Note – the following is all subject to the disclaimer found at the end of the article.
“What gear should I take?”
This is by far the biggest question people have when preparing for the Costa Rica (CR) workshop, so let’s figure it out together.
As you know, this is a dedicated wildlife trip, so gear choices should reflect that.
For cameras, you’ll want some sort of interchangeable lens camera, either mirrorless or a DSLR. Also, the environment down there is pretty moist and humid, and we did have our Panasonic GH4 give up on us halfway through our first trip – so the more weather-sealed your camera, the better (note that the GH4 was fine after it was dried out).
It’s also a good idea to take along a backup body if possible. It’s not any fun to have a camera die or get accidentally damaged at the beginning of the trip and no backup really makes it a disaster. So, if you have an extra body, I’d recommend packing it.
As for the camera itself, the biggest factor that I would concern myself with is high ISO capability. Under the canopy, we’re frequently in situations where we need fast shutter speeds in very dim light. So, if you have a couple of cameras to choose from for the trip, take the one with the best high ISO abilities. It’s not unusual to see ISO 6400+ on a daily basis!
Warning!
In the past, we’ve had more than a few participants who brought new or untested gear along. We’ve also had quite a few who want me to help them calibrate / AF fine tune their lenses when they get here.
This is ALL a HUGE mistake and will potentially ruin your trip!
The thing is, we have a large group and we always hit the ground running. The truth is, if you have a serious problem, I probably can’t give it my full attention until we have our mid-week morning break. It’s CRITICAL that your gear is working and tested before you come down.
First, let’s talk about untested gear. We’ve had people bring down brand new cameras they had no idea how to use. With Nikon gear, they missed some shots, but I’m usually able to help. However, with other gear I often have to look things up to figure them out, and it can be a day or two before we get it sorted out. Keep in mind YOU are responsible your knowing the basic controls of your gear. PLEASE do not bring down a camera you are completely unfamiliar with or you WILL miss shots.
You’ll need to know how to quickly set/change exposure modes, metering patterns (matrix, spot etc), exposure compensation, drive modes, AF modes, and ISO.
Also, be sure to test your gear. Again, we’ve had more than a few participants who came down with gear they never tested before. We had one participant who didn’t get any shots with the gear they brought down because they purchased a defective lens and that was all they had along for long glass. PLEASE test everything before you come down.
In addition, please don’t plan on trying to do AF fine tuning at the resort. If you suspect a front or back focus problem with your lens, try to sort it out at home. The resort is not the ideal place to perform lens calibration. In addition, even if we do calibrate your lens, the next step is testing. Even once an adjustment has been made, the lens may or may not be perfect – you have to test it and a once-in-a-lifetime trip is not the best choice for that. (if you use a Nikon D5, D500, D850 or D7500 you can auto AF fine tune if you suspect a problem – here’s how)
Instead, I recommend heading to a local park and putting the gear through its paces. Make sure it’s focusing properly. Make sure you know how to adjust the controls mentioned above – or at least where they are.
There’s nothing worse than watching someone miss shot after shot because they didn’t test or get to know the gear before they left for the trip.
Lenses
Wildlife
When in CR, I find my most common outfit is a D5 and 600mm F4 with the occasional addition of a 1.4TC. Don’t worry, gear like that is not in ANY WAY mandatory, however, my recommendation is that you’ll want a lens that will give you between 500mm and 600mm worth of effective full frame focal length.
So, for full frame shooters, you’ll want a lens that gets you to a minimum 500mm or 600mm. For crop body shooters (APS-C or DX), you’ll want between 350 ~ 400mm (450 ~600mm effective full frame focal length). For Micro 4/3rds, 250mm ~ 300mm (between 500mm and 600mm effective full frame focal length). You can get away with less focal length, but you will have to plan on cropping. Oh, and no worries if you have more focal length than the examples above (like if you’re using a 200-500mm lens on a crop body). Overall, we find more focal length is better on this trip since most of our targets are pretty small.
Of course, there were also times where 600mm was far too much and other times when even a 600mm and teleconverter wasn’t enough. It really varies, but overall, if you can get into the ballpark I mentioned above, you should be good to go.
These lenses can be either in the form of a prime (like a 500mm F4) or a zoom (like the 200-500 or Canon’s 100-400). If you have a teleconverter, it’s a good idea to take it along for the more distant opportunities. If you are shooting a big prime (500mm F4, or 600mm F4), it’s not a bad idea to have a second, shorter prime along (I use my 600mm and 300PF) or a zoom lens. This gives you both a backup lens and another focal length should the big prime prove too long in any given situation.
The faster the lens, the better. My F/4 glass did pretty well down there, and F/5.6 (or F/6.3) can still work well. However, I wouldn’t want to be at F/8 or slower all the time (like using a 300mm F4 with a 2X converter for instance). The takeaway here is that it’s dark under the canopy, so always bring your fastest glass. (In fact, some people are renting lenses – LensRentals is a good place).
