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Well, uhm, you might wonder why I would write such an article... here is an explanation: I spent on Madeira Island three vacations and took hundreds of pictures. I enjoyed it a lot, since this is really the shooter's paradise... and I mentioned few things also:
There were many people taking pictures, but...
- ...using cameras only on mountains during the noon while full sun was shining
- ...hopelessly using flash many times
- ...I never met anybody using tripod but one woman
- ...the best photographic places were avoided by most of the people
You might guess it's a good situation for me, since with a very little effort my pictures can blow other ones away... but I regard it as a sad fact that many people visit this island unprepared to capture its beauty. So if you are preparing to spend some time on this island, buy a good map, rent small car (smaller is better) and read following notes. If you already wondered through those woods and villiges and mountains and you are not satisfied with your materialized memories, you might find some explanation why that happened and can avoid basic mistakes next time.
Madeira is a beautiful island. It is like a small mountains arising from Atlantic ocean. Sun is shining mostly on south, clouds and mists are covering the peaks moving downhills as the day is passing. Colors are made of green grass, azure forests, blue skies, red and yellow volcanic ground, white houses with brisk-colored roofs and thousands and thousands of flowers. Evenings might be misty and ambience is changing from warm to cool, from gold to dark blue in minutes. In a short, you will find any kind of light on this island and mostly in the same time - it takes only several kilometers of travelling to change it. As you would guess now there are relatively hard lightning conditions.
Equipment *I* used during my second vacations on Madeira:
- Contax G1 + 45/2, 28/2.8, 90/2.8
- Contax RTS II + 85/1.4
- tripod Manfrotto (Bogen) + 329RC head
- extension rings, some pol. filters (B&W MRC and Kaesseman), remote shutter release, umbrella etc.
- many films
This was my current equipment at the time: Contax - since I found Zeiss lenses to be very good, Contax G - since its small lenses are great value for the money, Manfrotto tripod - since it is stable enough and head is not bad, extension rings - since I don't have enough money to buy Zeiss 100 macro so far, polarising filters, since they might be handy sometime. And many films: Kodak Supra 100 and 400, Fuji Reala to capture subtlety of colors, Fuji Velvia to record strong color variations. Also some B&W - just in case. I would rather take G 21/2.8 and Planar 100/2.8 macro and Distagon 35/1.4 etc. etc. but I have to spend some money on food and accomodation also :-)
To the point: forget those cheap zoom lenses coming with camera you bought! They lack contrast, prone to flare a lot, are mostly much slower than primes etc. etc. I would suggest to keep them only for street captures or family shots. Buy something in range 21-35mm, than 50mm, and if you like small things as much as big, try to find some macro around 100mm (I mean real macro, not zoom with so-called macro option). Get your favorite professional films BEFORE you go there, since there is virtualy no option to buy them. Get a good tripod, it's absolutely neccessary for low light situations there (which are quite common and VERY nice)
Remember that paragraph above I wrote for all those people wandering through mountains and villiges with C/N/M/P SLR wanting to bring back home some kind of good pictures. If you *already know* how to take photographs and own Nikon FM2 and a bunch of primes or use Canon for years with some L zooms, don't bother to read more.
There would be surely some differences for different people: for example, I don't do street shooting, mainly landscapes and nature photography, some portraiture. For somebody interested in crowd on streets would be better option to buy Konica Hexar or Leica Minilux (or Contax T, if you insist :-)
Why wide angle lens: wide angle is the most useful in landscape photography. Many times you need to capture mountains along with forest and seashore, not mentioning some stones/flowers/bushes/whatever in the front. Remember that Madeira is a huge mountains raising from water. The only flat landscape is Paul Da Serra, everywhere else it requires different approach than standard postcardy shot.
Why normal lens: normal lens is usually of better optical performance, especially if you want to save some money. The angle of view doesn't capture so much as a wide angle, but if you see something interesting (translate: photogenic) and are able to take picture using normal lens, go for it, you won't regret. Many people say it's a boring lens, I partially agree -- many times it's true, but there are also special circumstances when you look on the picture and say WOW! I mostly remember picture taken by normal lens.
Why small tele/macro: sometimes it's handy to cut a portion of scenery - some stone, leaf, chimney on roof, many small things. It depends on the way you look around - for me it's hard to switch from "wide" to "tele", but sometimes I have enough time to look closely around. You can find many such things on Madeira, but if you haven't time, you may end up with wide angle and normal.
Why tripod: you have to use slow films, 100ASA or less. Mostly you have to use apertures like f/8 or more. Inside thick vegetation, you will quickly end up with shutter speeds about 1/2 of a second. Try to hold camera steadily after 100 meters uphill and make a picture... and compare with that made with tripod. Yes, you can use 800ASA film and 28mm lens with 2.8 aperture, but I did it many times before and I'm sure there *is* a difference. Get a good tripod, steady one. If it is shaking even in a shop, what about the breeze on top of mountains? What about mist and rain? Legs should be easily extended and have several positions. Again, Madeira is not flat like a beach. Get a good head, not panoramic for video snapshots. 3D head will do most for you, sometimes ball head is acceptable. No need to hurry, but get a head with quick release mechanism. It'r really easy to remove camera with a single click instead of awkward screwing and unscrewing many times.
Get as perfect films as possible! There are many photographic shops on Madeira, alas not offering top-of-the-line films. You can safely assume presence of Kodak Gold or Fuji Superia, but I would recommend Kodak Supra line and Fuji Reala. In slides, things are little bit better. Inside Funchal, we found shop selling Fuji Provia 100F and Fuji Velvia (If you stand in front of the old cathedral and look left, there is a street uphill. Follow left side for about 100 meters and there is a shopping center with foto shop included.) As for Kodak, there might be some Kodak in Madeira shopping center (?) but we haven't encountered it. Use as slow films as possible, but Kodak Supra 400 is a good option, grain is safely comparable to 100ASA films.
Negative films have bigger latitude, so you can capture more in high contrasty scene. Also you can easily make prints. This is not the case with slides, but slides viewed on screen are very impressive. Also colors are (especially in case of Velvia) nicely saturated. If making pictures intended for prints or during noon, use negatives. If early morning, late afternoon, etc. use slides. But I had good results even in Sao Laurente during noon with Fuji Provia 100F.
Switch off your camera flash! You will be suprised by difference between pictures taken on tripod during haze skies and with flash in sunny noon. Modern cameras are many times trying to correct some mistakes of fools, but you are not fool, are you? If there are harsh shadows, just open your umbrella or simply wait for some cloudes. Or return later that day. It always makes me laughing watching people taking pictures of mountains with on-camera flash... there are some examples when you should use flash, of course bigger and more powerfull etc. and I have a flash at home, but none of my several hundreds snaps from Madeira was taken with flash. Typical situation listed in publications is model (portrait) in harh light. Interesting, how you can take technically good snap of someone blinded by sun with face full of pain... what about to move her/him to shade? How simple, Dr. Watson...
Final advice: don't be afraid of bad weather! Many of great snaps were created during unfriendly conditions: rain, cold, wind etc. Just keep yout equipment dry under umbrella and you won't be sorry! And look, look, look around, Madeira is really worth visit!
