Iceland Equipment List

Glad to find this thread, we're going to Iceland in March (16th-22nd).

Q. What's the best way to take a tripod?
I have a travel tripod, but am considering taking a bigger one if it's doable.
 
Thanks. We're flying with Icelandair out of Manchester.
 
I was the same as Andy, I removed the head and took it as hand luggage and wrapped my clothes around my tripod and put in my suitcase. You can always request a fragile sticker at check in. Very jealous, have a great time.
 
I don't have a fancy tripod with removable head, mine just about fit diagonal across my suitcase. i gave in and bought a smaller suitcase as my big one i bought for 3 weeks in NZ, meant i couldnt pack it full and keep in the weight limit so everything just sloshed around. I have one of the sub zero super light ones. So if you have a fancy tripod, the head can get damaged easily?

Sorry, going to be annoying and ask my question again on cars :)

Speaking of cars/driving, do you think there is much advantage renting a diesel car? I used Geysir car hire before but read a blog this morning that mentioned blue car rentals who seem to have similar-ish prices (with all insurances) and they have a kia soul thing that is bigger than the basic car I was planning on renting, it's diesel and automatic (I usually drive manual but it would be nice not to have to learn to change gear with other arm as I'm not there for long) still don't think the car would be suitable for getting to plane wreck but wondered if I might pay the bit extra for a bigger car as I'll be driving for longer. Other option is a diesel auto clio with Geysir that is slightly less but has built in GPS (not that I need it but nice back up)

These two options are £30 to £50 more than I was planning to pay, but wondered if diesel was worth it. Chug Chug
 
My (travel) tripod went in the hold baggage. Can't remember what the fuel price difference was but I am sure it was worth us having a Diesel since it was a big car and we were doing decent distances most trips. Shared between the four of us, car hire and fuel was about £200 each for 10 days in a Landcruiser doing the South coast.
 
@Nod if i were to do the cheapest option as i did on last trip, its a i10/yaris type car at £140 for 3 days hire plus all insurance - the diesel automatic clio (with gps) comes in at £170 & the disel auto kia soul comes in at £190. ill be doing more driving than the last trip, but not sure its worth the extra. kind of just liked the idea of a slightly bigger car and not having learn the gear changing again with the opposite hand - not that its a huge deal. the fuel difference probably wouldnt be £30-50 and i assume the smaller car is more fuel efficent, regardless of price difference. and the kia soul is a weird ugly car in a way that i kind of like, and as i rattle around in a 20 year old fiesta at home something about it attracted me, haha.

you may notice i am not the best at decision making, ha ha.
 
Big Andy said:
@lionofjudah For your info there is a stream of solar wind approaching the Earth this week from a coronal hole on the sun. It is expected to give good auroras tomorrow or Wednesday so look out for where there is the best chance for clear skies. Looking at the forecast I would say South East, East, and North East of the country if you have the transport and flexibility to move. Best of luck.
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Thanks. I'm in the west at present and was cloudy last night. Hopefully clear tonight. Head to south coast tomorrow.
 
@lionofjudah You may already have these or better but for info these are the sites I use for Icelandic conditions.

Three day aurora forecast but don't bet your life on it being right, bit like the UK weather forecasts about twenty years ago. :D
http://www.aurora-service.eu/aurora-forecast/

Solar forecast/information for CME eruptions and coronal holes which may effect the Earth.
http://spaceweather.com/

The Icelandic weather forecast for the next five days (Cold) also geologic activity (not much)
http://en.vedur.is/weather/forecasts/areas/

Best of luck because that's your best friend now, you've done all you can by being there.
 
For those around Myvatn you are in for a surprise.

http://icelandmag.visir.is/article/...=social&utm_source=BANNED&utm_campaign=buffer
 
Well I'm off to Iceland in a couple of weeks 12th-20th March and wish I'd seen this thread sooner.

I think I'm sorted with gear etc now but will be doing a full itinerary this week which I'll post for info.

Can't wait to go, hope the weather is reasonable :)
 
Jase said:
Well I'm off to Iceland in a couple of weeks 12th-20th March and wish I'd seen this thread sooner.

I think I'm sorted with gear etc now but will be doing a full itinerary this week which I'll post for info.

Can't wait to go, hope the weather is reasonable :)
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I hope you enjoy your trip. We're very much looking forward to ours.
 
Jase said:
Well I'm off to Iceland in a couple of weeks 12th-20th March and wish I'd seen this thread sooner.

I think I'm sorted with gear etc now but will be doing a full itinerary this week which I'll post for info.

