Hiking/Rafting in Grand Canyon with T2i

I'll post pictures later, but thought I'd share my experience.

First, my gear: T2i, 15-85mm IS, 10-22m IS, 70-300mm IS (non-L), quality CPs for the 15-85 and 10-22, some split density ND filters (didn't use).  I bought an f-stop hiking bag (Tilopa BC http://fstopgear.com/product/mountain/tilopa-bc) for the hike down and hikes into the side canyons.  It's an internal frame back pack style bag that also has room for extra clothes and a camel back. More thoughts on the Tilopa BC later.  Basically, the camera gear is stored in a padded rectangular shaped soft sided zipper case that is then placed inside the backpack and accessed from the back of the backpack (by back, I mean the side of the backpack that rests on your back, so to access your gear, remove backpack, unzip backpack to get to the padded case, then unzip the padded case if you don't leave it unzipped).  For most hikes, I simply carried the camera, but there were a few hikes where I needed both hands to stem, climb walls, pull myself up and over boulders, etc so it went into the protective case and backpack for those times.

But I also wanted to take pictures in the boat, video going through rapids, behind waterfalls, etc.  So I bought 2 additional items.  A drybag big enough to hold the padded protective case (30 liters if you're wondering) and a DiCAPac WPS10 Waterproof case (http://www.adorama.com/DIPWPS10.html) for shooting through rapids, underwater, behind waterfalls, etc.  I will say the DiCAPac is a royal pain in the tush with zoom lenses.  I call it my camara condom and it fullfilled it's purpose of keeping my camera dry, but I don't know if I'd bring it again.  For video, I'd just as soon get a go pro.  But I did manage to get good pictures from behind water falls so....

So I hiked down Bright Angel trail carrying the camera then we got into the boats in the early afternoon, put the camera in the camera condom and immediately are in 3 of the bigger rapids on the river.  Definitely got wet and camera stayed dry.  Got decent video going through Hermit but it was a challenge holding the camera level as well as holding the plastic lens covering close enough to the lens to prevent the hard plastic end cap of the DiCAPac from causing a vignetting look.  The problem is with my 15-85, I needed to set the zoom to 20-30mm to capture the whitewater but then the lens doesn't extend far enough into the plastic covering to butt up against the end of the covering, so I had to push the covering down against the lens and hold it real tight.  Hard to explain, but suffice to say it was NOT an easy task.

Next day I sat in back of boat and took stills as we went through the rapids.  Again, it worked, but it was difficult.  We also hiked up a creek about 100 yds to a waterfall so I got some excellent pictures in the falls, from behind the falls, and even submersed somewhat in the pool.  After that, I gave up on the camera condom and kept the camera in the drybag whenever I was in the boat, pulling it out whenever we weren't going through rapids. I will say this though, there were hardly any clouds let alone rain, so if it was raining, I'd definitely use the condom to shoot out of the boat.

Of the 600 or so pictures I took down in the canyon (and even on the South Rim), about 580 were with my 15-85.  VERY versatile lens.  The other 20 were taken with my 10-22.  I never pulled out the 70-300, but then again, I didn't want to spend much time changing lenses and stuff.  Maybe some of you guys/gals could find a use of the 70-300 in the narrow confines of the canyon, but I don't have a good eye for micro scenes, so I never needed the extra reach.  The one time I wished I had one was when a Blue Heron flew overhead with either a snake or lizard in it's beak.  I captured it with my 15-85, but it's small.  Will need to crop heavily to see if it came out acceptable.

I found CP to be mandatory but my split density filters not so much useful in the canyon due to the lack of horizontal changes in dynamic range.  It would be useful on the Rim if there were illuminated clouds, but I didn't need it the one day/evening/night we spent there.

So about that backpack.  it's big, it's not very light, and it's not very amenable to changing out lenses since you have to take off the pack to get to them.  I usually hike with a waist pack, but due to all the scrambling and rock climbing we had to do, the waist pack would have been difficult as well.  So I guess I would recommend such a backpack.  It was certainly durable and excellent for carrying the mandatory camel back and it protected all my gear just fine.  I just wish it were easier to access my gear if that's possible.

If you have any doubts about taking your non-weather resistant/weather proof DSLR down into the grand canyon, don't.