Neil Enns' Antarctic Trip

[Jason Dunn]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://images.thoughtsmedia.com/dht/files/neil-enns-antartica.pdf' target='_blank'>http://images.thoughtsmedia.com/dht...s-antartica.pdf</a><br /><br /></div><p><em>"Fifteen months ago I put a deposit down on the trip of a lifetime: 13 days aboard an ice‐strengthened ship touring the Antarctic coastline with 77 other photographers. After such a long wait it's hard to believe that I'll be getting on a plane in less than a month to head down South. Really, really, far down South. As you can imagine, I'm a tad excited. Along with that excitement is a healthy dose of fear as I look around my office at the pile of equipment that joins me for the expedition. There's no B&amp;H Photo or Amazon to deliver if you forget something important so planning is key. Over the next several pages I'll share with everyone the gear that I plan on taking for this once in a lifetime experience. I'll show you not only cameras and lenses but also the (rather large) supporting cast of accessories that will make the images I take possible. It will also force me to thoroughly think through what needs to come and make sure that I pack it all. I hope you enjoy!"</em></p><p><img src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com/resizer/thumbs/size/600/dht/auto/1248806714.usr1.jpg" style="border: 0;" /></p><p>Many months back former Digital Home Thoughts Review Team member Neil Enns sent me a great Word document that covered all of this trip preparations in it, and I dropped the ball and never published it. Neil has since been to Antarctica and back, but I thought his write-up was worth publishing because it shows the thinking behind taking such a trip.&nbsp;Check out the rest of Neil's article <a href="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com/dht/files/neil-enns-antartica.pdf" target="_blank">in this PDF file</a>, and maybe Neil will tell us how it went, and if there was anything he'd change about what he packed - things he wished he had brought, and things he never used.</p>

[NeilE]

*laugh* Wow, ok, so that's not what I expected to see when I did my nightly check of DMT. I can't believe it's been six months since the trip!

If you want to see some of the shots from the trip, check out my gallery of images (http://www.danecreekphotography.com/gallery/8638388_8uPfD#569972999_iABX3).

The trip was fantastic, not just because of the scenery but because it gave me the opportunity to shoot daily alongside extremely talented professional photographers. I learned more about taking good photos in the 15 day trip than I have in 15 years of photography as a hobby. Truly amazing.

I only shot 15 rolls of film while I was there. It turns out that it's simply too hard to accurately meter the scene, take notes on exposure, etc, while you're bouncing around in a zodiac darting from iceberg to iceberg.

Backup drives are essential. One of my two backup drives, a brand new Western Digital 320GB external drive, died 2 days into the trip. I had to borrow a second spare from someone else on the trip to ensure I always had two backups of everything I shot.

The tripod was only occasionally useful. Most of the time I was shooting handheld.

That's about all I can think of off the top of my head!

Neil

[ptyork]

Damn Neil, you're quite the stud. Great writeup and...WOW...great photos! All of the "Fish Islands" photos are especially stunning. I must say I'm exceedingly jealous of the trip. What an amazing experience. I'd probably be so out of my depth it wouldn't be funny, but did they do much teaching? Did you have easy access to the "pros?" Oh, and did you get a chance to test out the MkII's video capabilities? Again, wow!

[Jason Dunn]

*laugh* Wow, ok, so that's not what I expected to see when I did my nightly check of DMT.

Surprise! :D

If you want to see some of the shots from the trip, check out my gallery of images (http://www.danecreekphotography.com/gallery/8638388_8uPfD#569972999_iABX3).

Those are some AMAZING photos! I'm really impressed with your exposure work - that must have been a bit of a nightmare with all the reflective white surfaces. Well done sir!

The trip was fantastic, not just because of the scenery but because it gave me the opportunity to shoot daily alongside extremely talented professional photographers.

That's the thing that would appeal the most to me as well - but first I'd have to get over the fear of feeling inadequate in the presence of other photographers with much more experience than I have. :o

I only shot 15 rolls of film while I was there. It turns out that it's simply too hard to accurately meter the scene, take notes on exposure, etc, while you're bouncing around in a zodiac darting from iceberg to iceberg.

I was a bit surprised when I saw that - to me, film shooting seems more for artistic shots where you have time to use your light metre, etc. But I haven't shot film in 10+ years...

One of my two backup drives, a brand new Western Digital 320GB external drive, died 2 days into the trip. I had to borrow a second spare from someone else on the trip to ensure I always had two backups of everything I shot.

In terms of GB, how much did you end up shooting in total? Could you have made do with some big (32 GB) USB flash drives?

The tripod was only occasionally useful. Most of the time I was shooting handheld.

Then I'm even more impressed with the sharpness in the photos I've seen!

[NeilE]

Damn Neil, you're quite the stud. Great writeup and...WOW...great photos! All of the "Fish Islands" photos are especially stunning. I must say I'm exceedingly jealous of the trip. What an amazing experience. I'd probably be so out of my depth it wouldn't be funny, but did they do much teaching? Did you have easy access to the "pros?" Oh, and did you get a chance to test out the MkII's video capabilities? Again, wow!

Yes, they did a ton of teaching. There were lectures on some topic or another every day. All the pros on the trip were highly accessible. I quicky found out which of the pros I most enjoyed working with and made sure that I was in the same zodiac boat with them for every shore landing/iceberg excursion. We shared lenses many times :) Someday I will be buying a Canon 14mm lens.

