What I learned from Costa Rica, part 3

One of my worries in Costa Rica was the humidity. I read that people bought ziploc bags to seal off their camera in their cool and dry A/C room before heading out in the warmer and more humid elements of Costa Rica.

Well, if you travel in November, there is little you have to worry about. In San Jose, we slept comfortably without A/C -- our room did not have A/C actually -- so there is no change in temperature and humidity to worry about. In Santa Elena / Monteverde, we had a fan in the room and again, there was little to worry about there. The air in the Monteverde region is moister than in San Jose but it was not an issue at all for my camera and lens when I stepped out of the room. I did get into trouble in the Cloud Forest though when I realized there were some water droplets on my filter. I blew on the filter to push the water droplet out but all it did was fogging up the filter. In the relatively heavy humidity, once the filter fogs up, it will not defog on its own. I had to pull out a paper napkin to wipe it dry. Hopefully, I did not scratch the coatings of the filter. Anyways, in Montezuma, we had A/C in the room but in the morning when I took my camera out, the outside air was warmer but was relatively dry, so again no problem there. The only time I ran into any fogging problem was in La Fortuna. We had A/C in our room and even at 6am, the outside air was warm and humid enough the filter fogged up a bit. I returned to the room for a few second to defog the filter and went back out. In and out a couple of times, and it seemed all fine.

My D80 is not weather-sealed but in November, Costa Rica was friendly to it. I changed lenses a few times -- on the road to Santa Elena, in the hotel room in Santa Elena, and on the ferry from Puntarenas to Paquera. No problem there. I did buy four ziploc bags. The only time I used one was when I waded and swam the waters of the lower Montezuma waterfall.

Fogging gives a nice effect by the way. Below is a photo taken with a fogged up filter around 6am in La Fortuna. I used flash and a big f value to darken the background. I post-processed it to increase contrast.

Santa Elena Cloud Forest, part 2

Here is another shot with the Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8 in the Santa Elena Cloud forest.

Handheld, I propped against the railing of a wooden bridge. John and Andrew were on the bridge but soon, Andrew would get off it. The platform on the bridge became more stable. I took a breath and as I exhaled, depressed the shutter release button. I shot a couple of times. Both pictures turned out really good, even when shot at f/16 for 1.5 seconds.

Santa Elena Cloud Forest

I decided to switch my Nikkor 18-200mm with the Sigma 24-70mm with John on the way to Santa Elena / Monteverde. Most of my shots with the Sigma was sharp even in the Cloud Forests so I am happy with this lens.

They don't call them Cloud Forests for nothing. We were right in the middle of clouds so the air was misty and moist, everywhere. Without a hat, your hair would be totally wet. Without a jacket, your t-shirt would be equally wet. However, I could care less as it became intensely hot after 30 minutes of hiking in relative coolness of the shaded forest. I removed my jacket but kept my hat on, and hiked in shorts and a shirt.

I wonder how the pictures would turn out had I used the Nikkor ... gotta wait for John's pictures.

Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8

I met up with John who picked up my Sigma lens in Boston, on the way to Costa Rica. I finally saw the lens a couple of weeks after I purchased it. The wait was worth it. I like this lens. It is fast, and on a moving bus, VR does not matter -- speed matters. I shot quite a few photos from a moving bus on rough terrains so the speed was quite welcoming. It was also good in the lower light conditions of the Cloud Forests. However, when handheld in the morning light on stable ground, my Nikkor 18-200mm VR II will beat this Sigma 2.8 lens hands down.

Here is a photo I took of a hummingbird in flight. I think the 18-200mm would have done a better job but this shot with the Sigma is not bad. The settings were 70mm, f5.6, ISO400, flash on.