Cameras for the trail

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Jane Pelusey on February 19, 2010 at 4:08pm

Hi Dale
Call me a masochist but I do carry a lot of gear. It’s what I do as a professional photographer, I guess. My hiking gear is a Canon D40 with a 28mm to 135mm zoom, 10mm to 22mm zoom and a 75mm to 300mm zoom. I also carry a backup compact camera, a Canon A 620, 7.1 megapixels, 4X zoom. It’s a superseded model, but a reliable performer. With it I got an underwater housing, great for those rainy hikes and the odd snorkel as long as I stay above 20 metres deep. Although I don’t own one, I have heard good reports regarding Lumix cameras. I also carry a few flash cards and spare batteries, just in case.
Cheers
Michael Pelusey (www.pelusey.com)

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Permalink Reply by Mark McLauchlin on February 19, 2010 at 5:51pm

I have a small compact Pentax Optio S40, great camera, nice and light.

Cheers

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Permalink Reply by Dale on February 22, 2010 at 10:42pm

Thank you.

And yes Michael, you are a masochist :) ....don't think I've ever seen anyone hiking with a trailer before, but you must be close.

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Permalink Reply by Jill Harrison on March 9, 2010 at 12:55pm

Hi Dale, I carry my Canon PowerShot Pro1 which is a compact model which fits into a waist pouch but has many features of an DSLR and comes with a pro lens. When combining photography and bushwalking you need to decide what your primary aim is - photography or getting from A to B. Unfortunately choosing one over the other may be at a cost to the other. However there are many ways around this, and lots of opportunity around Western Australia to do day walks and combine photography
I wrote an article for Australian Photography magazine on this topic - see August 2009 - or you can read it on my World is Round site - http://www.worldisround.com/home/jill1955/index.html - then go to "Photography and the Bibbulmun Track" article.
I hope you will find it of value.
cheers
Jill - www.lifeimagesbyjill.blogspot.com -and - http://www.worldisround.com/home/jill1955/index.html

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Permalink Reply by Dale on March 9, 2010 at 7:34pm

Thanks Jill. The very reason you mention is the reason I ask the question (it's either photography or walking) in an attempt to find the best compromise.
The camera will mainly be used by the wife on her bush walks. The intent is not to produce professional photos but to better document the time spent on the trail.
I envisage a compact digital that can be stored in a small case attached to the shoulder strap of her Camelback for easy access.

With eveyones suggestions in mind, I'll be off the Camera House and suss them out. Also happy to here about good camera stores to ensure I get the right advice.

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Permalink Reply by Jeelan on June 29, 2010 at 9:57pm

hi dale

i'm an amateur photographer and occasionally travel with an SLR, but the camera that accompanies me ALWAYS is a Canon G10. Its not exactly a compact camera but good solid piece of gear. Canon hv released an updated model called G11 so you can check that out if it suits..

cheers
Jeelan

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Permalink Reply by Krystyna Borowicki on July 5, 2010 at 9:09pm

Hi Dale

I use a Olympus U 1030 SW. It's' shock and waterproof, has 10.1 megapixels and also 3.6 optical zoom.
Fits in your hand ,easy in the pocket but not the lightest of the Olympus cameras. I take this camera everywhere.

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Permalink Reply by David Woodworth on July 10, 2010 at 5:19pm

Dale,

I like Nikon's but Lumix is also a wonderful robust camera ( Canon and Nikon copied a lot of tech stuff first introduced by Lumix). I find/found that to enjoy taking great pictures you need at least a 12X zoom for walking the track. It enables you to get great shots of snakes etc. without getting too close and the 28mm that normally comes with digital cameras enables wide angle photography)
55mm is normal vision. 28mm is as good as you can get with wide angle without distortion and anything above 55mm is the start of zoom lenses. Play with the camera before you decide.
David

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