Given up waiting on Nikon to deliver lens; booked a trip to faaaaaaar north today

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ssheipel

ssheipel

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Suspect, sadly, I'll need to rent an f mount 600 or the z800, for a trip to Baffin Island in Nunavut to chase Polar Bears in April, I just booked. This opportunity came up and so I grabbed it; literally have not booked anything else, waiting for the lens. Ten days on the ice of Coutts Fiord to the west of the town of Pond Inlet. No hotels on this trip; luxury private accommodation of my own 8x4x4 box (mounted on a Qamutiq sled; my kidneys will be bounced into smithereens by the end LOL). Average temperature for mid April high of -14C; low of -25C. Of course that's air temp, the considerable wind will have travelled across ice for some distance :) Real torture is the 6 month wait to departure :)
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Wow that sounds like a great trip. You've still got some time to sort out the lenses. I got stuck in a similar situation for my August bear trip. But there are worse problems to have.
 
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NorthernFocus said:
Wow that sounds like a great trip. You've still got some time to sort out the lenses. I got stuck in a similar situation for my August bear trip. But there are worse problems to have.
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Ain't that the truth re problems! My 180-400 will work (or frankly the 500 with tc), although 'longer the better' has been the suggestion since these will be bear sightings where 1) getting particularly close and then 2) staying in good proximity will run counter to the safety protocols as we'll have no 'protected' camp to retreat to and as I understand it will be considerable distance from camp on any given day as we search for bears. I went to my now standard whine about the lens I figure as I have been in the 'waiting' mindset as I originally ordered it with the thinking of having a 600 (or 800 as I originally ordered) before going on 'safari.' I was thinking of your Grizzly trip; hope I get even a couple of shots that compare to some of your beauties!
 
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ajrmd said:
Do tell us more, sounds exciting…
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Winston Churchill (Sir) said:
Steven, I hope you will do a proper trip report for us - this is a trip most of us could never do.
I hope and believe I am saying this for others as well:
I would love to see photos of your preparation, your abode, your progress, and your resulting images. Please don't skimp on this - Document the lot.
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Good idea Elsa. I'll start a new thread at some point to follow my planning through to final images. As for "tell us more" at this point here are a couple of photos; those boxes on the Qamutiq sleds (Inuit invention that is nail and bolt free so they don't rattle apart on the mostly very rough travel over the ice) will be what I live in for 10 days (a communal tent will be set up for communal eating and hanging out in; guides sleeping in tents_. Bear protection will be via human watch overnight. Clearly going to be some grand landscape shot opportunities on the ice, as well. re the pic of the leader and an guide in front of the ice tower :) Oh and given this is a photo forum -- the pics are supplied by tour; not mine!
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Abinoone said:
It’ll be cold day in hell (or Baffin Island) before Nikon delivers that lens! Just sayin’ 🥴
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Yah booking the trip was a healthy step for my brain on the lens. Delivery will happen when it happens is where my brain has nicely settled back into (tho it could be my estate that has to take delivery of the lens LOL).
 
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Hope you have luck with your order soon 🙏🏻 FWIW I saw you comment in another thread that you didn't think any 600mm TC had made their way into Canada, recently heard otherwise from a camera store nearby. The same store had told me they've seen no 180-600mm til I visited in person and had a Z9 in my shopping cart, then suddenly they've seen a few... So that that as you will.
 
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jcollins said:
Hope you have luck with your order soon 🙏🏻 FWIW I saw you comment in another thread that you didn't think any 600mm TC had made their way into Canada, recently heard otherwise from a camera store nearby. The same store had told me they've seen no 180-600mm til I visited in person and had a Z9 in my shopping cart, then suddenly they've seen a few... So that that as you will.
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Hope so. All I know is the camera stores I'm dealing with (one national) are happy to report on the number (tiny) of 400 2.8s that they've delivered recently (and previously when ghost-like too the number of pf 800s) but nada a thing (or word) on the 600s, here. And I'm non NPS so.... But as stated elsewhere I've truly moved on, right down to spending the $s saved for the lens elsewhere; it'll come when it comes. Cheers.
 
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You might be able to rent the 600 TC by then; expensive but in the context of the amounts of money involved with this fantastic trip and also the cost of the purchase of the lens, chump change. If not, you could rent the 600 FL lens (for less); it works just fine on the Z camera bodies. Or you can get (or rent) the 180-600mm by then, one way or another. Or you might reconsider the 800 (they told you the longer the better). I need to point out here that there was an awful lot of angst in this forum about the deliveries of that lens (there always is with every new product, it seems), and now you can buy it virtually everywhere.
 
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ssheipel said:
Ain't that the truth re problems! My 180-400 will work (or frankly the 500 with tc), although 'longer the better' has been the suggestion since these will be bear sightings where 1) getting particularly close and then 2) staying in good proximity will run counter to the safety protocols as we'll have no 'protected' camp to retreat to and as I understand it will be considerable distance from camp on any given day as we search for bears. I went to my now standard whine about the lens I figure as I have been in the 'waiting' mindset as I originally ordered it with the thinking of having a 600 (or 800 as I originally ordered) before going on 'safari.' I was thinking of your Grizzly trip; hope I get even a couple of shots that compare to some of your beauties!
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It sounds like an 800PF and your 180-400TC on separate bodies would fit the bill nicely. Looks/sounds like a great adventure.
 
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ssheipel said:
Suspect, sadly, I'll need to rent an f mount 600 or the z800, for a trip to Baffin Island in Nunavut to chase Polar Bears in April, I just booked. This opportunity came up and so I grabbed it; literally have not booked anything else, waiting for the lens. Ten days on the ice of Coutts Fiord to the west of the town of Pond Inlet. No hotels on this trip; luxury private accommodation of my own 8x4x4 box (mounted on a Qamutiq sled; my kidneys will be bounced into smithereens by the end LOL). Average temperature for mid April high of -14C; low of -25C. Of course that's air temp, the considerable wind will have travelled across ice for some distance :) Real torture is the 6 month wait to departure :)
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Wow, really envious Steven, that 6 months will fly so I’d start your prep really early 👍.
Photographing polar bears is one of my bucket list trips as I’ve never seen them in the wild.
I spoke to someone a couple of years ago that went on a similar trip who said it was quite an emotional experience seeing one in the wild for the first time & was an experience he’ll never forget.
If it were me I’d be watching Morten Hilmer videos everyday to get some idea of what the climate & conditions will be like as he shoots in some hostile places in temperatures you’ll be experiencing.
Would also like to see updates leading up to your trip as I’d imagine there’s a tonne of things you need to have & organise.
Have a fantastic trip, stay safe & I look forward to an update on this. 👍👍
 
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