Rainforest Lens Advice

I am taking a family trip to Malaysian Borneo in October/November and wanted to take the opportunity to finally get some new lenses. I am using the Olympus OMD E-M 5 II, and of my current lenses, only intend to keep my Panasonic Leica 25mm F1.4.

While there we are visiting the Mulu National Park and Kinabatangan River, with many other stops. I wanted to focus mostly on photographing the rainforest wildlife as well as the landscapes of the caves of Mulu and probably Mount KjnKinab as well. This is also a family trip with a 3 and 6 year old as well, so some good family portraits are important too.

I have a budget of around $2500-3000CAD ($2k-3kUSD). I've narrowed down the lenses I'm interested in to these sets:

1. Olympus 40-150mm F2.8 PRO and 1.4x teleconverter purchase, rent Panasonic Leica 8-18mm F2.8-4.0

2. Olympus 12-40mm F2.8 PRO & Panasonic 100-300mm F4.0-5.6 II Power OIS purchase

3. Olympus 12-100mm F4.0 & Panasonic 100-300mm F4.0-5.6 II Power OIS purchase

I'm reluctant to buy the 40-150mm because long-term I want to use these lenses at home and on other trips, and I find this lens quite large compared to what I'm used to. I also feel the 12-40mm may not give me enough range for a regular walk around lens. On the other hand, being in the rainforest I'm worried the 12-100 will not be a fast enough lens for my needs.

Any thoughts or other suggestions would be appreciated thanks!

Get the 12-100 and never take it off the camera. No worries about humidity getting inside with lens changes, or carrying extra glass, and with a family along you can enjoy both their company and photogrpahy. It can get dark in the jungle so dual stabilization will compensate nicely

AV8RYTZ wrote:

I am taking a family trip to Malaysian Borneo in October/November and wanted to take the opportunity to finally get some new lenses. I am using the Olympus OMD E-M 5 II, and of my current lenses, only intend to keep my Panasonic Leica 25mm F1.4.

While there we are visiting the Mulu National Park and Kinabatangan River, with many other stops. I wanted to focus mostly on photographing the rainforest wildlife as well as the landscapes of the caves of Mulu and probably Mount KjnKinab as well. This is also a family trip with a 3 and 6 year old as well, so some good family portraits are important too.

I have a budget of around $2500-3000CAD ($2k-3kUSD). I've narrowed down the lenses I'm interested in to these sets:

1. Olympus 40-150mm F2.8 PRO and 1.4x teleconverter purchase, rent Panasonic Leica 8-18mm F2.8-4.0

2. Olympus 12-40mm F2.8 PRO & Panasonic 100-300mm F4.0-5.6 II Power OIS purchase

3. Olympus 12-100mm F4.0 & Panasonic 100-300mm F4.0-5.6 II Power OIS purchase

I'm reluctant to buy the 40-150mm because long-term I want to use these lenses at home and on other trips, and I find this lens quite large compared to what I'm used to. I also feel the 12-40mm may not give me enough range for a regular walk around lens. On the other hand, being in the rainforest I'm worried the 12-100 will not be a fast enough lens for my needs.

Any thoughts or other suggestions would be appreciated thanks!

100-300mm II. It's weather sealed. Not too big, heavy or expensive. Add the Rösch Feinmechanik tripod collar for balance and flexibility.

http://roesch-feinmechanik.de/29701.html

You probably want to avoid lens change in that kind of environment with 100% humidity. I would suggest:

- getting an used E-M1 and slap Pany 100-300ii on it for wildlife

- buying 12-100 Pro and slap onto the E-M5ii for landscape/portrait works. Low light won't be a problem in front of the mighty dual IS. I've used this combo in many darker areas and can easily get sharp shots at 100mm with ss 1/30.

No need to bring a third lens, since I would never suggest taking those lenses off the body during the trip.

this way you will have FL 12-300 ready to shoot all at all time without risking changing lens.

I second this - I had a similar trip around China, didn't like the idea of changing lenses in wet conditions. I used this lens and never changed it - it handled the wet and humid conditions in southern china without a problem.

