Trekking digital which camera?

I am going on a 3 month trip to Nepal in October. I want to buy a digital camera...trying to figure out what might work best. I anticipate that I may not have electric access for 2-3 weeks at a time. Figure I will get two 512 cards and use solar (on pack while hiking) for power. I really want to maximize my 1) Quality, and 2) Zoom.

Any opinions out there? I have been told that the compact flash is the best card to use, so have been looking at the Canon S400, PS G5, Powershot S50 or PS 80. Also Pentax Opho 450 or Sony DSC-VI.

Hoping to figure a good way to solar recharge a Li-ion battery, looks like a flexible 5watt solar panel might work...

The Canon S400 is mighty cute, and I hear it is rugged; but I lust after more zoom capability!
Any suggestions, prejudices, etc. welcome!
Namaste, Evangeline

Evangeline said:

I am going on a 3 month trip to Nepal in October. I want to buy a
digital camera...trying to figure out what might work best. I
anticipate that I may not have electric access for 2-3 weeks at a
time. Figure I will get two 512 cards and use solar (on pack while
hiking) for power. I really want to maximize my 1) Quality, and 2)
Zoom.
Any opinions out there? I have been told that the compact flash is
the best card to use, so have been looking at the Canon S400, PS
G5, Powershot S50 or PS 80. Also Pentax Opho 450 or Sony DSC-VI.
Hoping to figure a good way to solar recharge a Li-ion battery,
looks like a flexible 5watt solar panel might work...
The Canon S400 is mighty cute, and I hear it is rugged; but I lust
after more zoom capability!
Any suggestions, prejudices, etc. welcome!
Namaste, Evangeline

Click to expand...

Let's start with which trek? The Jomsom? No problem, you will find power most nights.

I don't think solar is really an option. The solar chargers I've seen just don't pack enough punch to charge batteries. Maybe you could point me to a unit that you think might work.

Storage? Portable hard drive (PHD). 20 gigs of storage for less than $200US. Hard to beat that for mass storage. I've been traveling with one for over three years.

Camera?

Start with how large you want to print. Larger prints cry out for more pixels. If you want album shots (4x6, 5x7) a two or three meg camera will do the job. If you want larger, 8x10 prints you are going to want at least 4 megs, 5 or 6 would be better.

Zoom? I like lots of zoom to let me reach out and get things that I can't get close to. Lots of those shots in Nepal. Take a look at the big zoom cameras - Minolta D7/D7Hi, Sony 717, Nikon 5700, etc. See if you're willing to carry that large a camera (not really that big). If not, look at the Olympus C7xx series.

There really isn't a 'best' card. CF cards are the cards of choice for larger, more serious cameras. You can get large capacity CF cards and CF-sized microdrives. Smaller cameras need smaller cards.

--
bob
Latest offering - 'Two Hours in Delhi'
http://www.pbase.com/bobtrips
Shots from a bunch of places (esp. SEA and Nepal).
Pictures for friends, not necessarily my best.

http://www.trekearth.com/members/BobTrips/photos/
My better 'attempts'.

Member said:

Let's start with which trek? The Jomsom? No problem, you will
find power most nights.

I don't think solar is really an option. The solar chargers I've
seen just don't pack enough punch to charge batteries. Maybe you
could point me to a unit that you think might work.

Storage? Portable hard drive (PHD). 20 gigs of storage for less
than $200US. Hard to beat that for mass storage. I've been
traveling with one for over three years.

Camera?

Start with how large you want to print. Larger prints cry out for
more pixels. If you want album shots (4x6, 5x7) a two or three meg
camera will do the job. If you want larger, 8x10 prints you are
going to want at least 4 megs, 5 or 6 would be better.

Zoom? I like lots of zoom to let me reach out and get things that
I can't get close to. Lots of those shots in Nepal. Take a look
at the big zoom cameras - Minolta D7/D7Hi, Sony 717, Nikon 5700,
etc. See if you're willing to carry that large a camera (not
really that big). If not, look at the Olympus C7xx series.

There really isn't a 'best' card. CF cards are the cards of choice
for larger, more serious cameras. You can get large capacity CF
cards and CF-sized microdrives. Smaller cameras need smaller cards.

--
bob
Latest offering - 'Two Hours in Delhi'
http://www.pbase.com/bobtrips
Shots from a bunch of places (esp. SEA and Nepal).
Pictures for friends, not necessarily my best.

http://www.trekearth.com/members/BobTrips/photos/
My better 'attempts'.

