Think Tank Hydrophobia Flash 70-200.

First, what does this rain cover do? Basically, the Think Tank Hydrophobia allows you to operate your DSLR camera in the rain without having to worry about your camera or lens getting wet. It consists of a well-fitted waterproof fabric cover with holes in just the right places for your hands and the front of the camera lens. It’s also got a nice internal attachment loop that goes around the base of the lens and allows you to carry the whole setup by an external strap (rather than using your own camera strap, which is inside the cover). Both Nate and I got the Hydrophobia® Flash 70-200, which has an additional transparent flash cover that allows you to use a large professional flash, like the Canon 580EX flashes that we use most often, attached to the camera’s hot shoe.

Here’s what we liked, based on our use of the Hydrophobia covers in the Solomon Islands:

1) The Hydrophobias did their job, and did it well. We were never worried that our cameras were getting wet, even in the heaviest downpour that we encountered. The waterproof material is sturdy and the seams look like they’ll last a long time. These things look and feel durable, and we expect them to wear well.

2) The openings in the rain cover are well positioned to allow you to manipulate the camera controls — right hand for most of the shooting controls on the Canon 5D Mark II or 5D Mark III, and the left hand for focusing, zooming, and operating miscellaneous controls on the left side of the camera body. There’s enough room to move your hands around inside the cover, but not so much extra room that it feels baggy. The bottom / left hand opening also allows you to mount the camera to a tripod or monopod with the cover attached, which we did while shooting video in the rain.

Neil shooting video in the rain on Frigatebird Island with the Hydrophobia 70-200 Flash on his Canon 5D Mark III and 70-200mm lens.

3) This thing is really well thought out! There are lots of little details that make the Hydrophobia more functional, which we’ve come to expect from Think Tank. There’s a waterproof lens cap that you can quickly slip over the front of your lens hood when you’re done shooting. There’s a transparent flap, secured with Velcro, that you can use to cover the viewfinder when you’re not shooting (or when you’re shooting in Live View mode). The eyepieces (required for use; not included) are specific to each model of camera, and fit the cameras securely. The Hydrophobia mounts to these eyepieces very securely by means of a stretchy neoprene collar that grips the outer rim of the eyepiece. You can even keep an extra eyepiece in a little pocket on the outside of the Hydrophobia.

So overall the Hydrophobias are a pretty slick solution to a common problem: shooting in the rain. In a place like the Solomon Islands, particularly in the wet season, we couldn’t let rain limit our shooting options, and the Hydrophobias let us keep shooting in some pretty camera-unfriendly conditions, from downpours in the forest to rainy sea crossings from island to island in small, bouncing boats.

Nate using the Hydrophobia 70-200 Flash in heavy rain on the beach. The camera inside is a Canon 5D Mark III with an 80-200mm lens.

There were a few things that we found challenging when working with the Hydrophobias. First, as the name suggests, they really are made for 70-200mm lenses, and they’re best used with these larger lenses. We tried using the Hyrdrophobia with smaller lenses, and it can be done, particularly if the smaller lens has a decent-sized lens hood. The material covering the lens bunches up somewhat around shorter lenses, however — it was a bit tricky to access the focus and zoom rings of my 24-105mm f/4L lens with the Hydrophobia on. But it can be done, and having the option of using these smaller lenses definitely came in handy. Second, the Hydrophobia is at its best when you’re using the camera’s optical viewfinder. When shooting video (or stills with Live View enabled), the neoprene eyepiece collar and surrounding Velcro obscure the top edge of the LCD screen, so you won’t see 100% of the frame. That being said, we shot plenty of video with the Hydrophobia covers on, and we quickly learned to adapt. The clear plastic that covers the camera back can also get fogged up in very humid conditions, or with rapid temperature changes, but I was stupid and didn’t apply the (included) anti-fog coating to the plastic before the trip. I’m sure this would have solved the problem. Third, as someone with big hands, I found that there wasn’t quite enough room for me to reach in through the lower/left hole and adjust the zoom of the lens when the camera was attached to a tripod head like the Really Right Stuff BH-55 ballhead or Manfrotto 501 fluid head (a smaller tripod head, or smaller hands, would have been fine). Finally, if you’re not planning on using a flash very often, you’re probably better off with the non-flash version of the cover. The transparent flash “bubble” is a great feature, but stowing it away securely when you’re not using a flash isn’t trivial.

