Our kit

Kit you can borrow...

So what’s inside our camera bags? Here we go… This is the equipment we have which we can make available for you to use while you are travelling with us.

Adam’s camera bag

Well actually it doesn’t all fit into one bag, but set out below are the contents of my camera bags and some honest comments on what I think of each bit of kit.

As you will see I am a pure Canon man, although not as yet (officially) sponsored. My first Canon was an AE1Program back in the early 1990s. Since then I have stuck to Canon. The key for me is that I believe their autofocus technology is the best and they seem to have the edge over Nikon on the digital sensors.

Camera Bodies

(A) Film cameras

EOS 5 - Nice body but feels a little plasticy, although saying that it has bounced around in my camera bag for years and is still working well. For me it is a more physiological point - I do like the feel of a heavy camera body.

EOS 1n - Very solid bodies. I have two of these and they have taken some real punishment over the years. Very reliable and will last me until Fuji stop making film. These weigh in at what seems like twice the weight of the EOS 5.

(B) Digital camera

EOS 1Ds Mark II - I took the plunge earlier in 2005 and “invested” in a Canon EOS 1Ds Mark II. With 16.7 megapixels it is currently the highest pixel count of any SLR camera body (as of January 2006). Is this important? No if you only blow up your pictures to 10 inches by 8 inches. Yes if you are willing to spend the money and want to print at up to A2 size. (You will also need a pretty fancy printer to do this of course).

I purchased the camera for a trip to Uganda and Rwanda to photograph the mountain gorillas. Given they live in a rain forest we went prepared for the weather with rain guard for our cameras. However it was so humid and wet that the viewfinder on the EOS 1Ds Mark II fogged up for four days and I could not see anything aside from a blur through the viewfinder. Very frustrating and worrying until it cleared.
A few comments on the move to digital:

It makes life more complex. You need more kit. Leads, flash cards, more batteries and chargers, Photoshop and computers.
Dust is a real problem, especially on safari. If you get dust on the sensor, (which will happen,) it will affect every picture until it is removed. While some people say that you can remove the effect with Photoshop, this is somewhat of a pain.
You have to be much more careful with backing up images and indexing them properly. Slides are easy; you put them in a box and forget them. Digital takes a lot more care or you risk losing the lot.
The real benefit is seeing results immediately. That is a revelation.

Camera Lenses

Canon 70-200mm F2.8 IS lens - This is a real beauty of a lens. It produces very crisp results and is tough enough to stand some knocks. However I do not actually use it very much while on safari in Africa, in cities or indeed anywhere else. I think the key reason is while on safari my style is to fill the frame with the animals and birds. Hence I almost always use the 600mm and sometimes the 1.4 converter. The times when I have used the 80-200 has been when there is a lot of action. The best example is when we came across a pride of lions chasing a herd of buffalo. Our truck was chasing the herd and there was a lot of dust and confusion. I managed to fire away a few shots. So a nice lens, but at about £1,000 I need to use it a lot more.

Canon 16-35mm F2.8 lens - Another fine lens from Canon which is really excellent for travel photography. This is another real beauty and my favourite for taking photographs in cities. Unlike when I am on safari, in cities I like to get close and use a really wide angle. You can see the results of all this in the Japan portfolio. I tend to find I do not want anything longer than the 35mm. One downside is that it is not flattering when taking portraits but otherwise, I just love the effect it gives you.

Canon 100mm macro lens - This is the lens I use for most for my underwater photography. It works very well and the autofocus is usually fine except when the light is really low as sometimes happens underwater. Key for macro is whether the lens is able to take what is known as 1:1 magnification. This Canon lens does. What this means is that the image on the film is the same size as the object being photographed. Thus a photo of a stamp will fill the frame. When enlarged to say a 10 by 8, this magnifies the object to many times its actual size.

Canon 400mm DO lens - This is an amazing lens. For those who have not come across this, DO is short for “Defractive Optical’’ elements. This is essentially a lens which manages to be much more compact and light when compared to a more conventional lens. For me the real advantage is for hand held shooting of birds in flight. You may think that that this seems very specialised. For many years I have focussed on birds sitting on branches. Some of these I think are rather good although I am happy to be told they are not. More recently I have started concentrating on birds in flight. This is not so easy and I am still not happy with the results.

Norman Knowitall adds – "Actually Adam, you forgot to mention that Canon’s Multi-layer construction is made up of two single-layer optical elements with opposing circular diffraction gratings. The most significant characteristic of the diffractive optical element is that the positions where the wavelengths combine to form an image are reversed from those of a refractive optical element. By combining a Multi-Layer Diffractive Optical Element and a refractive optical element within the same optical system, chromatic aberration (colour smearing), which adversely affects image quality, can be corrected even more effectively than with a fluorite element. Also, by adjusting the pitch (spacing) of the diffraction grating, the diffractive optical element makes possible the same optical characteristics as a ground and polished aspherical surface, which effectively corrects for spherical and other aberrations." Thank you Norman … that is quite enough!

