I'm travelling to Costa Rica next month with Exodus travels for two weeks. Its a fairly busy trip covering quite a few areas from coast, cloud forest and volcanoes. I'm into photographing anything and everything (my flickr stream is http://www.flickr.com/photos/19083292@N00/ ). Will be looking forward especially to jumping spiders/mantids/butterflies etc, hummingbirds, any reptiles and interesting mammals, volcanoes well like I said anything of interest!
Gear I'd be looking at taking;
1d mark iv
5d mark ii
17-40mm L (I think this is essential for those volcano shots)
70-300mm L
100mm macro L
MP-E 65 mm
500mm L (would think this is going to be essential for bird and wildlife)
ND grads and polariser
Macro twin light flash
430ex ii (wouldn't normally take this but think I'll need it for freezing hummingbirds)
Tripod
(A few changes of clothes as there isn't going to be much room!)
Stuff I'm going to be leaving;
Zeis 21mm (would love to take it but heavy and a bit restricted)
24-70mm L (not going to be doing that much people stuff but will be able too with what I have selected)
100-400 L (might have sold this before the trip and much preferrer the 70-300L)
Any views? Any tips and recommendations for the country/wildlife (i.e. capturing humming birds in flight)?
I guess one area is the duplication of macro lenses. I do find the MP-E such an incredible lens and would hate to leave it at home (I did last year for my trip to Namibia and really regretted it). If I was waling in an are rich in macro life I'd have the MP-E on the 5d and the 100mm macro on the 1d because of the versatility this offers.
Another is I'm leaving a few focal gaps especially 300-500mm but without taking the 100-400 I can't think of a solution to this and I don't normally find this a problem out in the UK.
Any information greatly appreciated and apologies for lot's of questions!
I think your list looks great. I recently took a trip to Panama (see below) and mostly used the 500L + 5D3. We forgot our 1.4x but wished we hadn't. You'll likely be focal length limited shooting at 500mm, even on the 1D IV. But at the same time, shooting at 4.0 is great in the jungle, since it is really really (really) dark in there. So my recommendation would be to bring along a 1.4x for flexibility if you can, and use it when you feel you have enough light to do so.
Otherwise, the 100L is a good one to bring along. I'd be tempted to leave behind the MP-E 65 unless you really think you'll need it. I feel like the 100L and a couple of tubes might give you what you need macro-wise at a lower weight/space premium, but if you've regretted leaving the MP-E behind before, then just use your judgment on that.
As far as the 70-300L, I don't know that this is a terribly important focal length range for Costa Rica. The gaps between the 17-40, 100, and 500 wouldn't be a big loss, in my opinion. I think the 17-40 would take care of the vast majority of your landscape/volcano needs, and the 100 could handle the rest. And I'd guess that it will be extremely rare that you're going to be so close to wildlife that the 70-300 would be helpful. Others may disagree with me here, but I'd leave the 70-300 behind.
Beyond that, I think the list is very solid. The flash is a good call and may even come in handy for wildlife other than hummingbirds. Tripod is a good idea (though I found myself hand-holding a lot rather than using the Wimberley because of tight quarters/limited time).
Have a great time in Costa Rica - it's a beautiful country with incredible wildlife (and my favorite breakfasts in the world).
I'd leave the MP-E 65mm, and possibly the 70-300L. A lot of weight will not be fun on a busy travel schedule. The 500mm will already be quite a bit.
As for humming birds, some lodges ask you not to use flash but many don't care. Here are my thoughts on using flash for hummingbirds, I know that many do not agree.
I think there are several places in Costa Rica that have hummingbird gardens. I went a couple of months ago and really enjoyed going to the Monte Verde cloud forest, and doing the hanging bridges walk at one of the preserves there, and they also had a hummingbird garden there. A lot of people will recommend that you do a zip line tour in Monte Verde, but really, I don't this is a good option for a photographer. So I recommend doing the walking tour of the bridges. They market them as guided tours, but you can go on your own without a guide too if you want to go at your own pace. The Santa Elena preserve right next to Monte Verde is also awesome.