Conclusion: This is definitely a product we’ll be taking with us on our next trip to the Solomon Islands in June (with any luck, we can also try the Hydrophobia® 300-600 model to cover our supertelephoto needs when we’re shooting wildlife in the rain!). It’s a much more ergonomic and mobile solution for shooting in the rain than using an umbrella or rain jacket to cover your camera, both favorite strategies of ours in the past! We would recommend a Hydrophobia rain cover to anyone whose photographic work can’t wait for fair weather.

Here I am with the Digital Holster and Harness system, during our ascent of Mt. Speke. Photo by Nate Dappen.

So, now that we’re back from the Rwenzoris, how did the Digital Holster™ fare? Well, overall I was very glad that I brought the Digital Holster™ and Harness combination on this expedition. Here’s what I liked about it:

1) The Holster: The “Holster” itself is a solid little bag (not surprisingly for Think Tank, the build quality is excellent). Even though I shoot with a 5D Mark II and a 7D body, I opted for the Digital Holster™ 40 (which is designed to accommodate a full-sized pro SLR), because I like to leave my Really Right Stuff L-plates attached to my cameras at all times, and these make the camera body a bit bigger. I didn’t regret getting the larger holster (the other option was the Digital Holster™ 20). As it was, there wasn’t an abundance of extra room in the holster, and I’m not sure the 20 would have comfortably fit my camera with a 70-200mm f/2.8 lens and the lens foot attached. Oh, and the zip-out extension for longer lenses is really convenient, accommodating my 70-200mm f/2.8 lens (with the hood reversed) with a bit of room to spare, but collapsing to a smaller size when I wasn’t carrying the big lens. When I wasn’t using the chest harness, the holster provided enough protection for my camera that I was confident stuffing the whole thing in my backpacking pack while we were climbing some of the bigger peaks.

2) The Harness: The Harness was very comfortable, distributing the weight of the bag evenly across my shoulders. Even when I was carrying the 5D Mark II and 70-200mm lens, the whole setup was quite comfortable, which was important since I was climbing mountains most of the day. I also appreciated the low profile of the straps – instead of cushioning the load with bulky padding, they spread the weight of your camera across your shoulders with wide, thin straps that even have breathable mesh in the back so you don’t get too sweaty under them. The harness attaches to the Holster with a system of six straps that’s a bit complicated and definitely confusing at first. But once you get the hang of it, it’s pretty easy to get on and off, and the harness holds the holster very securely against your chest.

Digital Holster™ 40 v2.0. Photo from Think Tank.

3) Bells and whistles: The Digital Holster™ has some nice extra features, the kind of details I’ve enjoyed in other Think Tank products that I’ve used. It’s got a nice integrated rain cover, which I used on several occasions in the Rwenzoris. My camera never got wet. There are a couple of nice little pockets, one outside and one inside the lid (I used the inside pocket for memory cards and batteries). There’s also a nice stretchy pocket on the front of the holster (the side away from your chest), which I often used to carry accessories like a Rode Videomic. There’s a nice attachment that allows you to attach the holster to a belt, and some accessory straps where you could attach an extra lens pouch or something on the outside of the holster.

Overall, I was very happy with the Digital Holster™ 40 v2.0 and the Digital Holster™ Harness system. That being said, there are a few small things that could be improved.

