Zoomed Compact for Mountains

Dear Photographers,

 

I am a beginner who is interested to take slide photos during my

mountain climbs. My primary concern is weight. So I am focused on

Compact 35 mm Cameras. I hate SLRs as it requires lots of knowledge

to take some pictures. I want to archieve some slides that may be

attached to the the book about mountains in the future. I have

checked the market and found 3 options. 1) Canon Sureshot Z90W 2)

Olympus Stylus 28-80 DLX Date 3) Minolta Freedom Zoom Explorer. In

fact, I don't have any idea about the difference between the image

qualities. The weather-proof Olympus seems logical but its lens has 9

elements in 8 groups whereas Minolta's 4 elements 4 groups. Does it

effect my image quality on mountains?

I would be more than happy if anyone can recommend me something

suitable for mountains and not more expensive than USD 200.

 

Regards

HAluk

Haluk, if you read extensively on this site you will find that it requires lots of knowledge to take decent pictures consistently, and the knowledge is more important than the type of camera that you use. You will hear from people on this site who have used all three of the cameras you mention. I have used the Sureshot and can confirm that it is capable of making good images. However, the auto functions can let you down in many situations, and it is important to know what the camera can and can't do. I wouldn't worry about number of lens elements or groups as a measure of performance.

You expect to perhaps make photographs for a book but you don't want to use an SLR 'as it requires lots of knowledge.' There really is something missing in your statements as nothing truly worthwhile comes that easy. Actually the SLR's are liberating in many ways - try using a polarizer with the point-and-shoots where you will be guessing at orientation. A polarizer is a extremely useful for mountain photography to reduce the atmospheric haze of distant landscapes. I know nothing about the optical qualities of the cameras you list ... but I wouldn't expect much from them, aimed at the amateur market as they are. For SLR's under $200 take a look at used, good condition, cameras such as Nikon EM or Pentax ME or MX (all with small 50mm lenses). They are all extremely light and have fine optics. IF you must go lighter and are willing to part with reflex viewing, try finding a Rollei 35 - ultracompact and ultralight, and with a fine performing lens. Just my opinions if you want to be serious about what you propose.

Dear John,

Thanks for your reply. It seems it is not clear that the mountain travels that I am doing is very hard. Sometimes, I can't stay on a position to take a picture. That is why I need an easy go camera. I need a camera that doesn't need much of adjustment. Most of the time, I don't have enough will or enough energy to do it. That's the only reason I carried my old Russian SLR camera in the backpack during the expeditions and couldn't get photos. Photography might be an art for you. The photos that I take is not more than a document. So I may not need what the artists need. I am planning to attach photos to a book as documents and for art. So, I need a wide angle camera on mountains but zoom would also be very useful. I need to be adviced to buy the best optical quality as much as 200 dollars and including 28-70 or 28-90 zoom. I don't want to buy a camera that is not easy to use. It should be the best P&S

Konica Lexio. 28-70 zoom. $150 at B&H (800) 947-6628.

There is not one answer but two, in my opinion :

 

1. Or you just want to be able to make some snaphsots memories from mountain hikes

then I think your choice may be good (Point & Shoot camera with small zoom). My advice should be : ask your friends and try to see the pictures (SLIDES) they shooted with those cameras.

 

2. Or you want to be able to make consistenly good mountain slides, and this is, with the budget aspect of course, the important point,

then here is MY answer (it may of course not apply to others) :

 

I own SLRs (old, heavy, previously high end, non autofocus ones) and a tiny Olympus Stylus Epic 35mm 2.8. I also had a Canon EOS 1000, a few years ago.

 

First, I think that, whatever the camera you'll use, if you want to make good slides, you can't make the economy of understanding picture taking techniques and related technology. And it may often be that making good slides with a cheaper and less complex (but also far less 'flexible', less 'clever', less 'informative' and less 'accurate') camera requires greater knowledge than making them with more 'complex' ones. For me, it's actually -a lot- easier to make a good picture with my old Canon T90 SLR than with the Epic. Even worse : if the picture is not good with a Point-and-shoot, you will only know it when you receive them from the lab : you don't have any information about the exposure parameters the camera choose.

 

Second, I think an Epic, or -even worse- a cheap (plastic) autofocus SLR may not be reliable enough for hard walks in the mountain. I had some bad experience(s) with the EOS1000. This is why I switched to old (heavier) technology. Non autofocus SLR now sales for a bargain. Even professional lenses and bodies.