Click to expand...

Thanks for your reply. Great to hear from someone who knows the territory!

I am thinking of the Khumbu trek, but will probably do several given my time available.

Solar option: Brunton makes solar devices ( http://www.brunton.com ) The AA battery saver and the solarport 2.2 might work, let me know if you can tell if they would or not.

Storage: I was planning on just culling my pictures as I went along, then downloading to CDs. (I don't think I want more pictures than would fit on two 512 cards). I figure in Kathmandu I could access a computer to put stuff on CDs.

Of course this implys that I can fit lots on the card: ergo Compact Flash. Would the other types be reasonable for this plan?

Pixels: I am thinking of them in part as another zoom. I probably won't make prints more that 5x7, but if I have 5mp I can crop images and still have good quality - right?

Specific cameras: I would love to have a tiny camera, but the zoom is probably more important to me. Questions on specific ones...

Minolta D7 (I can't see why I would want the D7i, am I missing something there?) I have heard that this goes through batteries like water but it otherwise looks great.

Sony 717 What is with the memory stick (reliable, stores enough?) and are all Li ion batteries about equivalent?

Nikon 5700 Also looks good, pricey.

Olympus C750 again the card question, what is a xD picture card and would it work for me? By the way, is this inferior to the others, or just smaller (a good thing!)

Your pictures are amazing. I will buy whatever camera will take those for me! Thanks again for the info,,,,
Evangeline

Evangeline said:

I am thinking of the Khumbu trek, but will probably do several
given my time available.

Click to expand...

I can't give you any specifics about the Everest area treks, I've trekked a couple of times out of Pokhara. There's no real problem finding power on the Jomsom trek.

I'd take the Khumbu/Everest/power question to http://www.lonelyplanet.com - the Thorn Tree is their forum section - do a search and post on the Indian Subcontinent Branch. People there will know whether you're likely to find power. Pay particular attention to Nepali Ann if she answers you - she's good.

Evangeline said:

Solar option: Brunton makes solar devices ( http://www.brunton.com )

Click to expand...

I took a look at the Brunton charger. Their 'AA Battery Saver' will charge a set of 4 AAs in "12 hours of direct sun".

I live with solar power, I have lived with solar power for the last + -15 years. Twelve hours of 'direct sun' means that you keep the panels pointed right at the sun for 12 hours, not sort of at the sun as the panel bounces around on your back, goes in and out of the shade as you round hillsides, etc.

My guess is that you might get a set of four charged in three days or so. So maybe if you were willing to strap 3 or 4 of these to your back....

Evangeline said:

Storage: I was planning on just culling my pictures as I went
along, then downloading to CDs.

Click to expand...

Culling is the Devil's way of making you sample a bit of Hell prior to checkout.

First, you can't tell what's really bad from the LCD on a digital camera. Think about how often you look at a thumbnail, can't tell much about what it is, open a larger version to find it to be a fine picture.

Second, how many of your memories do you really want to toss?

So, let's do some math. Don't hold me to the actual numbers, do some research and firm them up for your final decision.

My 2 meg camera at medium compression takes .5 meg shots. Guessing that up to a 5 meg camera let's assume 1.25 meg files per average shot. That's about 400 shots per 512 meg card, 800 per two cards.

I find that I shoot 'not that many' while actually trekking. But I get carried away when I hit a village. I also bracket a lot. 150 shots per day is not uncommon for me. With 2 512 cards I could trek a week or so.

Burning to CD when you get back to KTM is quite doable.

But. You will be paying around $150 for a 512 card. You can get a 10 gig PHD for around $100. That's 20 times the storage for 2/3rds the money. And PHDs are neither large or heavy. Think VHS tape. Maybe a bit heavier when you add batteries.

Evangeline said:

Pixels: I am thinking of them in part as another zoom. I probably
won't make prints more that 5x7, but if I have 5mp I can crop
images and still have good quality - right?

Click to expand...

Right on that one. A good five meg digital will hold its own with a 35mm film negative at 8"x10". That mean that you can throw away about half the pixels and still get a film quality 5"x7". Actually you'll probably be happy with a shot where you throw away even more. My 2 meg camera makes great 5x7s.

Evangeline said:

Specific cameras: I would love to have a tiny camera, but the zoom
is probably more important to me. Questions on specific ones...

