I am thinking about taking a 3 week imersion style trip arround the Yucatan Peninsula... A tour company arranges all the particulars for a group to stay in local hotels, ride on local busses and "chicken trucks", etc. Starting in Cancun and making a big loop down the left, arround Guatamala, and back up the right, with stops at all major Mayan ruins and lots of villages... It sounds fantastic. The purpose of the trip would be principally photgraphic. Maybe early March, which I understand is the middle of the dry season. (The rainy season migh have more lush vegitation, but I don't think I like the idea of rain every day, and mud...
I'm thinking the basic set up will be 5D, 20D, 70-200 IS, 17-40, 24 f1.4, 1.4 TC. plus misc. No tripod. Need a mass storage device, and ....uh...
I am not experienced at this kind of thing. Any tips, advice , suggestions will be welcome.
I have been to Belize on two ocassions and my favorite thing to do is to visit the Mayan cities. I have thought about a trip similar to yours but don't have the time or money right now.
I would bring a small table top type of tripod if you can. You may want to get to shots of a Mayan temple framed identically with tourists in different locations. You can layer them in PS, paint out the people and voila, a Mayan city all to yourself!
When I was there in 2000, I was working on a travel DVD. Shooting commercially, either for motion or still images is expensive and if they see you with a real tripod, they'll likely assume you are a pro and won't let you take it in. Be aware that nice gear garners a lot of attention. If you keep your wits about you I doubt you'll have anything stolen, but you'll get many offers by locals claiming to take you to a great place from which to take pictures. They'll charge you $10 or $20 or whatever they can get and take you to some vantage point that they think is impressive. This happened to me in Honduras. On the way back, we took an alternate route which meant walking across a thigh deep stream. I did this with a 10D, a couple lenses and a Powerbook in my Lowe Computrekker. I would find a different route if I was there again.
It sounds like logistics are handled for you. That will save a lot of time and hassle. Most everyone I have met in Central America has been very friendly and quite wordly. I was talking to what I believed to me a Mayan farmer in Honduras at the Mayan city of Copan and he asked me how Boeing was doing when he found out I was from Seattle. Pretty cool!
Have a blast, take lots of pics and don't drink the water. That reminds me, stuff a water purifier like REI sells in your luggage. You can purify the nastiest stuff and if you get stuck in a hotel that has no bottled water left, you can safely drink the tap water.
I'll give you a link to my cheesey DVD site which is basically defunct. You can see a few poorly shot images of Caracol and Xunantunich in the Belize section.
Greg Matty wrote:
.... but don't have the time or money right now.
I'm between jobs, after working non stop for a few years, so I guess I'm going for broke.. well not quite litterally, but I want a nice trip!
Greg Matty wrote:
I would bring a small table top type of tripod if you can. You may want to get to shots of a Mayan temple framed identically with tourists in different locations. You can layer them in PS, paint out the people and voila, a Mayan city all to yourself!
Fantastic tip!
Greg Matty wrote:
if they see you with a real tripod, they'll likely assume you are a pro and won't let you take it in.
You mean at the ruins, they keep out "Pros"? Do you think I'll be stopped with 2 cameras and a longish lens? (70-200 IS)
Greg Matty wrote:
... but you'll get many offers by locals claiming to take you to a great place from which to take pictures.
Hey, I'm from NYC!
Greg Matty wrote:
That reminds me, stuff a water purifier like REI sells in your luggage.
I was in Mexico (south of Cancun) June of last year. Dry is not a word I would use for that area. Going in May, may be different, not sure. I had a great time no matter, I went to Tulum and Chichen Itza, wish I had some more time to visit local towns while there.
Recomendations, in all travel stuff. Pack all the equipment you think you are taking, add a water bottle and then cart it around for 4 hours in the middle of the day. Did it get heavy, annoying, etc? Time to reduce. You already look like you will have a nice simple kit, so this probably won't be a problem.
I had just purchased my 20D when I went, so used the 17-85IS a lot during the trip. I also used the 80-200, when shooting pictures of the ruins, to help isolate things.
I brought a tripod on my trip, but never bothered bringing it out of the guest host I was staying at. This is personal preference. I rarely use a tripod nomally.
About the only thing I would possibly suggest is a flash unit to help fill-flash in the bright sun that can cause harsh shadows on things. Otherwise go do it, sounds like a lot of fun.
You zipper your gear up into the bag, have hand openings on either side, big plastic opening to see your finder and back of camera and a long snoot that velcros around the front of your lense. Plenty of room inside for your hands and will protect your body and lense, literally, from the worst winds and rains.
