which lens for Bosque del Apache

Hello everybody,

I am going to Santa Fe for a work-related conference in mid November and then taking a couple days of vacation to explore Bosque del Apache. Because I will be going by airline and must take a computer for work, I can only take limited photography gear.

I will take the Nikon D300 and am wondering whether to take the 70-200 f2.8 or to take the 300 f4 with the 1.7 teleconverter. I will be taking a monopod rather than a tripod.

Thanks for your time, attention, and advice,
Paula Dittrick
Houston

I routinely shoot at Bosque Del Apache with a 500mm with a 1.4x converter. This is on a 1.6X crop factor camera. For what I'm interested in capturing, that combo works well. I wouldn't want anything shorter. There are occasions in the early morning that a shorter lens is nice. If I were you, I take the longest lens I own. With the size of the two lenses you mentioned, I'd bring them both. Early morning light will make you wish for a tripod as well.

It can get pretty cold there (especially pre-dawn) so you may need a tripod just to cancel out your own shivering! Seriously! Keith is right though, there are many great shots to be had just before sunrise and you will absolutely need a tripod. I don't think your 70-200 will be long enough for many (most?) shots of the birds. But, besides the birds, there are opportunities for scenics as well.

And make sure you are ready and alert for the "mass ascension". When the Snow Geese decide to go, they all go at once! The noise is deafening--but really cool! My batteries died once just before they all took off and by the time I had replaced them and looked up all that was left was an empty pond! D'oh!!

Even if you cannot bring your big glass, there are other subjects at the Bosque which don't need it. You may find coyotes just wandering along the roads, or other birds in the canals. Also, don't forget the hummers at the visitor center.

Thanks everybody. Guess I will have to figure out how to get the tripod in the suitcase.

You won't find hummers at the visitors center in November. They have all left and headed south.

Take everything if you can, otherwise you'll wish you had. There are opportunities for wide angle to capture the 1000's if not 10,000's of snow geese taking off at the morning mass asscension and then in the evening when they take off again for the corn fields...but then you'll want the telephoto to take close ups, especially of the sandhill cranes...though with a teleconverter I hope it's fast enough. As said above you'll definitely want a tripod for the morning sunrise on the ponds...

Have a good trip!

Cynthia
www.cspencephotography.com