Advice for hiking photography

[Tronhard]

I am preparing presentation to my local camera club on New Zealand's Great walks from a photographer's point of view. Great Walks are hiking trails with opportunities to photograph spectacular scenery and wildlife, particularly birds. The hikes are multi-day hikes over wilderness where hikers stay in huts overnight, although one can do one-day walks as well. In some parts of NZ the climate can be extreme, ranging from very hot sunny days to heavy rainfall or snow, even in summer. The hikes extend from sea level to peaks to in excess of 1,800m. When doing such hikes there are no external support resources: i.e. you have to carry everything on your back, although you don't have to carry a tent.

I have done these hikes for over 15 years and know the gear that I have used, and what did and didn't work so well for me, but I want to be a generalist as possible So my question is: If you have experience in this type of hiking photography what would be your recommendations?

If you need more specific information please ask!

[Manfred M]

I bought a mFT camera a couple of years ago when we were headed to South Asia for a couple of months of backpacking.

My key criterion was small size and the associated low weight. I also had a wide range zoom (24 - 280mm FF equivalent) lens to cut down the weight and a small travel tripod. I used a chest mounted "Cotton Carrier" to carry the camera. That way I wouldn't have to dig around to get at it when a photo op came along and it did not interfere with the trekking poles we were using.

You can see the gear (minus the tripod) in this shot. I was just wearing a day pack during this hike.

[Tronhard]

Hi Manfred:

This is good! MFT mirrorless cameras really didn't exist as a practical option when I first started hiking, and they have made amazing strides in the last year or so. I really appreciate your feedback and will definitely include it as an option: in fact the club has so many MFT aficionados that I would get a lot of flak if I failed to do so!

[Shadowman]

Trev,

Never been on a multiple day photo hiking tour but have read many itineraries. One thing stressed is to limit the pounds of gear, another would be to have the guests do test walks with what they plan to take.

[Tronhard]

Good advice indeed! Your comment is valid on several levels: not only the contents of one's pack, the weight etc, but one's fitness level and the difficulty of the terrain all have implications on what is the best choice.


When my bride and I were moving from NZ to Canada, we decided to backpack through Asia and Europe. We each bought fairly large packs and I watched with interest as she put in, amongst other things, a nice dress and some good shoes "in case we get to go somewhere dressy", along with all the practical things one needs when travelling across the globe and several climatic zones. Having, with some difficulty, closed the pack and with a look of triumph she said she had it all sorted. I suggested walking around the block five times - a distance of about 3km guess.

When she returned she made a major purge of the contents!

[rpcrowe]

Whichever camera I chose would have a good eye-level viewfinder. Many of the smaller cameras have done away (as a size saving gesture) with eye level viewfinders.

I also like a through the lens viewfinder rather than an electronic viewfinder. However, that is my personal fetish.

[CP140]

Good advice indeed! Your comment is valid on several levels: not only the contents of one's pack, the weight etc, but one's fitness level and the difficulty of the terrain all have implications on what is the best choice.


When my bride and I were moving from NZ to Canada, we decided to backpack through Asia and Europe. We each bought fairly large packs and I watched with interest as she put in, amongst other things, a nice dress and some good shoes "in case we get to go somewhere dressy", along with all the practical things one needs when travelling across the globe and several climatic zones. Having, with some difficulty, closed the pack and with a look of triumph she said she had it all sorted. I suggested walking around the block five times - a distance of about 3km guess.

When she returned she made a major purge of the contents!

Yep... we (much better half and I) are looking at walking part of Hadrian's Wall next summer... we are already discussing "must have" vs. "want to have".

[NorthernFocus]

Keep it lightweight for obvious reasons. Keep it simple so you can set up quickly. Must be weatherproof or expendable. Minimize the need to change lenses.

Mirror less body, zoom lens, and a small cf tripod ticks all the boxes. Unless you're shooting birds. Only advice then is to get in shape.

