Caves to Play In, up North!

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chacharlee

Guest
Hiya,
I recently acquired a firefly for my digital camera, and would like some suggestions for places to experiment in.
I've had a play in OFD II and Lancaster Hole - hopefully gonna take a few in the gour pools in bull pot of the witches this weekend!

Suggestions for inspirational caves in the Yorkshire Dales or the Peak District and would be reasonably simple to set up please!
 
E

emgee

Guest
chacharlee said:
Hiya,
I recently acquired a firefly for my digital camera, and would like some suggestions for places to experiment in.
I've had a play in OFD II and Lancaster Hole - hopefully gonna take a few in the gour pools in bull pot of the witches this weekend!

Suggestions for inspirational caves in the Yorkshire Dales or the Peak District and would be reasonably simple to set up please!
Click to expand...

Sidetrack. Backlight some of the curtains.
 
Z

zomjon

Member
If you like streamway, then Peak Cavern would be a good bet. A very pretty short cave (Without the kind of hassles involved in reaching Sidetrack for instance!), maybe Owl Hole, lots of interesting shots in Giants hole & P8 (All Peak)
 
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emgee

Guest
zomjon said:
If you like streamway, then Peak Cavern would be a good bet. A very pretty short cave (Without the kind of hassles involved in reaching Sidetrack for instance!), maybe Owl Hole, lots of interesting shots in Giants hole & P8 (All Peak)
Click to expand...

Shush don't tell him Sidetrack is a hassle let him take some nice snaps so I can look at them rather than having to do it again with a camera. Peak is a good suggestion though lots of nice possibilities in the main streamway which is enjoyable easy caving.
 
D

damian

Active member
gus horsley said:
If you want an easy peasy photogenic trip, how about Browgill, Birkwith, Gatekirk or Great Douk.
Click to expand...

or Rowten Cave ... although the climb down into it is a little awkward.
 
ogofmole

ogofmole

Member
Interested in what sort of camera and setup that you are using and what sort of results are you getting.
 
kay

kay

Well-known member
Skirwith -  near to the road, easy access, dry, lots worth photographing (the pictures on the web really do not do it justice)
Scar Top at Ribblehead - two well decorated chambers, if you can get in the top entrance it's relatively easy access, and dry
Gunnerfleet, just through the Ribblehead viaduct - if you don't mind the agricultural debris and the slime on the pebbles, the lower cave has a gallery full of well coloured decorations.
Roger Kirk, also at Ribblehead, less easy access (suggest you go in the bottom and go upstream) - 'white corner' is like being inside a giant cauliflower - very attractive.
 
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dunc

New member
Depends how easy access you want and what you want to photograph..
County Pot has a healthy mixture of passages and some pretties to photograph, it doesn't take too much effort to reach High Level stuff, Easter Grotto etc.
Valley Entrance is easy access although not much to go at.
Illusion Pot, when its dry has some pretties.
Hate to say it, but the Churns have easy access, plus Alum, which always makes a nice shot.
Manc/Goyden/New Goyden have easy access for some streamway shots..
Notts 2 has easy access, streamway and pretties.
 
gus horsley

gus horsley

New member
Dow Cave, or even Dove Caves (the trial adits on the hillside before Dow with some nice flowstone).  Sleets Gill, Dowkerbottom.
 
C

chacharlee

Guest
Cheers guys will have a go at your suggested caves and let you know how it goes!

I'm using a Pentax Optio Wpi and just one flash unit with firefly 3 (I'm just a poor student so will really have to save up for a 2nd unit!) Big chambery type photos are coming out a but dark as you might expect, but close up shots are coming out pretty good :)

Also i'm considering  getting a digital SLR, most probably a Nikon - will I be able to use a firefly 2 or a regular slave unit with it?
 
ogofmole

ogofmole

Member
I use a similar set up to you on longer caving trips (Olympus mju720sw, firfly 3 and a manual external flashgun) after much experimenting I am now getting good results, biggest problem seems to be with auto focus as you need some light to lock onto and then trying to keep the shutter button half pressed while re composing picture.

As for SLR, then I use a Nikon D70 with lots of firefly's 2 and lots of flashguns, that is the best thing about a SLR is that you can use long exposures with tripod, and then fire as many flashguns as you have got to light up large chambers. And the Nikon does not suffer from digital noise with long exposures as long as you keep to 200 asa.
 
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Paul.Wheelhouse

Guest
ahhh! just got an olympus mu725..any tips...preferd settings etc?
 
ogofmole

ogofmole

Member
First setting is to turn off the auto flash otherwise all what you will get is foggy pictures unless you are in a really windy passage. If you have a small tripod (or you could balance the camera on a boulder) use the night setting and timer, then use a external flashgun and fire it once camera shutter has opened (you will have a 4 second exposure) so make sure that everyone stands still, if you do not have a external flashgun then you can use your helmet light from behind the camera panning to light up the area. All my external flashguns come off e-bay for about £5 each, just make sure that they have a test button, as this is use to fire the flashgun.

If you want action shots, then you will need a external flash and a firefly 3.

Have fun, and let us all know how you got on.
 
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