1) When the Holster is perched on your chest, the lid opens away from you (which is good), but this makes the zipper somewhat tricky to access against your chest when it’s fully closed, especially if you’re wearing gloves. I’m not sure what the best solution to this issue would be, but I didn’t find the zipper placement to be ideal for quick access to the camera.

2) The attachment points for 4 of the 6 straps of the harness are very small webbing loops, and it was sometimes difficult (especially with cold hands or gloves) to connect the clips of the harness to these little loops on the holster. Once connected, however, I didn’t have any doubt that they would stay connected. Rather than deformable webbing loops, maybe small metal D-rings or something would make donning and removing the harness quicker.

3) While I used the rain cover several times, and it did a pretty good job staying on the holster, I think some kind of attachment (maybe Velcro or a snap closure) to secure the top of the rain cover to the top / rear of the Holster (i.e. the top of the side of the Holster that rests against your chest) would make the rain cover more secure.

Digital Holster™ Harness v2.0. Photo from Think Tank.

Finally, one limitation of the bag that is not a shortcoming of engineering, but simply an unavoidable consequence of this kind of bag: I found that once we got into really gnarly terrain, where I needed to use my hands and feet to climb, I really didn’t want the camera on my chest any more. On steep rocks, your instinct is to keep your center of mass as close to the rocks as you can, so you just don’t want something like an SLR in between you and the surface you’re clinging to. When we were climbing rocks, I put the holster in my backpack, and I was much happier that way.

To summarize, I think the Think Tank Digital Holster™ 40 v2.0 and Digital Holster™ Harness make a great camera-carrying solution for backcountry trekking. The build quality, degree of gear protection, and level of comfort are all excellent. In my case, I used the Digital Holster™ to keep my most-used camera and lens readily accessible on the trail, while I kept other, less frequently used items in a larger photo backpack. Despite a few minor shortcomings, I will take this combination with me – without hesitation – the next time I’m on a photo expedition that requires extended hiking in challenging terrain.

A portrait of our expedition cook, Augustine. Photo by Nate Dappen.

It was a physically demanding expedition – we hiked for several hours every day, often carrying heavy camera gear, and we summited five 16,000-foot peaks in the space of seven days. We expected to lose a few pounds during the trek, but thanks to the excellent (and abundant) food provided by Augustine, the expedition cook, we didn’t end up losing much, if any, weight.

We ate our fair share of snacks on the trail, of course, and that’s how our latest video project began. I stuck with classic fare – granola bars and peanut butter crackers – but Nate had packed some calorie-dense protein bars in his backpack. I said, “If you really want lots of calories in a compact package, you should’ve just gotten a bunch of Snickers.” That’s when the disagreement started. Nate claimed that a standard-sized Snickers bar only had 120 Calories, a figure that I knew must be incorrect. I guessed 300 Calories. To make it interesting, we made a bet. It was a gentleman’s bet – no money involved – but the loser would have to eat five Snickers bars in one sitting… Very gentlemanly.

Unsurprisingly, I was right. Or nearly so… the standard Snickers bar in the U.S. contains 280 Calories (not for long, however – they are downsizing the bar to 250 Calories by the end of 2013… keeping the price the same, naturally). But rather than let Nate serve out his sentence in the privacy of his home, we decided we should parlay his misfortune into something positive… educational, even! So we made a video about Calories – what are they? And what do they do? So here it is! It’s kind of like a double feature; you get to watch Nate eat five Snickers bars AND learn something in the process. Enjoy!

To borrow a John Stewart line, “Are you not horrortained??”