[DickyOZ]

A lot will depend on where in the world you are hiking. Here in OZ I chose MFT because it has IQ more than adequate for my needs and all my lenses fit in my camera bag together with lightweight waterproofs, medi-kit (including snake bandage and change of underwear) plus insect repellent and sunscreen. I carry as much water as I can and a heavy monopod which doubles as a hiking pole. Plus always let people know where you are going and when and where you expect to be back. There are plenty of phone apps that will cache maps of where you are going (I have the whole of OZ downloaded) so you will never be lost.

[ajohnw]

I mostly use M 4/3 as for me photography often means walking. Unlikely to do 20 mile ones these days though. I chose Olympus mainly because they were offering some lenses that were truly up to the format and had been since day 1. I also suspect that lenses like the 75-300mm are lighter due to the IS being in the camera body. Of late though I feel Olympus has lost it's marbles. It's pro F2.8 lenses are pretty heavy items and just as heavy as the same focal length lens for other formats. Ok their reach is twice full frame but ............. I can see the need for them but feel that a very long reach light weight lens would go down well with lots of people. As it is I would be stuck with using a Panasonic 100-400mm which is rather lacking at the long end.

One camera I wouldn't recommend is the Nikon 1 range. A couple of times of late I have just taken a V1 with me. I suppose one day I might be able to dial in just enough compensation to prevent it blowing whites some where in the scene but it's beginning to wear a bit thin. The lenses aren't bad but the camera takes no advantage of what it could do with an electronic viewfinder. If like some it could show clipped areas in the view finder for instance it would be a lot easier to judge shots. Better still if in rather dark circumstance the image could be brightened so that I could see what I was shooting even better. The sensor is too noisy for that but even with noise would help. I can't help feeling that a lot more people would have bought this camera if they had fitted it with a lower pixel count low noise sensor with a decent dynamic range.

I have the Tamron 14-150mm. I was impressed until out of curiosity I filled the frame at 150mm with a sheep. I don't know what the others are like.

Of the Olympus lenses the 9-18mm and 14-42mm are hard to knock in any respects. Not done it of late but when pixel counts were a bit lower it was often possible to crop from full res frames do a little work and post at web sizes without any reduction. A bit subject dependant though. The 40-100mm is pretty good. Maybe a bit soft in the corners at 100mm. The 75-300mm does need some reduction at 300mm for web shots. The Panasonic did too. I did use that initially. Not sure what to do about very wide angle. I get the impression that Olympus are struggling a bit here because the lens is so fast. This is just based on technical tests. I will have a Samyang 7.5mm shortly. This if they maintain quality does appear to be up to the format. It's a 180 degrees diagonal lens so not really a fisheye. Be interesting to see what it can do.

Personally on M 4/3 I would choose the body with some care. You will know what setting you need to change easily when shooting. Too small may cause finger size problems. The ability to see clipping in the view finder is very useful especially with a new camera as it's easy to find out how much more is available in raw. I've found the view brightening useful at times. The camera can see a lot better than me in the dark but is still likely to need the focus assist lamp for focusing. At odd time I have used the tap rear screen focus there and shoot. The screen needs to tilt at least for that. It can save having to get down really low and also can be useful for taking shots without anybody being aware. ISO wise I have taken test shots at 25600 with both of my main ones. Subject dependent and needs decent noise reduction software. They can be pushed in that direction but 25600 is very extreme. You'd best try a camera for a while to see what to expect from it. I vaguely remember some one buying a Nikon V1 on here and going on holiday and then regretting that they hadn't used it first. True of any camera really.

What I found when I first bought M 4/3 was that rather a lot of photography could be done with a plain ordinary 14-42mm. The 9-18mm was mainly bought for buildings when there wasn't much space. It also ok for low down shots - typical wide angle style. I use the 75-300mm for wildlife and as usual longer would be better. I have used the 40-100mm a few times. Since the shot of the sheep the 14-150 stays in the cupboard. I have also done a lot of macro work with the 75-300mm plus an old Sigma close up lens that was for one of their zooms. DOF is a bit iffy but it can work out well if say 3 shots are taken. Newer close up lenses don't produce such good results. Not sure why, might be down to power. The focal length of the m 4/3 macro lenses is too short for what I like to shoot.

I hope that lot is of help.