Minolta D7 (I can't see why I would want the D7i, am I missing
something there?) I have heard that this goes through batteries
like water but it otherwise looks great.

Click to expand...

You might want the 7Hi because the 7i has been discontinued, harder to find and the 7Hi is only a few dollars more expensive. Do a search on http://www.pricegrabber.com .

The D7Hi will take around 260 shots on a set of 1600 mAh batteries (Phil's test - check the review above - Cameras - Minolta - D7Hi - Timings and Sizings page). You can now get NiMH AAs rated at 2200 mAh. That should give you 50 - 75 more shots per charge.

And. You can get disposable lithium AAs that should give you 3x - 5x the amount of shots as NiMH batteries for $10-12 per set. Let's say an easy 1,000 shots per set. I don't like using disposables, but in special circumstances....

Lithium batteries do hold more power, will take more pictures per charge. But a second battery will be pricey. And rechargeable lithiums sometimes die after a year or two.

Evangeline said:

Sony 717 What is with the memory stick (reliable, stores enough?)
and are all Li ion batteries about equivalent?

Click to expand...

Sticks are a problem. I don't know if they have released big ones yet. Nor do I know the price. I'll leave that digging to you.

Evangeline said:

Nikon 5700 Also looks good, pricey.

Click to expand...

Pricey and may have some problems in low light. Read the reviews and visit the Nikon Talk forum for good info.

Evangeline said:

Olympus C750 again the card question, what is a xD picture card....

Click to expand...

I don't know how large a xD card you can get. If you go with a PHD then card size is not much of an issue. I carry enough cards to get me through the day, download at night to PHD and reformat the cards.

Honestly, I'm looking seriously at the D7Hi, I may go up to the soon to be released Minolta A1 if it is as good as it seems. The A1 seems to be the camera that best fits my needs, except that it doesn't use AAs, which I like for travel.

But, don't take my opinion all that seriously. Look around, visit forums, read reviews and make your own decision. Most digitals on the market today make great pictures once you learn to use them.

The chore is to find a camera that best fits your personal needs.

--
bob
Latest offering - 'Two Hours in Delhi'
http://www.pbase.com/bobtrips
Shots from a bunch of places (esp. SEA and Nepal).
Pictures for friends, not necessarily my best.

http://www.trekearth.com/members/BobTrips/photos/
My better 'attempts'.

Have a look at the Optio 450

I have one

5x zoom, fast, great image quality, best super macro, fantastic battery (rated as one of the best), good movie mode, can buy a battery extension kit

1gb SD cards are now out and they are faster and smaller than CF cards which are now old technology. xD cards are good but too new and expensive and limited to only two camera brands. SD cards can be used in most MP3 devices incl the new G# mobile phones and Palm devices.

I have tried the Oly 7 series and the Optio is just a better camera IMHO and much more compact. Better case - more rugged

The Optio is a bit weak in indoor low light but it has full manual overide (Aperture and shutter) so that can be fixed.

I took it on the Heaphy track in NZ and it was just great for macro's, zoom and battery life

Cheers

Evangeline said:

I am going on a 3 month trip to Nepal in October. I want to buy a
digital camera...trying to figure out what might work best. I
anticipate that I may not have electric access for 2-3 weeks at a
time. Figure I will get two 512 cards and use solar (on pack while
hiking) for power. I really want to maximize my 1) Quality, and 2)
Zoom.
Any opinions out there? I have been told that the compact flash is
the best card to use, so have been looking at the Canon S400, PS
G5, Powershot S50 or PS 80. Also Pentax Opho 450 or Sony DSC-VI.
Hoping to figure a good way to solar recharge a Li-ion battery,
looks like a flexible 5watt solar panel might work...
The Canon S400 is mighty cute, and I hear it is rugged; but I lust
after more zoom capability!
Any suggestions, prejudices, etc. welcome!
Namaste, Evangeline

Click to expand...

Great idea to ask in Thorn Tree about power access, I have left a message...

Power:

I called Brunton. You are right, the Li ion probably isn't an option with solar, maybe not AA's either, altough if I got NiMH's and had several sets available??? Still looking into that. Or disposable Li ion AA's. I love the fact that you are living with solar!

....presuming that either I get this figured out or find that power will be available....

Storage:

I think you have sold me on the PHD. Someone suggested that they were pretty vunerable to damage, but it sounds like your experience has been very good! Would you still have two cards, and if so what size do you carry?

