Going to Costa Rica

[HASHASHIN]

Im going to Costa Rica in april for my honeymoon. I was wondering if i will need to do anything as far as moisture protection for my gear. I was thinking a large ziplock with a ruberband would be fine, but im sure one of you guys will have a better idea than me.

 

[adolan20]

Yeah you're biggest concern is the humidity but I think you'll be fine. I mean Nikon/Canon would anticipate weather changes I'm sure they'd build a camera that knew how to handle it.

PS Have fun, I've been there twice, its amazing. Whereabouts are you going?

 

[HASHASHIN]

im spending a week here http://villablanca-costarica.com/
and a week here http://www.hotelcapitansuizo.com/index.php?english

the first is kind of close to san ramon, and the second is close to tamarindo

 

[adolan20]

Beautiful, I've been to Tamarindo it is very nice, you'll have a great time, make sure to post pictures when you come back.

 

[TATTRAT]

If you surf, you will love it even more.

GREAT place for photos.

 

[HASHASHIN]

im pretty excited, i'll be sure to post the pictures:mrgreen:

 

[Antithesis]

I brought my d40x there last summer for two weeks, shot about 1200 pictures and it did just fine. I would highly recommend either a good, fast lens or some sort of image stabilization. I ended up losing a lot of shots in the jungle due to low light and slow lenses.

If you can, try and make it down to Dominical for surfing, and Manuel Antonio for wildlife photography.

 

[HASHASHIN]

i have a 24-105 f4L IS that i will be bringing, as well as a 100mm f2.8 macro, and a 10-22 f3.5 4.5 for ladscapes
ill probably throw in the 50 f1.8 as well.

thanks for the comments and advice!

 

[Big Mike]

I also went to Costa Rica for my honeymoon...wonderful place.

Do be aware of the humidity...especially when you go from a cool, air conditioned room, out into the hot humid air. Condensation will form on everything...so try to let your camera gear warm up before you take it out of your bag. It might also be a good idea to have some desiccant (silica gel) in your bag, to absorb moisture.

I took my Computrekker AW (all weather) bag, which has a built-in rain cover...and it came in very handy. We did go there during the rainy season...so we got a lot of rain.

I did soak my camera once...
We went on a 'zip line' tour of the rain forest canopy...it was great. We had to ride horses up to the 'base camp' and because we had to wear harness for the zip line, I had to leave my camera bag. It wasn't raining, so I took the camera along. By the time we had hiked up to the starting point, it was raining, and soon it was a torrential downpour. To top it off, I had to take my hands off of the camera to hold onto the rigging, when zipping from tree to tree. I did have a shower cap and a small plastic bag to cover my camera...but it got soaked, non the less. I probably should have taken the battery out, but I just kept it as dry as possible...and got some great shots on the ride back from base camp. The rear LCD screen fogged up (on the inside) and it took almost 24 hours before it dried out completely...but that was the only problem. The camera is still working well, a few years later.

As mentioned, the light really isn't very good, once you get under the canopy of the trees. If you don't have a hot-shoe flash...I would recommend getting one. Also, if you really want to get good wildlife shots...I would recommend the 'Better Beamer'.

HERE are my photos from the trip.

 

[HASHASHIN]

ill be taking my computrekker AW as well =) , and i have a 430ex flash that i will also be bringing. I might pick up that beamer as well, it looks like it could be pretty usefull.

I was also planning on doing the canopy tour, maybe ill bring a large ziplock for that, and hope it doesn't rain

do you think i could bring a shoulder type bag for the canopy tour?

those pictures are wonderful by the way, im getting really pumped for this trip

 

[Big Mike]

do you think i could bring a shoulder type bag for the canopy tour?

It depends on the tour that you take. The one we took...it was just us, wearing a harness. Then we clipped to the line and zipped. I think there were 7 or 9 different lines that we took. You might get away with a small bag, but because it may be a safety issue, they may say no.
Another type of canopy tour, is where you go into a basket with a few other people and travel that way...(this is what my wife wanted to do). I'm sure there would be no problems bringing your bag on this one.

We didn't book any little trips before hand...every hotel has plenty of brochures for many different trips you can go on. It's a small country, so we ended up going all over the place to get to the different adventures. There is a National Park, near the norther border, where we went on a river tour...that was pretty good.

Also, for most of the trip, we had our own driver. These drivers pick you up from the airport or hotel and you can also book adventures through them. It was the slow season, so we had the same guy for most of our driving needs and we had a whole van to ourselves.

 

[HASHASHIN]

Thanks for the advice!

 

[adolan20]

Big Mike is right, you think it rains hard here wait until you get to Costa Rica. The rain is almost painful.

 

[Antithesis]

I think for the zipline tours, a good idea might be to pick up a caribiner and clip your camera strap into your harness or belt. I think if I would have had my bag over my shoulder, swinging around I would've gotten annoyed with it and probably not even opened it. You'd probably want some sort of waterproof jacket for it, but all your gear might be a bit much. I really only wanted to have my telephoto at one point to get a photo of my girlfriend screaming her head off going over an 1800 foot wide gorge.

I would also highly recommend renting a little 4x4 for your trip, it opens up a lot of opportunities for a flexible itinirary. We originally planned to stay in Jaco our first night, and I was sooo glad we hadn't gotten stuck there, as it was a pretty nasty place. Some people may like it, if your into drugs and surfing, but I'm not so we moved on.

And yes, the rain in Costa Rica is like nowhere else I've ever been. You can go from dry to drenched in about 10 seconds and the roads can flash flood extremely quick. We took our Diahatsu Bego through more flood water than I ever thought possible. That's what we get for going in the "Green Season" though, lol.

 

[Freedbaby]

Yes as everybody said you will LOVE Costa Rica!!! Tamarindo is especially nice too!

As far as photography goes, I think your camera should be fine as long as you practice common sense with it.

I enjoyed taking pictures of the flowers and the exotic animals.....for instance orange squirrels!!!! BEAUTIFUL

Even if your not a fisherman, take a fishing trip with some other folks....some of the best fishing in the world and an opportunity for amazing shots