Gear for 9 days trip to Utah National Parks

surapon

80% BY HEART, 15% BY LENSES AND ONLY 5% BY CAMERA
Aug 2, 2013
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APEX, NORTH CAROLINA, USA.
Dear Friends.
I am very excite in my life that, I have a great 9 days vacation in Utah national parks, and we will stay in the park 8 nights.
I act like a boy, who do not know what candies that I should bring on this trip. Yes, At the National Park = dry , Hot and dusty, and I try to minimum change the Lenses.
Crazy Surapon, I bring 3 Big GUNS ( 1DS, 5D MK II and 7D) and 1 Small Air rifle( EOS-M with 2 EF-M Lenses)---Yes, I just bring 8 mm Fish eye lens and From 11 MM. Lens to 400 MM Lens ( and in between) + 2X and 1 580 MK II Flash, and Many Filters for the Landscape Photos + Night Photos + Fiberglass Tripods ( Can change to Monopods)
I hope to come back with some good photos to show my friends.
Have a great week ahead.
Surapon

PS, 2 Photos of Utah national park by the PROFESSIONAL, not my photos.
 

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Southern Utah is a fabulous place... it's worthwhile to look into supporting the Southern Utah Wilderness Association (SUWA),... they are a grassroots organization that works to protect the magic wild areas of the red rock. It is my hope that these special lands are available for our grandchildren to enjoy and photograph as well.

Enjoy your trip!
 
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Enjoy. Be safe. Respect the climate. Watch out for the sun. Coming from the East Coast you won't appreciate just how hot it can be because the humidity is so low but it will still affect you. Lot's of fluids. Create your own shade.

Boy, you are bringing a lot of stuff. I hope you have hired a pack mule. ;)

I'll bet this will be a fabulous trip. Have fun.
 
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Hi Sanj.
With the greatest respect for you, it should be obvious, Murphy's law which states that if you own more than one body, but only take one on vacation, the one you take will fail, at leat until you are home and the pressure is off! ::) ;D

For example, this week I have been to Normandie for the D Day commemorations, to honour those who fell and to honour the last wish of my father, who missed going by a couple of months! My 7D has been running ML Nightly for a week no problem, just as my mother was to lay a wreath where dad went ashore I had to uninstall ML due to a crash, used my trusty 40D.
Yes I know ML says not for mission critical work yet, but I thought I had run it long enough to trust!

Also I agree with what was said about respecting the climate. When we went to AZ our freind told us of an off roader that had died recently after getting lost in the dunes in an area about one city block, he got dehydrated, left his machine which restarted first kick when they found it, when they followed the tracks they found he had walked in circles, probably delirious from dehydration, trying to escape! Scarey. Carry water, drink it when needed and you can also get small *** devices to get you back to your car (at least you could before almost everyone had a smart phone with an app to do the same) might be worth investigating if you don't have said smart phone and app, it could save your life?

Cheers Graham.


sanj said:
Dearest friend. That seems like too much equipment. My helpful suggestion is to reduce a bit. Why do you think you need more than one camera?
 
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Hi Sanj.
I agree possibly too much gear, but I would be inclined to ditch a lens in preference to not carrying a spare body! I have had problems twice now, one a back to Canon failure, one just long enough to miss the important shot if I didn't have a spare! :)

Cheers Graham.

sanj said:
I understand your point Graham.
But I still think there is way too much gear there. :)
 
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Just got back from this area and was using mostly the 17-40 and sometimes the 24-70 F4 on a 5DMKIII. Only in a few instances more than 70 mm was needed.

Too bad that we were there at memorial day weekend when Arches had the most visitors ever. Plenty of crazy people were walking on arches and it was almost impossible to get a good shot of Some arches without people. Therefore I do recommend a filter holder with a big stopper. This allows for long exposure and if people are moving around an arch you won't see them :-)

Just bought the Acratech GP before this trip and the panorama function is awesome. Definitely recommend this as you might want to do some panoramas.

Attached are some pictures from Arches and Canyonlands. I do recommend the Mesa Arch at sunrise
 

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Unless you're planning to open a used camera shop in the park, I can't see a good reason to take all that "stuff".
The reason most people go there is to see the truly stunning landscapes as you are unlikely to encounter any large indigenous mammals (excluding souvenir stand operators) so I would eliminate long telephotos - not only because they shouldn't prove to be that useful, but they are heavy. You'll underestimate the effect of the climate, and I'm willing to bet you're not in marathon shape so, BE CAREFUL. The less you have to carry the better.
Most of those rocks don't move, and if they are you're not going to want to be taking photos, so the high frame
rate of the Idx doesn't help much. I'd narrow the load to the 5Diii, the 7D, a 16-35 and a 24-105. You can
add the fisheye if your "artistic" sense requires it. The M pretty much duplicates the coverage of the other two,
but it is small enough to carry without too much penalty. A light, but sturdy, tripod and several canteens would
fill out my case.
 
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Hi Surapon,

Just returned from a short road trip last weekend to N/E AZ, and S/E UT. Be sure to include Monument Valley to your trip if possible. It straddles the southern border of UT & AZ, and is well worth the detour. I used a 28-300L on my 1DX for the entire trip, even though I also took along a 24-70 II. One thing to keep in mind, the region is quite dusty and usually windy! So I would keep my lens changing to a minimum, and preferably in your hotel room before heading out for the day! Also, as we used to say to our students at the USAF Desert Warfare Center, "Drink Water or Die!" Seriously, drink plenty of water (min. of 3-liters per day) even if you don't feel thirsty!

Hope you have a Great trip!
 
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