Cameras:

Still need to look around a little more. I am thinking that I will get a AA powered digital and maybe also bring my small Olympus APS as a backup. Hope to hear more on the general availablity of electricity 'in the outback' before deciding.

Thanks again for your advice!!
Evangeline

Namaste wazza,

The Optio 450 is one of the cameras suggested at the local shop I checked with. It is nice, they were down on it because it didn't have a CF card. It also looks like the Li ion battery won't work unless I can find electricity to recharge. Can you give me an idea of how often you had to recharge the battery on your trek?

Thanks for the other info on cards...it's a complicated world out there!
Evangeline

Evangeline said:

Great idea to ask in Thorn Tree about power access, I have left a
message...

Power:
I called Brunton. You are right, the Li ion probably isn't an
option with solar, maybe not AA's either, altough if I got NiMH's
and had several sets available??? Still looking into that. Or
disposable Li ion AA's. I love the fact that you are living with
solar!
....presuming that either I get this figured out or find that power
will be available....

Click to expand...

I don't want to possibly mislead you concerning the availability of power on treks that I haven't taken. That said, I think where you find a village, you're likely to find power. There's a lot of micro-hydro power in Nepal, sufficient water and major 'head' available.

Additionally, I find that I don't take all that many shots 'on the trail', more the carefully composed landscape. When I get into a village with opportunities to photograph people, buildings, temples, etc. then the shutter button gets a workout.

I suppose the best way to look at the constraints of trekking with digital is to consider what it would be like to trek with film (been there, done that).

With film, you've got to purchase and carry a roll of film for every 36 shots (to say nothing of stopping to change the film). Even purchasing cheap film on sale you're going to spend a couple of bucks per roll and a few more dollars to get it printed and/or burned to CD.

Most of us are going to find our shooting limited by the cost and bulk/weight of film while trekking.

With digital you can buy a set or a few sets of disposable lithiums at $10-12 per set and get hundreds of shots per set (let's guess over 400 shots per set, the equivalent of more than 10 rolls of film).

Evangeline said:

Storage:
I think you have sold me on the PHD. Someone suggested that they
were pretty vulnerable to damage, but it sounds like your experience
has been very good!

Click to expand...

PHDs are laptop drives in stand-alone cases. People travel with laptops all the time. I've seen plenty get slammed around, fall over on the floor, etc. I don't think it's like traveling with thin-shelled eggs.

The most venerable time for a PHD (and laptop) is while the hard drive is working. The head literally 'flies' above the disk on a very thin cushion of air. If the drive gets a good hard shock the head can crash into the disk and damage the unit. When the head is parked it's actually quite shock resistant.

Use your PHD only on steady surfaces (table top, etc.) and don't move it while it's writing. When underway I wrap my PHD inside extra clothes and stick in the center of my pack.

My PHD has banged around the world for about six months of travel, on top of pickups in Myanmar, on incredibly bad buses in Cambodia, in cycle-rickshaws in India, etc. It seems rugged enough as far as electronics go.

Evangeline said:

Would you still have two cards, and if so what
size do you carry?

Click to expand...

Card size is going to depend on pixel count of the camera and shooting habits. Do some calculations based on file size. My two meg camera creates .5 meg files (standard compression Jpegs). I'm probably moving to a 5 meg camera so my files will grow to 1.25 megs.

As it is I can usually get by with a 128 meg card. That allows 250 shots. There have been days when I've filled that card and pulled out a 64 meg.

Trekking won't be a problem. You can stop and download to PHD. It's hard to say what you'll need in town. I'd allow for at least 150 shots (remember that you'll probably be bracketing some/a lot).

I'd always recommend two cards rather than one. Stuff does break.

--
bob
Latest offering - 'Two Hours in Delhi'
http://www.pbase.com/bobtrips
Shots from a bunch of places (esp. SEA and Nepal).
Pictures for friends, not necessarily my best.

http://www.trekearth.com/members/BobTrips/photos/
My better 'attempts'.

The LI battery for my Optio lasted 5 days before a charge under the following conditions

1. LCD off
2. Minimal zooming (I prefer to zoom to max then crop as necessary in software
3. Minimal flash (most shots in day)
4. Compression off
5. Auto sleep enabled

I took 525 shots !!!!

This is more than Pentax say can be done but as I was on a 10 day walk, I wanted to see how far I could stretch it.