Yes, I did take quite a bit of video, but just snippets of things here and there. The quality is amazing. The camera is a pain. Chris Sanderson wrote an article (http://www.luminous-landscape.com/reviews/cameras/5dmkiivid_cs.shtml) about using it on the trip and I'm quoted briefly regarding my editing experiences. I still haven't done any work on really editing/exploring those videos, even six months later.

Neil

[NeilE]

In terms of GB, how much did you end up shooting in total? Could you have made do with some big (32 GB) USB flash drives?

Around 180GB of data per drive, including the video I shot. I didn't shoot enough photos though. I came back with 6600 digital images, but started slow. 32GB flash drives would just be a pain in the ass and too easy to lose.

Neil

[ptyork]

Someday I will be buying a Canon 14mm lens.

Hmm, four lenses or a trip to Antarctica...tough decision. :) Was the second shot in your gallery shot with a 14mm?? Anything other than the extremeness of the angle make this lens special? Like almost 5x more than a 20mm 2.8 (non-L, but still) special? Like I said, I'm easily in over my head, but given that it is still rectilinear, it doesn't SEEM like it would make a ton of difference 90% of the time.

The camera is a pain. Chris Sanderson wrote an article (http://www.luminous-landscape.com/reviews/cameras/5dmkiivid_cs.shtml) about using it on the trip and I'm quoted briefly regarding my editing experiences.

Wow! 25% failure rate?!? That's a bit scary. I hope they were covered by decent warranties. Glad to hear that yours survived. I was wondering how the cameras would handle the extremes. Would/did folks with a 1D(s) fare better? Just curious. I thought the weather seals in the 5D mkII were supposed to do a good job of protecting the camera from the extremes.

Regarding h.264 playback, have you tried CoreAVC? (http://www.coreavc.com/) I haven't the need for it (at least not yet), but I've heard really great things about it.

[NeilE]

Was the second shot in your gallery shot with a 14mm?? Anything other than the extremeness of the angle make this lens special? Like almost 5x more than a 20mm 2.8 (non-L, but still) special? Like I said, I'm easily in over my head, but given that it is still rectilinear, it doesn't SEEM like it would make a ton of difference 90% of the time.

The second image (http://www.danecreekphotography.com/gallery/8638388_8uPfD#569972848_Zscf3-A-LB) in the gallery was taken with a 17-40mm at 17mm.

The first image (http://www.danecreekphotography.com/gallery/8638388_8uPfD#569972999_iABX3-A-LB) was taken with the 14mm. The camera was basically sittng directly on the water. I would never use the lens enough to justify the price of it, but it's shocking how much difference there is between 14mm and even 17mm. It's just a crazy fun lens to play with. If I'd had my own with me I would have used it a lot more.

To give you an idea of image counts, here's a ballpark of how many photos I took with each lens:

14mm: 60
15mm fisheye: 1 (I didn't even remember borrowing this lens from my roommate :))
17-40mm: 2200 (350 of these are just random shots from around the ship)
24-70mm: 1150
70-200mm: 970
70-200mm + 1.4x: 970

Would/did folks with a 1D(s) fare better?

No idea, sorry. I didn't pay much attention to what people were shooting with.

Neil

[Jason Dunn]

I didn't shoot enough photos though. I came back with 6600 digital images, but started slow

6600 isn't enough?? What?? :eek: The most I've ever shot on a vacation is around 4000, and 1500 of those were in one night at a Muay Thai fight.

[Twain]

Jason, please continue to post the information from his trip. I am definitely interested in reading about (and seeing some of the pictures from) the trip.

[ptyork]

The first image (http://www.danecreekphotography.com/gallery/8638388_8uPfD#569972999_iABX3-A-LB) was taken with the 14mm. The camera was basically sittng directly on the water. I would never use the lens enough to justify the price of it, but it's shocking how much difference there is between 14mm and even 17mm. It's just a crazy fun lens to play with. If I'd had my own with me I would have used it a lot more.

Glad to know I'm not the only one who can't justify $2000+ for a prime. :) Still, I'm sure it was a fun one to use. Incidentally, I'm surprised that you shot so many with the 24-70. As you said in your article, I'd have thought that one to be a "just in case" type of lens. Also interesting to see how relatively little use the telephoto got (again contrary to original expectation). I suppose the landscapes were more interesting than the penguins. ;)

Hey, any chance of getting that first shot at 1920x1200. It'd make a fantastic wallpaper...

[NeilE]

Glad to know I'm not the only one who can't justify $2000+ for a prime. :) Still, I'm sure it was a fun one to use. Incidentally, I'm surprised that you shot so many with the 24-70. As you said in your article, I'd have thought that one to be a "just in case" type of lens. Also interesting to see how relatively little use the telephoto got (again contrary to original expectation). I suppose the landscapes were more interesting than the penguins. ;)

Hey, any chance of getting that first shot at 1920x1200. It'd make a fantastic wallpaper...

I'm surprised I shot that many with the 24-70 as well. The reason the wide angle got so much use is because I quickly learned that I really liked taking pictures of icebergs. I don't have patience for penguins. Of the 6600 photos only around 250 were penguin shots. The 70-200 was useful for fine detail on icebergs at a distance.

No, sorry :)

Neil