Galápagos ...

The Trip of a Lifetime

from GALAPAGOS TRAVEL

Sally lightfoot crab

BARRY'S DIGITAL GALLERY

Over the last few years, digital photography has certainly evolved, while film cameras have become an endangered species. I was quite dubious about the quality of digital photography, and was reluctant to make the change - for many reasons. I did purchase my first digital camera in 2003 - to make lecture presentations using my computer. Also, working as a Tour Leader, I could document the day's activities and then show them to the passengers during the evening "recap" session. My feeling at that time was that I could not take good nature shots, due to the resolution and time delay issues discussed below. As it turns out, I was wrong - to an extent. The overall picture quality astounded me, and I was quite pleased with the images I'm now sharing with you. I would also like to share some comments and suggestions:

1. The camera I bought (and still use) was a 5 megapixel OLYMPUS 5050 ZOOM, which I am very pleased with. I found the color balance to be excellent and I can take macro shots an inch away. Since my goal was to basically take documentation shots, I bought a reasonably-priced (several hundred dollars) digital camera. If I thought that I could get good quality nature shots, I would have purchased a digital SLR, which I may do in the future; currently, they start just under $1000 (an go up from there, based on their resolution, etc.) With a digital SLR, you don't have the deadly time-delay that makes nature (and action) photography quite frustrating. Also, you can change lenses, just as with a standard SLR film camera.

2. My camera has a 3:1 optical zoom range. This isn't enough for nature photography opportunities; a 10:1 optical zoom range is much better. Forget digital zoom, as once you're in this range, you'll get pixellation ("breaking up" of the image, and the picture will simply be "documentation-quality." Nowadays, you can purchase adapters that let you screw on telephoto and wide-angle lenses (as well as polarizing filters) to your digital camera.

3. On the other side of the zoom issue, my camera is quite compact (an advantage in itself), and the manufacturer makes an excellent quality underwater housing for it - for less than $200. So you need to decide on the camera size issue as well as the importance of using your digital camera for underwater and other "wet activities," such as skiing, rafting, etc.

4. Make sure you bring enough memory cards with you. I can not tell you how many clients show up with a single card and no way to download their images. A 256MB card can hold about 200 high-resolution images; it sounds like a lot, but that's only equal to about 6 rolls of 36 exposure film. How many cards you bring depends on several factors, including how much of a "shooter" you are. Remember that people tend to shoot more with a digital camera, because "the film is free." Also, with more people "touching up" and enhancing their digital images with programs such as Adobe® Photoshop®, images are being stored in high resolution formats (including TIF and Raw) that will significantly lower the number of shots you can store on a card.

5. You can bring fewer cards if you bring a laptop computer or one of those palm-sized portable storage devices (that hold 10-30GB - plenty!) to download your images to. There are even devices that allow you to see the images directly as well as little black boxes that will burn a CD directly from the chip - without a computer! These accessories currently cost about $300-$400, but as with all digital accessories, the prices will probably decrease over time. When you verify that all your images have been successfully downloaded, you can then delete the images from your memory card.

6. Even with enough storage capacity, you are urged to review the pictures you have taken and delete the "rejects" on a daily basis. Failure to do this will give you a mammoth task at the end of the trip (just when you don't have the time and energy to deal with it) in addition to using up a lot of memory.

7. Always have a spare set of batteries with you on the trail, which means being diligent about recharging, which can take several hours.

8. For shots with little movement, the fully automatic mode seems to work just fine. For telephoto animal portraits and shots involving some motion, I find the sports mode (the "runner" icon on most cameras) to be the best; it gives the perfect combination of a fast shutter speed and typically a wide aperture, which will blur the background.

9. For flower and invertebrate close-ups, use the macro mode.

10. For wide-angle vistas, the panorama mode (available on many cameras) will magically stitch several images together.

11. Black and white is great for lava shots and some people pix, for that old-timey feeling.

12. Many standard digital cameras now offer accessory adapter tubes that let you screw on telephoto & wide-angle lenses, in addition to filters.

13. There are a growing number of on-line sites to order digital equipment from. While I am in favor of "shopping locally", etc., the price savings from ordering on-line can be quite significant (surpassing even the large discount photo houses on the east coast). Also, the technical information on these WEB-sites tends to be excellent.

BARRY ON DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY

Digital photography is very alluring, great fun, extremely simple (to do the basics), quite versatile, and you get instant gratification - by viewing the picture immediately after you take it. And if you don't like the shot, simply delete it and take another. At the end of the shooting session, you can review your pictures and delete the ones you are not pleased with, making room on the chip for more images. There is no film to buy and processing costs are substantially reduced, as you print only what you choose to. You can take black & white shots whenever the mood suits you and/ or the subject seems appropriate. You can even take video sequences, including sound. After you have taken the shot, you have the ability to zoom in on and significantly enlarge any portion of the image; the magnification power is quite impressive and the enlarged image looks quite clear. You can take pictures in very low-light situations; digital technology is much more light sensitive than even the fastest film you can buy over the counter (which is now subject to being "trashed" by the high dosage airport X-rays). The digital camera can be hooked up to a TV set to review or show your "pix of the day;" if you have a digital camera, bring your video cable with you, as their is usually a TV on-board. And, of course, the computer connection (using a USB port) allows you to download your images (allowing you to erase/ clear the chip so you can fill it up one more time) and then modifying/ enhancing them (using a variety of software programs) as well as sending them as e-mail attachments.

All in all, digital photography seems to be the way to go. But what about the picture quality (resolution). The answer from many digital camera users is "the quality is just about the same as film photography, and it's getting better all the time." The first part of this statement is generally not true - unless you are using one of the finer (and more expensive) digital SLR cameras. The subject of picture quality is technical and somewhat complex, with several variables (including film speed, lens aperture, lens quality, and digital image format) that affect the overall resolution. But the bottom line is that the quality from a reasonably-good digital camera will more than likely be very pleasing to most of us.

I do want to address once again a basic problem with digital photography- the time delay factor - the lag time between pressing the shutter button and when the image is actually "taken". This lag time can be considerable, and for dynamic ("magic moment") nature photography, this is unacceptable. Again, there are several variables, including the use of manual focus (which shortens the delay time when auto-focus is used) and camera quality; this problem is slowly being resolved by the digital camera engineers. Also, with many digital cameras, you can select a "continuous mode," which takes a sequence of shots (sort of like a motor drive)- and presumably captures a "magic moment". The problem is that what makes the moment really " magical" is being able to anticipate and precisely capture it, which you can not currently do with many digital cameras. If nature (or action) photography appeals to you, I would strongly suggest purchasing a digital SLR, where time-delay is typically not a factor. The ability to change lenses with a digital SLR is also a big advantage as is the enhanced image resolution.

I'll end this section with my usual plea (that often goes unheeded) to the photo public - read the instruction manual and get in some good practice with the camera - before the trip! Several cameras are sold with 2 operating manuals; a cursory written one in several languages and a more comprehensive one on a CD, which I prefer. But either way, read the manual and do some shooting for a week or so before you depart; you can thank me later, no problem.