As for the LI battery recharging. I took two batteries (both 1800 mah). Both charged fully. I experimented with charging the LI via a home made solar cell arrangement and it gives me about 200 shots. Doesn't seem to provide the current I need for a full charge but at least it works. I keep one of the LI batteries just for this as I am not sure what the lower current does to the battery bu so far so good. You can also buy eternally attached battery packs that take AA's for the Optio that plug into the AC in or so I have been told - haven't tried that yet.

I would never buy a CF device - the technology is just too old and while they are cheaper than SD cards, not by much and getting closer all the time. I have a Palm Tungsten thatI can use the SD cards in and my daughters phone also uses SD cards.

I'm off to NZ in a few months to do another walk. Might investigate the external battery idea.

Cheers

Evangeline said:

Namaste wazza,
The Optio 450 is one of the cameras suggested at the local shop I
checked with. It is nice, they were down on it because it didn't
have a CF card. It also looks like the Li ion battery won't work
unless I can find electricity to recharge. Can you give me an idea
of how often you had to recharge the battery on your trek?

Thanks for the other info on cards...it's a complicated world out
there!
Evangeline

Click to expand...

I second that.

The Pentax Optio 450/550 offer incredible control, 5x optical zoom, metal body, detailed pictures, unbeatable battery life, very small and light weight. Surely this is the perfect camera for treks. To maximise storage and quality, I suggest the medium ( ) jpeg compression for the photos. I consistantly get 220 landscape photos on my 256MB SD card with my Optio 550 (the 450 would fit possibly 275 pics as it is only 4MP instead of 5).

The SD card is the way of the future. So many other types of devices use the SD card, e.g. PDA's, music devices and my Toshiba laptop! Perfect.

Good luck. Can you fit me in your backpack, too, please?

wazza said:

Have a look at the Optio 450

Click to expand...

Cyberman said:

I second that.

The Pentax Optio 450/550 offer incredible control, 5x optical zoom,
metal body, detailed pictures, unbeatable battery life, very small
and light weight. Surely this is the perfect camera for treks.

Click to expand...

The 550 has a bit of vignetting/pincushion problem according to Phil's review (upper left - Cameras - Pentax - etc.). Don't know if it holds for the 450 as well....

Vignetting could be a real problem if you add a polarizing filter.

----
bob
Latest offering - 'Two Hours in Delhi'
http://www.pbase.com/bobtrips
Shots from a bunch of places (esp. SEA and Nepal).
Pictures for friends, not necessarily my best.

http://www.trekearth.com/members/BobTrips/photos/
My better 'attempts'.

Bob

Just about every camera ever made (digital) shows vignetting/pincushion and while I can't directly comment on the 550, the 450 shows less than most. You have to remember that this is a 5x zoom in a sub compact. Compared with similar cameras......well there are none. The C-750 is close but not really a compact, however the reviews say the lens quality and artefacts are moderate too.

If pincushion etc is a concern, at 5mp you can easily crop it out and in fact most good post shot software can get rid of it - eg PS with plugins.

However, if you want to move out of the sub compact zone you could spend more and expect to carry more weight and size. There are some really nice cameras in that format, some of the Fuji's come to mind

Happy trekking

BobTrips said:

Cyberman said:

I second that.

The Pentax Optio 450/550 offer incredible control, 5x optical zoom,
metal body, detailed pictures, unbeatable battery life, very small
and light weight. Surely this is the perfect camera for treks.

Click to expand...

The 550 has a bit of vignetting/pincushion problem according to
Phil's review (upper left - Cameras - Pentax - etc.). Don't know
if it holds for the 450 as well....

Vignetting could be a real problem if you add a polarizing filter.

----
bob
Latest offering - 'Two Hours in Delhi'
http://www.pbase.com/bobtrips
Shots from a bunch of places (esp. SEA and Nepal).
Pictures for friends, not necessarily my best.

http://www.trekearth.com/members/BobTrips/photos/
My better 'attempts'.

Click to expand...

Just to throw in a few cents worth

• you might want to focus on AA battery cameras if power is an issue because you can buy AAs in most places. Admittedly they wont last all that long, but as a stop gap measure it might be worth it. You arent going to find a LIMH battery from a street vendor in nepal (non AA batteries are generally more powerful, but are just as useless as an AA when not charged)

• I have an oly 750. I wont rave about it, I do think it is a good option for you. Its certainly larger than the pentax cameras but its not that large and its pretty light. Plus, and this is a purely personal comment, the pentax's were too small for me to hold properly. However I will say that above about 7 or 8x zoom in all but bright light you will probably suffer camera shake unless you have a tripod or handly rock to rest the camera on.

