Living Desert Visit: Tomorrow I’m going to our version of a natural environmental zoo with a local group of photographers. I know to take my 70-300mm lens, but what else should I take...

Charlie'smom

Tomorrow I’m going to our version of a natural environmental zoo with a local group of photographers. I know to take my 70-300mm lens, but what else should I take, if anything?

My lenses: Nikon 35mm 1.8; Nikon 50mm 1.8; older manual Nikon 55mm micro; 18-140mm kit; Nikon 10-20mm; and, Tokina 100mm micro.

Any suggestions are appreciated.

CPR Loc: Nature Coast of Florida

I would suggest a tripod and/or a monopod. Also a strobe for fill light. With a bunch of folks like that I would also suggest either kneepads or a small mat to kneel on. A monopod can also be used to gain height for a shot from a different angle. You would need a remote trigger device.I can gain over 6 feet in height with my camera on the monopod and using the remote trigger.

Charlie'smom

CPR wrote:

I would suggest a tripod and/or a monopod. Also a strobe for fill light. With a bunch of folks like that I would also suggest either kneepads or a small mat to kneel on. A monopod can also be used to gain height for a shot from a different angle. You would need a remote trigger device.I can gain over 6 feet in height with my camera on the monopod and using the remote trigger.

No tri/monopods allowed.

rplain1 Loc: Dayton, Oh.

Charlie'smom wrote:

Tomorrow I’m going to our version of a natural environmental zoo with a local group of photographers. I know to take my 70-300mm lens, but what else should I take, if anything?

My lenses: Nikon 35mm 1.8; Nikon 50mm 1.8; older manual Nikon 55mm micro; 18-140mm kit; Nikon 10-20mm; and, Tokina 100mm micro.

Any suggestions are appreciated.

Well, hopefully a camera to put it on. (sorry - just being facetious, not nasty).

LarryFB Loc: Depends where our RV is parked

Charlie'smom wrote:

Tomorrow I’m going to our version of a natural environmental zoo with a local group of photographers. I know to take my 70-300mm lens, but what else should I take, if anything?

My lenses: Nikon 35mm 1.8; Nikon 50mm 1.8; older manual Nikon 55mm micro; 18-140mm kit; Nikon 10-20mm; and, Tokina 100mm micro.

Any suggestions are appreciated.

I can think of several places that have called what is referred to as "Living Desert.' including Palm Desert California, Bakersfield California, and Tuscon Arizona. The are probably others.

Which one are you referring too?

Charlie'smom

LarryFB wrote:

I can think of several places that have called what is referred to as "Living Desert.' including Palm Desert California, Bakersfield California, and Tuscon Arizona. The are probably others.

Which one are you referring too?

Palm Desert. Do you have any suggestions?

jdub82 Loc: Northern California

Charlie'smom wrote:

Tomorrow I’m going to our version of a natural environmental zoo with a local group of photographers. I know to take my 70-300mm lens, but what else should I take, if anything?

My lenses: Nikon 35mm 1.8; Nikon 50mm 1.8; older manual Nikon 55mm micro; 18-140mm kit; Nikon 10-20mm; and, Tokina 100mm micro.

Any suggestions are appreciated.

I would recommend taking the 18-140mm as well as the longer range 70-300. When I went recently to a local Animal Sanctuary called Cat Haven, I found that we were often in close enough proximity to the animals that I wanted the wider range of my Canon 18-135mm lens. I had a longer 55-250 lens on camera initially and switched it out during the tour. It is nice to have options available depending on what you encounter. Have fun!

Charlie'smom

jdub82 wrote:

I would recommend taking the 18-140mm as well as the longer range 70-300. When I went recently to a local Animal Sanctuary called Cat Haven, I found that we were often in close enough proximity to the animals that I wanted the wider range of my Canon 18-135mm lens. I had a longer 55-250 lens on camera initially and switched it out during the tour. It is nice to have options available depending on what you encounter. Have fun!

