. Any battery will do as well as another; chemistry is chemistry. You certainly don't need to worry about the memory cards working in the cold.

We all had waterproof camera backpacks as part of the trip package, but we mostly found them unnecessary. After one outing where everybody took the backpack, most of us were carrying our cameras unprotected around our necks the rest of the trip. Again, we were very lucky with nice weather; if you have more rough-water zodiac rides, you might want a waterproof bag, or at least a way to protect your camera from saltwater splashes.

Good luck with your trip!

I agree with most everything written. I went with a Canon 10D and a Rebel as a "spare". it is rough so I would take two bodies if you have them. It is not that cold 30s and batteries do fine. waterproof bag for landing is important. on our trip I took a backpack and then left it at the landing site while i walked around. I agree that you will need two or three 1 gb cards and more space on your laptop. i came home after almost a month with 23 gb of downloaded files. I used a Canon 17-40L, a 70-200 F4 and took a 300 F4 IS with a 1.4XTC. There are times when telephoto is helpful but most of the time you will be close to the action and the scenery as well as the animals are terrific. I did not take a portable downloading device and just took my cards back to the ship and downloaded them. You should also have time to review and even delete the duds. The digital photogs on our trip including some pros got together and submitted a few good shots and we had a nice slide show near the end of the trip. Have fun!

thanks for the advice everyone- ive been looking at the nexto 40GB storage device- anyone had any use of this one or others? are the rechargeable batteries expensive? the hyperdrive 80 looks heavy bc it has so many AA batteries.

paul do you think i need an external hard drive AND the portable drive ($$$ and alot to carry?) ps i dont know much about computers...

with respect to the waterproof bag, i have a sea to summit waterproof stuff sac that i hike with- judging from what u said rih, i will put the camera in my camera bag then put the whole bag in this sack. sound ok?

and another q- i have the option of shooting in RAW images or fine JPEG- both are 8MP according to camera- which one do i choose? (i want to take alot of photos, stitch them togther and then blow them up big (poster size)

thanks everyone for help!

A lot of people like the portable devices. they are relatively expensive. if you have the luxury of a ship to return to and a laptop I think a portable hard drive so you have pictures in two places on the computer and the external drive makes most sense.

Re JPEG vs. RAW I shoot in RAW and like the chance to modify exposure and other parameters in photoshop and save them as digital negatives. JPEG is easier and many people think it is equivalent or close.

Make sure you come home with each picture you care about saved in two places computer and cd/dvd or computer and external hard drive. the b elt and suspenders approach.

I am jealous and ready to stow away on your trip. Let us know how it goes when you return. It is truly the trip of a lifetime. enjoy

if i buy the nexto 40GB and have my laptop (only 8GB memory unfortunately), do you think this will be enuf memory/back up?

and if i shoot in JPEG, can i still modify exposure when i get home?

thanks so much for your help (so hard changing to digital!)

Reasons to shoot RAW:

http://luminous-landscape.com/essays/rawtruth1.shtml

In addition to the arguments in favor of RAW mentioned in the article, there is also the factor of 16-bit editing, which is significantly more beneficial when the source image is more than the 8 bits of JPEG. Shoot RAW, convert to 16-bit ProPhoto, and you'll have the largest color gamut possible for editing your images, as well as the greatest degree of flexibility when editing and adjusting them. You also have the potential for the best possible color accuracy when using a properly profiled or calibrated RAW converter; see Adobe Camera RAW Calibration for more information.

I'd bring at least 100GB of storage if you're going to be there more than a weekend, say 2 40-60GB USB drives you can connect to your laptop and copy images to both drives for backup & safekeeping. I have a pair of 60GB laptop drives in 2.5" USB enclosures that work wonderfully for that sort of thing; they run off the laptop's power, so they work as long as the laptop has power. And have backups for as much of your gear as you can. You will have some unique photo opportunities, and there won't be any camera stores nearby if something breaks.

I second Jonathan's comments re backup equipment. there is no dust of course but a lot of wind and a lot of unforgiving rocks covered with moss, water, penguin poop etc. on my trip a few people cracked lenses, one guy blew out his focal plane shutter trying to change film, someone mashed the pins in the card slot etc etc. take two of everything if you can or things that overlap. I agree re shooting in RAW and external drive backups. so what if you fill you tiny cabin with photo stuff or have to sleep on the floor. you're not going back there soon.

i ordered and paid for the 40GB storage device 2 hours before your post jonathon! I guess it will have to do. and i am going for a Month!! my back up is my film slr (will be taking about 60 rolls of film probably as well). I hope this is enough.


ps RAW it will be!