John
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[mastamak]

Trev,
Having done multi-day hikes here in North Queensland and day walks in NZ I would recommend your club members first make sure they can carry their backpacks comfortably and leave the decision about camera gear until they are confident they will be OK with their backpacks. I reckon anything over 17 kilos will make a long hike miserable. I packed what I thought was an "absolute minimum" backpack for a 5 day walk. It was 26 Kilos. Fortunately, I did a trial run and quickly realised I had to jettison 10kg and or I would not survive the hike. Luckily we do not have to carry water up here for most hikes so that is a bonus but tents are necessary as there are no huts as in NZ. One lesson I learnt was to carry rubber thongs or "crocks" (or jandals as they say in NZ) for crossing creeks. Boots or bare feet are hopeless on slippery river stones when the water is swirling waist high and your backpack is making you unstable and threatening to plunge you into the stream and over the nearby picturesque waterfall, but thongs provide grip and are not so resistant to water pressure. Hiking sticks are good also for creek crossings but I wouldn't like to have to carry them all the time as you would have no free hands for your camera. A suitable length bush stick will suffice and it can be thrown away as soon as you survive the river crossing.

If you are going in a small group items such as stoves can be shared between couples reducing individual loads. I supposed it doesn't matter in NZ huts but if you are camping in the bush it is handy to hang your backpack on a tree at night as it is much easier to put it on from a standing position rather than in a crouched position and then have to stand up with the unaccustomed extra 17kg on your back. One other thing to remember is that you pack gets lighter as the hike progresses due to the food eaten . When all that is sorted, think about your camera. I carried a small camera in a separate pack on my chest. It counterbalances the backpack somewhat and is easy to reach. But I must say I regretted not taking my DSLR as some of the landscape scenery on the Hinchinbrook Island, for instance is magnificent and point & shoots do not do it justice.

For day walks I use a 7kg camera bag and two lenses, with a sandwich, a boiled egg and bottle of water. I find the 7kg is a pretty good weight as it is the allowable weight for cabin baggage.

Grant

[Mike Buckley]

Most people who are planning a multi-day hike already have a certain amount of experience doing day hikes. (If they haven't got that experience, they should make a point of getting it before doing the multi-day hike.) My advice would be for them to go through their photos taken on those day hikes to get a good idea of the focal length and lenses they used most of the time. They should take that information into consideration when choosing the gear to take on their multi-day hike.

[NorthernFocus]

... medi-kit (including snake bandage and change of underwear)...

I take it the first is for direct hits and the second for near misses

[Manfred M]

I take it the first is for direct hits and the second for near misses

Fortunately for us, we tend to go where snakes are smart enough not to go to...

[Tronhard]

Whichever camera I chose would have a good eye-level viewfinder. Many of the smaller cameras have done away (as a size saving gesture) with eye level viewfinders.

I also like a through the lens viewfinder rather than an electronic viewfinder. However, that is my personal fetish.

I totally agree. I like the idea of a mirrorless camera, but with a huge investment in Canon glass, I am waiting for them to produce a mirrorless interchangeable lens body with an APSC sensor and the standard mount. The viewfinder is for me essential, especially when using any kind of telephoto lens: basically by placing the eye to the eyepiece we produce a third point of stability to the camera and make it much more stable. I liken the act of taking a photo to holding a broom by the bristle end and trying to keep the tip of the handle stable: the line of site of the lens becomes more difficult to keep stable the less leverage one has at the camera end. If you try to keep the tip stable just by holding on to the broom head it is far more difficult to do so compared to holding onto the hand near the head. While one may say the handle had mass and a line of sight does not, the fact is that a telephoto lens has a fair amount of mass, so holding it rather than he camera body makes far more sense.

I roll my eyes when I see people with a great SLR trying to take photos with a telephoto lens looking at the LCD screen with arms outstretched!

[xpatUSA]

I totally agree. I like the idea of a mirrorless camera, but with a huge investment in Canon glass, I am waiting for them to produce a mirrorless interchangeable lens body with an APSC sensor and the standard mount.

Slightly off from your Canonic post but Sigma recently did just that by introducing a mirrorless interchangeable lens body with an APS-C sensor and their standard mount (and flange to sensor distance). Some folks liked that and some did not, resulting in much discussion in Sigma Fora.

