Tips / info / photos about Motu Mahana

I need to remind myself from time to time that 95% of the pictures taken are shared on social media, they are never going to be blown up to a 30 X 40 wall hanger.

I respect everyone on where they are in their photography abilities and there is always a way to share a tip even for those that are using their cell phone in full auto.

#1 tip for beginners is to share correct composition ... that helps even for those using a cell phone in full auto ;)

Very true, I am always willing to offer even basic help to anyone who requests it, even if they are shooting with their phone. But I do appreciate the artistic as well as the technical details of your images.

You can't miss it .... It's where the water comes in through the reef into the lagoon at Motu Mahana. As you look toward the wharf from where it touches the motu look to your right .... the reef opening is what is shown on the map.

Thanks!!

We can't wait to check it out!

Thanks!!

 

We can't wait to check it out!

Just know the current can be strong thus the suggested way to approach the opening to see the 'bowl'.

thanks for this thread; wonderful review and photos of Motu Mahana. The photography discussions have inspired me to look into taking an evening class before the trip. Thank you!!

thanks for this thread; wonderful review and photos of Motu Mahana. The photography discussions have inspired me to look into taking an evening class before the trip. Thank you!!

Great idea .... get the knowledge before you go.

Thanks for the kind words, always willing to help :)

So excited .... my new camera gear which has been back-ordered for some time is finally on it's way. Going to be a fun trip coming up :)

On 8/19/2018 at 5:04 PM, Tahitianbigkahuna said:

 

No problem on the thread ....

 

You will shoot 90% of your pictures with the 17-40 and the 24-105. Leave the other two lenses at home. Remember to bring a CP and a ND filter. I bring a 3 stop and a 10 stop. The dynamic range is huge in FP and you'll need to choose your exposure based on the way you like to shoot. If you like to shoot shallow you will want the 3 stop. If you want to capture that milky smooth water you will want a 10 stop but then you will need to pack a tripod in your checked bag, I do it all the time.

 

I would also suggest a Yongnuo transmitter so you can shoot off-camera flash with you 600 EX-RT.

 

Most of my photos where shoot with a 6D. Sold my 5D MIII this last week as I just purchased a Sony 7r III and some Sony G glass.

 

You will love using your 17-40 in FP 😉

I am a Canon shooter as well, and will be on the June 8 PG 7-night cruise. Trying to decide what gear to take to stay within ATN carry-on rules but still have what I need. For sure I am taking:

Canon 5D Mk II body

Canon 17-40/f4L lens

Canon 24-105/f4L lens

Canon 580EX II flash

CP filter

3 stop ND filter

Olympus TG5 for snorkeling

Undecided on:

Canon 7D Mk II body

Canon 70-300/f4-5.6L or 70-200/f2.8L lens

Tripod

So, my main question is, do I need the second camera body and the longer zoom? On most US flights, I can take my carry-on bag and my LowePro Mini-Trekker camera backpack which will hold all of the above; but based on the ATN website, it sounds like if I take my carry on bag, the Mini-Trekker won't qualify as the "personal item" like it does on US airlines. So, I will need to take a smaller camera bag with less gear. The tripod decision will most likely be driven by how much room I have in my checked bag.

Any recommendations?

1 hour ago, JIMinNC said:

 

I am a Canon shooter as well, and will be on the June 8 PG 7-night cruise. Trying to decide what gear to take to stay within ATN carry-on rules but still have what I need. For sure I am taking:

 

Canon 5D Mk II body

Canon 17-40/f4L lens

Canon 24-105/f4L lens

Canon 580EX II flash

CP filter

3 stop ND filter

Olympus TG5 for snorkeling

 

Undecided on:

 

Canon 7D Mk II body

Canon 70-300/f4-5.6L or 70-200/f2.8L lens

Tripod

 

So, my main question is, do I need the second camera body and the longer zoom? On most US flights, I can take my carry-on bag and my LowePro Mini-Trekker camera backpack which will hold all of the above; but based on the ATN website, it sounds like if I take my carry on bag, the Mini-Trekker won't qualify as the "personal item" like it does on US airlines. So, I will need to take a smaller camera bag with less gear. The tripod decision will most likely be driven by how much room I have in my checked bag.

 

Any recommendations?

 

 

I wouldn’t bring the second body or that amazing long L unless you shoot something specific (IE wildlife) that requires it. You are going to default to your 5D 90% of the time. Do you have a remote trigger for your 580 though? 

See you on board! 

As I said before  … you will shoot the majority of your pictures with the 17-40 and the 24-105, In thinking further I wouldn't take the 17-40 as the only use is when you want to shoot wider than 24mm which will be rare and if you do you will get a distorted picture meaning the foreground will appear larger than the background which I rarely like to do. Manufactures have perfected the 24-105 as a standard zoom lens for this very reason. I'd bring the 5DII and the 24-105. The only use for the longer lenses is if you want to compress the background like making Mt Otemanu larger than it is like this picture taken 15 miles away from Bora Bora.