 

Third, I own the Epic, and I'm happy with it, to be able to hold one everywhere at anytime. This is a magic camera for that job and the wide aperture (aspherical) lens is really sharp. But it will never reach the quality of an SLR lens (especially for color rendering, contrast and exposure accuracy - important for slides). And it's, as far as I know, far better than a ZOOM Point & Shoot camera.

 

If you really want to make GOOD pictures, and especially SLIDES, consistently and with low probability to 'miss' them, this is my advice : buy an old second hand non autofocus SLR, with automatic exposure metering, and with 2 fixed lenses (such as 28mm 2.8 and 135mm 2.8) or a (cheap) normal zoom (35-105mm) like a Canon T70 or so. Then, learn some basic techniques, and make a lot of 'trials and errors'. This is the only way I know.

Sorry, I just read your 10:56AM note .

Your choice seems logical. With some learning, the non-zoom Epic is a very good camera. I've one friend who is happy with a zoommed one (don't know how long it is). Just don't use slide films.

I would recommend the Yashica T4s. It weight ~6 oz, it is weather tight, and it can take decent photos. No zoom though. But if the situation is so bad you can't take your SLR out, then maybe even a zoom would be too much.

 

The best thing about the Yashica is it is so simple to operate and so easy to carry, I can hand it over to my bodies with instruction to take pictures of ME. I personally rather use my EOS-3.

Haluk,

 

I have been through this. I had an old SLR I never took climbing, bought a point and shoot that did okay, then bought one of the newer (mostly plastic) SLRs that is really fairly light. I would recommend you go that way with a 28-80 or 24-80 zoom. Go to company websites and add up the weight, I think you will find it worthwhile. One thing with mountaineering is that you are often shooting in mid day light. A polarizer

is essential under those conditions and you can�t do that with a point and shoot. Also with a newer SLR you can have the simplicity of a point and shoot if you want it, but a simple thing to learn is aperture priority and depth of field. Learning aperture priority will allow you to have a climber in the foreground and mountains in focus in the background. I do understand where you are coming from on weight, I think you will be disappointed if you go point and shoot. Just my opinion.

 

Stan

Hi Haluk,

I think I have additional bad news for you. I hope the pros will correct me if I'm wrong.

Since you plan shooting slides, correct exposure is necessary, but the light situation in mountains tends to cause underexposure, especialy with snow.

Then you must consider only those P&S that have exposure compensation ability. I'm aware of Fuji DL Super Mini Zoom (28-56mm) since I have it.

Another factor is how the shutter is programmed - you must avoid cameras whose program always chooses shortest shutter time possible (like Yashica T4 - I own it as well) - it leaves you with shallow DOF which is not appropriate in your case.

I'd recommend Fuji DL Super Mini Zoom. Though you will always need to make some settings on it (cancel flash, define exposure compensation) before pressing the shutter; this by the way cannot be done with one hand only.

Hope this helps,

Oleg.

Here's one of those times that an olde is a goodie. If you want really small for hiking and you want a simple SLR, check out a Pentax MX with a 40mm f2.8 'pancake' lens. It's tiny. The camera is easy to use. (will work even without batteries, if you are in a real pickle-sometimes happens when cameras get too cold). The nice thing is that you then can use any of Pentax's lenses if you ever want to branch out.

 

Alternatively Pentax autofocus cameras (some of the smallest around) with the new limited series lenses (note the 43mm f1.9) are tiny. They can be as easy to use as any point and shoot, but allow you the freedom of growing with the camera.

 

Don't forget your polarizer!

 

Doug

Yes, you can use a zoom compact in the mountains, on snow, with slide film. Their lenses are quite OK by f/16, and exposure-lock lets you get white snow. There are times when you really can't afford the weight of an SLR, and the time to use one. In some of those cases you might be able to get a good picture with a P+S, but you'll still not take a lot of great shots when you have both hands busy, are shivering too hard, are worried about dying... (all those good mountain feelings!)

 

But I think in order to use one to the full you probably need to have used an SLR as well. Manual ones survive best, zoom lenses save you getting spindrift in the mirror box but teach you less about perspective than primes do. It's also generally worth using an SLR up there whenever possible. I find I take many more pictures, and pay far more attention to framing, light, composition when using my SLR. The results are many times better.

 

As for actual cameras, I have an F3 and a nikon zoom-300. I've heard nice things about the olympus stylus (non-zoom) which is water-resistant, has a spot-meter, is really tiny and is pretty cheap ($100?) Manual nikons are the standard for mountain shooting, FMs are good and inexpensive.

 

You might want to look at these:

 

http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~qtluong/gallery/

 

http://www.mountainlight.com/articles.html