As usual, Sigma muddied the waters by declaring only their later lenses to be fully compatible with the new model, which PO's a good few people - and muddied them even further with the promise of an APS-H model to follow which prompted cries of "yippee, more res" without any consideration of image circles.

http://www.sigma-global.com/en/camer...ries/products/
.

[Tronhard]

SINCERE THANKS TO ALL for the wide range of suggestions and comments that are each, in their own right, very constructive and helpful.

I should have mentioned that I have hiked in NZ for about 20 years and have encompassed that experience into my presentation, a good half of which (about 2 hours) is dedicated to the nuts and bolts of the NZ climate, geography, how to get about, the nature of Great Walks and hiking preparedness - including clothing, advice choosing and using a pack, pack weight, food choices, and hiking safety protocols (including how to use huts, safety, advisories, contacts and security).

NZ has no predatory animals that can harm humans: no snakes, scorpions, ticks, mammals, so we don't need anything related to them. We have a couple of spiders that are not common and are not considered lethal.

What kills people hiking in NZ is water - in its various forms, from rain to ice to snow. People die unnecessarily each year in boating and swimming/diving accidents. Water causes flash floods, landslides and avalanches, and fog and snow can cause people to become disoriented and get lost or walk off a narrow mountain path, so I cover that too. I also advise WHEN to do the walks as conditions vary considerably through the year in some national parks.

NZ has arguably the world's best hut system, using a booking system to reserve space, so if one does a great walk you are assured of a bed for the night and a tent is not necessary. That said I do recommend an emergency shelter.
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That said I am SPECIFICALLY looking for advice as to what photographic gear one would take on a hike over, say 4 days. Things to consider:
1. What range of gear would you consider: bodies, lenses, camera support etc.
2. How would you carry your gear - holder(s), pack, or whatever?

In doing so I am assuming you will consider performance, weight and compactness, reliability and robustness.

[Tronhard]

Slightly off from your Canonic post but Sigma recently did just that by introducing a mirrorless interchangeable lens body with an APS-C sensor and their standard mount (and flange to sensor distance). Some folks liked that and some did not, resulting in much discussion in Sigma Fora.

As usual, Sigma muddied the waters by declaring only their later lenses to be fully compatible with the new model, which PO's a good few people - and muddied them even further with the promise of an APS-H model to follow which prompted cries of "yippee, more res" without any consideration of image circles.

http://www.sigma-global.com/en/camer...ries/products/
.

It seems that introducing a more compact technology is not as simple as a lot of the hype may suggest. I REALLY like the idea of a mirrorless camera - like many with aging bodies I find it a tad harder to carry around heavy, bulky camera bodies and lenses as my knees deteriorate.

However, like many owners, be they Nikon, Canon, or whatever, it is not easy to ditch a significant investment in expensive glass and just go out and buy a whole new set of lenses. I admit in that respect that lenses can be the heaviest element in a camera kit, but reducing the body weight and size is a good intermediate step, not to mention the technical benefits that are associated with the mirrorless technology. I am optimistic it will continue to be the fastest developing technology in the stills area.

[NorthernFocus]

We hiked the Routeburn track a few years ago. It was beautiful. Just a bit of wind and fog at the highest pass to make us feel at home. We did the guided version. With the exchange rate at the time it was very reasonably priced. We only had to carry daypacks and had dry cots and a hot meal waiting for us at the end of the day. It was rough but we persevered through it

[Tronhard]

We hiked the Routeburn track a few years ago. It was beautiful. Just a bit of wind and fog at the highest pass to make us feel at home. We did the guided version. With the exchange rate at the time it was very reasonably priced. We only had to carry daypacks and had dry cots and a hot meal waiting for us at the end of the day. It was rough but we persevered through it

Hi Dan:
I am so glad you enjoyed the Routeburn Track. To me it is actually better than the much more famous Milford, which is also much more expensive to undertake, either on a guided walk or as a freedom walker. I did the Routeburn back in 2010 as a freedom walker, and not having a head for heights I found it a bit challenging at times, but it's worth it when you get to see the views...


The view from just above Routeburn Falls hut, before it gets more "interesting"!