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I used a 70-200 for this picture. But as I said you would use it rarely so I wouldn't even take it. My next trip I will likely only bring:

Sony RX10IV

GoPro 7

Godox TT350s

Godox TT600s

Cir polarizer

3X ND filter

Tripod (in checked bag)

I won't bring my a7 iii and several lenses, just to expensive of equipment to drag along. The RX10IV is a heck of a little camera and unless I was shooting above 1600 ISO I won't miss my big boy camera and lenses. The RX10IV has a 24-600 equivalent lens and takes wonderful 4K s video, who needs more. I love OCF thus the flashes, the TT350 s on-camera and the TT600 off-camera for maybe sunset portraits. 

20 hours ago, theNJR said:

 

I wouldn’t bring the second body or that amazing long L unless you shoot something specific (IE wildlife) that requires it. You are going to default to your 5D 90% of the time. Do you have a remote trigger for your 580 though? 

See you on board! 

2 hours ago, Tahitianbigkahuna said:

As I said before  … you will shoot the majority of your pictures with the 17-40 and the 24-105, In thinking further I wouldn't take the 17-40 as the only use is when you want to shoot wider than 24mm which will be rare and if you do you will get a distorted picture meaning the foreground will appear larger than the background which I rarely like to do. Manufactures have perfected the 24-105 as a standard zoom lens for this very reason. I'd bring the 5DII and the 24-105. The only use for the longer lenses is if you want to compress the background like making Mt Otemanu larger than it is like this picture taken 15 miles away from Bora Bora.

 

I used a 70-200 for this picture. But as I said you would use it rarely so I wouldn't even take it. My next trip I will likely only bring:

 

Sony RX10IV

GoPro 7

Godox TT350s

Godox TT600s

Cir polarizer

3X ND filter

Tripod (in checked bag)

 

I won't bring my a7 iii and several lenses, just to expensive of equipment to drag along. The RX10IV is a heck of a little camera and unless I was shooting above 1600 ISO I won't miss my big boy camera and lenses. The RX10IV has a 24-600 equivalent lens and takes wonderful 4K s video, who needs more. I love OCF thus the flashes, the TT350 s on-camera and the TT600 off-camera for maybe sunset portraits. 

 

 

Thanks for the feedback above, and great point about the 17-40 not really offering that much more value over the 24-105. The space can be better used for something else.

I do sometimes like shots like yours above with zoom compression, so I may play around with packing a bit to see if I can fit the 70-300L. As 300mm zooms go, it's fairly compact at just under 6 inches long (I bought it to comply with the lens size restrictions the PGA Tour has for fans on practice/pro am days), so if I can include it without causing a space/weight issue, it might be worth taking, just in case; but it will be the last item in the bag/first left out.

Thinking about the off-camera triggers, but not sure how much I would really use them practically. In the age of iPhone cameras, I find it challenging to find people just to take our picture using my DSLR, as many people tend to be intimidated by the gear. Adding in the complexity of OCF might blow their minds even more (plus, my wife is sometimes self conscious that my DSLR causes people to stare in the age in phone cameras). I guess triggers would come in handy if I were taking a portrait using OCF for other cruisers we meet, but that might be about it. But they are small, so maybe take them if there's room.

My next cruise in March 2020 on the Paul Gauguin, our favorite ship. It is a group cruise that I put together and I promised to have my camera on the back of deck 8 both evenings while we are in Bora Bora to snap some sunset photos so that is the reason I'm taking 2 speed lights and a tripod. 

On 5/19/2019 at 6:38 PM, Tahitianbigkahuna said:

As I said before  … you will shoot the majority of your pictures with the 17-40 and the 24-105, In thinking further I wouldn't take the 17-40 as the only use is when you want to shoot wider than 24mm which will be rare and if you do you will get a distorted picture meaning the foreground will appear larger than the background which I rarely like to do. Manufactures have perfected the 24-105 as a standard zoom lens for this very reason. I'd bring the 5DII and the 24-105. The only use for the longer lenses is if you want to compress the background like making Mt Otemanu larger than it is like this picture taken 15 miles away from Bora Bora.

 

 

 

Another quick question...when you have in the past traveled on ATN with your DSLRs, how did you work around their carry-on limitations. I was planning to use my main carry-on bag to hold a change of clothes, toiletries, laptop, iPad, chargers, cables, etc. Leaving the "personal item" to be the camera bag. However looking at the ATN website, they limit the personal item to 3Kg or about 6-7 pounds. That's going to push it with the weight of the bag, a 5DMk III body,  a lens or two, a speed light, and a few miscellaneous items. With the main carry-on limited to 22 lbs, that also limits what could be shifted in there for travel.

What ideas/techniques have you used? Do they weight the carry-ons/personal item? How strict are those weights they show on the web?

Good question  …. now keep it quiet, I'll tell you what I do. I use my camera bag as my carry-on. As I'm a wedding photographer I have a very nice Tamrac and fully loaded it's about 28.5 lbs. I bring a cotton 'mail bag' which weighs about 3 ounces. I put a camera body and 2 lenses in the mail bag which weighs 6.5lbs. This keeps my carry-on at 22lbs. Once through the check-in desk I put everything back in the carry-on 😉

I wear pants that have rather large pockets on the thighs.  Similar in look to military type trousers, but not camo.  Fill the carry on.  Fill the personal item and then fill your pockets.  I have some camera gear, but it is the dive gear that requires the adapt, improvise and overcome mentality.