In August and October, I spent a few days filming on Colorado’s Yampa River with a crew from National Geographic. We were covering a really interesting story – 2012 was an extremely dry year in the West, and several Colorado conservation groups came together with National Geographic to secure the water rights necessary to keep the Yampa River flowing at a healthy level. Most water leases are made in order to use water from the river; this one was made to keep water in the river. It’s an innovative conservation measure that just might have kept the Yampa River – and its inhabitants, like the native mountain whitefish healthy in a pretty bad draught year. Check out the video that resulted from this shoot, courtesy of the National Geographic Freshwater Initiative:

A male Anolis evermanni in Puerto Rico

Earlier in the year, Nate and I also sold some footage to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) for their long-running nature series The Nature of Things with David Suzuki. They needed footage of Anolis evermanni for an episode on animal intelligence, “Mysteries of the Animal Mind,” and – wouldn’t you know it – we had captured some nice footage of this anole species during one of my research trips to Puerto Rico! Anyway, it amounted to a modest footage-licensing deal, but since this is our first broadcast credit, it’s still a bit of a milestone for us! Check out this short excerpt from the program, which features some of our footage in a segment about Dr. Manuel Leal’s research on anole intelligence (our footage was used in a couple of other places, but we couldn’t share the whole program!):

If you’re in Canada, you can probably watch the entire episode here, but if you’re in the United States you’ll have to settle for our excerpt!

Finally, we’ve been working hard on The Symbol, our book about the Ibiza Wall Lizard, and we’re making good progress. We’ve still got some work to do, but we can’t wait to share the fruits of our labor!

Nate, talking on-air. Click this image to listen to the interview.

A few weeks ago, Neil and I found out that we won the first ever Stay Thirsty Grant. The grant, funded by Dos XX will give us $25K to travel to Uganda to make a film about the disappearing glaciers on top of the Rwenzori Mountains. We’ve been hard at work preparing for this trip. It’s going to be a physical challenge to actually climb the mountains, and perhaps an even bigger challenge to get all of our film gear up there. So, we’re both training hard to get into shape and trying to get our hands on some specialized film equipment that will allow us to make an awesome film in such a remote place.

I recently had a live radio interview about the grant and the upcoming trip. Check it out!

Nathan Dappen Radio Interview Nov 29

The official announcement was made by “The Most Interesting Man in the World,” the spokesman of a wildly successful Dos Equis advertising campaign, in a private event in New York, which was followed by a huge masquerade party. You can see us fraternizing with TMIMITW, as we affectionately call him, in the pictures below.

The winner was decided by a popular vote, so we have to say a big THANK YOU to everyone who voted for us and encouraged their friends to vote! We couldn’t have done it without your support! To learn more about exactly what we’ll be doing in Uganda, check out this piece we wrote for National Geographic Newswatch last month. We’ll be posting lots more about this project as our plans develop over the next couple of months, and we can’t wait to get to the Rwenzoris and bring back some amazing images to share with all of you! More to come!

We need your help to tell the story of this vanishing world. Vote for our project to help us win the Dos Equis Stay Thirty Grant – a $25,000 prize that will fund our expedition to Africa. You can vote once a day, every day, from today, October 9th until October 30th. Please vote for us, and share this link with as many people as you can via Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and carrier pigeon… This is an important story about climate change that needs to be told.

To vote for us, click on the above image to go the voting page. Once you put in your age, click the red “grant worthy” button in the bottom right corner of our submission: Men on the Moon: Journey to a Vanishing World.

Please vote! Please share! Then, please do it again tomorrow, and the next day, and the next, until October 30th! Thank you for your support!

Our expedition is over, we’ve reviewed our photographs and we’re thrilled with the results. We feel we’ve successfully captured the amazing diversity of this species’ color variation and behaviors. We’re confident that we have all the photos we need to put together a beautiful photographic book about this species’ natural history, evolution and conservation. We’ve put together a photo gallery with highlights from the expedition. To check out that gallery, click the thumbnail above or here.

We also produced one short film for each week were there about our adventures in the field. Those “Video Updates” are posted in chonological order below.

Video Update 1:

Lizard Expedition in Ibiza and Formentera: Update 1 from Day’s Edge Productions on Vimeo.

Video Update 2:

Lizard Expedition in Ibiza and Formentera: Update 2 from Day’s Edge Productions on Vimeo.

