[Philmont] Digital camera advice

On Thu, 14 Jun 2007 08:52:32 -0700, "Neal Osborn" <neal.osborn@gmail.com> jammed all night, and by sunrise was heard saying:

> In general, cameras, and more recently digital cameras are highly
> recommended for Philmont.

My first Philmont trip is this July, but in general terms, today's
digitals are dramatically more portable than film cameras, and likely to
be more rugged as well. That's not to say every camera is ideal for
backpacking, you need to choose well.

> Many crews employ a camera sharing arrangement. One or two crew members
> take images on behalf of the entire crew, and distribute copies (e.g., CDs)
> at the crew reunion. Some crews even account for these costs in their
> budget. Make sure that someone else takes a few pictures of the
> photographers.

I'm actually taking along a Canon HV10 videocamera, which is currently
the smallest HD camcorder on the market, also does decent quality
(3Mpixel) stills on memory cards. And I plan to make DVDs for our whole
crew (and if it's good enough, anyone else who want's 'em).
 
> If your camera requires an expensive proprietary battery, and you don't want
> to purchase another, learn how many pictures you can take without recharge,
> and pace yourself. Turn the flash off.

Definitely turn the flash off, and keep it off. Also, if you possibly
can, turn off the viewfinder, if you can. Most of the power used by
pocket P&S digital cameras is not in the actual picture taking, but
using the same sensor for extended times as a viewfinder. If your camera
has an optical viewfinder, and you can keep the LCD turned off, your
battery life will be dramatically extended. I use a digital SLR (Canon
EOS "Digital Rebel" Xt), and I get hundreds of shots per charge. But
digital SLRs have optical viewfinders, and only show the shot on the LCD
for a few seconds, or not at all, depending on settings.

You can find lower cost 3rd party batteries for most popular cameras,
often higher capacities as well. I have batteries that offer 1700mAh
capacity, versus the basic 800mAh or so of the "kit" battery, and they
ran $25 each. However, you do have to be careful; some of the cheap
cells are not good; in some cases, your camera may reject them entirely
(I have a pro-class Sony that will not accept aftermarket batteries, but
all the Canons I've used, video and still, do just fine).

> Note that the advisor's lounge in base camp is generally full of folks
> recharging cell phones and cameras.

My solution: I have a small solar panel, a 6.5W "SunLinq"... flexible,
water resistant, and it weights about as much as one camcorder battery.
But it is more gear to carry, and should not be necessary for still
photography, particularly if you can keep the screen off most of the
time.

Back in the day (well, I'm not really THAT old, but I used to collect
older cameras), it was common, particularly with a wide-angle lens, to
use a "sportsfinder"... really just a frame that you put in the
accessory shoe of the camera (sometimes these were optical, matched to a
lens, sometimes just basically a wire or plastic frame). These are also
still used in lower cost underwater photography. No good for tele shots,
but turn off that viewfinder, use a sportsfinder, and you have a quick
and ready camera for wide shots, hundreds of potential photos, and of
course, with today's cheap memory cards, perhaps your whole trek on one
SD card.
 
> If your camera takes AA batteries, you're in luck. Not only could you bring
> more batteries on the trek, you also have the option of using 1.5 volt
> lithium batteries, e.g., L91 cells. They're lighter, last much longer, and
> work better at cold temperatures.

Yup... The L91 cells typically offer 2900mAh, which is more than you'll
see from most secondary (rechargeable) packs, and also more than
Alkalines. In fact, deceptively more... while you may find Alkalines
offering up to 2200mAh or so, the Alkaline chemistry has a fairly high
internal resistance, so in higher current applications like digital
cameras, too much of that is lost in heat in the battery, rather than
delivered to make your photos (most of the "magic forumlas" touted by
the battery vendors, like "e2" or whatever, are simply tweaks to lower
this resistance a little, and thus get more life out of the same battery).

> Another option is disposable cameras. Have the film developed and put on
> CD. Their scanners are, in general, better than yours.

You haven't seen my scanner :-) However, there's only so much quality
you can get out of a disposable camera's cheap plastic lens, whether
you're scanning at 16Mpixels, 9.5Mpixels (my scanner), or 1.5Mpixels
(what some of the "disposable digitals" deliver.. you need to check what
you're actually going to get on that CD). There are even now "high
definition" disposable cameras, which usually means they have a single
element glass lens, maybe even something better... but still not as good
was the lens on a $100 or so digital P&S you can get these days.

> I carried a (big, heavy) 35 mm SLR back in '76, taking many hundreds of
> slides. Glad I did!

I toured the West with my family in '78 (car camping and motels, no
Philmont), carrying a small, light 35mm SLR (Olympus OM-1, several
lenses, etc), took hundreds of shots on ASA 25 Kodachrome, and it was a
very good thing. And it brings up another point... before I left, I
spent my hard-earned window-washing money on a 17mm (ultra wide angle)
lens. Which was a GREAT investment for a tour of the wide open spaces.
Most digital cameras (video or still) with any kind of zoom have a
pretty decent tele capability, but little or no wide angle, since
they're using such small sensors. It's worthwhile looking into a
wide-angle adaptor for your camera, if it can take one. If you're
shopping for a new digicam, there are [finally] a number of
P&S cameras that actually do wide-angle, offering 35mm equivalents down
to 28mm or so.

As for tele, if you're shooting at full quality with your camera (which
you usually can, given the huge & cheap capacity of the memory cards
today), disable "digital zoom" if possible. Digital zoom doesn't do
anything you can't do in Photoshop later (perhaps even years later.. all
those photos from '78 eventually did get scanned and wound up in
Photoshop). Capture the whole photo while you can.

-- 
Dave Haynie 
Troop Advancement Coordinator <advancement@daretowntroop60.com>
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