EF600m F4 lens - Excellent optics but now suffering as it does not have “IS” (image stabiliser). For most of the time this is not important but when faced with a leopard at 8am my shots were definitely softer than Julie’s which were taken on a 500 F4 with IS. Weight is also a problem. Like most photographers I never used the metallic case that came with the camera. Instead I use a soft case which is soft nylon but which seems to have protected the lens well over the past 11 years. It’s also black and seems to avoid much attention at airports.

One point to note with these types of long lens is that they definitely use up more battery power than a small zoom. Not usually an issue except in remote camping when there is no socket in your tent. The only way I have seen to get powered up is to use an inverter. This is a device which takes 12volts DC from the lighter socket and converts it to several hundred volts AC. This is OK most of the time but in the African heat can cause problems if you are trying to recharge a laptop, the inverter may overheat with the strain.

EF600mm IS F4 lens - I purchased this just in time for our trip to Antarctica in January 2006. It looks pretty well the same as my old 600mm but it of course has image stabilisation. Thankfully Canon moved the focus preset from the end of the lens to much nearer the camera. My beanbags often set off the old preset and I am pleased with the new position.

The soft case I use for the 600mm lens is made by Domke. Weight of 600mm lens - 5.4 kilos.

Binoculars Zeiss 10x40B - I have had these quite a time. They say made in "West Germany" which must make them mid-1980s. Excellent kit. They have taken a few knocks over the years without any problems. They are quite heavy but I really like them and have no plans to change them for another 10 years.

JOBO vs Toshiba Libretto laptop vs Epson P-4000 80GB Multimedia Storage Drive - The JOBO is an excellent device for all those using digital. There is only one downside, if you have a meaty digital camera and are taking both RAW and JPEG shots you fill up the flash cards pretty quickly and downloading these onto the JOBO takes time.

The laptop is much faster, but it also uses up power pretty quickly.

For me it all depends on how accessible recharging is on your trips. If you have a socket in your tent or hotel or cabin every day it is not a problem. If you don’t and are potentially away for a few days in the bush, the reserve is lots of cards and ensuring you do the usual tricks: lowering the brightness of your LCD display, reducing the time it is on, turning off the IS on your lens if the sun is shining. There is no right and wrong answer.

Julie has just bought the Epson P-4000 80 GB. According to Julie, it is a really sexy looking piece of kit with a great screen. It's not as fast as she would like but downloading 12 gigs before lunch is never going to be fast enough! In any case, it was perfect when tested in Antarctica - each lunchtime and end of day I was able to free up my cards ahead of the next shoot by transferring my cards onto the Epson and then I could do the 'macro-review' using the Epson screen.

Beanbag - Most of the shots on safari on the database are taken with a long lens resting on a beanbag. The beanbag I settled on is the excellent double beanbag from Warehouseexpress.com. The beanbag comes with two liners. My view is the bigger the better. It takes a couple of kilos of rice. On most trips if I can get away with it, I fill it up at home and hope not to be too overweight on my check in baggage. One reason to fill it up is that on most trips you get to the camp without passing a supermarket! You have to hope that the kitchen has enough rice to give it to you, which is a sore point for Julie – she feels it’s a touch insensitive to be conspicuously using rice for non-eating purposes in poor countries. In any case, the beanbag is essential kit for any safari. Sometimes tour companies have beanbags available on the vehicle but these are usually not big enough for a 500mm or 600mm.

Underwater photography

The kit…

The only real way to take top photos underwater is to use a housing. This is usually a metal custom-made case into which you lock your SLR camera and a lens. The housings have a variety of ports (the glass through which the lens looks). Some are flat and are suitable for a macro lens and some are rounded for use with a wide angle lens.

The housing has clever mechanical levers and dials which connect through the housing and rest against the cameras dials and buttons. Hence when you are underwater you can adjust everything on the camera. This is very good, except that usually only one model of camera will work in the housing. If you change your camera, you have to change the housing. A very expensive exercise. The kit is heavy but it can take quite a bit of punishment.

Flash is the other essential bit of kit. Water absorbs light like a sponge. It is pretty dark down below 10 metres and you need a strong flash. Like the underwater housings, underwater flashes are big expensive bits of kit.

I use a Seacam housing and Seacam strobes (the name used for underwater flashguns). Top quality engineering from Austria and pretty expensive.

