Photographic Equipment Guidelines the Farm Lodge Lake Clark National Park, Alaska

Photographic Equipment Guidelines The Farm Lodge Lake Clark National Park, Alaska by Jim Barr Professional Nature, Adventure Travel, and Outdoor Sports Photographer President, American Society of Media Photographers, Alaska Chapter Photography Guide, The Farm Lodge, Lake Clark National Park Introduction. Here are some general and specific equipment suggestions for photo tour participants. These start and build from “ground zero”, so just blend this information with the equipment that you already have. Equipment is important, but...the old cliché “cameras don’t take pictures, people do” really is true. So don’t put too much emphasis on the equipment. We’ll help you get the most out of what you have. On the other hand, a bear’s face would need to be within two or three feet of the lens for a frame- filling National Geographic quality close-up with a small point-and-shoot or cell phone camera. Not healthy for the photographer (or the bear), and not too likely to happen. The right tools do help. Keep size, weight, and portability in mind. You’ll be traveling to Port Alsworth on a small plane, and deeper into the bush each day on an even smaller one. Space is limited. We’ll also be doing some walking. Bears will require a mile or so of light hiking each way. On landscape days we may hike further and sometimes over rougher terrain, but you can leave heavy wildlife gear at the lodge or in the airplane. We do have options that limit the walking necessary, but there will always be some. In any given week we’ll have some great weather and some stormy weather, often all in the same day. We’ll be in the Chigmit Mountains where the Aleutian Range meets the Alaska Range, separating the Bering Sea from Cook Inlet and the Gulf of Alaska. Bring protective gear for cameras (like rain hoods) and water repellent or waterproof camera bags. Temporary solutions like zip locks and trash bags don’t hold up well here. This equipment guide is tailored to digital photography. If you plan to shoot film, I’d be glad to send you the film version of this guide. Film is seeing a resurgence for it’s unique artistic qualities. I shot film professionally for over two decades in every format from 35mm to 8x10, and still do some fine art landscape and architectural work on film with a 4x5 view camera. I’m happy to answer specific questions and go over your individual equipment and interests before your trip to Lake Clark. If you have a specialized interest (such as macro, panoramas, time-lapse), or interest in a single specific subject rather than general photography (birds, wildflowers, fish, glaciers, etc.) I can give you more information than is possible in this all- around guide. On to the detailed recommendations. Batteries and Charger. Running out of batteries in the field is the most common technical problem that I’ve seen in my travels throughout the world. A few spare batteries are inexpensive insurance. Guest cabins at the lodge do have electrical outlets, so batteries can be recharged each night. Be sure to bring a charger. The latest digital SLR’s consume far less power than earlier generations, but wildlife and aerial photography still uses a lot of juice. For my Nikon D800 DSLR I usually carry at least three spare batteries. My Leaf medium format system needs about four times that. Memory Cards. Running out of memory is another common problem. With the array of great subjects plus long hours of Alaskan daylight we always end up shooting more than people expect. We won’t have the opportunity to transfer files to a laptop while out shooting each day, only at night when we return to the lodge. 16GB of memory will usually last a day with a 12 to 18 megapixel camera. It’s a good idea to have twice that much with you for heavy shooting days. Double that for high resolution cameras like the 36 megapixel D800. For cameras with a single card slot (like my medium format Leaf Mamiya) I use a larger number of smaller capacity cards; 4GB, 8GB, or 16GB. If I lose a card over a waterfall or into a lake, I’ve only lost part of a day’s shooting. With dual card slot cameras that allow an in-camera backup of each image (like my Nikon D800E) I use larger 64GB cards. With in-camera backup running I do need more cards since the camera is writing each image to a primary and a backup card simultaneously. Camera Bodies. Try to be familiar with what you bring, and bring the owner’s manual. If you have a second camera, bring it as a spare. Alaska can be hard on equipment. When shooting wildlife it can be nice to have a long lens on one camera and a shorter lens for landscape or people on another. An iPhone is also a great second camera for quick-and-dirty travel shots, but not as a primary camera for wildlife and landscapes. In March 2014 B&H Photo listed almost 900 different models of digital camera at their on-line store. Since digital began to really take off around 2003 there have been over 4500 different models of camera introduced, many of which went out production after less than a year. It can be daunting to simply decide whether the camera you have will work well on an Alaskan expedition. Choosing a new camera can be even harder. I’ve simplified and prioritized camera features here as much as possible to try and help with your equipment decisions. First choice - A digital SLR camera with interchangeable lenses; manual overrides for exposure, focus, and ISO; a bright optical viewfinder; and the ability to shoot RAW files. This type of camera should also have white balance adjustment, exposure compensation, mirror lock-up mode, and ability to use a cable or other remote release. Control of these features from dials or buttons on the surface of the camera, rather than having to go into camera menus, is very useful. Live View is good to have for landscape and close-up shooting, and should be considered essential on ultra-high resolution DSLRs (about 22MP and higher for full frame and 15MP for smaller cropped sensors). Good quality DSLRs released since 2007 will have most or all of these features. Resolution of about 12 MegaPixels is enough for most uses. Higher resolution does capture more fine detail, allow for tighter cropping, and for bigger prints. The increased flexibility in cropping very high res images can also reduce the number of lenses needed, especially longer focal lengths for wildlife. This does come at a price. Today’s very high resolution DSLRs can be harder to use with good results. Images from full-frame sensors with 24MP or higher, and cropped sensors (APS-C or DX) with over 15MP often show a noticeable loss of quality with even tiny amounts of camera vibration, missed focus, autofocus mis-calibration, lens aberrations and flaws, lens misalignment, and diffraction (unavoidable at small apertures like f16 or f22). The results from very high resolution DSLRs like the 36 megapixel Nikon D800 can be stunning, and I now use my D800E’s for much of what I once did with medium format digital. It does take extra effort and time to shoot well with these rather demanding high resolution cameras. A Good Alternative - Mirrorless cameras with interchangeable lenses (like the Sony NEX and A7, or Fuji X series). These should also have manual overrides for exposure, focus, and ISO; the ability to shoot RAW files; white balance adjustment; exposure compensation; and the ability to use a cable or other remote release. A magnifying loupe to aid in viewing the rear LCD and shade it from direct sunlight is very helpful, since they usually have no built-in optical viewfinder. Hoodman and Zacuto make good loupes for use with camera LCD displays. Current versions of these more compact cameras are very capable. They are often great for landscape and close-up shots, but a little less suitable than DSLRs for wildlife, or in other fast moving situations. I use one of these cameras with a fixed lens (a Sigma DP Merrill) as a compact adjunct to my DSLR or medium format system, but not as a substitute (at least not yet). A Usable Compact Option - Digital camera with permanently attached zoom and at least ten to twelve megapixel resolution. This should also have manual overrides and adjustments. Cameras of this type will be good for landscape, less so for wildlife and aerial photography. Zooms are usually up to 200mm equivalent optically and can zoom further digitally. Using digital zoom for wildlife works, but reduces the quality of the image. One thing to test for in this type of camera is “shutter lag”, a delay between pressing the shutter release and the photograph actually being taken. Shutter lag can make wildlife photography or shooting from a fast moving vehicle (small plane or boat) very difficult. Last Choice - Compact point-and-shoot with attached zoom. Often fully automatic with no manual overrides. This category has come a long way in the last couple of years with cameras like the Sony RX100 II. Probably still the least capable system, but easy to have with you and ready to shoot all the time. It’s possible to get some very good shots under ideal conditions. Generally not suitable for wildlife photography. There are models with extreme zoom lenses that, from around 28mm out to over 600mm (35mm equivalent).

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