• the 750 has a 'panorama' option, stiching together a bunch of photos (I dont know what the upper limit is, I have done 7 photo panoramas). I suspect this would be very useful. Just keep an eye on it as an option in the cameras you are looking at

• I honestly haven't seen any real evidence that any particular kind of memory chip is better or worse for a camera. Some are marginally faster, bigger, more brightly coloured or can be used in other devices. But for a camera, pick the camera then buy the chip. All the chips work

• on my 750 (4 megs) I get 192 shots on a 512mb card at SHQ (the highest JPG level) but 4 times that number at HQ (which has a greater compression). Is the difference noticeable? Well, not to me when comparing 8x10 prints, perhaps at a bigger size it might be. Of course, other cameras use different compression levels etc and so the number of shots for a card will differ between camera.

• get a portable HD drive. You might be amazed. A friend of mine took 1200 photos in 4 weeks in Nepal and 'slowed down' at the end because he couldnt afford any more film (of course, with digital he would have deleted many of them, but perhaps also taken more to fix up the missed/badly composed/exposed etc shots that he didnt realise he had taken)

Really, any higher end camera will produce good photos.

OK, thanks again, all this discussion has been helpful.
I few questions (of course)

What is pincushioning??? And if I'm that much of an amateur that I don't know, does it matter?

Batteries:

Sounds (from you and friends who know Nepal) that I probably won't go too many days without electricity so...

Getting an AA camera will increase my range, but decrease choices. Someone here said that you shouldn't use Li ion AA's in cameras...true?

If I go with AAs it looks like my choices are:

Olympus C750 ... I wonder what drawbacks ctd. found in his/hers. I would like to know... good to know about the panoramic option and the reminder that infinite zoom isn't useful because of shake with handheld...

Fuji 7000 or 3800 good zoom, relatively light, no one has mentioned them am I missing something?

The Li ion proprietarys are appealing because 1) they hold more charge and leave no stray AAs, and 2) there are more options. The most appealing right now are:
Optio 550 (nice size, could have more zoom)
Minolta A1 (heavy, but 28-200!) pricey, new.
Sony DSC-F828 ditto above.

I feel like I am getting a better handle on this thanks to all the help. Are there any other 'contenders' I should consider at this point? Any commentary on those listed above?

Let's all meet for coffee (or possibly stale yak butter tea) in Kathmandu and discuss....
Evangeline

Pincushioning is where you take a photo of, for example, a square, and the photo has slight curves on the edges, like a cushion or pincushion! The effect is not normally noticed except when taking photos of a building flat-on. Even then, most people would not notice the effect (although programs like PaintShop Pro can eliminate the effect.

The Pentax Optio 550 has a maximum telephoto of 187mm, compared to the Minolta which has 200mm. Clearly an insignificant difference.

The advantage that some camera have is you can get teleconverters to increase their telephoto ability by about 50%. Therefore you have another thing to lug around on your trek. Lucky girl! I trust you are a bodybuilder?

The panoramic stitching is a fairly common these days, the Pentax and various Canon digicams I've used all have it. It's a great bonus where you have an incredible, wide scene, which most wide-angle lenses could not cover.

Evangeline said:

What is pincushioning??? And if I'm that much of an amateur that I
don't know, does it matter?

Optio 550 (nice size, could have more zoom)
Minolta A1 (heavy, but 28-200!) pricey, new.
Sony DSC-F828 ditto above.

Click to expand...

Evangeline said:

Olympus C750 ... I wonder what drawbacks ctd. found in his/hers. I
would like to know... good to know about the panoramic option and
the reminder that infinite zoom isn't useful because of shake with
handheld...

Click to expand...

The major problems with the 750 - and this is in comparison to a 'almost perfect camera' rather than being problems that cannot be overcome - are:

• low light focusing (low light being fairly dim). The camera takes a while and the auto focus isnt particularly good when there isnt a lot of contrast in the subject. Often you have to try a few times or work around it (either use the manual focus, which will always work, or focus on something a bit better lit about the same distance, then swing back to your subject). Its not that much worse than other cameras of a similar price, just a little bit

• noice at ISO200 and above. Most digicams have noise - you have to go up to DSLRS to avoid this and the 750 is no worse than many cameras. Its just something that is there. Again workarounds - either post processing (neat image programme) or just use a lower ISO (the 750 goes down to ISO50, which is noise free) and longer shutter speed if you can. Or use the flash if you can. I have never compared the 750 to, say, the pentax or the minoltas, so the difference may be minimal,

In addition to the panorama, the flash on the 750 is pretty good (for what it is). The pentaxes, for example, being very small, have very small flashes.

