When I started thinking about what camera equipment I should take with me to the Arctic, I quickly decided that I didn’t want to take the Canon 7D which I took to the Antarctic. It is too big and heavy. In the intervening years I have hardly used it.

I also don’t think that my Sony point-and-shoot is going to be up to the challenge of wildlife photography in the polar region.

It was beginning to look like my Samsung mobile phone was going to have to carry the load.

Then I discovered a new range of cameras call bridge cameras. They have the features of an SLR, but with a fixed long zoom lens.

So, they are smaller and lighter.

And the zoom lens makes them ideal for the wildlife photography situations of the Arctic, which are different from the Antarctic; I won’t be getting up close and friendly with polar bears like I did with the penguins!

So, after some research, I decided on the Canon SX70 HS. The fact that it is a Canon means that most of the functionality and the layout of the buttons and dials are comparable to the 7D. (Which is a help as I try to remember what I learned in the photography course I did all those years ago)

I could go into detail about the specs. But, if you are interested, it’s easier just to navigate here to find these.

Here’s how well the zoom works:

There were still some further items to purchase:

• A new circular polarising filter (the one I bought last time won’t fit this camera)
• A spare battery
• A new memory card (advancements in storage size are ridiculous!)
• I’ve moved to an SSD storage device instead of the HDD. (Again, more storage, plus it is more stable to travel with)
• I’ve bought a memory card reader so I don’t have to muck around with a cable to transfer photos to my laptop  (Although I’ll probably still take the cable as a backup)

I’m not taking a tripod, although I did ponder for a moment about a monopod…but only for a moment. (I’m not taking one of those either)

I discovered an old camera bag which is a perfect fit for my new camera…yay!

So, here is what I’m taking….

(You can compare this to the photo of what I took to the Antarctic)

So I think I’m sorted. Now I just need to practice!

It’s only 68 days to go! OMG where has the time gone!

So much time, so little to do….wait, reverse it!