Light weight cameras

[Redbeard]

Any ideas for small film camera's? Especially ones for people who can't take pictures fer****e.

[Hikerhead]

Check out the Cannon Elph's. They make a couple of different models of the Elph.

[Redbeard]

Cool.
looks like the Elph LT weigh's 4.1 oz. It can take Panorama/wide view/and regular. Auto focus
hopefully it's not outrageously priced

[Hikerhead]

I have the Elph 370Z. I bought it 2 years ago for about $250.00. It was the in the middle of their line at that time.

I was trying to find it this year to buy for a xmas present but I couldn't find this model.

It seems they redesign them every year. I think they start out at around 120.00 or so now.

I have been very pleased with it. Takes great pictures, aps, zoom, self timer, date. Mine is metal cased in alum.

I woke up one morning after it rained. The tent had a leak in it and in the middle of the puddle was my Elph. I took it home, sat it in the window pane for about a week, turned it on and it still worked. I also put a nice dent in it sometime or another and it didn't effect it.

[Jerry Lutgen]

I got a ELPH LT this year to carry on WT hikr. It worked out great and took great pictures. And it can stand up to some prety good falls. I got mine on EBay at quiet a savings. Good look.

Cookie

[Footslogger]

I hiked with a 12 oz Cannon weather proof film camera for years and drug it along with me when I left Sringer in 2001. It finally died about 2 months ago and I went on a search for something to carry this year. I finally found one ...but it's a digital. Panasonic DMC LC20. Weighs 5oz and uses the SD Media Cards. I went ahead and bought several 34MB cards rather than one big one. Each card holds around 38 pictures at the highest resolution. I am going to send them back to my wife to be off-loaded onto a computer and transferred to my website. Then she'll mail me back the card. Been using the camera quite a bit since I got it and very pleased with the quality and ease of use.

[Peaks]

I think camera selection depends on what you want to do with the pictures.

Most hikers are the point and shoot type. If, as you say, you can't take pictures fer****, then I'd suggest a disposable camera. That's about as basic as it gets.

[RagingHampster]

Here is another one of my glutton items.

I use a Sony DSC-F707 5 Megapixel Digital Camera.
It's pictures are spectacular! Huge 2560x1920 Rez Pictures. These are poster sized images. I use 2 128MB memory sticks, which give you about 50 poster images each, or hundreds of smaller images (depending on what resolution you want).

It weighs 1lb 2oz though (AHHHHH!).

One of the things I planned on doing while thru-hiking is documenting cool portions of it on video with a mini-dv camcorder (one of the little ones about twice the size of a pack of ciggarettes). I will probably end up sacrificing those images you feel you can step into (via my F707) for video. I want to make a documentary of the whole thing. Towns and Trail, Summits and Shelters. A great way to immortalize this time of my life, and share/encourage others to hit the trail! It would also serve as an excellent guide for future thru-hikers.

[PushingDaisies]

Originally posted by Redbeard
Cool.
looks like the Elph LT weigh's 4.1 oz. It can take Panorama/wide view/and regular. Auto focus
hopefully it's not outrageously priced

Please don't be fooled by the "panorama/wide/regular" line of BS that camera manufacturers feed people.

The camera in question is a APS camera (advanced photo system). Which means that it takes film, but not the regular 35mm film you are used to. APS film has a smaller negitive at 24mm. The Canon Elph takes great quailty pics, so the size difference really doesn't matter too much.

As for how the camera takes the pictures: Every APS camera records it in the 4X7(wide) format ALWAYS. Even if you think you are choosing Pan. or 4X6 prints. There is a magnetic "info" strip on the film that lets the printing machine know what you expect to get back.

One way to save yourself some money during printing is shoot all the prints in the 4X7 format, and if you decide later that you really want a pano print, all you have to do is state that when you get reprints.

I worked in photo/camera shops for three years and this seems to be one of the most misunderstood things about these types of cameras. The size (ie-pano/wide/reg.) is determined by what part of the picture is cut off. In the pano. format, it is divided into thirds and then the top and bottom (length wise) is cut out of the picture. To compansate for this, the picture is printed a larger size. It is more or less an illusion.

I am not saying that this is a bad thing, it's just that if you go this route, it's better to be informed on what it actually is.

[Redbeard]

Hmm... Good point Pushing up Daisies,
I wonder how easy it is to find 25mm aps film on the trail, or if I'd have to get it mail dropped.

[Hikerhead]

Any place that sells film will have the APS film also. Get the 40 print rolls. A couple of rolls should go a long way.

[MedicineMan]

well its not the camera but the batteries. 2 weeks ago when going over Cheoah Bald I got 4 pics off before the battery said 'no more'. It was too cold for operation at 18 degrees. So when I got back I looked up in the manual the operating temp range....it was 32 degrees up to something like 120 (dont really remember the upper range)...
next hike (this weekend) over Wyah and Wesser Balds I am not taking the digital (mine is a Canon S-300). I will take the Minolta Vectis, and if that fails I may have to go back to the old Nikon F2 but just thinking of carrying that anvil makes me anguish so loud a Chinaman could hear it.

[Uncle Wayne]

There was a good discussion a while back on cameras that is still in the archives. Search for camera and the thread with the discussion will be brought up. I have used the Olympus Stylus Epic for the past 10 years and highly recommend it. I paid almost $200 for it in 1992 but saw it on the web last week for $79. An excellent deal for a very good, weatherproof, lightweight camera. If I remember correctly around 7.5 ounces with strap, film and battery. See the thread above for a more complete listing of cameras other hikers have / are using.

[RagingHampster]

In response to the batteries, The F707 is unbelieveable with how long it lasts. I was out on the M-M trail yesterday, and it was around 15*F. The battery pack will easily last a couple hundred shots between recharging. I'm not sure what sony did with this pack, but they did it right. It also lacks a memory effect that many rechargeable batteries get. My old 1/2 Megapixel digital camera gets about 30 shots on 4 AA batteries. You just have to read reviews on the cameras and get some honest feedback. Lithium batteries definetly are a plus for digital cameras. I'm reading reviews for mini-dv camcorders right now, hopefully I will be purchasing one in february. Battery function is one of the tops on my list of scrutiny.