Herald Scotland

Been playing with this thought for a few days now. After dumping Kg's from my base weight I'm teetering on the brink of going back to carrying a decent camera (DSLR. How do you make the trade off? What tricks are used to keep weight to a minimum whilst still carrying quality photgraphic gear?

Something to kick things off, stumbled across this when googling UL tripods:

Tripod substitute

Would this thing work?

Interested to hear the replies to this as well, I still haven't ventured out with my D-SLR but I am going to have to get round to it sometime soon. I think because I am quite new to this all I am more interested in sorting out my main base gear, but now I feel more organised I will probably look to getting the camera out with me.

That link you posted I remember seeing before, thought it sounded like a good idea but never got round to trying it. For a lightweight, compact tripod I have been considering one of these though:

Gorilla Pod

Not as lightweight or cheap as the link you posted, but seems like a reasonable compromise on the traditional tripod.

The Gorillapod is excellent. I've been using one for a year now. The big advantage over the system Dave links to is that you can get yourself in the photo! It can be wrapped round fence posts and other objects too.

Keeping the weight of photo gear down is difficult. One reason I like to keep my backpacking gear light is so I can carry more photo gear! With a DSLR there are huge variations with weight of course. If I was starting from scratch I'd buy one of the light Olympus models or else go with the new micro four thirds system and get the Panasonic G1. I think the micro four thirds has great potential to produce a camera system that is lighter and smaller than a DSLR one but with the same versatility and quality.

The alternative is to go with a compact of course. Here the only one that produces the same quality as a DSLR is the Sigma DP1. This is a great little camera but it doesn't have a zoom lens just a 28mm (35mm equivalent) one. Other top quality compacts like the Canon G10, Ricoh GX200 and the Panasonic LX3 are fine for prints up to A4.

I think it very much depends on how keen a photographer you are. I know Colin Prior doesn't particularly sacrifice any weight in terms of his camera gear but does try to keep the weight of his hiking/camping gear to a minimum. He has told me often enough that the biggest limiting factor in his wilderness photography is weight.
On the other hand if you just want to take reasonable images - even good enough quality to make the pages of outdoor mags like TGO, then buy yourself a decent compact - like the ones Chris has mentioned. I stopped carrying an SLR years ago and currently use a tiny Leica compact (which is basically just a Panasonic Lumix with a Leica badge on it) and one of the small Gorillapod tripods, which I've even used wrapped round the top of a trekking pole that's been stuck in the ground.
I think that about 95% of the images I use in my various AV presentations have come from my little Leica compact.

It's an interesting idea Dave, but I doubt it will give much of an advantage. If going lightweight I either make do without a tripod, or use my Gorillapod SLR Zoom. I need this big one for my EOS5D, and it has the option of fitting a proper tripod head for easier composing, though there's a weight penalty.

I'd like to have a lighter option, and really like the looks of the micro 4/3 system which uses live view to do away with the mirror. I'm sure there will be more cameras to follow the Panasonic G1 in the coming year - credit crunch permitting.

I also liked the look of the Sigma DP1, but it's limited by slow write times (during which you can't take a shot) and no zoom. Have you used this camera Chris? I'd be interested in your views with regard to picture quality for editorial work, and its use in the field. I imagine it could be a pain capturing versions of an image when eg cloud shadows are moving quickly over the landscape.

General compact cameras are great for personal use. As Chris says up to A4, which lets face it is good enough for most folks. The main limiting factor though is the lack of filters. I like to use polarisers and ND grads to control the sky. It's possible that the effect of ND grads could be replicated during processing if you use Adobe Lightroom 2. I haven't upgraded from 1 yet, but will do soon. If it works I'd consider a compact for personal use. From what Cameron says maybe even for editorial use, though I'd have thought you'd be at a disadvantage here when up against a DSLR. Would you put a limit on the picture size from a compact in TGO Cameron? I assume quality wouldn't be good enough for a full page, but possibly for half. The problem with compacts is the small sensor size, and the ever higher numbers of pixels they pack onto them resulting in noisey pictures.

Chris, what weight of DSLR kit would you expect to be carrying on, say, the TGO Challenge? What lenses?

Cameron, what specs would you give for images to be published.

My (main) problem with compacts is lack of lens versatility, 12 - 200mm just isn't possible. And whilst I'd agree that a good compact will give excellent results in good conditions, IMO in poor conditions the comparison with DSLRs falls off.

Not being that interested in photographic gear (I can't afford to be!) I've not heard of the "micro four thirds system". I must investigate - anybody got any interesting links?

John

Ian, I've tested the DP1 for Backpacking Light.com and my review should appear there sometime this month. The camera is a little quirky to use but I soon got used to it. It takes around 8 seconds to record a raw file so this is certainly not a camera for action shots. The results are as good as those from my Canon 450D DSLR so images are certainly of publishable quality. There is a gallery of DP1 images taken last autumn on Backpacking Light.com

John, last year on the TGO Challenge I carried the Canon 450D with Canon 18-55 & 55-250 & Tamron 11-18 lenses plus a Cullman Backpack tripod. That lot weighed 3.162kg with cases and accessories.

Here's some micro four thirds links:

DPreview
Imaging Resource G1 Review

Thanks Chris, I'll look at those links this evening.

3kg+ ouch!!

I had a quick look around earlier and notice that the Panasonic G1 is the same weight as the Olympus E 420, but the Panasonic has a higher price (and smaller sensor I guess).

Yes you have a point there about the weight JH. The bodies are virtually the same and so are the kit lenses despite the claim that m4/3 lenses can be smaller because of the shorter lens-to-sensor distance.

BUT Olympus is the other company developing m4/3 cameras. They don't have one yet, but they are developing one that is smaller than the Panasonic Lumix DMC-G1. It's expected sometime this year. I'd expect the lenses to be smaller too. I think they already have what are termed pancake lenses. I haven't looked in detail, but think these are flatter therefore less bulky and lighter. I imagine this technology could be used for the m4/3 system. Olympus have a long history of developing quality innovative small cameras.

I look forward to seeing the test Chris. Do you have to resize your images with a program like Genuine Fractals to get the same size images as your 450D? I'm thinking about the Foveon sensor design here.

By the way folks do you need digital, because if not you can get excellent quality from film compacts (effectivel a full frame sensor). Not much good for publishing though as digital is preferred. Also not so good for using with filters.

John, yes the weight of the G1 is disappointing. As it's not a single reflex it ought to be lighter. The sensor is the same size as far as I know.

Ian, DP1 images come in at 2640 x 1760 and around 12mb so they do need resizing to print the same as 450D images. I use the resizing options in Lightroom or Photoshop Elements for this. I tried Genuine Fractals and couldn't see any advantages to it.