I'm heading for a weekend by the sea shooting shorebirds. It's my first time in this environment, and wondered which precautions should I take with the equipment.
any advice welcome!
Pat
Posted by Greg Barteluk on November 1, 2008 at 9:17 AM
Pat: It would be helpful to know what kind of equipment you plan on using. High-end Canon bodies and lenses are already quite well weather sealed. One tip though: be aware of the abrasive qualities of sand and salt build up. Lightly brush or carefully rinse it off any surface so that it won't scratch, especially during cleaning.
If it is windy (it is ALWAYS windy), small blowing sand particles can leave tiny chips in the glass of big expensive lenses. Also, clean your lenses, viewfinder, etc. very carefully as sand and salt spray crystals can scratch some coatings.
Posted by Mia McPherson on November 1, 2008 at 9:49 AM
Use a large volume flash card so that you do not have to change the card while you are out in those conditons to avoid the risk of getting sand in the flash card compartment. If you do need to change the card tilt the compartment downwards to avoid getting sand in it. Same goes for replacing the battery.
Thanks for the tips.
Equipment in use will be:
Nikon D200 (me) with 4Gb card enough for each 1/2 day session I guess / D70 (my girlfriend) with a 2Gb more than enough for the amount she shoots, aprt from the fact that she shoots JPGs
80-200 f/2.8
400mm f/3.5
20mm f/3.5 and Tokina 19-35 (just in case, I plan on carrying some sort of cover to perform lens changing)
Plan on lots of time on your belly, both for best POV and for ease of close approach with shorebirds in particular. Lots of wallowing around in the sand and mud. Though not really photo gear, I really like to spread a raincoat, garbage bag or even a spare coat on the ground under my camera. It sure cuts down on the amount of grit and mud on your gear as you manouver or even take breaks.
Posted by David Bostedo on November 1, 2008 at 1:07 PM
One very small thing I learned the hard way is try not to putt your hands down on the sand at all. It's tough to get them really clean again, and you can easily wind up with sand all over your equipment. I've used my backpack, towel, etc to put my hands on, when I'm going to lie down for low angles.
I've always hand held at the shore, but you could look at using a ground pod to slide your gear around. It's something like an upside-down frisbee with a mini-tripod on it (which would work OK too). Here's a well regarded one you can mount a tripod head directly on :
Posted by Richard Hahn on November 2, 2008 at 8:18 PM
Pat,
Good evening. Living on Long Island (New York) it is all sand. I would try not to change lenes if it is windy and when you do change them make sure you clean off around the mount. I use a small brush with a built in air puffer.
Posted by Dan Borzynski on November 2, 2008 at 10:15 PM
You may want to consider a UV filter for this case.
Normally, I would say to skip the filter altogether since it really doesn't do much under a lot of circumstances. However, shooting near the ocean will result in a surprising amount of sea spray winding up on the lens. I'd much rather have it deposit on an essentially disposable piece of glass than the front of the lens.
Wipe down the lenses with a damp cloth once you get back to wherever you are staying. With a UV filter, you won't have to clean the front element.
Hose down the tripod, extending the legs and retraxting them a number of times. Or let it take a shower with you. Even the carbon fiber tripods have a metal ball head on them
If you can use fixed focal length lenses, or zooms that zoom internally rather than extend, you'll avoid sucking the sea air into the camera. I wouldn't panic too much over this one, but if you have a choice, do so.
And dropping the camera into the salt water will mean a phone call to your insurance agent.
Discussion
9 repliesany advice welcome!
Pat
Equipment in use will be:
Nikon D200 (me) with 4Gb card enough for each 1/2 day session I guess / D70 (my girlfriend) with a 2Gb more than enough for the amount she shoots, aprt from the fact that she shoots JPGs
80-200 f/2.8
400mm f/3.5
20mm f/3.5 and Tokina 19-35 (just in case, I plan on carrying some sort of cover to perform lens changing)
I've always hand held at the shore, but you could look at using a ground pod to slide your gear around. It's something like an upside-down frisbee with a mini-tripod on it (which would work OK too). Here's a well regarded one you can mount a tripod head directly on :
http://www.naturescapes.net/store/product.php?productid=41
Good evening. Living on Long Island (New York) it is all sand. I would try not to change lenes if it is windy and when you do change them make sure you clean off around the mount. I use a small brush with a built in air puffer.
Normally, I would say to skip the filter altogether since it really doesn't do much under a lot of circumstances. However, shooting near the ocean will result in a surprising amount of sea spray winding up on the lens. I'd much rather have it deposit on an essentially disposable piece of glass than the front of the lens.
Wipe down the lenses with a damp cloth once you get back to wherever you are staying. With a UV filter, you won't have to clean the front element.
Hose down the tripod, extending the legs and retraxting them a number of times. Or let it take a shower with you. Even the carbon fiber tripods have a metal ball head on them
If you can use fixed focal length lenses, or zooms that zoom internally rather than extend, you'll avoid sucking the sea air into the camera. I wouldn't panic too much over this one, but if you have a choice, do so.
And dropping the camera into the salt water will mean a phone call to your insurance agent.