Last minute trip to the spitzbergen

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sparkielspa

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Help! I have been offered the chance of a holiday that culminates in a cruise around Spitzbergen looking for whales and polar bears - dead excited but now panicking!

Do i need special filters due to the snow/sunlight?

Should i hire a 300mm lens with converter or is my 100-400 good enough!!

Any and all advice gratefully recieved
thanks
Sparkie:wave:
 
A CPL would be good, and the 100-400 is probably fine...just use some positive exposure comp or the camera will underexpose giving grey snow and everything else black.
 
Take a meter reading off something sensible to give you a ball park figure to keep in your head - human skin filling the frame is a good 18% grey card substitute!

before you see anything interesting take a shot, check it on the screen and histogram, use exp comp accordingly. Looking down on the water you will often get over exposure, especially if the water is deep blue - the D3 is actually very good, more accurate with a polariser than without funnily enough. I would always err on the -ve side rather than lose highights. You can always rescue shadow detail.

best advice would be to take PLENTY OF BIG CARDS. Shoot RAW and edit each lunchtime/evening to keep your lightbox waste to a minimum. EDIT HARD.

Your lens will be fine - and you might want something wide too, for scenics.
 
sparkielspa said:
Help! I have been offered the chance of a holiday that culminates in a cruise around Spitzbergen looking for whales and polar bears - dead excited but now panicking!

Do i need special filters due to the snow/sunlight?

Should i hire a 300mm lens with converter or is my 100-400 good enough!!

Any and all advice gratefully recieved
thanks
Sparkie:wave:
Click to expand...
You are a lucky chap!! I was up there last summer and it's fantastic!!
I took the following gear....500mm f4, 100-400, 24-105, 1Ds and 40D. generally I also used a polarising filter, and yes, bang up the aperture by min2/3 of a stop in the snow.
You'll probably need the longest lens you can get as the bears may be qite a bit away, although we had some that came right up to the ship, even so a super tele was good for close ups.
If I had to choose between a 300 and a 100-400, I'd go for the latter.
We were on the ship for 3 weeks (we also went to Greenland) so lugging the gear isn't a problem.
I hope you enjoy it, it's a great place!!
George
 
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