rank amateur needs advice on Antarctic trip

I recently bought a Nikon D70 with a Nikon 18-70mm and a Nikon 70-300mm
lenses off e-bay. All seems fine and I have taken some good photos - no
problems.

But I am now going to Antarctic in December and as a once ever type
trip I want to make sure I make the best of the photo opps there and
deal with the unusual lighting conditions.

Firstly, lenses - I have been advised that a VR lens is a must but they
are expensive and it would make the existing long lens obsolete - any
opinions out there?

Secondly filters - currently I have a skylight on the long lens -
nothing on the short lens. What filters would you recommend. Someone
suggested a warm polarising filter - is this something you would use
all the time down there and should I get one for both lenses (as
different filter sizes 62 & 67mm). Any other advice on filters???

As you can see I could use some constructive advice!

Thanks in anticipation

Mark

WilsonMarkT DeleteThis @googlemail.com wrote:
>I recently bought a Nikon D70 with a Nikon 18-70mm and a Nikon 70-300mm
>lenses off e-bay. All seems fine and I have taken some good photos - no
>problems.
>
>But I am now going to Antarctic in December and as a once ever type
>trip I want to make sure I make the best of the photo opps there and
>deal with the unusual lighting conditions.

I've never been there, but can relate to it.

In December you'll have 24 hours of light, even in the northern
most parts of Antarctica (the sun may go down, north of the
Antarctic Circle, but it won't get dark).

In most places sunlight will vary from directly overhead for
half the day to low in the sky for the other half (at "night").
What you are used to as afternoon/evening sunlight (color
temperature, angle, etc) will be available about half the day.
(If life there is like it is here, you'll lose track of what is
day and night, so you can just schedule yourself for whatever
type of light you prefer!)

Temperatures and weather will depend on where you are going, so
you'll want to do some web research on that.

>Firstly, lenses - I have been advised that a VR lens is a must but they
>are expensive and it would make the existing long lens obsolete - any
>opinions out there?

VR is *definitely* nice... but photography managed without it
for at least a few years, eh? However, the alternatives may not
be as inviting as you'd like. Do you want to haul a
heavy/expensive tripod everywhere you go? A couple of VR lenses
might be just as productive as a $600+ fiber tripod?

>Secondly filters - currently I have a skylight on the long lens -
>nothing on the short lens. What filters would you recommend.

Mostly none. If you use a hood, then perhaps a skylight filter
is okay. No hood? then *don't* use a filter. The flare etc
from the filter is much worse without a hood.

>Someone
>suggested a warm polarising filter - is this something you would use
>all the time down there and should I get one for both lenses (as
>different filter sizes 62 & 67mm). Any other advice on filters???

If you will be taking pictures of water, that might be a really
good idea. Also if you want more saturation in the blue sky,
etc, for landscapes. (Or, shoot RAW and fix it with PhotoShop
later...)

I use 77mm filters. That way I only need one set. I put a
stepup adapter on every lense, and use 77mm rubber lens hoods
(nice because they provide a bit of physical protection for the
front of the lenses).

>As you can see I could use some constructive advice!
>
>Thanks in anticipation

I'd have a good tripod (with or without the VR lenses), and a
decent 500-600mm lense with a Gimbel mount, if you can. You
might also look at a 90 or 105mm macro lense if that kind of
thing is interesting. Another option is close-up diopter lenses.
Note that there are the standard cheapie types, and there are
also multi-element achromatic diopters (Canon, Nikon and Olympus
make them) that are significantly better. I have no idea how
well they work with the Nikkor 70-300 though...

Incidentally, I liked your choice of lenses. Given the 24 hours
of daylight, you probably do not have any great need for a
faster lense (unless you like to take "people pictures" inside,
in which case a Nikkor 85mm or 50mm f/1.8 AFD might be a good
idea). The 18-70mm is a nice "walk around" lense (I use one for
that).

Also a flash. Inside pictures will be better with a flash, and
outside a fill light is nice. For the flash you might want to
look at a rechargable external battery, such as the Quantum
units. Or you might look at a couple sets of rechargable AA
batteries.

You may be experiencing weather that is at or below freezing
too. Condensation on the cameras and lenses as you go into and
out of heated building will be a problem at or below freezing.
Use google to find some of the past threads in this and other
photography newsgroups. Take a few ziplock bags to pack your
equipment in. Most camera bags will actually suffice, but to be
safe you'll want to have a plastic bag to put the camera into
when going to a warm environment with a cold camera. I would
assume kitchen sized garbage bags will be available there, but
would put everything in your camera bag into ziplock bags, and
then take at least one set of spare ziplock bags.

Get twice as many CF cards as you think you need. If one breaks
or gets lost, you'd be in bad shape if it were the only one you
had!

Buy three sets of Wells-Lamont "monkey gloves". They are yellow
or green fuzzy material, and can be (or I should say, should be)
washed. There are other brands, but Wells-Lamont is by *far*
the best. Keep one set in your quarters, one in your coat
pocket, and wear the other set when outdoors. Rotate them, and
make sure you have a dry pair with you all the time.

--
Floyd L. Davidson <http://www.apaflo.com/floyd_davidson>
Ukpeagvik (Barrow, Alaska) floyd DeleteThis @apaflo.com