Video Update 3:

Es Vedrà Trek (“The Symbol” Video Update #3) from Day’s Edge Productions on Vimeo.

Video Update 4:

Lizard Expedition in Ibiza and Formentera: “The Symbol” Final Update from Day’s Edge Productions on Vimeo.

In addition to those four video updates from 2012, we produced two award-winning films in 2011 about this species’ color evolution and dietary adaptations. You can see those below:

Cold-Blooded Cannibals: Extreme Adaptations to Island Life from Day’s Edge Productions on Vimeo.

Battle of the Sexes from Day’s Edge Productions on Vimeo.

Over the next few months, we are going to make the final image selection for our book, design the layout, and complete the text. We should be ready to print in early 2013 and our book will be on the book shelves in the islands before next year’s tourist season!

It’s hard to convince people that they should give you money to spend a summer in an island paradise. From the start, Neil and I knew that raising the money to fund our expedition to Spain would be tough. Incredibly, 290 generous individuals supported our project and helped us raise the $20,000 we needed to fund our expedition and, eventually, to print our book.

The success of our project depended on hundreds of small donations and a few big ones.  Every donation counted, but a few big ones were especially helpful. One person, William Burdette, was particularly generous, donating $1000 to two people he had never met. For those who donated to our project, you know that at every different level of monetary contribution, backers receive different incentives or “rewards” for their pledge. For our biggest donors, we promised to send them personalized thank-you videos from the field.

This video is dedicated to Bill Burdette. Thank you Bill, for contributing to the creation of the first-ever book about the Ibiza wall lizard and for helping us have the experience of a lifetime:

Thank you Bill Burdette! from Day’s Edge Productions on Vimeo.

Lizard Expedition in Ibiza and Formentera: “The Symbol” Final Update from Day’s Edge Productions on Vimeo.

Earlier in our expedition, we visited an island called Esparte, where we found a very dark blue, almost black population of lizards. This came as a big surprise to me, because not less than 10m away was the island of Espartar – home to a population of light teal-colored lizards. Lizards on these two islands are incredibly distinct. What accounts for this dramatic difference in color expression? No one knows.

The Ibiza Wall Lizard (Podarcis pityusensis frailensis [top] & kamerianus [bottem])
Even neighboring islands can have strikingly divergent lizard populations. Pictured are two typical male lizards from the islands of Esparte (top) and Espartar (bottom), which are separated by a channel less than 10 meters wide. Why their coloration differs so dramatically, no one yet knows.

“Meet Your Neighbours (MYN)” is a worldwide photographic initiative created by Niall Benvie and Clay Bolt. The MYN photography style is to photograph organisms on a plain white background. This approach removes the subject from its environment and allows viewers to focus on the organisms details as an individual. I encourage you to check out the MYN website. It has some absolutely stunning images and is making a big splash in the conservation photography scene. For our purposes, we think that this photographic approach really allows us to demonstrate the color differences of these lizards from one island to the next.

Lizards photographed “Meet Your Neighbours” style.

On the last few days of our trip, we realized that we were missing an important image that we needed to complete our book. During the last month, we photographed lizards on the majority of small islands surrounding Ibiza and Formentera, but we still didn’t have a single photo of Ibiza wall lizards on the island of Ibiza! So, we spent the last day of our expedition photographing the Ibiza wall lizard on the island where it got its name.

An Ibiza wall lizard basking on a stone wall on the island of Ibiza.

Our work is far from done. We still have to select and edit the best images for our book. We also have to finish writing the text. Finally, we’ll need to layout the text and images for printing. Shortly, we’ll publish a master photo gallery with many imaged from our expedition. If you were one of our backers who donated $50 or more, you’ll be able to select one of these images to be printed and signed by Neil and I. We’ll keep you posted.

Thank you again to everyone who contributed to this project. We couldn’t have done it without you!