Costa Rica Trip

Zen1300 · May 23, 2019

Alright, I've read other threads. Some older ones.

Going to be in Costa Rica for about 7 days. Have excursions planned to see waterfalls, mangroves, sloths, monkeys, catamaran with the dolphins, and sunsets from the tree house on the coast.

I have never taken my camera gear on vacation, but have always opted for my iPhone. It does ok as far as vacation pics go, but looking to do more this time.

My gear: D750, 24-70mm 2.8, 70-200 2.8, 200-500mm 5.6, 50mm 1.8, 10-20mm DX 4-5.6

I know I definitely want my 24-70 and 70-200. I'd like to take the 200-500mm, but I'm thinking it is not going to be fast enough to get close to the animals in the trees and such. The bulk of it also is a drawback. I think the 50mm might be good for it's speed, but I think that's covered well in the 24-70 anyway. Using the 10-20mm in DX mode doesn't give me true 10-20, so I think the 24-70mm covers that as well.

A tripod would be nice for the waterfalls (have ND filters), but it might be too much trouble to setup anyway as I'll be in a group. It would be nice back at the house for sunsets. I can bring a small manfroto table-top tripod that might work as well. I expect to have to take family group photos.

Any thoughts or advice based on experience?

Jeff15 · May 23, 2019

Take the lot, if you don't you will be sure to regret it.....

dunfly · May 23, 2019

In Costa Rica you should be getting a lot of landscape and wildlife shots. I would take the 24-70 and the 200-500 for sure. At 5.6 the 200-500 should work fine though you may need to play with ISO. I take a monopod on this type trip with a ball head on top. It doubles as a trekking pole. Also, make sure to check if you are going to be there during rainy season. If so, you can count on plenty of rain. We went there during rainy season once, thinking it would just be raining periodically while we were there. It rained almost all day every day.

Zen1300 · May 23, 2019

I have a good monopod and it is easy to pack in carry-on.

Yes. It will be rainy season (June). We were told mornings are usually fine and then it will rain off and on typically throughout the day. So I know i need to prepare for that.

stapo49 · May 23, 2019

Another thing to consider is that you are probably going to encounter high humidity, obviously lots of water , swimming, sailing etc. Have you considered something like this to supplement your other gear?

Olympus TOUGH TG5 review - Cameralabs

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Zen1300 · May 23, 2019

Looks nice, but not really looking to buy a new camera. I’m looking to use what I’ve invested in.

stapo49 said:
Another thing to consider is that you are probably going to encounter high humidity, obviously lots of water , swimming, sailing etc. Have you considered something like this to supplement your other gear?

Olympus TOUGH TG5 review - Cameralabs

Sent from my SM-G965F using Tapatalk

RVT1K · May 29, 2019

There may be one more thing to consider if the temperature and humidity is very high, I found out the hard way...

If your gear is inside your air-conditioned room all night, you very well may experience condensation on your gear including lenses when you go out in the morning. This happened to me my first day in Cambodia. After that, I kept my camera bag in a cabinet in the bathroom of my hotel room overnight. I would also put the bag out on the small terrace attached to my room (2nd floor, not much fear of theft) while I was eating breakfast in the morning to allow things to warm up as much as possible before I went out for the day.