Galápagos-Bound
You’d think if you spent two years1 planning a once-in-a-lifetime trip to a destination so remote that Darwin used it to study species specialization, you’d give some advance thought to your photography kit; but this trip somehow snuck up on me, like the world’s least-stealthy elephant, until it was nearly time to pack. Since Mark was planning to monopolize our D500 for birding, I grabbed2 the camera nearest to hand: my Fujifilm X100T. It’s a digital point-and-shoot in a solid-feeling, retro body with satisfying analog controls. I underestimated how limiting I would find the fixed 23mm lens (equivalent to a full-frame 35mm), but in some ways it was nice to work with constraints. By chance, I had also just impulse-bought an iPhone 13 Pro, and I ended up leaning on the 77mm telephoto a lot more than I anticipated.
The unsung hero of this kit is the iPad Pro, which — thanks to its small form factor and an excellent Lightroom app — was the perfect platform for weeding through hundreds of bad photos in the close quarters afforded by an 80-foot yacht carrying 20 passengers and crew. The instant gratification of importing pictures right after an outing enabled me to cuss my poor subject selection in real-time, rather than days or weeks later.
Fujifilm X100T and iPad Pro
On a last-minute lark (we’re good at impulse purchases in this house), we also picked up an underwater enclosure for the X100T. It’s a lot simpler — and lighter — than the enclosure for the D500, but it closes with a confidence-inspiring clack and comes equipped with a moisture alarm, all for the low-low price of $179.99.
Sea Frogs underwater enclosure
Since I’m sure I’ll be posting some of Mark’s shots from this trip, I’d be remiss if I didn’t show him in action. If you ever need someone to haul too much camera over a kilometer of unstable lava boulders, Mark is your guy. Here he is watching penguins play in the surf with our faithful travel companions, David and Laura. With the Nikor 200-500mm telephoto, he’s probably getting penguin nose hairs in this shot. Do penguins have nose hair? I’ll have to take a look and find out.
Look! Penguins!
