Discussion
I'm off to the Maldives soon and was planning on taking the SLR with me, however I realise that the Maldives has a lot of sand and sea water and I'm worried about getting grains of sand into the lens or camera body. Is this an inevitability if I'm taking the camera to such a place or is it relatively easy to keep these things sand free?
Any thoughts, experience or advice greatly appreciated.
Any thoughts, experience or advice greatly appreciated.
Depends. If you are going primarily for a holiday and you might take a few pictures then get a compact like the man says. If it's stolen, dropped, or soaked it doesn't matter quite so much.
If you are going on a vacation primarily to photograph the Maldives and may reluctantly undertake a few holiday activities in order to placate the wife? Take the SLR and some "bad weather" bags and a decent case and avoid changing lenses in windblown, sandy places: possibly by carrying a couple of SLR bodies with different lenses on.
Whether or not you should bother is down to the focus of your vacation and only you know that.
HTH
If you are going on a vacation primarily to photograph the Maldives and may reluctantly undertake a few holiday activities in order to placate the wife? Take the SLR and some "bad weather" bags and a decent case and avoid changing lenses in windblown, sandy places: possibly by carrying a couple of SLR bodies with different lenses on.
Whether or not you should bother is down to the focus of your vacation and only you know that.
HTH
My personal opinion - my camera is a tool - not a treasured possession. You buy a nice camera so you can get the best possible photos in a given situation.
Treat it with care by all means, but choosing not to take it in case it is damaged seems to entirely defeat the point of having a nice camera in the first place.
That's what insurance is for!
Treat it with care by all means, but choosing not to take it in case it is damaged seems to entirely defeat the point of having a nice camera in the first place.
That's what insurance is for!
_dobbo_ said:
My personal opinion - my camera is a tool - not a treasured possession. You buy a nice camera so you can get the best possible photos in a given situation.
Treat it with care by all means, but choosing not to take it in case it is damaged seems to entirely defeat the point of having a nice camera in the first place.
That's what insurance is for!
Wot the man said /\ /\ Treat it with care by all means, but choosing not to take it in case it is damaged seems to entirely defeat the point of having a nice camera in the first place.
That's what insurance is for!
I never gave it a though when I took mine. Great views of Male airport from the jumbo, views of the atols from the sea plane,views of the island from the transfer boat, and great views of the wild life on the island itself.
There are some cracking sunsets to be had and because it is so dark good astrophotography.
There are some cracking sunsets to be had and because it is so dark good astrophotography.
I think I'm leaning towards taking it with me. I just love the idea of trying to capture those incredible sunsets.
So, if I return and find that the zoom lens is a bit crunchy or the shutter button has a graunch to it, are there ways of sorting these things out or is it ridiculously expensive to do so? ...or is that where insurance comes in?
So, if I return and find that the zoom lens is a bit crunchy or the shutter button has a graunch to it, are there ways of sorting these things out or is it ridiculously expensive to do so? ...or is that where insurance comes in?
GetCarter said:
Oi... just don't put it don't on the beach! You'll be fine.
Put it down on the beach = lens screwed.
I took my 4yr old son down to Bournemouth for the airshow. Part way through, I looked down to find him methodically filling my camera bag with sand! Put it down on the beach = lens screwed.
So far, it doesn't seem to have caused any issues, but I think that's probably because I was anal about getting all visible sand off the couple of lenses in the bag before moving the zoom or focus rings.
Certainly not an experience I'd like to repeat!
I've just got back from Black Rock Desert, Nevada which wasn't sandy, so much as dusty. My D90 was fine - I used prime lenses though, which meant there was no zoom to suck in dust. I was also religious about not changing lenses outside the car.
It needed a quick clean (by me) but seems totally fine, and that was an agressively bad environment for anything delicate.
Go for it - it's a tool (although a nice one), not a family heirloom
It needed a quick clean (by me) but seems totally fine, and that was an agressively bad environment for anything delicate.
Go for it - it's a tool (although a nice one), not a family heirloom
I take mine every year, two of them (5D Mk II and 5D with a set of lenses) and have just come back from two weeks in the Maldives. Take a Rocket Blower and a fine brush. Take a circular polarising filter too for the sea and sky.
The biggest photography problems are the difficulty of travelling with a decent tripod (the night sky there is mindblowing) and condensation (take a camera from your air-conditioned villa and try to use it outdoors and lens and viewfinder will steam up. You have to wait a few minutes.
It's even worse with underwater cameras. If you open the housing outdoors in the heat and humidity, you can guarantee the housing will steam up down at 30m.
The biggest photography problems are the difficulty of travelling with a decent tripod (the night sky there is mindblowing) and condensation (take a camera from your air-conditioned villa and try to use it outdoors and lens and viewfinder will steam up. You have to wait a few minutes.
It's even worse with underwater cameras. If you open the housing outdoors in the heat and humidity, you can guarantee the housing will steam up down at 30m.
BTW - I spend a lot of time on beaches!: http://www.stevecarter.com/beaches/beaches.htm
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