Colchester Zoo

simonm8

simonm8

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Simon
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Hi all,

Im off to colchester Zoo tomorrow, to have a try at getting some pics of some animals....

Can anyone offer and tips or advice please..

i have a 450d with kit 18-55 Is lens.... and 55-250 is lens..

i wont have a tripod with me though so will reply on the IS to help me through... i also only have UV filters on mt lens

Thanks
 
I've been to Colchester Zoo a few times and 99% of the time my 100-400 is the ideal lens on my 40D body for shooting critters outdoors. I have a few other lenses to play with, including the 17-55 f/2.8 IS and 70-200 f/2.8 IS but they're really surplus to requirement unless shooting indoors or needing stunning bokeh. So my personal advice is to just slap on the 55-250 and save lugging the short lens around. If you avoid lens changes you'll also avoid dust.

I have a monopod and tripod and don't bother with either at the zoo. Handheld is fine for me.

I'd also dump the UV filter and use a lens hood for physical protection and to minimise lens flare.

Weather forecast is a bit skanky - http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/5day.shtml?world=4196 - so be prepared with some good weather protection and bump up the ISO if you need to in order to maintain decent shutter speeds.

If you have wire or "glass" in the way then try to get as close to it as you can with the lens and open the aperture wide in order to throw it out of focus as much as possible. If you have reflections off "glass" then try draping some black cloth over the end of the lens, actually, over the hood (you have a hood, don't you?) to try to shut out spurious light coming in from behind you. Here's a quick pair of test shots to show the benefit of draping a black t-shirt over the hood. These were both shot through my patio window into the dining room. The first shot is ruined by massive reflections from the bright outdoors. In the second image I threw a black t-shirt over the hood and the reflections vanished. The hood was pressed against the glass, at an angle, for both shots...

20080619_173037_1732_DPP.JPG
20080619_173030_1731_DPP.JPG



Here are some examples from this year - note the longish focal lengths....

@ 235mm....

20080425_105547_3291_LR.jpg



@ 400mm....

20080425_113048_3319_LR.jpg



@ 180mm....

20080425_130109_3518_LR.jpg



@ 400mm....

20080714_120804_6126_LR.jpg



@ 400mm....

20080714_125430_6211_LR.jpg
 
thanks for the response....

No i dont have a hood yet, i ordered them, but still waiting for them to arrive, so looks like they wont be here in time for this trip...

thanks anyway
 
Just had a late thought....

If you're going with kids, and fancy a bit of giraffe or elephant feeding, for example, the wide angle could well come in handy as the animals will be snuffling the food from the hands of those feeding them. A giraffe's tongue and head at 18mm could look quite amusing :)
 
How did you get on? Let's see some pics :)
 
Left this until you got back - I have only been to Colchester zoo twice, both times some of the animals seem depressed. I hate seeing animals pacing round in small circles. Hopefully you had a better experience than I.
 
Thanks for the replys people... sorry cant show any pics as didnt get any... i went with a few friends and there kids.. when we got near there in morning, it was thunder and lighting and teaming down,,, they didnt take coats for the kids... and the weather sucked... so they didnt want to go, turned round and headed home... but going in 2 weeks again so hopefully weather will be better this time
 
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