Cameras and Binoculars

raychancellor

Trying to decide what is best camera to take for the Churchill trip and polar bears. I have 200, 28-300, and 100-400 MM cameras, but want to carry a few as needed . How far away is the viewing and are binoculars needed?

AlanS

I haven't been on the Polar Bear Adventure, but, except for less white : ) ) I think the shooting conditions should be quite similar what I experienced on the Kenya and Tanzania Safari- still and moving, near and far subjects.

I was prepared to take two Canon camera bodies with a different lens on each to cover various situations and so I wouldn't have to swap lenses in the dusty environment. Instead, I wisely decided to follow the recommendations of another Taucktourian. I took just took one camera body and bought a Tamron 16-300mm lens (expensive, but much cheaper than a comparable Canon lens). It was quicker and easier to use and much less of a hassle. Pull it out and shoot rather than worrying about which lens to use and juggling/swapping lenses. It more than handled all close-in and all but a few long range shots which probably weren't worth taking anyway. I have an 18MP Canon and shoot at high res so am able to digitally zoom a bit without losing much resolution during editing.

Your 28-300mm lens should be fine. Frankly, it may be tough to adequately steady anything much more powerful than 300mm without a tripod/mini-pod/sandbag.