[pct-l] Camera

[greg mushial]

>
> Message: 22
> Date: Sun, 21 Nov 2010 04:37:21 +0000
> From: Ethan Smith <esmith11 at my.whitworth.edu>
> Subject: [pct-l] Camera
> To: "pct-l at backcountry.net" <pct-l at backcountry.net>
> Message-ID:
> <386E43619960574CBA2B294C4749A6D5935A at BL2PRD0103MB007.prod.exchangelabs.com>
>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
>
> I would love to get some advice about buying a camera for my 2011 
> thru-hike. I am looking for one that is light-weight, durable, $150 range, 
> takes good (doesn't have to be excellent) pictures, and is easy to use.
> Also, what have you done about memory cards?
> Thanks!
>
> Ethan
>

Ethan - another data point for you...  I've been using Olympus Stylus 820's. 
I like them because they're semi-waterproof, they have a shutter which 
closes over the lense when it's not in use, the optics are 5x zoom - 
something like 28mm-150mm (in 35mm terms), they seem to hold up, and they 
take reasonable pictures. I've been buying them off eBay for $50ish 
(refurb'd). I still have my original one, have bought my wife one, and the 
girls now each have one - no failures yet. They use LiIon batteries which 
seem to be good for 400ish pictures per. Generally I'll carry 2 or 3 
batteries (1oz each). For a thru I would put the charger in my bouncebox, 
and carry 3 or 4 batteries which I would recharge everytime I had access to 
the bb and an outlet - the batteries take 45min per to charge. W/re memory: 
I've been using a single 4gb stick in the camera, and a pair of 16gb zip 
drives. I agree with the concern expressed by others about losing pictures. 
So, my approach has been, whenever I can get access to a pc with a usb port, 
is to plug the camera in, copy the pics on the internal memory to that hard 
drive, unplug the camera, plug in the first zip drive, and copy the pics to 
it, then plug in the 2nd zip drive, copy the pics to it, then finally erase 
the pics off the camera memory. In Japan this worked like a champ - the 
internal memory would hold 1200-1600+/- pics, but generally I was able to 
copy what had accum'd there every 400 or 500 pics to the zip drives...  came 
home with 4000+ pics, didn't lose a one. [Did the same in Bali - same 
results.] I agree with the comments w/re go for zoom range vs megapixels - 
the 820 at 10mp is more than enough. My understanding is that the 1210 has 
an 8x zoom, with the wide end 26mm (35mm equiv). I know from my 35mm days, 
my 20mm lense was one of my most used...  but I don't expect to see such in 
a p/s camera anytime soon. Generally I find anything beyond 200mm on the 
long end (on a p/s) is wasted, or not terribly useful (slow effective f 
number - something like 200mm at f16). If I want to take "serious" pics, 
then I'll pack a dslr and the associted weight, but for "memory" pictures 
the 820 has served me well.
TheDuck