Summary thoughts…

Underwater photography is a real challenge. Aside from learning to dive, keeping an eye on your air, time and depth, you also have to use your camera. The size of my housing makes the camera more like a bulky medium format set up. Down below is often quite dark, so much so that the usually very reliable autofocus on the Canon 100mm does not work. Hence some of the flashguns have a torch built in which you shine on your subject allowing the autofocus to lock in. To get really clear shots it is important to reduce the distance between the subject and the glass on the housing. Often you will be shooting perhaps four inches from the subject. You can see this on some of my photographs of Nudibranches. However when you move away from the subject and use a flash, then the flash highlights any muck in the water. Despite the difficulty, some of the images you can obtain are in some cases much more arty than say on a safari, or is that just my view?

Kit I have purchased, but never really used...

Gitzo metal legged tripod - For about five years I used a light Manfrotto tripod which was not sturdy enough for a 600mm. I stayed with it for a few years until a trip to the Manu reserve in Peru. I was on a barge in a river taking pictures of macaws at a clay lick with another professional photographer. He had a Gitzo and was having much more success at taking the macaws in flight. He advised me to buy a much better tripod. I went off and purchased a metal Gitzo. Wonderful quality but far too heavy. Try walking around with that, a 600mm lens and a rucksack and you soon start sweating. Julie recently purchased a Gitzo with carbon legs and it is so much lighter. Hence the point of the story is if you travel; get a Gitzo suitable for the size of your lenses, with carbon legs.

Canon 2 times teleconvertor - I occasionally use this but my feeling is that the results tend to be soft, in both contrast and sharpness. Hence I use it for record shots where I cannot resist taking a shot of a bird or whatever.

Julie’s camera bag

I bought the largest Lowepro backpack in the shop, knowing that, like a handbag, it would always be full. I carry a couple of lenses and bodies in it as well as cards, spare batteries etc, which just leaves me to carry my larger lenses in over the shoulder bags (Goretex like fabric). Lightware do a good one to fit a Canon 500mm lens – I had to order mine from the States. And I carry a tripod as well but it’s light, given the carbon legs.

Camera Bodies

Canon EOS 20D - I am very happy with this and I am feeling quite disloyal to it, having recently bought a second body, this time the Canon EOS 5D. One downfall of the 20D is its small screen and its sensor is smaller than a 35mm equivalent but I am very pleased with what I have taken with it.

Canon EOS 5D - I used this for the first time in the Antarctic, January 2006. The menu system is familiar, having used the 20D and it has a better screen than the 20D with a full size sensor. It's screen still isn't as good as Adam's EOS 1D but you tend to rely on your best laptop screen for serious editing anyway and the 5D doesn't have the same cost as the 1D. I was able to fire away faster than Adam when it came to whales thrashing around which was great and although the pixel count is lower than the EOS 1D I was pleased with my photos.

Canon EF 1.4x extender - Great when used with the 70-200 mm or 400m lenses. I borrow from Adam. The combination works really well when the 500mm is too heavy for me to use quickly. Like Adam, I love filling the frame with the subject and this combination gives good results on a hand held basis.

Canon EF 500 IS - My favourite lens! It cost a fortune but it's worth every penny. I can pick up eyelashes on elephants and whiskers on leopards and that's my benchmark! It's heavy for me to use on a hand held basis but I use it on a beanbag most of the time and I have bought a tripod with my 500mm in mind. The image stabiliser more than compensates for any shake as a result of the weight. I cannot say too many times how much I love this lens.

Canon 100-400 IS - A great lens for flexibility when shooting movement. It’s very light but still needs support on a beanbag when extended to 400mm. I typically have this set up by my side ready to grab when the 500 is going to be too heavy or I am struggling to keep up with a running or flying animal.

EF 16-35 USM - I don't use it nearly enough because I am typically holding my 500mm but I do like using it for wide angle shots when there's an interesting sky. I took a couple of good shots with it in Antarctica.

Gitzo tripod (carbon legs) - I am never really relaxed when I have a heavy lens on a tripod but inevitably there are times when a long lens needs a tripod. And lugging a tripod around/adjusting it quickly etc is a bit of a bore. I do struggle with my backpack, 500mm and tripod if I am climbing any distance but the flipside is that I don't really want to find myself somewhere where I need it and I don't have it. I do feel sorry for anyone lugging a heavy tripod!

Leica 10x42 Binoculars - A nice balance between magnification and weight.

Epson P-4000 80GB Multimedia Storage Drive - A great looking piece of kit (it's the mass storage equivalent of an ipod.) Great for getting images off your cards to free up card space (I was shooting 20 gigs per day in Antarctica and I only have 12 gigs of cards.) It is slower than I would like but everything is slow and it's very workable if you are organised. The screen is great compared to the screen on any camera but inevitably, you can only do a first cut review using the Epsom, leaving the final cull and selection of shots to when you transfer to a computer. A great buy.