Thank you so much. I’ll take that lens as well.

LarryFB Loc: Depends where our RV is parked

jdub82 wrote:

I would recommend taking the 18-140mm as well as the longer range 70-300. When I went recently to a local Animal Sanctuary called Cat Haven, I found that we were often in close enough proximity to the animals that I wanted the wider range of my Canon 18-135mm lens. I had a longer 55-250 lens on camera initially and switched it out during the tour. It is nice to have options available depending on what you encounter. Have fun!

lamiaceae Loc: San Luis Obispo County, CA

Charlie'smom wrote:

Tomorrow I’m going to our version of a natural environmental zoo with a local group of photographers. I know to take my 70-300mm lens, but what else should I take, if anything?

My lenses: Nikon 35mm 1.8; Nikon 50mm 1.8; older manual Nikon 55mm micro; 18-140mm kit; Nikon 10-20mm; and, Tokina 100mm micro.

Any suggestions are appreciated.

You are kidding, Palm Desert, CA on the hottest weekend in So Cal history. Friday it was 113 in Los Angeles, 117 in Pomona, and a mere 112 in Death Valley. I did not check the Palm Desert / Palm Springs area. The Monday forecast for Palm Desert is a high of 106. You might just want to check in to an air conditioned Hotel with an in-door pool and forget the photography. I'm a native born Californian and I stay out of the deserts in the summer time. The Beaches or Mountains, perhaps.

Since you are in the area, you might go into the Joshua Tree N.P. Or take the Palms to Pines Highway, Hwy 74 from the Palm Springs area up hill several thousand feet to the Anza Valley. There you are driving though the Santa Rosa Mountains from the East to the South side. I would imagine the Anza Valley is still hot now but is does get cold there in the Winters. From Anza one can drive West on Hwy 74 and eventually end up in Orange County near the Pacific Ocean at Hwy I-5. I've done it a few times.

Charlie'smom

lamiaceae wrote:

You are kidding, Palm Desert, CA on the hottest we... (show quote)

No kidding. I live here year round. I was in Joshua Tree NP a few weeks ago, and two weeks ago my granddaughters and I drove up Hwy 74, went to Idyllwild, and had a lovely day.

We were at the Living Desert at 7am, and shot for an hour. It was very shady in most places, and we got some great shots of early morning animals.

Living in the desert is very doable if you do it smartly.

Charlie'smom

I got five responses on this thread, looking for lens recommendations. Simple, right? One would think. Of the five responses, only one was kind enough to actually give me the information I requested. One thought it important to recommend mounting the lens on a camera (and didn’t even recommend a lens), one had to verify where I lived (and didn’t even recommend a lens), one suggested using a mono/tripod (and didn’t even recommend a lens), and one suggested I go elsewhere to shoot (and, once again, didn’t even recommend a lens).

Thank you jdub82 for actually providing the requested information. I did, indeed, use the lens.

Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

Charlie'smom wrote:

I got five responses on this thread...Thank you jdub82 for actually providing the requested information. I did, indeed, use the lens.

Your experience with "helpful replies" is the norm on this forum, and I assume most others. When you do get answers that actually pertain to your question, you will find they are often repeated in multiples of 5 since many folks seem to not bother to read what has already been written. Welcome to the asylum; it's addictive!

Charlie'smom

Linda From Maine wrote:

Welcome to the asylum; it's addictive!

😂 Yes it is.

hassighedgehog Loc: Corona, CA

FYI The Living Desert in Palm Desert has a policy of closing if it gets over 100. Not only because of the visitors but because they don't want the animals to be in danger of heat stroke. The time before last it closed at noon because 100 was predicted. Not all the animals originate from deserts with extreme heat. They certainly don't have any of the demonstration shows when it gets that hot. I got on fine with a Panasonic Lumix ZS60 30X zoom reached some of the animals that were out in fields. If I had taken the SLR (Pentax K-50) would have used the 70 to 200 MM and the 25 to 60 mm.