I am eagerly awaiting a trip later this year to the Galapagos Islands with Artie. I have gone back over old bulletins to see what Artie has used in the past while there. My concern is that my 600 will be too big/heavy for getting in and out of small boats with. I do not have a 500. I do have a non-IS 3002.8 that I have thought of selling and upgrading to the IS version for use as a big lens with converters.
I have the 700-200f4IS, 24-105, the 100-400 and a macro lens. What lenses have others taken and found useful or non-useful?
I'm envious Rocky. I made the pilgrimage (for me it was at least) in 2006 and I must get back. Here's my 2 cents worth:
1. Much overlooked in the Galapagos are the landscapes which are out of this world. I would take something wider than the 24-105 particularly if you do not have a full-frame body. The 17-40 or 16-35 would work great. If you have a 1.6 crop body then the Canon 10-22 or Sigma 10-20 would also work really well.
2. I have the 500f4 but did not have it when I made the visit and I would not have taken it anyway. You do not need the reach in my opinion and the hassle of in and out of zodiacs, set up, portability etc outweighs any benefits. Landings can be a bit rushed depending on the group you are with so you will need a rig that is responsive and works quickly. The 600 would be huge overkill IMO although it would allow you to capture the nasal mites of the Waved Albatrosses! In an ideal world the 400 DO would be a killer lens for Galapagos- maybe you can rent one? The 300/2.8 IS would also be great. Take the 1.4 converter if you have one because the 70-200 f4 IS is an excellent performer with this tc, and you would get a lot of use out of the 70-200 on its own and with the tc mounted. I might leave the 100-400 behind if you had the 70-200 and 1.4 tc and the 300.
I went to the Galapagos Islands last year with Arthur would make the following points
1 The ships crew were excellent in their handling of the loading and unloading of the zodiacs at both the beach and the ship. They handled the equipment at least as carefully as you would handle your own and in some cases more carefully. None of them ever looked even close to dropping equipment or people no matter what the sea conditions.
2 The majority of the people had either a 500mm or 600mm lens, I took a 500mm and it is the one I used the most. A couple of people had a 100-400mm lens.
3 I also took a 400mm DO intending to use it for hand held flight shots but I did not use it very much. In addition I took a 17-40mm lens and a 70-200 mm lens, the later was the second most used lens. I would agree with Johns point regarding the landscapes. When he says "out of this world" he is literally correct. The landscapes range from tropical to moonscapes. Arthur lent me his fisheye lens for one trip ashore and whilst I got some very spectacular landscape shots with it, as it was the first time that I had used such a lens I had great difficulty in making sure that my feet, my shadow and the sun were not in the picture. It seemed that any two of the three were in a picture at any one time.
4 The majority of the animals and birds have no fear of man and it is possible to get very close (inches away) from them. Strangely the only animals that were shy were the tortoises and if you got anywhere near them they retreated into their shell.
Galapagos Lens Choices
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