I was recently reassigned permanently to night shift at my job, so I'm looking for new ways to try to enjoy my favorite hobby; photography.
While I'd like to try some astrophotography in the future, it's not possible for me at this time. Way too much light pollution within 400 square miles of where I live, so that idea is off my list. Can't photograph people or interesting wildlife (other than an elusive coyote or two if I'm lucky) during the wee hours of the night/dark morning hours, so macro photography seems to be my only choice.
I currently have a Canon EF 100mm f2.8L Macro with an EF/RF adapter and an R6II. I also have a Sony A7c and a Sony A7iv, but no macro lenses for them yet.
My biggest concerns are:
- How do I prevent my lens/camera from fogging up at 3:00/4:00 AM? I live in Florida, and the level of humidity here is ridiculous. It's not an issue of going from indoor AC to an outdoor humid environment; the humidity is out of control no matter how many hours I spend trying to let my equipment acclimate. I've been considering the idea of bringing along a portable heater to see if it will keep the humidity/condensation off my gear. Of course that would scare away whatever bug I'm trying to photograph.
- Next issue is how do I keep tiny flying insects from swarming my light source while outside at night? This may sound trivial, but they really are annoying! The moment I turn on a tiny flashlight, a cloud of tiny insects fly toward me and get in the way of anything I'm trying to do.
Any other suggestions are welcome.
p.s. No, I can't change my schedule, and I have to maintain my "sleep during the day/stay up all night" schedule even on my days off so it won't disrupt my work schedule. So, shooting in the daylight hours on my days off is not an option.
