Originally posted by Sandy Hancock Thanks Phil. You're not the first to comment on the penguins' behaviour.
I'm thinking more and more that investing in the DFA150-450 might be worthwhile, rather than restricting myself to my 300mm prime. Every so often the Australian distributors have a 15-20% off sale on their websites and that would probably tip the balance.
I see the DFA15-30 as non-negotiable. The question now is what to do with the middle focal lengths. A fast fifty and the DFA100WR would do well, with or without either the DFA28-105 or DFA24-70. And I now have a Lee filter set which I can adapt to fit any or all of these
You will find on zodiac shore landings that you could be amongst thousands of penguins and very close to them as well. So something in the 50mm-100mm range would be a good choice for that scenario. When you are on-board the ship taking pictures, that's when the longer lenses come in handy for sightings of birds, whales, seals and icebergs. The wide angles come in handy for landscape shots from either the ship or on land and also if you want to get a bunch of penguins in one shot. (Family photos
)
Also bring some silicon gel packs for when you come back on the ship, the temperature change from the colder outside into the warm ship may cause condensation on your gear. I left leave my gear in the camera bag with the gel packs for an hour or so after coming on-board, to adjust to the warmer ship. Also bring some sort of photo gloves when shooting. The ideal solutions is a lighter pair of photo gloves worn under a regular heavy pair of water proof ones, (Take off the heavy gloves only when shooting.) You can also get sprayed while on the zodiacs, so you will need to make plans to keep yourself and gear dry.
Phil.