There are also guided night tours which are great if your interested in seeing some of the interesting creatures in the jungle at night. But no flash photography on these tours.
Be warned...getting around in Costa Rica is an adventure in itself. The roads are generally terrible, so if you are renting a car and driving yourself be careful. But, then again, it's cool to drive yourself because you have the freedom to stop for photos anywhere you want. An example...stopped to shoot this photo off the roadside as we were driving up the long, bumpy, dusty road to Monte Verde (not a Canon photo unfortunately, since I wanted to travel light I only took my NEX 5n):
I went to CR last spring, and since I don't have much in the way of gear I rented the 70-300L for the trip. I had debated between that and the 100-400. I used it far more than my 15-85 or 100mm macro.
We took a day trip to Osa, and in the close confines of the jungle I was very happy to have 70mm on the wide end. In fact, we happened across a family of coati who disregarded our presence entirely, and I wished I had something a bit wider. 300mm on the long end was a bit limiting, and of course I wanted more range for spider monkeys, currasows, anteaters... I was able to crop enough from my 7d's images to get about what I wanted.
As jkhalifa said, your biggest struggle in the jungle is going to be with light. That was the main drawback to the 70-300, its variable aperture. Even on a sunny day, on a path, I was shooting at 1/100th, 3200 ISO. It might be worth considering renting a 70-200/2.8 if you'll be under tree cover a lot.
Cheers everyone for the responses! Just heading out on a stag do so will do a proper reply when I get back. Thanks for the info so far. Am being transported round so weight while I'm there is less of an issue, just selecting the right lenses for the day. This is assuming I can fit everything in for the plane!
Well got back from Costa Rica last month but been busy with work since and still haven' got through all my shots of the trip. I did find it one of the most amazing countries to visit and would love to go back.
In the end took;
1d mark iv
5d mark ii
17-40mm L
70-300mm L
100mm macro L
MP-E 65 mm
500mm L
It was one hell of a heavy bag but all lenses got lots of use. The one I was unsure of was the 70-300 but while I was in boats I had this on the 5d and I used it a lot when subjects got close. I also had it in the bag as a general walkabout lens.
That snake / frog photo had me confused the eyes of both animals causes an optical illusion, It took a few seconds to figure out what I was looking at. Cool shot.
I'm travelling to Costa Rica next month with Exodus travels for two weeks. Its a fairly busy trip covering quite a few areas from coast, cloud forest and volcanoes. I'm into photographing anything and everything (my flickr stream is http://www.flickr.com/photos/19083292@N00/ ). Will be looking forward especially to jumping spiders/mantids/butterflies etc, hummingbirds, any reptiles and interesting mammals, volcanoes well like I said anything of interest!
Gear I'd be looking at taking;
1d mark iv
5d mark ii
17-40mm L (I think this is essential for those volcano shots)
70-300mm L
100mm macro L
MP-E 65 mm
500mm L (would think this is going to be essential for bird and wildlife)
ND grads and polariser
Macro twin light flash
430ex ii (wouldn't normally take this but think I'll need it for freezing hummingbirds)
Tripod
(A few changes of clothes as there isn't going to be much room!)
Stuff I'm going to be leaving;
Zeis 21mm (would love to take it but heavy and a bit restricted)
24-70mm L (not going to be doing that much people stuff but will be able too with what I have selected)
100-400 L (might have sold this before the trip and much preferrer the 70-300L)
Any views? Any tips and recommendations for the country/wildlife (i.e. capturing humming birds in flight)?
I guess one area is the duplication of macro lenses. I do find the MP-E such an incredible lens and would hate to leave it at home (I did last year for my trip to Namibia and really regretted it). If I was waling in an are rich in macro life I'd have the MP-E on the 5d and the 100mm macro on the 1d because of the versatility this offers.
Another is I'm leaving a few focal gaps especially 300-500mm but without taking the 100-400 I can't think of a solution to this and I don't normally find this a problem out in the UK.
Any information greatly appreciated and apologies for lot's of questions!