Can't wait to go, hope the weather is reasonable :)
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Appreciate it Jase,
I'm going in May so could be great to have a look over your itinerary, especially from a photographers POV.
 
Big Andy: Thanks for reply. I check those some of those sites and others. Am at Vik now. Fingers crossed. I've already seen the weather changes and wrong forecasts like UK (except maybe the snow which we don't see much of in London)
 
Tripod advice

As i dont think i can justify a fancy tripod for the few amount of trips i would use it on, I was thinking of renting one

from this selection

http://www.hireacamera.com/en-gb/stills/accessories/tripods-and-heads/

do you think the Befree would be suitable for shooting in Iceland? it's a 'travel' tripod, so I think it will fit in my suitcase - but wondered if it was actually suitable for shooting in Icelandic conditions (is it flimsy woo?) The longest lens I would have is 200mm.

My currenty tripod is very basic, and altho it does the job, would be nice to use a more fancy pants one without breaking the bank but am utterly clueless (about more than this!)
 
I don't know how long your going for, but I would get the best you can afford. Pointless spending hundreds of pounds getting to Iceland, hiring a car etc and have a cheap crappy tripod, because the exercise of the trip is for photography ??
 
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dan_yell ... re your tripod question - personally I would look for something a bit sturdier. I have a 055 carbon fibre which I always travel with. It's study and light, which is good for carrying around, and it fits in my hold luggage without a problem. Possibly too light for Icelandic winds though so I'll be taking a dry bag to fill with rocks / sand and hang underneath if need be (we go in October).
 
@paul100 thats true - i was more after opinions of people on the tripods available for rent as i don't know anything about them and wondered if anyone had any experience of using them and/or if they would be suitable for Icelandic conditions. I def cannot afford to buy a manfrotto tripod, so trying to gather people's opinions on what is on offer so i can make the right choice.

@sarahhj thanks - so you have this one http://www.hireacamera.com/en-gb/pr...arbon-fibre-3-section-tripod-with-3-way-head/ - that is available to rent?
 
dan_yell said:
@Nod if i were to do the cheapest option as i did on last trip, its a i10/yaris type car at £140 for 3 days hire plus all insurance - the diesel automatic clio (with gps) comes in at £170 & the disel auto kia soul comes in at £190. ill be doing more driving than the last trip, but not sure its worth the extra. kind of just liked the idea of a slightly bigger car and not having learn the gear changing again with the opposite hand - not that its a huge deal. the fuel difference probably wouldnt be £30-50 and i assume the smaller car is more fuel efficent, regardless of price difference. and the kia soul is a weird ugly car in a way that i kind of like, and as i rattle around in a 20 year old fiesta at home something about it attracted me, haha.

you may notice i am not the best at decision making, ha ha.
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If you get the same sort of winds we had last year, I would be a bit worried about getting blown off the road in a small, light car. Our LandCruisers were getting blown about a fair bit and they're anything BUT lightweight!

dan_yell said:
Tripod advice

As i dont think i can justify a fancy tripod for the few amount of trips i would use it on, I was thinking of renting one

from this selection

http://www.hireacamera.com/en-gb/stills/accessories/tripods-and-heads/

do you think the Befree would be suitable for shooting in Iceland? it's a 'travel' tripod, so I think it will fit in my suitcase - but wondered if it was actually suitable for shooting in Icelandic conditions (is it flimsy woo?) The longest lens I would have is 200mm.

My currenty tripod is very basic, and altho it does the job, would be nice to use a more fancy pants one without breaking the bank but am utterly clueless (about more than this!)
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As people have said, lightweight isn't ideal if it's windy there (and the chances are that it will be!) I took a Giottos Vitruvian CF one which was great when it was still but even when set up as low as possible (legs splayed wide and centre column down), it was getting wobbled if left alone. I stuck my camera bag on the upwind leg to add extra mass and avoided long exposures whenever possible.
 
