Africa Climb/Safari - CP5000 for climb/D1X for safari?

Jeff Dossett · Dec 11, 2001

I am traveling to Africa in January to climb Mount Kilimanjaro and then do a 4 day safari. I have a D1X with 17-35/2.8mm AF-S and 80-200mm/2.8 AF-S lenses. I will use the D1X for the safari (during which I can recharge my 3 batteries at night), but the D1X won't work for the 6.5 day climb up Kilimanjaro (given the total weight and no AC for charging).

I'm thinking about purchasing a CP5000 for its low weight and quality for the climb. I know that it comes with a rechargeable NiMH battery, but I think that it can also use lithium photo batteries (such as the Energizer e2 Photo EL2CR5). I can purchase and carry multiple 2CR5 lithium batteries to get me through the climb.

Does anyone know what I could expect in terms of batteries life using a CP5000 with these lithium batteries? I'm trying to figure out how many batteries I would need to buy and carry up the mountain.

I have two Sandisk Ultra 512Mb CF cards, plus 2 1Gb Microdrives
--Thank You!
Jeff Dossett
[email protected]

Kevin Sprague · Dec 12, 2001

I can't really tell you anything about the 5000 and battery life, but I can tell you about photography at high altitude/cold. During a mountaineering trip to Ecuador some time ago, I climbed two 20,000 foot peaks, and a smaller 16,000 summit. I carried a point and shoot fuji 35mm with me around my neck, inside my suit. I would pull that thing out, snap a fram and dump it back down inside my parka to keep it warm. Other people on the trip had SLR type cameras. The challenge of operating at high altitude meant that at the end of the trip, I had more usable photos than all the other 14 members of our trip combined.

On a recent skiing expedition to BColumbia, a friend carried his nikon 950 everyday. Got a lot of great shots.

I guess the question I would ask is, would a film camera make more sense on the 6.5 day trip? Nothing like having a batch of dead/frozen batteries for the summit. I would consider your mountain experience and how you expect to use the equipment as part of your equation.
Kevin--kevin

Jeff Dossett · Dec 12, 2001

For all of the reasons that you indicate, I am seriously considering taking a simple point & shoot film camera for the climb portion. My only concern was film transportation in these days of less film friendly security checks in various airports. In the past, I have always been able to request and receive hand inspection of film canisters, but I have heard some recent horror stories! But in the end, I think that's what I'll do for the climb itself. I'll use my D1X for the safari (while trying to keep the dust off of the CCD)!

Kevin Sprague said:
I can't really tell you anything about the 5000 and battery life,
but I can tell you about photography at high altitude/cold. During
a mountaineering trip to Ecuador some time ago, I climbed two
20,000 foot peaks, and a smaller 16,000 summit. I carried a point
and shoot fuji 35mm with me around my neck, inside my suit. I would
pull that thing out, snap a fram and dump it back down inside my
parka to keep it warm. Other people on the trip had SLR type
cameras. The challenge of operating at high altitude meant that at
the end of the trip, I had more usable photos than all the other 14
members of our trip combined.

On a recent skiing expedition to BColumbia, a friend carried his
nikon 950 everyday. Got a lot of great shots.

I guess the question I would ask is, would a film camera make more
sense on the 6.5 day trip? Nothing like having a batch of
dead/frozen batteries for the summit. I would consider your
mountain experience and how you expect to use the equipment as part
of your equation.
Kevin
--
kevin

--Thank You!Jeff [email protected]

Andrew Grant27981 · Dec 12, 2001

Jeff Dossett said:
For all of the reasons that you indicate, I am seriously
considering taking a simple point & shoot film camera for the climb
portion. My only concern was film transportation in these days of
less film friendly security checks in various airports. In the
past, I have always been able to request and receive hand
inspection of film canisters, but I have heard some recent horror
stories! But in the end, I think that's what I'll do for the climb
itself. I'll use my D1X for the safari (while trying to keep the
dust off of the CCD)!

Intead of a point and shoot, what about an all mechanical Nikon SLR like the FM2. That camera can operate without any batteries and you can use your Nikon lenses.

Kevin Sprague · Dec 12, 2001

Andrew Grant27981 said:
Intead of a point and shoot, what about an all mechanical Nikon SLR
like the FM2. That camera can operate without any batteries and you
can use your Nikon lenses.

Brain power and oxygen, that's why. Although Kiliminjaro is not an extremely high mountain, nor very cold, it's still a serious rock. WIth a point and shoot, a great shot is just one glove off (or even on) . A manual focus SLR requires just that much more fumbling. I think for an experienced shooter focusing on the shoot and not the climb more camera would be better, but if you are looking for a good record of your own climb, convenience works hands down. I would pick up a little olympus stylus type camera and runa few rolls through it to make sure that it is a sharp unit.
Good luck

On the film fron, look into those lead lined xray bags. I used to have one and it seemed to work well. Also, shoot low speed film and you should be ok
Kevin--kevin

BillDrew · Dec 12, 2001

There is an altitude limit on the microdrive of something like 10,000 feet/3,000m so you want to use the CF cards above that. The microdrives use air as its lubricant.

