What gear do you use for waterfall photography?

[Des219]

I am curious what gear everyone uses for waterfall photography. I am looking to expand my gear and am wanting to take my photos to the next level.

My main equipment used:

Canon 50D (crop sensor)
Canon 24-70
Radio trigger
Carbon fiber 3 section tripod legs
Manfrotto 054-Q2 ball head
Tamrac camera backpack

I have 1 ND filter but am not happy with the results.

Looking for lens + filter recommendations. Curious if most people are using screw on filters or square filters and what type and brands.

I am looking at the Canon 16-35 II, do you think this is wide enough for a crop sensor? It would be a big step forward from 24 mm and a bit sharper too. At some point I think I will be moving to a full frame camera but am not 100% sure.

I am happy with my tripod.

Thanks,
Dave

[L_G_D]

I don't know offhand the specs on the Canon, but you should be able to get pretty decent pics with the gear you have. If you wanted higher resolution, then a camera with a bigger sensor might fill the need, and if full frame is what you want, expect to spend a bit more. Same goes for lenses, you can gather a large expensive collection and only end up using a few of them most of the time. What I have are a decent mid range zoom, a pretty good wide zoom, and a pretty good mid range macro. Most of the time, I only use my main zoom, so if I'm traveling light, I just take that. I forget the exact zoom range, but the low end is 16 and on a crop body, that's pretty decent, I have a really nice 24-70 that's awesome on full frame but too long for a lot of landscape stuff on the crop frame. So if you're looking to go a little wider, then a 16-? zoom might be a good choice. My wide zoom is 11-17 I think but I hardly use it.

As for filters, I use a really good circular polarizer 99% of the time and nothing else. Very rarely I will put on a neutral density, but that's it. A friend gave me a nice variable ND that replaced the set of three I had and that works for the off chance I need a little more exposure. Most of the time, though, it sits in the filter case. I haven't used square filters in a long time, and I used to have a bunch of them. Too bulky to carry and too fragile and awkward to use. The gradient neutral used to be a filter to have for equalizing exposures, but with HDR being pretty easy now, there's not much call for one anymore. I have a few of the pro size Cokin filters yet, but they haven't been off the shelf in years.

Minimal kit is the camera with zoom lens and polarizer and that's it. Carbon fiber tripod for the long exposures.

[Matt]

Olympus E5 - weather-sealed
I used the mirror delay on this rather than a remote trigger. Just helps to not carry and connect another piece of equipment.
The body has IS built in. I shut that off for tripod shooting, unless the feet are in moving water, then i leave on IS to offset the vibrations.

Zuiko 12-60mm (24-120 equiv.) - It my perfect waterfall lens. Wide is more than enough for those tight gullies. Zoom for when I want to get close, but can't. The filter thread allows for cheaper filters. Tack sharp corner-to-corner wide open and maintains it through the zoom. Weather sealed, which I require because I shoot in the rain now. I bought a 7-14mm, thinking i would use it for waterfalls, but rarely do.

Hoya Pro1 ND4 or ND8 - I can't recommend these enough.
Hoya HD Cl.pol.
Abundant microfiber cloths (shooting around water - i use these just to continually buff the filter. Once used, I put it away - don't want to reuse a dirty cloth. I carry maybe a dozen in one outing)

Manfroto carbon-fiber tripod / Ball head (nothing fancy) - I find this to be very bulky, but my camera lens is all metal and heavy, so i need it. I bought spikes for the feet of the tripod for extra grip.

Bring my canon S95 so i can shoot things, such as signs and bugs, while my slr has filters and the wrong lens on it.

Bring my Xoom field recorder with manfroto tripod mount so i can record stereo audio. Mux that with any video I take.

I have several Lowepro packs. I have coated them with campdry

[ApproachingLight]

what a list. Good!!!!

If i was to put a 10 on items at the top.
1.) A charged battery
2.) Polorizer...maybe this should be before charged battery
3.) Tripod
4.) iPhone
5.) Water
6.) old sneaks with good tread
7.) pen and paper for photo stacking
8.) rope cause i am an idiot who sees an angle way the Fr***k up there.
9.) Water
10.) A joyful heart. Heck it's an adventure that is not at a desk.

p.s. Last, if you have a dog, it is the absolute highlight of their year if you go to seven waterfalls a year!

[Des219]

Great info. I do need a new polarizer since I haven't used one since I left my kit lens. Like you David we normally have our dog. She loves it and helps pull my wife up the steep hills when she has our daughter with on her back.

I too have several bottles of water, a first aid kit, bags for trash, several plastic camera and lens covers for water protection. I took my DSLR in bridal falls of Niagara. Any one that has been there knows how strong the falls are on the deck and my camera survived that. Though the camera did not survive a winter trek to get a Christmas tree in a snow storm

Don't forget a multi-tool, three batteries, 3 memory cards and like Matt lens cleaners.

LGD, I too have a great 24-70 that rarely is off my camera, however it is a bit long on the crop sensor so I am thinking on following your advice and getting the 16-35. I was concerned that it might not be wide enough though. Matt's 12-60 is a nice range.

[L_G_D]

Yes, it all depends on the lens range available for the camera you plan on using. I have the 16-80 on the Sony almost all the time, the 11-17 on the rare occasion I need a little bit wider, but that lens tends to vignette easily, and the 105 macro gets used now and then. The 24-70 and 70-200 haven't been out of the case in a year or more and the 50 f1.4 even longer. I do use a long telephoto, forget the numbers, maybe 200-500? now and then, but usually only when I'm specifically out to shoot birds or something, it's not anything I carry around all that often.

But a good zoom starting at 16, plus a good polarizer, and you should be good to go. My advice is not to scrimp on the polarizer, as what sense does it make to get a really good lens then put a crappy filter on it?

[Matt]

I can't recommend the Hoya HD polarizer enough, especially if your lens requires a large filter or if you shoot wide and want to avoid vignetting.

Image quality is excellent, with zero tint, barely any reflections. The filter is super thin and scratch ant crack resistant. They also resist oils, which means fingerprints come off without solution.

Best feature is that they are significantly less darkening than traditional CPL filters, which means you need to stack on ND filters for waterfalls, but perfect for carrying-around and every day shooting without killing all the light that goes though the filter. I had mine on day times my last trip to China for street and mountain scenes.

http://www.amazon.com/s/?_encoding=UTF8 ... alias%3Dap

[Des219]

I am thinking of getting either a 16-35 lens or a full frame camera. With the full frame I currently have a 24-70. Since I am using my crop sensor camera the 16-35 is equal to 25.6 - 56 mm so the 24-70 would be wider on the full frame than the 16-35 on a crop.

What are other users thoughts on which would be better to upgrade first? I am looking at the canon 6d or the canon 16-35 L II. My current camera is a canon 50d and a canon 24-70 L. And I will probably get one of those Hoyas that Matt mentioned.

Thanks, Dave.