The truth is, around 1/3rd of the shots on a typical trip are at ISO 6400 or higher even with my F/4 glass. So, the faster the better.
I frequently get questions about F/4 primes vs the F/5.6~F/6.3 super zooms. The truth is, it can all work. A good way to put it is like this: the super zooms are good, but the fast primes are better. We’re often facing low light and the truth is, that fast F/4 glass can sometimes (not all times, just sometimes) be the difference between a keeper and a shot that’s just too noisy. We’ve had more than a few people rent fast glass for the trip and as far as I know, each and every one was glad they did.
If you are tying to decide between a 400 2.8, 500 F4, or 600 F4, I’d say favor the 600 F4 if you can handle it, otherwise the 500 F4 is a good choice, easier to handle and lighter. The 400 2.8 is an awesome lens, but often comes up a little short on a full frame camera. However, on a crop camera, it’s right in the sweet spot.
For Big Prime Shooters Only…
We often have people with multiple choices for long glass – for example, maybe you have a 600 F4, a 300 2.8, and a 150-600 zoom. It can leave you wondering what to take and what to leave.
Here’s a “priority” list of sorts to help you out if you fall into the category of too much long glass 😀
First, take the longest prime you have – 600 F/4, 500 F/4, 400 2.8. That’s a slam dunk, since 80% or more of our shots are done with long glass.
That part was obvious, but what if you have a big prime like a 600 F/4, and aren’t sure what to bring along for the shorter stuff? Maybe you have a 300 prime (F/2.8 or F/4) and also have something like a 100-400 or 200-500. In this case, it comes down to your shooting preference. For me personally, I’d take the primes – and in fact I use a 600 F/4 and 300 F/4 (that’s when shooting Nikon; with Sony I take the 100-400 since they don’t currently off a 300 F/4). However, I do occasionally miss shots because I can’t zoom in a tight situation. Still, I prefer the speed of the primes over the zooms (both AF and F/stop). That’s the right decision for me, but it may not be for you. Some people get along really well with zooms and if you fall into that category, then a large prime and your zoom would be a better choice than a pair of primes. Again, keep in mind that our “short game” is less than 20% of the shots we take.
Also, keep in mind that very rarely do we need less than 300mm (200mm on DX / APS-C).
This is one of those times I can’t do it for you – you’ll have to make your own decision based on how you prefer to shoot, what you can handle, and what you have room for in your carry-on. In fact, one of the reasons I take my 300 PF instead of a zoom is that it’s super easy to pack, leaving room for other gear.
Macros
Much of the wildlife we find will be small subjects like tree frogs, snakes, lizards, etc. As such, a dedicated macro lens is nice to have along and I HIGHLY recommend you take one (we do a LOT of macros). If you don’t have a macro lens I recommend you consider renting one – you’ll be glad you did. Note that some “normal” lenses focus fairly close and can work in a pinch, but if you do have a macro lens, absolutely bring it. Also, sometimes we find really tiny stuff – one of the frogs we discovered was about the size of a pinky nail – macro lens territory for sure!
I also recommend the longest focal length you can find. Since our macro work deals with animals, you’ll want the longest working distance you can get. Something like a 60mm macro is almost guaranteed to scare off the little critters. I recommend a minimum of 105mm, and honestly, 150mm, 180mm is even better. (Most of the participants use 105 macros – myself included – and we’re pretty happy.)
A word of caution however. Over the course of doing these workshops, we’ve found that faster focusing modern lenses with stabilization seem to work better than older gear. I have and love my 200 F/4 Nikon macro lens, however, AF is usually too sluggish and the lack of VR makes it a tough choice for faster moving opportunities (like frogs). I purchased a new Nikon 105 macro for use in Costa Rica and it’s worked out well.
We’ve also had good luck attaching a 1.4TC to the 105 Macro (Nikon) and / or using the 300 PF with a TC as well. The 300 PF + TC is actually pretty close to a true macro lens!
General Shooting
While our emphasis is wildlife, that’s certainly not to say there won’t be a ton of cool things to photograph with wider lenses – heck, you’ll want your camera out on the flight in! It’s very scenic once you get out of San Jose.
That said, keep in mind that this is a dedicated wildlife workshop, so we don’t stop for landscapes. Still, we are often in scenic locations so having a 24-70 or something similar along isn’t a bad idea.
If you’re still unsure about your lenses, please post your questions to the facebook group and I’ll answer from there. (If you’re wondering about a specific lens or lenses, someone else probably is too.)
Flash
For the most part, we don’t use a lot of flash or fill flash on this trip. Most of the time we avoid flash simply because where we’d like to use fill light, there tends to be a lot of branches, leaves etc. between the camera and the subject, This often causes shadows (of those branches and leaves) on the subject.
