RE: [Philmont]: Replacement Batteries + Digital Pictures

Hello,

Getting ready for and participating on a Philmont trek was enjoyable for me
on many fronts...
    There was the built in excuse that I needed to get in better shape.
    Reliving my youth and returning to Philmont 30 years and a day later at
the same starting camp
    the wonderful scenery and the well groomed trails (Too many roots and
rocks in New England)

    and there was the technical challenge of preparing for the trek. Which
from reading this list for the past 3 years, it appears that most of the
adults have in some form or another have also encountered the technical
challenge. I surprised even myself with all the knowledge that I obtained
about different packs, sleeping bags, stoves and a host of other equipment.
Then there was the efficiency perspective; if my digital camera, gps and
flashlight all take AA's I've reduced my weight by a factor of X...

I can't wait to do it all over again with my two younger boys.

I'd like to share with you something that I observed during our 2002 & 2004
treks. In 2002, I found that between our two crews, we took over 3000
pictures (we had a professional photographer and 4 serious wanna-be
photograpers in our midst, not to mention the countless disposable cameras
from the youth). Some were digital, most were 35mm. Gathering all the
photos from the participants was painful enough, not to mention deciding
which ones would make the memories CD...

In 2004, I brought an older (ready for retirement) laptop with me and locked
it up in the lockers at base camp. On the return trip home on the bus and
the plane, I was able to borrow almost everyones memory cards and read them
via a six way reader and grab a copy for the memories CD. This saved me
about a months worth of leg work to get everyones photos. Surprisingly, for
our 2 crews in 2004 we exceeded the photo count by at least 500 (and the pro
photographer didn't attend). Digital offers people to take risks that they
wouldn't have done otherwise - don't like the photo? Delete and try
again...

I've taken Film (2002 - 12 rolls of 36) and Digital (3 256mb memory cards,
3.2mp, 2 spare sets rechargable AA batteries) and although I like the
versitility and the results from my film camera more, I would take the
digital in a heartbeat. It was small and compact, and fit in a pocket on my
hip belt, where the 35mm, was big and bulky and difficult to get at...

Incidently, creating and presenting our Philmont adventure to the troop and
parents took about 3 months in 2002 (a couple hundred scans and edits from
the pile of photos) and 30 days in 2004 (95% digital photos)

YIS

Tom Fitzpatrick

----Original Message Follows----
From: "Phil Brown" <Phil@eisnc.com>
Reply-To: philmont@troop47.com
To: Multiple recipients of list philmont <philmont@troop47.com>
Subject: RE: [Philmont]: Replacement Batteries
Date: Sat, 11 Feb 2006 09:27:51 -0500

My first two treks I used a point and shoot 35. Battery life of
digitals at that time and cost for a high mega pixel camera were the
main reasons I stayed with film. Then, in 2004 I made a switch to
digital for a BWCA trip, a Pentax Optio 555, 5x digital zoom, 5 mega
pixels. When selecting the camera, I looked for one with a number if
features important to me including one that would run on AAs. Well, the
camera I decided on met all of my criteria except it uses proprietary
batteries. For Philmont last year I carried three batteries, took about
700 shots and the last battery died after the closing campfire. I knew
I had plenty of battery life so I did not go to extreme measures to
conserve power.

Dorman asked what camera is best. I don't think there is an answer to
this. You find a camera that you are comfortable with and has the
features you want. You can find a number of sites on the web that have
evaluations of different models. I spent a good amount of time
researching on the web before I bought my Pentax. And I am glad that I
did because I discovered that a camera I almost bought at our local Wolf
Camera had been replaced with a new version after being on the market
for less than 6 months due to several problems with the camera. I like
the camera I have for backpacking as it uses SD chips, has decent
battery life, and is compact. I carried three 512 SD chips at Philmont
and I always shoot on the highest quality as I never know when I might
take on that I want to enlarge.

One thing I have learned about the proprietary batteries is that some of
the aftermarket ones are not very good. Both of the two Pentax branded
batteries I have last about twice as long as an unbranded one that I
bought because it was less expensive. Did I hear someone say you get
what you pay for?

One of the best scenic shots I made was from the campsite that is uphill
from the staff cabin at Head of Dean. From there, you have a great view
of Baldy. I now have that one enlarged to 20x24 and hanging on the wall
at my office.

Phil Brown

________________________________

From: owner-philmont@troop47.com [mailto:owner-philmont@troop47.com] On
Behalf Of Dorman Morsman
Sent: Friday, February 10, 2006 9:33 PM
To: Multiple recipients of list philmont
Subject: Re: [Philmont]: Replacement Batteries

I've been struggling with digital vs film....what's the best digital
camera to take on a trek and what batteries does it take? It would seem
the best camera would be one that took inexpensive batteries such as AA.
Help!

Dorman Morsman

Troop 78

Edmond, OK

1st trek 06!

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Received on Mon Feb 13 12:34:45 2006