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Advice for Panama photography (1 Viewer)

Victor Soares

Well-known member
Hi All,

I will be travelling to Panama in February 2019 - it will be my first time in a rainforest so I have a few questions regarding birding and photographing in this setting:
(1) I assume the lighting is poor/inconsistent, so would a large f-stop lens be useful (I have a 300 f2.8 or a 400 f5.6)
(2) would a flash be a necessity or not? I have a Speedlite EX550
(3) I assume the weather (specifically rain) changes rather quickly so I assume some sort of weatherproofing for the camera/lenses ... any suggestions?

Thanks in advance
Victor
 
up your ISO to levels you thought you wouldn't accept (6400 - 8000 - 12800 - ...)
make sure your camera body is high quality enough to cope with the high ISO.

don't use flash for birds; it's plain ugly.
For other critters flash could be very helpful but you have to make sure to use white panels / flash with diffusers in order not to experience ugly shadows behind your subject.

Take a converter so you can switch.
 
If you get into a real downpour you need either a really well sealed camera lens or a bag to drop them into. But most cameras do survive a drizzle quite well.

I have seen people use flash - my preference is not. Hummingbirds often change colors if flash is used, other birds may "just" have steel-colored eyes due to reflections.

Niels
 
February should be the dry season, though how much that matters will depend on which part of the country you're in.

Bring a few lens cloths to wipe off excess moisture, a plastic bag (garbage-type is fine, just twist it closed) for heavy rain, and you'll be fine. Put the camera inside the plastic bag after bringing it into air-conditioned buildings/vehicles, and leave it in there until the camera warms up to outside temperatures, or you'll get condensation on the lens and inside the camera.

If you're shooting birds, there's normally no such thing as too much reach, but damn, f2.8 would to be nice to have under a jungle canopy. I think I'd go with that - better to get a great photo and then crop it, than have well-framed-in-camera but dark/shaky shots. You'll still want a tripod or monopod, and fairly high ISO. You can always bring both lenses and see which one you end up using.

A flash adds a lot of difficulty for not much likelihood of good results. At birding ranges you'll need a narrow beam, and that just doesn't look good, plus it annoys the birds. Plus it's difficult to get the exposure correct with a flash when the exact distance to the subject is unknown or keeps changing. If you're wondering whether or not to bring a flash when you're birding, you probably don't have enough practice using a flash to get good results from it.
 
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