For macros, you can use flash, but we find that reflectors work better in most cases.
If you do want to try some fill flash, it’s not a bad idea to bring along a flash extender too. I use the MagMod wildlife kit and have been very happy with it. The Better Beemer is also a good tried-and-true setup. The extenders are totally optional of course, but they can make a difference if you need them. Again though, I want to emphasize that we simply don’t use much flash on these trips. However, you never know when / if an opportunity may pop up.
As a side note, there are optional night shoots with the guides (not included in the workshop, but an extracurricular option) and if you’d like to try one, you’ll want a flash along for that and possibly a little diffuser too.
Tripods / Support
You’ll also probably want some camera support. I use both a tripod and monopod, depending on the situation. However, in many cases, you will be forced to hand-hold the lens.
When you’re dealing with wildlife in trees, you frequently need to change your height to find an open spot to shoot through. So, most of the time, it seems like a monopod or hand-holding works best, BUT there are times when you can use a tripod, and I certainly prefer a tripod if I can use one. Plus, for macro work, a tripod can prove very handy.
My current tripod of choice is a 3 series Really Right Stuff tripod MKII (I use the long one – works well on hills) and Wimberley WH-200 head for my big glass (lenses with an integrated foot). Otherwise, I use the BH-55 ballhead on it.
My monopod is also a Gitzo and I use the Really Right Stuff monopod head. It’s expensive, but it’ll last you forever. That said, I’ve had really good luck using a gimbal head on a monopod, so that’s a thought as well. It’s a little top heavy, but if it’s probably balanced, you can release the camera and it will stay where it’s pointed. Way better than constantly locking / unlocking the head.
Note that if I could only take one, I’d choose a monopod for this trip over a tripod.
Finally, I know, those recommendations aren’t cheap but I’ve had multiple requests asking what I use. You can certainly get by with less expensive options.
Memory Cards / Backup / Misc
Memory & Backup
You will shoot a LOT of photos in CR – like a LOT. We’ve had participants shoot upwards of 17,000 photos in a week (most of the time it’s more like 8,000~12,000).
Personally, I have multiple memory cards with me for shooting which I copy to my laptop at night, and then I backup those images to a pair of external drives. Once I have a copy on BOTH my laptop and backup drives, I’ll pop the cards back in the camera and reformat. So, make sure you have lots of hard drive / external drive space!
Rain
We’ll likely face rain from time to time, so you may also want to get some sort of “raincoat” for your gear. I like the LensCoat Raincoats myself. That said, we won’t be out in heavy downpours, but light rain won’t stop us.
I’d also bring along a few microfiber cloths for wiping off lenses if they get some raindrops on them.
Flashlight / Headlamp
I also recommend taking along a small flashlight or headlamp. Don’t go crazy here, we’re not trying to land aircraft or anything, just a small light can be handy at night when getting back to your room.
Power
We can potentially shoot over 1000 photos each day, depending on the subject at hand, so I recommend at least two batteries – one in the camera and another as a backup. Plan to recharge them each night too – maybe take two chargers if you have them.
Also, remember to bring along extra batteries for things like flashlights, flash kits, etc. There is a limited selection of batteries at the resort, but they are expensive.
NOTE – the power outlets here are the same as in the US, so no power adapters are required. (At least if you’re coming from a country that uses the same plugs as the US!)
Knee Pads
For some of our shooting, we’ll be down low. Knee pads aren’t required but aren’t a bad idea. I’m personally too lazy to use them most of the time, but if your knees are sensitive it might be a good idea to pack a set.
Sunscreen/bug spray
I’d also recommend packing some bug spray and sunscreen. If the sun is out, it’ll burn you in a very short amount of time. That tropical sun is brutal.
Bugs aren’t the problem you think they would be in CR – they’re around of course, but honestly, my backyard is worse. Still, it’s not a bad idea to have some along – things change and depending on the location you may want it.
Additional (small) backpack
Another item you might want along is a smaller backpack for days when we don’t need all of our gear. I like these Eddie Bauer backpacks, although note that you have to figure out your own padding (I just wrap the items I want in there with a towel). These work great when you just want you camera, maybe an extra lens and a few accessories.
Misc Accessories
Finally, you’ll want to make sure you have any miscellanies accessories along that you may need – things like tripod quick release plates, lens tissues (I like the Zeiss wipes), extra lens / body caps, etc etc…
Disclaimer
The above are only suggestions as we don’t really know what we’ll encounter from day to day. As I like to tell people, I’m not a fortune teller, all I can tell you is what works well for me and what I would do. However, I don’t know your capabilities, your gear’s condition, your shooting style, or ultimately what the most important aspects of this workshop are for you. So, I’m happy to give you suggestions, but ultimately you are responsible for deciding what seems like it will work best based on your capabilities.