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Photo Tips

for Costa Rica by Philip Greenspun; created 1995

Bring Film

Film in Costa Rica is subject to an 80% import duty and ergo is twice as expensive as in New York. You are theoretically limited to bringing in six rolls, but nobody at the airport seems to check.

For rainforest photography, I recommend Fuji Velvia (ISO 50 slide film) and Fuji 400 negative film. If it is moving, use a flash and the Fuji 400. If it isn't, use a tripod and the Velvia. It is dark, dark, dark under the canopy.

Want animal pictures? Bring the Mother of All Lenses

Or buy postcards. Animals in Costa Rica are mostly small and mostly far away high up in trees. Bird photography anywhere starts with a 600/4 lens and goes up from there. You might squeak by with a 300/2.8 and a teleconverter, but expect to crop. A Canon 600/4 costs $8400 and comes in its own suitcase.

If you have a point and shoot camera, forget about taking animal pictures. If you have a 70-210 zoom lens, forget about taking animal pictures.

Get Contact Lenses

I wear eyeglasses and after ten minutes in the rainforest couldn't see anything because my glasses were fogged and soaked in sweat, as was the viewfinder of my Canon EOS-5. I survived by trusting autofocus and burning lots of film.

More?

For general photography information, see photo.net.

About the Photos I took

Almost all of the photos here were taken with two Canon EOS-5 (European A2E) bodies, and 20-35/2.8, 35-350L, 50/1.0, 50/2.8 macro, or 14/3.5 lenses, all mounted on a Bogen tripod with ballhead and quick release. One out of 45 rolls was shot with a Yashica T4 point and shoot. The "rafting down the Pacuare" roll was shot with a waterproof Nikon Action Touch. All of these cameras are reviewed in photo.net.

I came back with 24 rolls of slides, mostly Fuji Sensia but some Fuji Velvia. I exposed 17 rolls of Fuji 400 negative film.

Readers' Comments


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Chris Migliaccio , September 28, 1997; 04:42 P.M.

Having shot throughout Costa Rica many times, I can appreciate the problems of fogged eyeglasses just when the toucan gets into view for a 400mm head shot. My savior has been "Cat Crap", an antifogging paste from Campmor in NJ. 1-800-226-7667. Smear it on and polish it up; good for 3-4 days in steamy lowland forest.

Neil Sheppard , March 03, 1998; 11:22 A.M.

Your photos are beautiful and it's a damn shame about your stuff, or I should say very sophisticated gear, was stolen. But smearing a city doesn't do anything for your image. Not that I no squat about "Philly" but one city is as filthy as another these days. It's bad enough to be ripped off in Sanitaryville. NS

Bruce Valdez , June 11, 1998; 03:57 A.M.

Wow Your Photography has inspired me to take out all that over priced equipment and start taking pics again. Im wow'd in the way the slides you have taken pop out of my screen. leaving for Costa Rica next week hope to make you proud. Thank You Bruce

Jan Schipper , March 06, 2001; 03:28 P.M.

Another wet tropics photo trick---for prolonged trips or when you absolutely have to have the camera and its raining: take a sock and a few handfulls of dry rice, heat the rice on a pan (no oil or water) until brown...throw the rice in the sock and keep it in the drybag with the camera. This will last a few days and will help keep the optics dry even when the camera is in and out of the bag. The other alternative is to have a drybox to put the camera in at night - but that is rarely an option

Ken Blackburn , January 15, 2002; 08:52 A.M.

First of all, your pictures are excellent.. I can't wait to go back in April.

I think you can get decent animal pictures without carrying around a big lens. I would have loved to have a bigger zoom, but it's tough to carry when doing canopy zip line tours and such. For monkey, snake, spider and bug pictures, my little QV-3000 digital with 3x optical zoom was acceptable. No doubt I would have gotten better pictures with a zoom about 5 times as strong, but couldn't have put that in my small pack while climing around in the trees.

Here's a small gallery of QV-3000 digital pictures. This camera is small enough to be in a jacket pocket or small pack. Thanks for having this article online.

http://www.photo.net/photodb/folder?folder_id=154508

ray krueger , October 29, 2004; 09:09 P.M.

One of the most amazing photographic advantages you can gain is also one of the cheapest. You can hire a good guide for less than $40 a day in Costa Rica and they will get you closer than a 2.8/400 lens ever could. Good equipment is necessary, but skill will tell and when you're stalking rainforest photos composition and lighting can only come into play after you've located your subject.

Ray


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