On Sunday I’m flying out to Vanuatu for a 7 day / 6 night photography expedition. As I am slowly packing my gear off my own recommended tropical photography expedition packing guide, I thought I’d share my packing guide for Tropical climates. I pack off essentially the same recommended packing list that I give to my clients give or take a few items.
Next week the weather in Vanuatu is tropical to say the least. The average temperature is 21-26°C (69–78 °F) overnight reaching a warm and balmy daily high of around 30°C (86°F). More importantly at this time of year Vanuatu experiences quite a lot of rain everyday ranging from light showers to heavy rain and thunder and humidity of around 85%.
For those never having travelled to a tropical climate, the humidity can be quite stifling and present a few camera problems that I’ll touch on below. Daily rain showers are pretty heavy with an average monthly rainfall for March of over 300mm (1 foot)!!!
Clothing Packing List
One of the benefits of the tropical photography expedition packing guide is that the list involves a lot less items and a lot less bulky items that I recommend for trips to the Arctic etc
Given the heat and humidity of the tropical climate I highly recommend light summer type clothing, shorts, short sleeve shirts and quick wick dry clothing is definitely recommended.
Other items to pack are:
- A good pair of hiking boots
- A second pair of shoes for casual times
- walking sandals
- Gaiters
- hiking shorts (at least two pairs)
- Wide brim hat
- Personal items
- Sunscreen (SPF 50+)
- An umbrella
- A quick wick hiking towel (to dry off gear and yourself)
- Insect repellent ( I always recommend people bring their preferred insect repellent. I seem to find most repellents make me more appealing to local bug life).
- snorkel, mask, reef skin diving boots (if you wish to snorkel when we are at the reefs)
- Swimming attire (SPF 50+ Rashie’s are recommended)
Camera Gear
When it comes to what camera equipment to bring, that’s a personal choice. If you are like me, I’d like to bring it all but that just a little impractical.
It is recommended that you bring a 2nd camera body as a reserve (or an alternate high quality camera system)in the unlikely event of camera failure.
Weather sealed cameras are preferred given the frequency of rain in Vanuatu and the humidity. Please be mindful that weather sealing on many models does not make your camera impervious to water, nor immersion safe.
Changing lenses in such a humid environment will see fog form on the back of your lens when changing lenses. So be mindful of condensation/humidity at all times, avoid lens changes unless necessary, and when doing so expose the rear lens element and focus screen of your camera to direct sun just prior to fitting the lens on the camera body to ‘burn off’ any condensation that has started to accumulate.
The recommended camera kit is:
- 35mm DSLR Camera
- Reserve 35mm Camera Body or alternate high quality camera system
- Wide Angle Lens
- Telephoto Lens
- Tripod
- Graduated Neutral Density Filters
- Lens Cleaning cloths and fluid
- Remote shutter release
- A laptop with card reader
- Enough memory cards to get you through a day of photography
- Enough internal/external storage to download all your cards for the duration of the trip
- Rain cover for your camera equipment
- a underwater capable camera
Underwater Image Making Options
If you have never done underwater photography then I implore you to bring any underwater capable camera you can get your hands on. The coral reef and aquatic life in Vanuatu is truly amazing and can be easily accessed snorkelling even by amateurs.
You needn’t go buy a $3,000 US DSLR camera housing and portal kit for your camera of choice, a GoPro camera can be purchased for between $299 and $399 US that is rated to a depth of 60m. Although these cameras may be considered a bit of a gimmick by some, their cheap buy in price and underwater capability straight out of the box make for great fun taking underwater stills and videos, just don’t expect Red Epic quality file output.
The latest top of the line GoPro can shoot 2.7k progressive video at 25fps and take thirty 12 mega pixel photographs in a second in burst mode which can make for a bit of fun.
Please note a red filter is usually recommended for underwater photography/videography to compensate for the waters filtration effect on the light spectrum.
Electricity / Mobile Phone and Internet Services
The power voltage in Vanuatu is 220-240 volts 50Hz (U.S/Canada are 110-120 Volts). Electrical sockets (outlets) in Vanuatu are the Australia/China type socket, AS-3112. Most power supplies switch voltages automatically between 110v and 240v but please check your power adapters are 240v capable.
If your power adapter plug isn’t a AS-3112 plug, adapters can be sourced from an electronics or travel store for around $5-$10. Just buy one and bring along a 4 (or 6 if you’re like me) point power expansion board that you can plug all your power adapters into and plug the power board into your adapter and into the wall socket.
In the main towns and surrounds of Vanuatu there is very good mobile phone coverage . WiFi internet services are available at the places we will use for accommodation.
Well that’s my recommended Tropical Photography Expedition Packing Guide. As with all my Packing Guides this is only a recommended list and is far from gospel.