You should have no trouble fitting your 70-200 IS. I found it a bit short for a 100-300/4.0 and ended up needing to add the E-704 extension cover when I had the lense shade on. No lense shade, no length problem. I always work with a lense shade on.
The only cavet, it's a bit bulky, fills a Lowepro 60 AW for carrying purposes but for jungle/rain forest stomping, it's "da bomb."
You mean at the ruins, they keep out "Pros"? Do you think I'll be stopped with 2 cameras and a longish lens? (70-200 IS)
Good luck.
You have gotten me very stoked... 1:00 a.m. here.
Thanks for the good info :-)
They don't keep out Pros out, but they may want you to pay for a special permit. Since I was working on "pro" video projects, I had to go to the Ministry of Archaeology in Belize to get permits. The same in Honduras. In Honduras the guy spoke no English but he was pleased with my Spanish abilities. That was a nice compliment to hear.
With respect to your 70-200, keep it in a pack of some sort and have a smaller less impressive lens on the body. That will also help.
If they hassle you about a tripod, maybe act dumb and grab $10 in ones and a five and see if you can buy a permit on the spot (bribe). While in Honduras I saw a guy getting video on a tripod any my personal guide asked him about it. The tourist lied and said he was just getting video for back home. That was good enough for the guide so maybe it just depends on who sees you.
BTW, my video was shot five years ago and has been dead for sometime. Video production is not a one person deal where as photography can be.
Chichen Itza is cool. Really wish I'd had more time there. Definitely check the regs on your gear. Greg's experience is the same as mine. Didn't have anything fancy with me in Belize, though.
caryb wrote:
Chichen Itza is cool. Really wish I'd had more time there. Definitely check the regs on your gear. Greg's experience is the same as mine. Didn't have anything fancy with me in Belize, though.
The whole permit thing can be a pain. I think they'll allow a nice camera body just fine, and likely nice lenses, but the tripod is typically their dividing line between a pro and an amateur. To them a pro is a photographer taking photos they want to sell and they want you to pay for the priveledge to do so. Just make it clear you are a hobbyist who likes getting nice pictures and you should be fine. It won't hurt to check in with the departments you mentioned.
I guess my reply is directed more at the original poster. Sorry for quoting the wrong person.
RoyPertchi wrote:
Thanks, Matt, I'll think hard about keeping the load down. Did you go with a travel service, or did you find your own way?
We did everything independntly. I rented a car, and drove around. However, I was just there for a week, and we stayed in the general area (It was only a 2.5 hour drive to Chichen Itza).
I was not asked to pay for still camera's, but there was a $10 charge for Video camera's at Tulum. I assume you will find this elsewhere also. I didn't get hassled at all when walking around with the 80-200, but it's not bright white... A little common sense and you'll be fine. Leave the prime lens on the camera as you enter the park, etc.
I had no problem with the food anywhere we went, so I wouldn't spend a large amount of time worrying about this.
fwiw, I had my D70 and 70-200 and nobody blinked. I figured we wouldn't be there long so I didn't even bother with the tripod. Turned out to be a good thing, too. We had just a very short stop there. The amount of time we spent was very disappointing.
The small villages provide great photos of the Mayan indians.
Just a note on security. Try not to go off the beaten path by yourself or with just one other person. My wife and I were in Palenque two years ago and a Canadian couple who were birding lost all they had on them by locals with machettes. They were happy they were not hurt, but upset because they lost their life bird list. Also they had to go to Mexico City to get a new passport. Keep the original passport in a safe place that can't be picked.
Thanks to this thread I did a search at dpreview for a thread on the Yucatan and found the above link. That is the adventure that awaits you. One of the best travelogue pictorials I have come across.
You lucky fella, we've been to mexico twice and you're in for a real treat.
The old ruins there are fantastic, we went to Tulum and Coba , Tulum is very open and it gets really hot as there's little shade so make sure you take plenty of water in with you coz it's a bit of a trek back to the car park/shop.
Coba's very different, it,s in the middle of a forest and if memory serves the only way round it is on foot or bicycle (either way your knackered by the end of it. Make sure you go to the top of the main monument in Coba, the view is beyond belief.
Have a great time, wish i was going back and most of all drink gallons of water. Boy are you gonna need it
Good Luck
Going in May, may be different, not sure. I had a great time no matter, I went to Tulum and Chichen Itza, wish I had some more time to visit local towns while there.