 Lenny Guy |
Grand Canyon shooting tips My wife and I are hiking 5 days Rim to rim. We have a canon rebel XTI with a 17-85mmIS and 70-200mmf4L and a circular polarizing filter, 3 batteries, and 3,2GB CF cards. Looking for advice on the best shooting modes and do we have enough power and memory. Please keep in mind weight is a factor. The lighter the better.
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wildlifetrailphotography.com - Donald R. Curry Contact Donald R. Curry Donald R. Curry's Gallery |
I don't see a tripod on your list. The last time I was there it stormed. I assume it is rare that this could occur. It always good to carry large zip lock bags to cover equipment if you are going to be away from shelter for extended periods.
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John Rhodes |
Lenny, the best advice I can think of is--don't back up too far to get a better composition. It's a long way down. Seriously, have a great time. You are doing something I'll probably never get the opportunity to do. Post you photos when you return. John
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Andy |
Not sure about your shooting style, but three 2GB cards may or may not be enough. As far as equipment concern, as Donald pointed out, you will definitely need a tripod. There are some smaller and lighter but sturdy tripods that you can look into. Other than that I would suggest a two-stop graduate neutral density filter for the time when the sky is too bright but the ground is in shadow. A small flash, like the Speedlite 220EX would come in handy if you want to light up the foreground subject. If you are new to photography, for starter, you can use the "Landscape" or "A-Dep" mode on your camera. Just make sure you read the manual and understand how these two modes work. Other than that, have fun and share your photos when you return.
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Tom Leckwart |
I second the tripod. Haze is an issue in the Canyon, my UV filter helped a bit. I took a lightweight tripod with me and found it useful at sunrise and sunset. Now I would use it for HDR as well. This is a great time of year for the hike, cool mornings and pleasant afternoons. I hope you have a great time!
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Lenny Guy |
Thank You to everyone for your thoughtful advice. I did leave out that we bought a trekking monopod/tri pod (not the sturdest, should work well with time delay). I have been recovering from a major knee surgery all summer so I will not be backing up for better composition on unsure ground (though good advice because the awe of the canyon can make you think of only what you see in the view finder). This is our first SLR. Having a lot of fun with it, but it is a lot to wrap you mind around and this trip came up before I was totally comfortable with the camera. Hense the reason for the original question. LENNY
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doug Nelson |
Leave the longer zoom behind, even if it is an L. In my own experiences in photography of this kind, especially with cliffs and closed spaces, the wider the better. You'll be using the wide end of your 17-85 a lot. The 85 end crops to about 130mm on your digital SLR, good for isolating parts of landscapes. Unless you do serious bird shots, I'd save the weight and take the one lens.
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John P. Sandstedt |
If you only shoot JPEGs, three 2 GIG Compact Flash cards are more than enough. I get 567 JPEG images with my Canon 30D using a San Disk Ultra II, 2 GIG card; with the 10 MP chip in your camera the number will be reduced somewhat. But, let's assume you get 400 JPEGs per card [Hi-Res, of course.] If my math is correct, you'll be able to shoot 1200+ pictures. That's more than 200 per day. Wow. Now, if you're taking any time at all to see the Canyon AND maybe to set up a well composed image, you might not be able to shoot that many pictures each and every day. But, if all you're doing is pressing the shutter - the real problem for the digital photographer who's hoping to get a lucky through "safety-in-numbers" . . . When I shoot RAW plus JPEGs, I get 267 images on that San Disk 2 GIG card. You might want to consider another card because of the RAW demands. Of course, if you have a laptop, you could bring it along and download the cards after darkness falls. One thing though - since you're not a sports photographer who might shoot image-after-image while following a running back heading for the goal line - you really don't need the higher level cards like the San Disk Extreme III. I bought one - all that extremeness steals space for about 80 JPEG images.
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