Your SLR And the River…how?

[scott bullinger]

I’m curious, how is you guys are taking out your nice SLRS on to the river and fly fishing at the same time?

[Chad Simcox]

I’ve carried my 20D around my neck under my waders tucked behind my back, but it’s uncomfortable. I have a William Joseph Creel pack and I put my camera in there inside a dry bag sometimes as well. I’m thinking of buying a waterproof Olympus P&S to carry on the stream instead of my SLR. But with my work schedule, I won’t have a day on the water for a few months I think. Ahh if only I was paid overtime, these 60+ hour weeks would seem justifiable.

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[Aaron Otto]

I risk it.

[Philip Smith]

Pure 100% risk. I usually wet wade or wear waist highs. So I just put the neck strap around my neck and under my casting (right) arm so that I can shift the camera around behind my back. I also carry an underwater wrist digital camera for underwater video and a camcorder on a tripod often. I set the tripod video camera up and fish a section, then come back for it. If I didn’t enjoy shooting pictures and video as much as the fishing itself it would seem stupid, but I like taking pictures of fish and fishing as much as I like to fish. That’s the only reason I bought cameras, to take pictures of fishing.

I’m thinking about one of those waterproof waist bags like the Simms Dry Creek though.

[Cameron Mortenson]

I’ve carried my Nikon D70s a couple of different ways on the river but usually use a Lowepro Topload Zoom carrier and belt loop it into my wading belt.

[John Bennett]

With this
http://products.lowepro.com/product/Vertex-300-AW,2074,16.htm

Somtimes with a Tripod and sometimes with a Manfrotto self standing monopod which pulls excellent doubly duty as a walking/wading staff nd ghetto tripod for long exposures. Fully loaded It comes in around 35 pds.

While not waterproof it is resistant and has *cough*sealed*cough* zippers. I wouldnt expect it to survive a full blown swim but it should be enough protection against a quick dip and perhaps more importantly it offers plenty of shock absorbtion. As much a worry as water imo. Slippin on a bank and crackin your camra is just as fatal as water. So I was never comfortable walking around with it “exposed” anyways even when I went wih just a body and wide angle zoom

This is my Macro rig

No way thats fitting in my waders add the 24-70 and or the 400 and well I dont have alot of options.
🙂

However the best thinyou can do to protect your gear is get insurance. That mainly is what gives me the comfort to bring my stuff when Im wading and bushwhacking, pontooning, or otherwise near water. Without it Id have a hard time even with Pelican cases.

[Chad Simcox]

woah John, are those a bunch of extension tubes I see on your macro rig?

http://society6.com/grainfarmer Fly Fishing and Landscape open edition Photography prints.

http://grainfarmer.vsco.co/ iPhone photos
http://instagram.com/chad_simcox Instagram

[scott bullinger]

Thanks for the picture of your macro rig, now I know what the hell you meant in another thread when you described how you took pictures of flies.

Okay, so it seems this is just a Risk vs Reward situation.

[Aaron Otto]

John – I’m curious to what your lens components are – are you comfortable to explain your set up to me.

[John Bennett]

Hi Chad.
Yeah its 68mm in Tubes added to the 180mm. I tried adding a TC last year and while that gave me more working distance to use when going after bugs (Flies) I found the added glass didn’t translate well with Macro. So this year I went the Tube route for greater magnification. Of coarse the downside is losing infinity but so far I’m really happy.

I shot a Nymph the other day and for the first time in my life I was made

[Zach Matthews]

This is easier than it really sounds like it would be.

[John Bennett]

This is easier than it really sounds like it would be.

[scott bullinger]

You know, got point about the insurance.

[Aaron Otto]

thanks john – I’m going to go out and buy some tubes today.

[John Bennett]

Aaron if you can bring your body and lens to the store to try them out. As a general rule if I recall correctly the shorter your lenses focal length the less in tubes you may need for desired magnification.
meaning 25mm tube does more for a 100mm lens than it does a 200mm lens but also keep in mind adding tubes guts your infinity focusing capabilities. You’ll only be able to focus so far out, its worth mucking about in store before buying.

J

[Aaron Otto]

Will do thank you. I’m going to bring my 105 VR to the store with camera today.

[John Bennett]

I dont mind if Zach doesnt mnd 🙂

I don’t know if theres a real answer to that. There are different situations where each would be the better choice. TCs increase your magnification, Tubes allow you to focus closer (move in closer). So each in their own right increase the size of the subject in your frame. Tubes also increase magnification a bit in the same way a projector on a screen would. By adding the tube you moving the lens further away from the sensor so the image thats being projected onto the sensor is larger.

So there are times where I would use the my TC with my 400mm. Essentially when its harder/impossible for me to get closer to my subject.. Say a Grizzly bear 🙂 I want it as frame filling as possible but I want to remain at a distance.

Then there are times when Id add tubes to my 400mm..Say when shooting Dragon Flies or flowers or song birds that I can get close to but my MFD wont allow me to. My 400 has a MFD (minimum focus distance) of 8.5 feet. All lenses have one. So by adding tubes I cut my MFD roughly in half which alone increases the size of the subject in the frame but it also moves the elements further away from the sensor. End result is more “magnification”. If anyone knows the mathematics off hand feel free to chime in 🙂

Lastly all else being equal Id prefer tubes over TCs as with Tubes your not adding any more glass which always degrades image quality a bit, no matter how good your lens and/or TC and each rob you of about 1 stop of light although the closer you are to 2X TCs you start losing 2 stops.
*********

As for why you may not be happy with the IQ of your TC and lens its quite possibly due to the above addition of more glass. Also, its my opinion that TCs are really best used with Prime lenses. Zooms are more complex mechanically than a prime and your adding that extra layer of glass.
Im not aware of any zooms that reportedly take TCs well.

I had Canons 100-400 L which is one of the better zooms out there and I was never crazy about the IQ when I added a TC. Thats a subjective thing though (whats acceptable). If it was a choice between getting a ok shot of an eagle or a shot of a barely recognisable Eagle due to distance I added the TC and accepted the hit to IQ.

/edit
As emntioned earlier the other important note about Tubes is that just as they allow you to focus inside your lenses normal MFD, they also prevent you from focusing further out. When I add Tubes to my 400 my maximum focusing distance goes from infinity down to about 20 feet. Meaining i cant foncus past 20 ft

[Aaron Otto]

Thanks John.

[mike j]

Aqua Pack inside peli cases (cause peli’s tend to leak)..

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