Posted by kelly mason on December 21, 2008 at 2:22 PM
Hello:
I've been out of photo taking for a couple of year and would appreciate some advice. Going to Yellowstone end of January for some winter photography of nature and wolves. Have a Canon 5D Mark 11 and Canon EF 300 mm 2.8L IS USM lens.with 2 x extender. Currently have a carbon fiber tripod and Arca Swiss B1 ballhead. I have concerns with the ballhead.. one with the occasional freeze up and possibly having this happening in Yellowstone and two, will this ball head support the 300 mm lens with a 2x extender or should I be looking at another ball head and/or a Wimberley Sidekick Jr.? Any other winter shooting advice would be greatly appreciated!
The head should be OK, as long as the legs are solid enough (not all carbon fiber tripods are rated for this type of load). Make sure to bring extra batteries and keep at least one close to your body (e.g. inside jacket pocket) to keep it warm.
In deep snow, you may want to punch holes in 3 tennis balls and slide them over the tripod feet to keep them from sinking in too deep.
If you plan to be in and out of vehicles a lot, condensation may be a concern too. Some people use large'ish ziplock bags to place the camera in before entering a warmer area.
You may also want to find a pair of gloves or mittens with a flip-back cover so you can expose your fingers when you need to use them without having to remove the whole glove.
Hey, great tip about the tennis balls for the tripod feet in the snow, Guy!
I'll just say that for me, using a D200 and 300/2.8 w/ 2x, having a Wimberley Sidekick makes a tremendous difference when doing days worth of shooting. Of course, and paradoxically, the Sidekick adds weight to the camera-tripod setup; but I think it more than compensates for that by handling all the weight of camera and lens while shooting, panning, and all. Just IMHO. Hope you have a great trip!
Posted by Steve Foss on December 22, 2008 at 6:50 AM
Kelly, I do a ton of cold-weather touring out of vehicles for birds/wildlife, and over the last five or six years have developed some techniques that work just right -- well, for me, anyway.
I keep the vehicle warm as long as I'm just hopping in and out for a couple minutes at a time to photograph subjects. But once I'm out long enough for the camera/lens to get thoroughly cold, I keep running the heat but also open the windows so my feet can stay warm but the vehicle itself stays pretty cold. That way there's no lens/lcd/sensor fogging issue. It also eliminates the couple seconds it takes to open a window and stick your lens out if you come on that type of situation.
And while you can put your stuff in plastic bags or your padded camera bag/backpack to slow down warmup and eliminate fogging (this is a great idea when coming indoors for good at the end of the day), when you're cruising on the lookout for subjects and need to put your camera out through the window or hop out with no more than a second's notice, you need your camera in your lap or right beside you on the seat. Often those photographic moments are so fleeting that if you have to dig in a bag for something, you've lost the shot.
The next piece of advice depends a lot on how you'll be shooting, but I never use a tripod for this type of thing. Just too cumbersome unless your subjects are truly hanging around and tolerant of your presence and will give you time to get out, open the vehicle, pull out the gear and set it up. Most often, where I'm doing what I'm doing, there's not time for that. So I use a Manfrotto 680B monopod. Plenty sturdy for your gear (I've shot the 1DMk2n and 600f4 off it with NO flex at all). And IS coupled with a monopod is a deadly combination. My camera/lens/pod sits on the seat next to me, and when I pile out of the door it comes right with me, eliminating the precious seconds required to pull the tripod/gear out of a second vehicle door. I have a strong ballhead on the monpod, which isn't necessary for shooting but is helpful because of the quick-release plate on the head. If I need to handhold for BIF or some other reason, the flip of a lever releases the pod and I'm good to go. I suspect there are those out there who are greased lightning setting up a tripod, but I am not one of them.
Using the monopod as the go-to support doesn't preclude use of the tripod at all, because generally, tolerant subjects will give you time to drop the monopod and stick the setup on a tripod. Particularly true if the head on the monopod and tripod accept the same quick-release plate. And of course if you find a great landscape you want to photograph, unless the light is fleeting you've got plenty of time to make the switch.
Now, I've heard the critters at Yellowstone are pretty tolerant of people, so maybe the monopod advice isn't apropos, but up here where I do most of my cruising, shy wildlife doesn't give me time to futz around.
Because it's cold in the vehicle most of the time when I'm touring in winter, I wear light synthetic gloves inside flipover mittens, with the toe-warmer dry chemical handwarmers stuck inside the part of the mitten that flips over the fingers. These warmers are adhesive on one side so they adhere to the inside of the mitten and don't fall out. I also keep a chemical handwarmer in my right-side coat pocket. When you're out shooting for extended periods (or if it's windy, for even a few minutes), you can stick your gloved/mittened hand right into the pocket without flipping the mitten back over, and your fingers warm faster in the pocket then they do in the mitten. I'm right-handed, thus the right-side pocket.
Also, keep breathing off to the side when you're shooting so you don't fog the viewfinder and lcd. I take off the camera eyecup for cold weather shooting because it seems to gather breath and make fogging the viewfinder more of an issue. If it's cold/windy enough, I pull a facemask over my face with just my eyes visible. But I don't lean in to actually shoot that way. The heat/breath escapes directly from the only opening in the facemask, and since that's the eye area, and the eye area is right there at the viewfinder and lcd when shooting, they fog up right away no matter which direction you push your breath, so I pull the mask down to expose my nose and mouth when actually shooting.
