timesharevon

<p>Now I'm curious as the owner of an e500 . . . where/how do I find this counter?</p>

<p>Most of the tundra vehicles can get pretty close. Often the bears come up to the buggies too (as this one did . . . this wasn't the closest photo of him that I got.<br />I would agree, however, if you have a more distant lens, take that too. I wouldn't go out and buy one, however, if you don't have anything greater than 300mm.</p>

<p>I was in Churchill this past November and shot with several lens, including a 70-300mm telephoto on my Olympus e500 . . . which for some bear was way too much. I even got some good video using my Canon SD600 point n shoot.<br>

Some photos to include a video and links to my travel journals and more photos may be found on the blog I wrote from there daily: <a href="http://polarbearswithvon.blogspot.com/">http://polarbearswithvon.blogspot.com/</a> .<br>

Have fun!<br>

Von</p><div></div>

<p>I've taken photos at the 151 crossover from Dubuque to Wisconsin at Eagles Point Park right on the Mississippi River. The photos I took were late in the winter as the waters were beginning to thaw and creating open water for the eagles to fish.<br /><br />Happy (photo) Shooting!</p>

Good luck to you Louis. I hope you capture some great shots. When do you head up to Churchill? I hope you'll see bears if it is later this month.

P.S. I've updated my personal portfolio here and added four photos from my Churchill trip . . . two from Monday (non-blizzard using the 70-300mm) and two from Tuesday's blizzard (using the 40-150mm).

 

Von

I went with Churchill Nature Tours (www.churchillnaturetours.com). Pricing was significantly less than the other companies and the quality of the experience not sacrificed. I would argue, it was better in fact! Their pricing and schedules have been posted for 2009. You'll be looking at $4,000 (dble occupancy - add $600 for single occupancy) which includes 6 days/5 nights of which you'll have 4 days/3 nights in Churchill . . . including the two on the tundra buggy with Great White Bear Tours, the company with the newer tundra vehicles, complete with flush toilets.

 

While the buggies will hold 45 people, CNT only takes 20-22 making it spacious for those who are serious about photography . . . full access to either side of the buggy at window and plenty of space out on the back viewing deck.

 

One of the best features of the CNT is that they provide 100% of all of the meals from your welcome dinner upon arrival in Winnipeg through breakfast the morning you leave Winnipeg for "home" wherever that may be. Given the number of tourists forced to wander around town to find someplace to eat, especially breakfast, this convenience cannot be over emphasized. Additionally, the group's tour guide also serves as your chauffer/driver and guide making sure folks get around town safely in spite of the weather and lousy road conditions. Again, seeing others walking around town the day of the blizzard really made me appreciate this aspect of our tour.

 

If you didn't see it elsewhere on photo.net, I have written a couple of full travel journals including photos from the trip:

 

http://www.igougo.com/journal-j71810-Churchill-Vons_Polar_Bear_Adventure_-_Nov._08.html

 

http://www.igougo.com/journal-j71837-Churchill-Exploring_Churchill_With_Churchill_Nature_Tours.html

 

If you have any specific questions, I'd be happy to answer them for you.

 

Von

Now that I've been and can speak from personal experience, I highly recommend Churchill Nature Tours over Tundra Buggy Adventures and Frontier Northern. CNT uses Great White Polar Tours for their tundra buggies which are newer and more comfortable to include a maximum of 20-22 on board (vs. capacity of 45). I have written extensive travel journals reviewing my experiences, to include photos, if you're interested in learning more about CNT and the experiences I had with them last week:

 

http://www.igougo.com/journal-j71810-Churchill-Vons_Polar_Bear_Adventure_-_Nov._08.html

 

http://www.igougo.com/journal-j71837-Churchill-Exploring_Churchill_With_Churchill_Nature_Tours.html

Here's one of the photos, I've place in my portfolio here: http://d6d2h4gfvy8t8.cloudfront.net/8235602-md.jpg<div></div>

In response to: "2. Going with a general tour group (20 or more people on a buggy - most who don't give a crap about higher end photography) ... bring lenses you can handhold only. Keep things really simple - each camera body mounted on a camera, and try not to switch out extenders too often. Also bring a monopod for your longest lens combo - which would make shooting off the backdeck easier. Hang out on the back deck almost always. Most people will get cold really fast, and this is the easiest place to work for photos. Be prepared though, I was only able to use thin finger gloves most times and my hands were practically numb from cold & wind a lot of the time. I melted a few pairs of finger gloves on the buggy stove just trying to get some feeling back into my fingers more than once! Note also that I live with winter five months out of the year and grew up with it ... your mileage may vary! Bottom line for back deck shooting ... you can never have warm enough boots or hand protection, and serious long underwear is key."

 

I just got back from my four days in Churchill, two of which were out on a tundra buggy (Great White Bear Tours). We had 21 on our trip, and only three of us who I'd consider "serious" about our photography. I was the only one shooting on a tripod however, so it was very easy to get prime spots to shoot from out on the deck.

 

On our second day out on the tundra we were in a full blown blizzard. No hand held and not tripod for me, but luckily not necessary as I was able to shoot using my 40-150 rather than the 70-300 I used the day before. Yes the wind can be your biggest enemy out on the tundra!

 

Yvonne

Since I've returned from Churchill, I thought I should post a follow-up. My trip was wonderful, both from a bear viewing and photographing point of view. With the slow lens and the clouds (and blizzard) conditions, a tripod was essential! I shot everything with the camera set on AUTO so that I didn't have to mess with settings, etc.

 

I was very happy with the photos I was able to capture from this once in a lifetime trip:

 

http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=254903831/a=152493536_152493536/t_=152493536

 

Von

I'm not doing a "photo" tour but am heading up the Churchill to take part in one of the polar bear adventure tours where I hope that during our two days out on the tundra in the buggies, I have the opportunity to take some photos.

 

I'm going with Churchill Adventures were are substantially less expensive than the others up there. I will be there 11/2 - 11/5.

I am also going to Churchill this fall (11/1-11/6) and consider myself more a point n shoot amatuer photographer, than anything. I use an Olympus Evolt 500 DSLR and have learned to use it for manual photography such as shooting the northern lights . . . so I'm capable of learning.

 

My question is similar to these above only I'm a bit out of my league when you're talking about under/over exposures, "IS" (not sure what that is), and how to compensate for a slower telephoto lens.

 

I recently purchased a 70-300mm, f/4.0-5.6, so I expect that is going to be beastly slow and I've been told to expect somewhat challenging autofocus. I bought it, however, because the kit lens was only up to 150mm and I figured I would need more.

 

Based on what I've read, I'm assuming it is best that I keep the ISO off auto and use something like 400 or 800 and let the auto take over on the exposure time and focusing. I'd be interested in your thoughts here? Or should I work with auto ISO letting the camera do what it's supposed to? Maybe I need to only work with the ISO based on the sun/day light I've got to work with.

 

Darn I hate not really knowing much about the options and settings.

 

Thanks,

Yvonne