Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1999/01/09
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]...ahhhh, polar bears!! Long glass is good (280 or 300 will be fine and a 1.4X if you have it)...BUT, if you go on "the tour" (highly recommended) you can certainly make use of the wide lenses. The bears will come right up to the "tundra busses". Just remember, "Crunchy on the outside, soft and chewy on the inside" (Think about it) Hats, mitts, longjohns and warm dry boots mandatory equipment. Kodak E200 will be too contrasty for the snow. Stick with Fuji 100 films. MS100/1000 is VERY GOOD and I have pushed it to 400 with little discernable difference. I use these films in an ice/snow environment regularly. RE: Metering. DON'T TRUST YOUR CAMERA METER! It WILL let you down. They are good in average situations, where there is a mix of light, shades and contrasts... but when all they see is white they get a little confused. When working in snow, depending on lighting conditions, it can give you readings up to two stops in error. Use an incident reading light meter whenever possible. This lets you meter the light falling on the subject, not reflected from it. ...and, NO you don't need to walk up to the bear and put it on his nose!!! If you want to see what a treeless, ice and snow covered environment looks like, have a look at the Twillingate photo at: http://www.straylight.ca/locke/scenes.htm Not too many in camera meters could cope when faced with this. have a fun trip, Greg Locke <locke@straylight.ca> St. John's, Newfoundland. - ---------------------------------- TOUCHED BY FIRE; doctors without borders in a third world crisis. McClelland & Stewart Canada. ISBN#0-7710-5305-3 http://www.straylight.ca/touchedbyfire.htm