I've used the 340M microdrive and Lithium batteries a many times for several hours each at 0F/-18C in my Casio 3000. No problems, but that is below spec temperature. NiMH batteries have about 15% of their room temperature capacity at that temperature - Lithiums have about 80% of room temperature capacity. The Lithiums are rated at 2600mAHr - though they seem to last about three times as long as 1600 mAHr NiMH at room temp, and something like 20 times as long when cold. With my Casio, I get 150-200 pictures ( ~~300Mbytes) with one set of Lithiums at 0F - no flash, LCD on part of the time (panorama feature leaves Casio's LCD on).~~

Not the same camera, but a starting point for figuring battery use.

Jeff Dossett said:
I am traveling to Africa in January to climb Mount Kilimanjaro and
then do a 4 day safari. I have a D1X with 17-35/2.8mm AF-S and
80-200mm/2.8 AF-S lenses. I will use the D1X for the safari (during
which I can recharge my 3 batteries at night), but the D1X won't
work for the 6.5 day climb up Kilimanjaro (given the total weight
and no AC for charging).

I'm thinking about purchasing a CP5000 for its low weight and
quality for the climb. I know that it comes with a rechargeable
NiMH battery, but I think that it can also use lithium photo
batteries (such as the Energizer e2 Photo EL2CR5). I can purchase
and carry multiple 2CR5 lithium batteries to get me through the
climb.

Does anyone know what I could expect in terms of batteries life
using a CP5000 with these lithium batteries? I'm trying to figure
out how many batteries I would need to buy and carry up the
mountain.

I have two Sandisk Ultra 512Mb CF cards, plus 2 1Gb Microdrives

--
Thank You!
Jeff Dossett
[email protected]

David Norris · Dec 21, 2001

Hi Jeff,

Sounds like a great trip. I am thinking about the same trip and I would appreciate it if you would post a summary of your trip, when you get back.

Have a blast!

David

Jeff Dossett said:
I am traveling to Africa in January to climb Mount Kilimanjaro and
then do a 4 day safari. I have a D1X with 17-35/2.8mm AF-S and
80-200mm/2.8 AF-S lenses. I will use the D1X for the safari (during
which I can recharge my 3 batteries at night), but the D1X won't
work for the 6.5 day climb up Kilimanjaro (given the total weight
and no AC for charging).

I'm thinking about purchasing a CP5000 for its low weight and
quality for the climb. I know that it comes with a rechargeable
NiMH battery, but I think that it can also use lithium photo
batteries (such as the Energizer e2 Photo EL2CR5). I can purchase
and carry multiple 2CR5 lithium batteries to get me through the
climb.

Does anyone know what I could expect in terms of batteries life
using a CP5000 with these lithium batteries? I'm trying to figure
out how many batteries I would need to buy and carry up the
mountain.

I have two Sandisk Ultra 512Mb CF cards, plus 2 1Gb Microdrives

--
Thank You!
Jeff Dossett
[email protected]

KenEis · Dec 22, 2001

Bill you concern is valid but not sure it applies to the micro drives. Standard hard drives definitely have a 10000 foot limitation. The idea is the drives magnetic head floats or flys over the magnetic platter so the density of the air is critical. But for the micro drives there should be documentation and like some laptop drives they are rated for 14,000 feet. Still not the top of the mountain but better then 10K. Personnally I'd never take a microdrive on a real outdoorsy trek but rather stick with CFs and leave the laptop for downloading in the car or room assuming it doesn't disappear.

Bill Drew said:
I've used the 340M microdrive and Lithium batteries a many times
for several hours each at 0F/-18C in my Casio 3000. No problems,
but that is below spec temperature. NiMH batteries have about 15%
of their room temperature capacity at that temperature - Lithiums
have about 80% of room temperature capacity. The Lithiums are
rated at 2600mAHr - though they seem to last about three times as
long as 1600 mAHr NiMH at room temp, and something like 20 times as
long when cold. With my Casio, I get 150-200 pictures ( 300Mbytes)
with one set of Lithiums at 0F - no flash, LCD on part of the time
(panorama feature leaves Casio's LCD on).

Not the same camera, but a starting point for figuring battery use.

Jeff Dossett said:

I am traveling to Africa in January to climb Mount Kilimanjaro and
then do a 4 day safari. I have a D1X with 17-35/2.8mm AF-S and
80-200mm/2.8 AF-S lenses. I will use the D1X for the safari (during
which I can recharge my 3 batteries at night), but the D1X won't
work for the 6.5 day climb up Kilimanjaro (given the total weight
and no AC for charging).

I'm thinking about purchasing a CP5000 for its low weight and
quality for the climb. I know that it comes with a rechargeable
NiMH battery, but I think that it can also use lithium photo
batteries (such as the Energizer e2 Photo EL2CR5). I can purchase
and carry multiple 2CR5 lithium batteries to get me through the
climb.

Does anyone know what I could expect in terms of batteries life
using a CP5000 with these lithium batteries? I'm trying to figure
out how many batteries I would need to buy and carry up the
mountain.

I have two Sandisk Ultra 512Mb CF cards, plus 2 1Gb Microdrives

--
Thank You!
Jeff Dossett
[email protected]

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Africa Climb/Safari - CP5000 for climb/D1X for safari?

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