The 750 has its great zoom, every manual control you would want, custom WB settings (which can be good in the strange light of the mountains), little chromatic abberation even when zoomed, great colours (IMHO).

Plenty of 750 owners get 250+ shots from a set of batteries (4xAA) using the LCD full time (not using the LCD saves power). You will almost certainly want to have 2 sets of batteries (regardless of what batteries you use) and, FWIW, 8 rechargeable AAs +good charger are usually much cheaper than a replacement proprietary battery. You should also look at how long the batteries take to charge - a rapid AA charger will take 1-2hrs; proprietary batteries may take longer.

To honest - and this is probably heretical to many on this site - the photo quality difference between the cameras you have mentioned will not be significant. You might be able to tell in some shots, but most of the time (and certainly in 4x6 and 5x7 photos) you almost certainly cant. So take a look at features, size, battery issue and decide what you want from that.

my last tip is get the camera as soon as you can and take lots and lots of photos with it before you go, mainly to make sure the camera works but also so you aren't stuck on a mountain trail trying to remember the manual you left at home. Shoot anything - the backyard or the street or your car. The image doesnt matter (you just delete them), its important to check your camera and learn about it (indeed, many people would say 'take a good camera and a cheap backup camera just in case'. You might want to do this - even a very cheap film P&S will get photos you would otherwise spend your life regretting you had missed if your main camera breaks down, gets stolen, gets dropped off a cliff etc)

ctd. said:

...

Click to expand...

ctd. said:

the photo quality difference between the cameras you have mentioned
will not be significant. You might be able to tell in some shots,
but most of the time (and certainly in 4x6 and 5x7 photos) you
almost certainly cant. So take a look at features, size, battery
issue and decide what you want from that.

Click to expand...

Most digitals will give excellent pictures once you learn how to use them. The advantages of one over another are not huge. You need to figure out which features are most important to you and make your purchase knowing that you will be able to take good pictures and that you most likely won't be 100% satisfied with any camera on the market. (If you're slightest bit picky as most of us are.)

Often people get carried away with recommending the camera that they own. It's doing a good job for them and they're excited about it. They aren't trying to steer you wrong, but it is unlikely that they have actually used many other cameras and don't have a balanced opinion.

And what is best for one is not best for all....

ctd. said:

my last tip is get the camera as soon as you can and take lots and
lots of photos with it before you go, mainly to make sure the
camera works but also so you aren't stuck on a mountain trail
trying to remember the manual you left at home.

Click to expand...

Take your manual with you on the trip. Or at least download a PDF version, clip out the best/most important parts and print out a copy for your pack. As you shoot and review your shots you'll most likely find a shot that doesn't please you and you will want to figure out how to do a better job the next time.

ctd. said:

Shoot anything -
the backyard or the street or your car. The image doesn't matter
(you just delete them), its important to check your camera and
learn about it

Click to expand...

Especially shoot indoors and closeups. Those are the situations where you will have to stop and remember how to set your camera up for low light/different white balance and how to get a good crisp shot of a tiny flower along the trail.

ctd. said:

(indeed, many people would say 'take a good camera
and a cheap backup camera just in case'. You might want to do this

• even a very cheap film P&S will get photos you would otherwise

spend your life regretting you had missed if your main camera
breaks down, gets stolen, gets dropped off a cliff etc)

Click to expand...

If you've got a lightweight film camera I would stick it in the pack along with a couple of rolls of film. If you've got deep pockets, I'd look for a very inexpensive 2 meg digital.

Stuff does break.

Unless you extend your trip a bit I don't think we'll meet in Kathmandu for a cup of tea or a glass of chang, I don't plan on getting there until January. But get back to us with how your gear worked. If you have time drop me a line about your experience trekking out of KTM, that's where I think I'm heading this time.

best,

bob
Latest offering - 'Two Hours in Delhi'
http://www.pbase.com/bobtrips
Shots from a bunch of places (esp. SEA and Nepal).
Pictures for friends, not necessarily my best.

http://www.trekearth.com/members/BobTrips/photos/
My better 'attempts'.

