Georgesimages

Have Nikon D800 with 24 - 120 lens. Will this cover most photography in Antartica
Also carrying D200 with 70-300 for ship to shore photos. Thoughts anyone.?

JFCoupe Loc: Kent, Washington

Your two lenses should provide pretty good coverage, especially if the D200 is a crop sensor. (I am not sure if it is FF or crop.)
If you are going on a photography oriented trip, the trip organizer may have more specific thoughts for you on this question.

Have a wonderful trip and experience.

Georgesimages

Nikkor 70-300 1:4-5.6G Would like not to carry both on Zodiac. Feel d800 with 24-120 will serve me well

Thoughts please from anyone

dick ranez

check with Nikon technical services about temperature range tolerances. IF it's too cold, the lubricant becomes "sludgy" and won't function properly.

willaim Loc: Sunny Southern California

Those two lenses should do just fine. Gives you a wide angle to telephoto. Just remember to compensate for your exposures as you'll be shooting snow and Ice. Otherwise your scenes will look grey. Enjoy your trip and shoot, shoot, shoot.

MadMikeOne Loc: So. NJ Shore - a bit west of Atlantic City

Did a 21 day trip in 2016 and took 2 Nikon crop sensor bodies (D5200 & D7200) plus a 1st generation Tamron 150-600 and a couple of shorter lenses. I believe I took my 18-105 as well as a 10-24. Also had a P&S that went out to 720mm as well as my Canon SX50-HS (1200mm max). I used my P&S and the Canon SX50 when out on the zodiaks. There were a few times I used my 150-600 on the zodiaks. Those were the times when we would not be landing. On land, I used my 150-600 for shots farther out and worked the heck out of my Canon SX50. If I were to return, I would not make any changes in my lens choices. Since I have replaced my D5200 with a D500, I would take BOTH of those bodies. IMO, you need a back-up on a once in a lifetime trip should your main camera go Kaput. (My husband’s ONLY camera -a P&S did go kaput. His solution to acquiring an immediate replacement was to reach across the zodiak and take mine !! We were less than half way through our trip when this occurred.) I would still take a good P&S plus a bridge camera. Of course, take loads of memory and extra batteries. When we were out and about, I always had 2 spare batteries for each of the cameras I had with me plus a memory card formatted for each of the cameras.

IMO, you definitely need a longer lens!

MadMikeOne Loc: So. NJ Shore - a bit west of Atlantic City

There will be lots of wildlife on land to photograph from the zodiaks. I would purchase a good P&S (think along the lines of a Panasonic Lumix ZS70 or most current) or a good bridge camera (Sony RX10-iv gets good marks from UHH members who own one.) Both of those will give you a huge range of focal lengths.

Georgesimages

Thank you Carrying both cameras along with Wife's Panasonic z150.Back up PS Nikon7000,GO pro.
I am too old to carry all you had. Hoping to out fit my Cotton Carrier under top jacket

speters Loc: Grangeville/Idaho

What do you use that lens for normally? That should answer your question!!

billnikon Loc: Pennsylvania/Ohio/Florida/Maui/Oregon/Vermont

You should be fine.

mizzee Loc: Boston,Ma

I think you’re good to go! Less is more!

george19

This is essentially my preferred kit for any travel...short lens on the camera with better resolution, mostly for shore, long lens on camera with less resolution, essentially for shooting from the boat.

You might want to swap lenses for that special shot ashore, but pretty rare.

I’ve noticed that the ‘what should I bring’ question comes up about once a week, and with rare exception the answer is the same...the only differences with this one being the second body and the overlap in focal lengths.

george19

I just provided a more technical response, but it causes me to ask since this question pops up so often:

What did you learn about equipment selection from your trip? What shots did you miss because you didn’t have a longer or shorter lens? What do you wish you brought or bought?

Maybe this would be better as a separate question...

rogerl Loc: UK (Harrogate, North Yorkshire)

We went in January 2004. My pocket camera failed on ship & THE SAME DAY my wife's Nikon wouldn't focus. We asked an expedition team member if we could borrow his Nikon body to establish whether it was wife's lens or body. Turned out to be body so he said "in that case you'd better borrow my spare Nikon fo rest rest of the trip"!!!! (There are nice people around.) Both cameras were film; on return we bought two digital.

Take two bodies!

Take a longish lens + you'll also certainly need something at the short end as well. Your two lenses sound fine but be prepared to take both (one on each camera?) on shore. We were told not to approach penguins closer than 6 feet - fortunately the penguins ignored that advice and would sometimes come & peck at one's boots.

camerapapi Loc: Miami, Fl.

My retired ophthalmologist, an avid amateur photographer, just came back from Iceland (similar weather conditions) and the only lenses he used were the 14-24 f2.8 and the 28-300. Obviously, each one of us has a different priority and I would say that if you have a 24-120 VR lens your tele shots are going to be short. If I was in your position I would take the 70-300 with me. My ophthalmologist used his 28-300 VR for the majority of his shots.

Take both lenses because I am sure that you will need both.