[pct-l] wow thats a big camera

[Sean Nordeen]

Tom,

I hiked with several people this year who carried SLRs and were happy with them though I
think most chose something a little lighter then what you are looking at.  I almost chose
to carry a SLR myself but instead settled on taking a HD camcorder.  But I chose
a model that kept the weight under 1.5lbs.  But I still had similar issues as what you
are looking at.

Access is critical.  If you don't have the camera where you have easy access to it, you'll miss a lot
of shots.  So if you are going to carry it in your pack, don't bother bringing it.  Most people I saw
used some sort of case/bag attached to their hipbelts or other front straps. The size of the
case needs to be kept as small as possible and always keep looking  for a lighterweight
model. You have to be imaginative and be willing to possibly modify it to fit better.  All you
really need is some sort of padded bag of some sort that can be mounted to your pack.
My size/shape needs were different then your SLR, but I used a modified large lens case mounted
to my shoulder strap for my camcorder.  I tested it out backpacking before I left to insure it
would work.

Power issues.  I looked into solar several times for my electronics, but the weight tradeoff
verses power consumption never worked.  I found it far lighter and easier to carry any spares
that I needed and charge up in town then the weight of any solar panels out there.  It isn't that
big of a deal to charge up in town. Unless you are convinced that you are somehow going to
hike differently then the vast majority of hikers, you will end up staying at least overnight in
many trail towns so you have access to an AC outlet in your hotel room/trail angel's place.
And many resturants will allow you to charge your batteries while you are dinning there (and
you will want eat out).  I had to bounce a box every 1 to 2 weeks ahead of me anyway (more
of this latter), so it wasn't a big deal throwing my chargers in there.  Everytime I had my
chargers, I had to charge my very large extended camcorder battery, cell phone and MP3
player.  As my cell and MP3 player had USB charging I was able to use a single AC to USB
wall adaptor with their respective cables.  I even decided to carry a USB AA battery charger
to charge my flashlight batteries rather then buying numerous Lithium AA's on the trail.
I had no trouble getting everything charged in town and it never felt it was a big chore.  

Image management.  I had a far greater issue here then any SLR camera as the
HD video my camcorder takes uses 32GB of flash space for 3hr of video never
mind the additional space needed for the 8 Megapixel photos the camcorder took.
There was no way I was going to carry very many 32GB SHDC cards given their high price
so I had to be able to dump my footage to something on a regular basis.  So I chose to
carry a 9" netbook with an external 500GB Hardrive (I actually had a 2nd harddrive at home
 awaiing orders to mail).  I mad sure to always pack it in the middle of my bounce box
padded with clothing/gear and it never got damaged.  Everytime I picked up my bounce
box, I dumped my footage to the harddrive and then mailed it all forward again.  I rarely
had issues with the PO since I always chose carefully where to mail it to based on my
schedule and the PO hours.  And many business/hotels/trail angels will receive your box.
I hiked with a guy who was doing something similar for his camera footage.  Now many
camera users choose to mail their memory cards home to someone who then copys
their photos and mails the flash cards back.  I was actually quite surprised at how often
I found WiFi in town.  Most hotels/trail angels had it even if it wasn't advertised so you
technically could upload some, but I found some hikers really abused the BW in some
places doing so (such as Tom's Cyber Cafe in Kennedy Meadows as I found there was
no BW left on his satetllite internet after the hikers headed out that morning even though
he warned us against doing that very thing and there was only 7 hikers when I was there).

Extra Equipement.  Dump it. You aren't going to want to carry many accessories/extra
lenses for long, and forget prime lenses.  Settle on just one lens and stick with it.  You could
carry a 2nd if you must, but no more.  I never saw anyone with a SLR with more then one
past the High Sierra though I could see why you'd want them on the JMT.  I ended up dumping
all my camcorder extras (lens hood, shotgun mic, lav mic, most filters except my polarizer)
by Kennedy Meadows in an effort to simplify things and reduce weight.  There were a few
times I wish I had some of it, but not often enough to motivate me to pull it back out of 
my bounce box.

This is just my experience.  I'm sure others may have had a different experience and their
advice will reflect it.  It really comes down to whats really important to you.

-Sean "Miner" Nordeen