Yes it is a bit slow (f4) but you will find the combination of this lens and the EM5 (II) makes for amazing stabilization so it really shouldn't be a problem. Oh and by the way it is excellent optically as well.

Also we had a second camera (EP5) with the 15mm on it - smaller with flash for the evening.

Alan Scott
"Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth" - Marcus Aurelius

AV8RYTZ wrote:

I am taking a family trip to Malaysian Borneo in October/November and wanted to take the opportunity to finally get some new lenses. I am using the Olympus OMD E-M 5 II, and of my current lenses, only intend to keep my Panasonic Leica 25mm F1.4.

While there we are visiting the Mulu National Park and Kinabatangan River, with many other stops. I wanted to focus mostly on photographing the rainforest wildlife as well as the landscapes of the caves of Mulu and probably Mount KjnKinab as well. This is also a family trip with a 3 and 6 year old as well, so some good family portraits are important too.

I have a budget of around $2500-3000CAD ($2k-3kUSD). I've narrowed down the lenses I'm interested in to these sets:

1. Olympus 40-150mm F2.8 PRO and 1.4x teleconverter purchase, rent Panasonic Leica 8-18mm F2.8-4.0

2. Olympus 12-40mm F2.8 PRO & Panasonic 100-300mm F4.0-5.6 II Power OIS purchase

3. Olympus 12-100mm F4.0 & Panasonic 100-300mm F4.0-5.6 II Power OIS purchase

I'm reluctant to buy the 40-150mm because long-term I want to use these lenses at home and on other trips, and I find this lens quite large compared to what I'm used to. I also feel the 12-40mm may not give me enough range for a regular walk around lens. On the other hand, being in the rainforest I'm worried the 12-100 will not be a fast enough lens for my needs.

Any thoughts or other suggestions would be appreciated thanks!

Hello,

i think i may be in a good position to answer. I actually just traveled Borneo in Feb whilst backpacking through asia this year. I unfortunately missed out on Mulu National Park but i spent 3 days on the Kinabatangan River.

I  decided to leave my fullframe 5d3 at home and go with the em10ii + 14-42ez + 40-150 (plastic kit lens) + 9-18 + 17/1.8 - quite a step down from my ff and l lenses but overall, im extremely happy with my lens selections
On the Kinabatagan River i was mainly using the 40-150 with questionable success. During post i still had to crop and shoot at 1600iso - predictably during morning and late afternoon river cruises i had problems with noise.  I would 100% no question about it get the 40-150 2.8 with the 1.4x tc. From what ive heard the lens is ridiculously sharp and the 2 stops of extra light compared to my plastic wouldve done wonders for both low light and also for birds (hornbills and kingfishers are magnificent).

I considered mulu national park but didnt have the time, if you do the caves itd probably be advantageous to have a fast wide angle but for the pinnacles im sure that 12mm (24mm equiv) would be enough.

May i also suggest spending a day at kinabatangan national park, there are a few good trails there and if there is one thing to do, you must go to Sepilok. There is an orangutan rehabilitation centre there and also a sun bear rescue centre.

The 12-40 would be useful, but if for specifically wild life 40-150 hands down. Im not sure what other lenses you have besides the mentioned 25 but if you have some light kit lenses bring them along.

This pic was one i took on the Kinabatangan river, a wild orangutan and baby up in the trees. Shot at 150mm and then cropped. Not the best shot in the world, but just a good reminder of an incredible moment.

150mm and cropped

14-42ez kit lens

at the sepilok rehabilitation centre

AV8RYTZ wrote:

I am taking a family trip to Malaysian Borneo in October/November and wanted to take the opportunity to finally get some new lenses. I am using the Olympus OMD E-M 5 II, and of my current lenses, only intend to keep my Panasonic Leica 25mm F1.4.

If you don't want to end up looking like a photographer for Nat Geo, you may need to prioritize what pictures you want to take. Basically you need fast lens, f1.8 or faster, because the interior of the forest is very dark. After this, you need the reach to capture the monkey and birds who live in the top of the canopy. However monkey is curious and they could get very close to you, so a zoom (100-400) may be better than a prime (300/4), but you need to sacrifice speed. Also you will be going in the raining season so you need to protect your gears against water ...