Lastly, while sometimes you have to move fast, it's good to also be patient with gear. In the cold, things don't work as smoothly, and forcing stuck gear is a recipe for breakage. Been there, broken that!
Hope any/all of that helps, and good luck on the trip!
Discussion
3 repliesI've been out of photo taking for a couple of year and would appreciate some advice. Going to Yellowstone end of January for some winter photography of nature and wolves. Have a Canon 5D Mark 11 and Canon EF 300 mm 2.8L IS USM lens.with 2 x extender. Currently have a carbon fiber tripod and Arca Swiss B1 ballhead. I have concerns with the ballhead.. one with the occasional freeze up and possibly having this happening in Yellowstone and two, will this ball head support the 300 mm lens with a 2x extender or should I be looking at another ball head and/or a Wimberley Sidekick Jr.? Any other winter shooting advice would be greatly appreciated!
Happy Holidays to All!
Kelly
In deep snow, you may want to punch holes in 3 tennis balls and slide them over the tripod feet to keep them from sinking in too deep.
If you plan to be in and out of vehicles a lot, condensation may be a concern too. Some people use large'ish ziplock bags to place the camera in before entering a warmer area.
You may also want to find a pair of gloves or mittens with a flip-back cover so you can expose your fingers when you need to use them without having to remove the whole glove.
Guy
I'll just say that for me, using a D200 and 300/2.8 w/ 2x, having a Wimberley Sidekick makes a tremendous difference when doing days worth of shooting. Of course, and paradoxically, the Sidekick adds weight to the camera-tripod setup; but I think it more than compensates for that by handling all the weight of camera and lens while shooting, panning, and all. Just IMHO. Hope you have a great trip!
I keep the vehicle warm as long as I'm just hopping in and out for a couple minutes at a time to photograph subjects. But once I'm out long enough for the camera/lens to get thoroughly cold, I keep running the heat but also open the windows so my feet can stay warm but the vehicle itself stays pretty cold. That way there's no lens/lcd/sensor fogging issue. It also eliminates the couple seconds it takes to open a window and stick your lens out if you come on that type of situation.
And while you can put your stuff in plastic bags or your padded camera bag/backpack to slow down warmup and eliminate fogging (this is a great idea when coming indoors for good at the end of the day), when you're cruising on the lookout for subjects and need to put your camera out through the window or hop out with no more than a second's notice, you need your camera in your lap or right beside you on the seat. Often those photographic moments are so fleeting that if you have to dig in a bag for something, you've lost the shot.
The next piece of advice depends a lot on how you'll be shooting, but I never use a tripod for this type of thing. Just too cumbersome unless your subjects are truly hanging around and tolerant of your presence and will give you time to get out, open the vehicle, pull out the gear and set it up. Most often, where I'm doing what I'm doing, there's not time for that. So I use a Manfrotto 680B monopod. Plenty sturdy for your gear (I've shot the 1DMk2n and 600f4 off it with NO flex at all). And IS coupled with a monopod is a deadly combination. My camera/lens/pod sits on the seat next to me, and when I pile out of the door it comes right with me, eliminating the precious seconds required to pull the tripod/gear out of a second vehicle door. I have a strong ballhead on the monpod, which isn't necessary for shooting but is helpful because of the quick-release plate on the head. If I need to handhold for BIF or some other reason, the flip of a lever releases the pod and I'm good to go. I suspect there are those out there who are greased lightning setting up a tripod, but I am not one of them.
Using the monopod as the go-to support doesn't preclude use of the tripod at all, because generally, tolerant subjects will give you time to drop the monopod and stick the setup on a tripod. Particularly true if the head on the monopod and tripod accept the same quick-release plate. And of course if you find a great landscape you want to photograph, unless the light is fleeting you've got plenty of time to make the switch.
Now, I've heard the critters at Yellowstone are pretty tolerant of people, so maybe the monopod advice isn't apropos, but up here where I do most of my cruising, shy wildlife doesn't give me time to futz around.
Because it's cold in the vehicle most of the time when I'm touring in winter, I wear light synthetic gloves inside flipover mittens, with the toe-warmer dry chemical handwarmers stuck inside the part of the mitten that flips over the fingers. These warmers are adhesive on one side so they adhere to the inside of the mitten and don't fall out. I also keep a chemical handwarmer in my right-side coat pocket. When you're out shooting for extended periods (or if it's windy, for even a few minutes), you can stick your gloved/mittened hand right into the pocket without flipping the mitten back over, and your fingers warm faster in the pocket then they do in the mitten. I'm right-handed, thus the right-side pocket.
Also, keep breathing off to the side when you're shooting so you don't fog the viewfinder and lcd. I take off the camera eyecup for cold weather shooting because it seems to gather breath and make fogging the viewfinder more of an issue. If it's cold/windy enough, I pull a facemask over my face with just my eyes visible. But I don't lean in to actually shoot that way. The heat/breath escapes directly from the only opening in the facemask, and since that's the eye area, and the eye area is right there at the viewfinder and lcd when shooting, they fog up right away no matter which direction you push your breath, so I pull the mask down to expose my nose and mouth when actually shooting.
Lastly, while sometimes you have to move fast, it's good to also be patient with gear. In the cold, things don't work as smoothly, and forcing stuck gear is a recipe for breakage. Been there, broken that!
Hope any/all of that helps, and good luck on the trip!