Gearing up for the Rainforest

Quchua child photographed using Nikon D200, 18-70mm lens

What equipment do you need to photograph the rainforest?

All of my photography is currently done with Nikon Digital SLRs so that is what the following recommendations will be based on, however, much of it will still apply film SLR users. Digital compacts can often give very good results but have their limitations which will be discussed in the relevant sections.

The camera

With dSLRs today you pretty much get what you pay for but there are a couple of things worth considering if you intend to use your camera in the rainforest. Higher end cameras will have better sealing so will cope with the rainforest conditions better. Another thing to look for is good high ISO performance as you’ll often be shooting in low light levels.

Lenses

Obviously the wider range of lenses you take the more situations you’ll be prepared for but as always there’s a compromise between having everything and travelling light.

Wide angle/standard zoom: For scenery, people etc a standard zoom in the 18-70 range is a must. Compacts generally do pretty well in this area. Going a bit wider can be a good way of getting something a little more unique.

Katydid photographed using Nikon D70, 90mm macro lens, SB600 flash on TTL cord

Macro: My Tamron 90mm macro was my most used lens in the rainforest. There is no end of macro subjects – frogs, insects, snakes, spiders etc. Look for a true macro lens that will produce a 1:1 magnification ratio. Most compacts will have a macro setting, usually symbolised by a flower. Some give very good results others don’t so this is something worth checking if you’re buying a new camera – make sure it will focus close enough – try taking a photo of a coin. Manual focus is also a useful feature as a lot of the wildlife is nocturnal so there won’t be enough light for autofocus.

Telephoto: The hardest decision is probably whether to take the big lenses. You generally want to travel as light as possible when heading to the rainforest and there is a lot you can photograph without the big glass. But there is also a lot that you can’t get very close to. Most birds and monkeys will require a long lens and there are also things like the large caiman that you won’t want to get that close to. If you can afford the weight you’ll make plenty of use of a long telephoto

Flash

With so many nocturnal subjects a flash is an essential piece of kit. Of course most cameras have built in flash but this rarely gives pleasing results – lighting is flat and with some lenses you’ll get a shadow over part of the subject. I much prefer to have the flash off the camera, and preferably on a bracket so that I don’t have to hold it all the time. The disadvantage of a bracket is that it makes changes to the position of the flash a lot slower. I usually use the flash with some kind of diffuser or reflector to soften the light as well.

Tripod

Due to the low light levels long exposures may be needed so a tripod can be very useful. Obviously carrying a tripod along slippery rainforest paths in the heat and humidity can be hard work but it’s pretty much essential when using a long lens in low light. If you’re only going to be using shorter lenses then you may be able to get away with just using a higher ISO setting rather than putting up with the encumbrance of a tripod

Black Caiman photographed using Nikon D200, 500mm lens on Manfortto tripod

Storage media

Obviously the amount of storage space needed will depend on how long your trip is but even if you’re only going for a week its easy to fill up a lot of memory cards, particularly if you shoot in RAW as I always do. Memory cards are getting cheaper all the time so you could feasibly get enough cards to last you but I prefer to have a something else to download the images onto. I used to use an Epson P2000 but much prefer a laptop for several reasons; the P2000 won’t work with cards over 2GB, the batteries don’t last particularly long and with a laptop I can easily delete those I don’t want straight away saving a lot of space.

Protecting Equipment

One of the biggest problems with bringing camera equipment to the rainforest is the high humidity. Condensation forming on lenses can cause mould to grow. Every time you use your camera it will be exposed to the humidity but there are things you can do to reduce the detrimental effect. The most important thing is to make sure everything dries out properly as often as possible. I do this by keeping everything in an airtight box with lots of silica gel sachets. There are also ways of reducing the amount of condensation that forms. Condensation forms when the glass is colder than the air so water vapour in the air cools down and forms water. If you make sure that the lens is warm before taking it out you can reduce the chance of condensation forming.