Mar 20-26 '09
Romblon: Sibale, Sibuyan, and Tablas Islands

Warning: These landscape photos would make you want to go out for a vacation. Please stop viewing if you've reached your travel quota for the year. Hehe. =)

Note: Pay close attention to the panoramics I made. Though as simple as they look, it has taken me a great deal of time to photograph them and stitch.

For more photos, click HERE for my multiply.

View of Sunrise from the rocky shores, Aglikay Beach, Tablas
1/8 f/16 ISO200 12mm + Multiple Exposure + HDR processing


Freedom from the summer heat, Sibale
1/400 f/11 ISO200 12mm + SB800 (TTL)


Rocky Coast, Aglikay Beach, Tablas
6s f/11 ISO200 12mm + GND filter


Summer Sunrise
1/80 f/4 55mm


First sun rays of Mar 25, Aglikay Beach, Tablas
1/250 f/16 ISO200 19mm + GND filter


A panoramic view of Sibale Island (7 photos stitched)
1/125 f/11 ISO200 17mm


Bamboo Bridge, Sibale
1/125 f/11 17mm


Dreamy waters of Sibale Coast
30s f/13 ISO200 12mm + GND filters


Sineguelas during Off Season, Tablas
1/125 f/16 12mm


Still Cantingas River, Sibuyan
30s f/8 34mm + ND filter


Geeky Corner: Now for photography enthusiasts reading this and are interested to know the equipment I brought for my trip, here is a rough inventory. I'd like you to know that it was my goal to pack as light as I can.

Nikon D70 & back up Nikon D70s (c/o Roi Francisco)
Nikon 17-55 f2.8, Tokina 12-24 f4
Nikon SB800
Manfrotto 190XPROB + 488RC2 Ballhead
Almost-useless Cokin Filters (time to buy the more expensive Lee filters)
Lowepro Computrekker AW
Energizer Headlamp

My D200 whose mirror kept getting stuck frequently was being repaired at the time of the trip. Yeah, it was a bummer shooting with only 6 megapixels and no mirror delay mode. But as we photographers should know, equipment is secondary to our skill. Although, a Nikon ML-L3 remote for the D70 would have made my workflow faster.

Additional equipment I think I should have brought to the trip (most of which I do not own yet):

Nikon 70-300
A lighter tripod
Lee filters (Lord if you're reading this, please give me better filters than Cokin!)
smaller camera backpack with slot for a water bottle

After the trip and evaluating my lens choices, I think the optimum lens selection for a medical mission with some landscape shooting would be:

For DX sensors

Tokina / Nikon 12-24 / Sigma 10-20
Primes (30mm f1.4 and 50mm 1.4; or f/1.8 equivalents)
Walk around zoom (maybe a 18-105 VR)

For FX sensors

Nikon 14-24 (only if you can attach filters), 17-35 / Sigma 12-24
Primes (50mm 1.4 and 85mm 1.8)
Walk around zoom 28-200
 
But, that's just me thinking aloud. =) Now go out and bring home some excellent photographs!