@Nod i went for the kia soul in the end - hopefully i wont get blown off the road! I was tidying up and found £50 that I'd forgotton I had so i put that down to fate telling me to 'splash out' on the Kia thing. I've now watched as many videos about it as if i was buying the bloody thing. I have some kind of mental issue..... :) As for the tripod, i have a feeling i might end up just taking my bog standard one - i know it fits in my case and its functional, just not versatile - i'd just seen that one of the sites ive rented a lens from had tripods too so it got me thinking, i guess i dont really want to rent one if i'm not 100% on how to use etc given that i'll only get it the day before i go. Another thing i'm sure ill deliberate on until the cows come home!
 
dan_yell said:
As for the tripod, i have a feeling i might end up just taking my bog standard one - i know it fits in my case and its functional, just not versatile - i'd just seen that one of the sites ive rented a lens from had tripods too so it got me thinking, i guess i dont really want to rent one if i'm not 100% on how to use etc given that i'll only get it the day before i go. Another thing i'm sure ill deliberate on until the cows come home!
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I'm guilty of mentioning this in at least one other thread, so I apologise for repeating myself. Recently got a nice set of Giottos 8261b carbon-fibre tripod legs for £85 off Amazon (currently showing as £99 from them). These used to be £160 before the new Silk Road series legs came out. I'm using a Redged ballhead and am well pleased with them., very solid. If you can remove the head from your current tripod, then IMHO these Giottos legs are a no-brainer.
 
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Sadly not @GeeJay57 - to demonstrate how clueless i am about tripods I didn't even know that it was a head / legs separate purchase kind of product!
 
dan_yell said:
Sadly not @GeeJay57 - to demonstrate how clueless i am about tripods I didn't even know that it was a head / legs separate purchase kind of product!
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No worries. I'm sure you'll enjoy your trip anyway. I'm taking a tripod mainly on the off chance we get an opportunity to see/shoot the Aurora. I will probably at least attempt to use it for landscapes too. That said, it depends on how keen the rest of our group is on photography as to how much time we get in each location. Should be OK, just have fingers crossed for some decent weather.
 
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Like Glenn, I took the tripod mainly for the aurora/night shots and was lucky enough to get to use it for a spectacular show from them - on a clear night! However, the spray in the air from the waterfall we were near (Gulfoss) froze on the front element of the lens I was using so I could only really shoot for a few minutes! Did mean that I could then enjoy the show without focussing on the photographic exercise.

Glenn, Mrs Nod isn't a photographer but in her opinion, a scene or area that's worth spending a while photographing is worth spending a while looking at! The 2 other wives on our trip were of the same mind, although they did stay at the hotel a couple of times rather than come out with us (usually when we went back to revisit locations).

To all going, have a great time and I hope an aurora show happens and coincides with clear skies for you. Look forward to seeing your results.
 
I might start taking applications for wives.

@GeeJay57 ta - hope you have a good trip. when i saw the aurora in 2013 that was the only reason i had bought my tripod with me, but thinking of using it for landscapes this time with filters
 
I really hope so - the only issue then is that there is no where to park, or a lot of room to park if no one is driving down any more.

Morons.
 
Just going through my final kit list as we fly out tomorrow. For photography I'm taking:

EOS 50D
Sigma 10-20mm
Canon 15-85mm and 100-400mm IS II
EOS-M + 18-55mm EF-M + EF-EOS M Adaptor as a backup.
10-Stop ND
Polariser
Spare Batteries
Chargers
Remote Trigger
Tripod
Hot-shoe Bubble Cube
Spare Memory Cards
Dry Bag for rocks or kit.

I don't have any grads and may regret that, but hey-ho.

Hopefully I'll have some photos worth sharing this time next week.. :)
 
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It's a shame about the plane wreck. Luckily I went there last year and had the place to my self for a couple of hours but totally understand the farmers position.

Some of the photos I've seen on Instagram from this site are sickening with people climbing all over it, and with increasing about of graffiti on it!

Anyway, back to Iceland on Monday and can't wait. I don't think I've ever been so prepared with my packing.

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Along with this, I have a couple of small packs with the usual cables, chargers, some shower caps plus a ThinkTank Hydrophobia 70-200 and a recently purchased DJI Osmo.
 
I so want a drone! - What models are the tripods @Impspeed ?

I might just throw my compact in the air and see what i get :p
 
dan_yell said:
I so want a drone! - What models are the tripods @Impspeed ?

I might just throw my compact in the air and see what i get :p
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They're Gitzo 3542 and 5542. I've also got a 1-series Traveller which I'll probably leave at home.

The Phantom is fun, however after crashing my P2, it's now also terrifying.
 
@Impspeed thanks - having just looked at the prices, ill leave that thought with a 'holy crap'! :) they just looked a good size to fit in my suitcase, but wow!
 
dan_yell said:
@Impspeed thanks - having just looked at the prices, ill leave that thought with a 'holy crap'! :) they just looked a good size to fit in my suitcase, but wow!
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Don't be deceived by the size on the picture - they're both big. I use the 5-Series with my 600mm f/4 and 3-Series with my 400 2.8
 
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