Member said:

http://www.trekearth.com/members/BobTrips/photos/
My better 'attempts'.

Click to expand...

Bob, can I just say there are some fantastic shots in this gallery. I realise the UZI was ahead of its time, but nonetheless you show (once again) that its not the camera that makes the picture. You should let the folks over in the Oly forum have a look, many of them are UZI-ites and they will be most impressed. But even if you dont, please accept my compliments (and accept responsibility for my dejectment at how far I have to go to get anywhere near that standard)

Again, thank you all. One more round maybe? I am picky. I certianly will learn to know and (hopefully) love the camera I buy, but want to put in as much 'up front' effort as I can stand first. And now the finalists (after several rounds at local camera shops).....

The new Minolta Z1 - Offers lots of what I want at a good price. OK, it looks wierd, and I don't like the shiny buttons, but it fits well in my hand and is light. (Only) 3 mp but that is probably adequate for my needs really. Doesn't take Li batteries (as a more efficent backup to the rechargables).

'Oly' 750 What I want to know about this camera is if I get it, will I be able to take photos like Bob's? (and play the piano too???). Obviously it is 'enough' camera. I like the way it feels and it might fit in the little bag I keep on my pack shoulderstrap. 4mp. Of course almost $200 more than the Minolta too. Comes with a charger, but the 'overnight' kind, so I will still need to get one for the trip I figure. I’m a little anxious about the proprietary xD card, but sounds like they are here to stay and work fine.

Fuji 5000 (the S602 is too big). I like the way it feels, can't say I find anything especially wrong with it, but it bothers me that no one seems to own one or be particularly enthusiastic about it.

The Optio just doesn’t have enough zoom for me (although now that I think of it, with the 5mp I could just enlarge, and it is very small…)

In other news... it dawns on me that the camera cost is really the minority of what I will be spending here. Any advice on the other stuff? Such as:

Portable Hard drive: ?$300 according to the local folks, I need to dig more as I know nothing about these...

Cards: if I get a hard drive I figure I still need 2 (backup) I suppose two 256's (that's around $300) in the stores... maybe just 128’s.

Batteries and charger (the fast kind) seems pretty straightforward, 50 for a charger and $30 or so for two sets of extra batteries. By the way, what is a FWIW that ctd. mentions?

For a grand total of about $1000 - 1300 as I see it. A fair chunk of change but I am still game.

This is my first experience with 'chatting' and I have to say it has been great. I can't imagine getting such great info. pre-internet. Thank you all!
Evangeline

Evangeline said:

'Oly' 750 What I want to know about this camera is if I get it,
will I be able to take photos like Bob's? (and play the piano
too???).

Click to expand...

Well, sure. But not the piano. Maybe the French horn... ;o)

I'm not going to deal with 'which camera' here as I don't think that there's much else I can offer. You're starting to understand how many pixels you want and how much zoom. Which camera is going to be a question for you to research at this point. Read reviews, continue to handle, and don't take any one person's advice that 'THIS is the ONLY camera for you!!". In fact, there are several cameras that either of us could use to make some good shots.

What I am going to advise is learn to shop the net.

CF cards - http://www.newegg.com 256 meg - $50. (Actually on sale a couple of days ago for $41.) And there may be better deals.

Portable hard drive - you should be able to get a 20 gig PHD for under $200. Spend a little time on the Storage and Media forum and see where the current best prices are. A couple of good places have been http://www.insidecomputers.com and http://www.powerinnumber.com.au . (Hope I got those links right.)

In fact, one of them had a 10 gig Image Bank advertised the other day for $100. That's a great deal in my book. The nice thing about an IB is that you can stick in a larger hard drive down the road if you feel you need additional storage.

BTW, best to get a camera that accepts screw-on filters. A polarizer filter is a good thing to have at altitude, cuts down the glare in the middle of the day and makes color richer, detail crisper.

Batteries and chargers can be had for lots less. Get your camera and then we'll talk ;o)

FWIW - usually means For What It's Worth. Didn't catch the context.

--
bob
Latest offering - 'Two Hours in Delhi'
http://www.pbase.com/bobtrips
Shots from a bunch of places (esp. SEA and Nepal).
Pictures for friends, not necessarily my best.

http://www.trekearth.com/members/BobTrips/photos/
My better 'attempts'.