6 hours ago, Tahitianbigkahuna said:

Good question  …. now keep it quiet, I'll tell you what I do. I use my camera bag as my carry-on. As I'm a wedding photographer I have a very nice Tamrac and fully loaded it's about 28.5 lbs. I bring a cotton 'mail bag' which weighs about 3 ounces. I put a camera body and 2 lenses in the mail bag which weighs 6.5lbs. This keeps my carry-on at 22lbs. Once through the check-in desk I put everything back in the carry-on 😉

I think what I'm going to have to do is use a small LowePro shoulder bag I haven't used in years for most of the camera stuff. I figured out tonight it will just fit inside my regular carry-on size luggage bag with enough room left over for my shaving kit/toiletries and one change of clothes. I think I can keep that all under 22 lbs. That way I can still get some non-camera stuff in a carry on, and still have a real camera bag available that will be able to be carried separately once we get to the hotel/ship. I will then have to use a small laptop bag for my MacBook Pro/cables as my "personal item" and just make sure that is under 3Kg. Anything else will have to go into the checked bag.

10 hours ago, JIMinNC said:

 

I think what I'm going to have to do is use a small LowePro shoulder bag I haven't used in years for most of the camera stuff. I figured out tonight it will just fit inside my regular carry-on size luggage bag with enough room left over for my shaving kit/toiletries and one change of clothes. I think I can keep that all under 22 lbs. That way I can still get some non-camera stuff in a carry on, and still have a real camera bag available that will be able to be carried separately once we get to the hotel/ship. I will then have to use a small laptop bag for my MacBook Pro/cables as my "personal item" and just make sure that is under 3Kg. Anything else will have to go into the checked bag.

Suggestion …. put the sling in your checked bag stuff with clothes, this frees up more weight for your carry on. This way you have the sling while zipping around the island with your camera stuff. I often bring a backpack but fill it with clothes and then place it in mny checked back.

49 minutes ago, Tahitianbigkahuna said:

 

Suggestion …. put the sling in your checked bag stuff with clothes, this frees up more weight for your carry on. This way you have the sling while zipping around the island with your camera stuff. I often bring a backpack but fill it with clothes and then place it in mny checked back.

That's a good idea, I would just have to be very careful in how I packed the camera gear with clothes/soft goods in the carry-on, since it doesn't have the sturdy padded compartments to keep the gear from banging around, but it might save a pound or two of weight (the weight of the bag).

On 8/19/2018 at 6:03 PM, MrRandal said:

Thanks TBK, I have a CP but not the ND, and since both the 24-105 and the 17-40 are 77mm I can use both on both lenses. I'll order a 3 stop, as there is no room for me to pack a decent tripod. I do have a Gorilla grip, and an itty bitty Ambico tripod that will hold my TG5. I hadn't thought about shooting off camera flash, but if I remove one of my primary lenses I would have room to pack my PW TT1 mini and TT5 flex which gives me ETTL off camera. I could actually mount the flash on the Ambico.

I love it when you guys talk dirty.  LOL  :)

Seriously, GREAT photos that even us simple point-n-shoot folks can appreciate!

33 minutes ago, Hutchinj said:

 

I love it when you guys talk dirty.  LOL  🙂

 

Seriously, GREAT photos that even us simple point-n-shoot folks can appreciate!

 

Talk dirty  ….. made me laugh, thank you

Question on the snorkeling at the hole.     I assume the rushing water is sometimes heading in and sometimes heading out depending on the tides?     We are experienced snorkelers and swimming into the current from the bay towards the ocean (and then letting it push us back when we are done snorkeling) sounds doable.   Getting to the hole easy peasy, but then testing how swift the current is trying to push us out passed the reef doesn't sound like a good idea.

Gerry, if you have time someone is asking questions about a good camera for snorkeling.  Posted on TripAdvisor.  I know you are the expert.  We just landed in LAX and have s long layover before our flight to PPT

22 hours ago, Folkfan13 said:

Question on the snorkeling at the hole.     I assume the rushing water is sometimes heading in and sometimes heading out depending on the tides?     We are experienced snorkelers and swimming into the current from the bay towards the ocean (and then letting it push us back when we are done snorkeling) sounds doable.   Getting to the hole easy peasy, but then testing how swift the current is trying to push us out passed the reef doesn't sound like a good idea.

The water will only be going in one direction when you are there, usually in-ward. As mentioned you can slide your self around the entrance on the right side, then there is a place to sit and look into the 'hole'  ..... but you really don't want to try and actually swim/snorkel in the opening.

14 hours ago, FlightMedic555 said:

Gerry, if you have time someone is asking questions about a good camera for snorkeling.  Posted on TripAdvisor.  I know you are the expert.  We just landed in LAX and have s long layover before our flight to PPT

Either a GroPro 7 or the Olympus TG-5. I'm sure there is a place close by LAX to purchase one of them .... probably southward on SEPULVEDA BLVD