my son is heading into the norwegian wilderness for 4 weeks.
wants to bring camera but will have no charging options.
couple cheapo waterproof disposables?
anything else i should consider?
long battery life is key.
thanks
my son is heading into the norwegian wilderness for 4 weeks.
wants to bring camera but will have no charging options.
couple cheapo waterproof disposables?
anything else i should consider?
long battery life is key.
thanks
david corr
Film camera? Good quality SLR will have really long battery life, but he will be dealing with film rolls, etc. which are a whole lot bulkier than batteries. Some older digi cams use regular alkaline batteries so he could carry in a digi. It may be a little lacking in weatherproofing, so maybe look for an underwater housing, which can be clunky and add a lot of bulk to the whole thing.
Does anyone know if those solar charger thingys are worthwhile?
I always think they seem cool, until I remember that I am a thirtysomething office drone who is rarely away from electricity for more than 12 hours at a stretch.
my name is Matt
How many pictures does he want to take? What's the budget here? Typically, any of the smaller cameras will get 400ish pictures a battery. Easy to carry a spare. SLR, much more, but much larger in size. A Nikon D90 or so can be a pain in the ass to carry around.
Without knowing more, I'd probably say an Olympus EPL-1, the kit lens, and one of the cheap Panasonic 14mm lenses, plus three or four extra batteries. For the $$ they go for on ebay, you can't beat it.
For a 4 week trip without re-supply, I'd bring a Nikon FM2 and a 50/1.4 and 28/2.8 and half a dozen rolls of slide film. Can re-sell on Ebay for same cost as purchase upon return. This assumes he's comfortable operating a fully manual camera. (The FM2 uses the battery only for metering, FWIW.)
I agree with Cody. Batteries. Whatever camera you get, add 3 or 4 fully charged batteries to the camera bag, and there will be enough juice to shoot for the whole trip. I have an E-PL1 (cheap because it is an old model and being dumped by Olympus) and have been shooting with it quite a bit since I got it a few weeks ago. I have yet to need to recharge the battery after the initial charge. I am not using an AF lens with it though, so the drain on the battery is very low. I might just get this lens for it. Or just the 14mm Cody mentioned. I am a big fan of one lens one camera when traveling.
However, if space/weight is a concern, I'd get a Canon S100. Great camera about the size of a pack of cigarettes. Maybe a little bigger. Add the requisite number of extra batteries.
I've shot film forever. Traveling with digital is so much less stress at the airport and elsewhere that I rarely do it any longer, even though I have a Leica gathering dust somewhere. I usually carry a Canon 5D and a Zeiss 35mm f2 lens. If I can't get a good shot with that, I'm not going to get it with film. 2 batteries will get me almost 3 weeks of typical shooting, but again, the Zeiss is not an AF lens, so I'd need more if it was. Heavy though.
A relatively inexpensive camera that I picked up for our last vacation was a Nikon AW100. I wanted something that we could use underwater (snorkeling, etc.). It's not as nice a camera as a Canon S100 (and nowhere near a DSLR or a micro 4/3 camera like the E-PL1), but the pictures are decent and it's completely waterproof. If I stop by this week, I'll bring it for you to check out (as well as an S95 and S100). Unless your son's really into photography, a small camera with extra batteries would be a lot easier to carry around.
The Canon S90/95/100 mentioned is a great point-and-shoot. A lot of this discussion depends on what he wants in a camera, and what he "needs." I couldn't travel with just the Canon, but I'm really into this stuff.
BTW, KEH has good used stuff. Here is an S90 for cheap. LINK
The last few trips I have done have been with an Nikon D90 and 50 1.8, an EPL-1 with the Panny 20m lens, and the Fuji X-100. Lighter is certainly better, esp. in the great outdoors.
i've rocked an old dslr w/ a couple spare batteries over a couple month trek
li-ion batteries stay charged a good while
take cheap lenses, sand will get in the helicoid
I ride with a Canon S95 in my jersey pocket or on my shoulder strap, the camera is really resistant to that kind of treatment.
However that said, I also have a Pentax Optio WG-1 waterproof, shock proof camera. It is "ruggedized" and can get 200/charge. Additional batteries are cheap.
robonza: Review: Pentax Optop WG-1
The only downside of this camera is the low light performance is meh-diocre.
Attachment 42831
But he will not break it.
-Joe
I returned a Canon S100 because the thing drained batteries like crazy, due to the GPS function. And I didn't think the jpg photo quality is anywhere near as good as my older S90. The S95 looks like the sweet spot. All that said, I love my Olympus Micro 4/3.
Agree with billrick about the S95 vs. the S100. The one thing that the S100 does way better than the S95 is video, fwiw, but that also is a big drain on the battery.
The first thing to do is disabling everything wifi or gps if the camera has it and limit the screens brightness whenever you can
I like my Samsung NX100. Not as big as a real SLR but features and quality is very good. Battery usage doesn't look to high and it is quite cheap. It doesn't have a flash, you have to use an external one, mine uses standard AA batteries which is convenient as I can put long life lithium ones. The downside is it doesn't have a viewfinder and the optionnal electronic one is very expensive.
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guys,
thanks for the input.
i'm off t grab some last minute items today, including camera, and you've all given me some great options.
david corr
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