Albert Valentino wrote:

dual stabilization will compensate nicely

... and you need high shutter speed to freeze action (or just movement) ...

G1Houston wrote:

Albert Valentino wrote:

dual stabilization will compensate nicely

... and you need high shutter speed to freeze action (or just movement) ...

A few shots from a few years ago in Costa Rica, Punta Cahuita on the Caribbean Coast.

GX7 w/ 100-300mm I & Rösch Feinmechanik tripod collar with an UltraPod II braced against my chest. No cropping!

Coastal rainforest and definitely pretty dark.

Howler Monkey?

Eyebrow Viper. GX7 & adapted Nikon 105mm f2.8 AI-S macro lens

White-faced Monkey

lens choice acc. to your suggestion no.1

there is never the problem of changing lenses, bu the problem of lack of light in the jungle.

so, take the fastest lenses you can get, including your leica lens plus the 2.8/40-150.

depending on the season, you will face rain one a day for one hour. so, be prepared to get wet allover when marching.

enjoy your trip!

BR gusti

As someone who was actually born in a rain forest (the Amazon) the advice I would give you is to think about water getting into the lens via the extendable zoom tube. If it does, then you'll soon have condensation inside the lens on your hand. This can easily happen if your lens gets soaked in a rain downpour. The Pansonic 35-100mm f2.8 and the 45-175mm are the only two Lumix lenses I can think of that don't have this problem for you to worry about. The Olympus range of weather sealed lenses are on the other hand far more superior in that respect.
As for light levels: it all depends on the time of the day. Come 6:00PM you stand zero chance of seeing further than a few feet ahead of you, let alone take a picture. But at 12:00PM the light level is actually far better than the naked eye makes it out to be. Consider taking a long range flash with you. I have used my Panasonic flash to take pictures of non-flying objects sitting on branches etc at quite some distance (50 to 100mm with the FL-580L). The zoom head on the flash helped. Light levels in the undergrowth are low enough for it to be possible to use flash synch speeds of 1/250s or less.

Thanks to all for the tips. I ended up going a different route than I was intending and got some good used lenses from eBay, and so was able to get the 12-40mm F2.8 and 40-150mm F2.8 along with the MC-14 teleconverter. Ultimately that was what I wanted but couldn't budget for it until I decided to try the used market.

Hopefully in a few months time I'll have some good photos to post.

AV8RYTZ wrote:

Thanks to all for the tips. I ended up going a different route than I was intending and got some good used lenses from eBay, and so was able to get the 12-40mm F2.8 and 40-150mm F2.8 along with the MC-14 teleconverter. Ultimately that was what I wanted but couldn't budget for it until I decided to try the used market.

Hopefully in a few months time I'll have some good photos to post.

With that combo you should be able to do most anything - both these lenses are great for closeups and the 40-150 with the TC gets really close. Have fun 😃

Dan P wrote:

Great choices on the lenses.

I would also recommend a decent tripod - they make a world of difference in the rainforest.

That depends on trail conditions, assuming one is hiking.

On different trips to Costa Rica, Colombia, the Caribbean and of course hiking in Northern US forests, wrestling with a tripod or even a monopod is a major distraction. Longer? Shorter? Long short. Long short. Long short. Is there enough room for the legs? Etc. etc. Maddening!

On a trip to the Caribbean rainforest of Costa Rica, I got tired of struggling and put the monopod away and thought to use my UltraPod II against my shoulders and chest, thinking of the intriguing monopod shoulder brace I’d seen online.

It worked GREAT! With a solid stance, I was able to take long shots with GX7 and 100-300mm that weren’t too blurry. 😉 it was definitely helped by the GX7’s tilty EVF, especially shooting UP!

It’s also MUCH easier to hike with the UltraPod mounted and rarely have to fuss with the thing. It was easy to rest on branches, trees, rocks or the ground for longer exposures, too.

I’ve seen beefier chest-pods online, mainly for DSLRs.