camera for wilderness trip

[david]

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

[maunahaole]

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.

[robin3mj]

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.

[cody.wms]

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.

[cody.wms]

Body: LINK

14mm lens: LINK

Kit lens (14-42): LINK

Battery: LINK

[christian]

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.)

[j44ke]

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.

[happycampyer]

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.

[cody.wms]

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.

[sonny]

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

[xjoex]

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

[billrick]

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.

[happycampyer]

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.

[Tomi]

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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[david]

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.