Camera Buying - should I sacrifice zoom or picture quality?

[Harrison Bergeron]

One feature nobody has mentioned is recharging. The only decent waterproof cameras I could find that can be charged with a simple USB cable are Olympus and Sony. From what I read, the Olympus requires a proprietary USB cable, so it was out.

Right now, the Sony TX20 is $200 direct from Sony, including an 8G SD card. I just ordered it. It's got 4X optical zoom and only weighs 4.2 oz.


By the way, for me the main reason to take a camera as well as a smartphone is boot-up time and waterproofness. Waterproof is a requirement. I've already ruined a nice Canon Powershot hiking with it. And I hike with my phone turned off to save the battery, so by the time it boots up cold, whatever I'd want to take a picture of has already wandered off. If I carried my phone where I could get to it, it would be ruined the same as that Canon.

[Bencape4]

as for the samsung w300, looks really nice, but does it have a screwy thingy to mount it to a stick pic or tripod or something?

[Odd Man Out]

as for the samsung w300, looks really nice, but does it have a screwy thingy to mount it to a stick pic or tripod or something?

I got one of these for Christmas - It's all plastic so it is very lightweight, but I'm not sure how much it weighs.

http://joby.com/gorillapod/original

[Dogwood]

WOW, I've learned so much on this thread. Thanks all for sharing. I'm a aspiring novice photographer but when on a long distance hike I'm always trying to find the right balance in a camera being super compact(it has to fit in my hipbelt pocket on my pack for super quick access, what's the use of a camera if you can't get it out and up and running in time to capture pics, especially when shooting wildlife, although I know I can't get the detail of long range shots of wildlife with all my other camera considerations so I've settled for less of this ability with a long distance hiking super compact camera, I'll entertain suggestions in this regard), super light wt, easy for me to understand without a lot of features I'm not going to use(I do want video and panoramic features and much prefer vid w/sound), decent battery life, decently large memory card, decent(quick) start up time, short lag/recycling time between pics, at least 5 x optical zoom although my current Nikon CoolPix S6300 has a 10x optical zoom which is damn good in a light wt compact camera, image stabilization, and decent pic quality although I know pic quality isn't just about the camera it's also about the user. I think I got that right balance in my camera although I also will entertain all comments. HELP me understand! Feel free to correct anything wrong in the way I'm currently thinking about my long distance hiking camera! Again, thanks all for your input.

[Popnfrsh24]

awesome thread..this is going to help me pick out a camera for my thru hike!

[Popnfrsh24]

would you say the s100 series cameras are durable enough for a thru hike? How important is it to get a waterproof or shockproof camera if it is going to be stored in a dry bag in my pack?

[Odd Man Out]

I got one of these for Christmas - It's all plastic so it is very lightweight, but I'm not sure how much it weighs. http://joby.com/gorillapod/original

BTW, on my kitchen scale it came in at 1.5 oz.

[Harrison Bergeron]

Update on the Sony TX20. It's a great camera. Very light, 4.8 oz with battery and SD card. It takes absolutely stunning pictures and has every bell an whistle imaginable except for GPS.

But I was wrong about one key point. It does use a USB charger and can be charged from a computer but it has a NON-STANDARD USB connector on the camera side. So it also requires a proprietary USB cable, same as the Olympus. I don't know why every company insists on re-inventing the USB standard, but for some mysterious reason it's important to them. At least a cable weighs less than an entire charger. I'd still recommend it as a great hiking camera.

One outstanding feature is the user interface. It has a touch screen menu that's much easier to understand instead of the usual assortment of incomprehensible icons. And the manual is built-in, so you can leave the paper version at home.

[Slo-go'en]

I was debating whether or not to buy yet another camara, but my current one is starting to become flakey. I was checking out the selection at my local Wallyworld, which seems to be cleaning out the camara department. I ended up buying a Samsung ST66 for $62, a pretty good deal. I'm just hopeing I don't regret getting a camara with a li-ion battery which needs to be recharged.

[leaftye]

Update on the Sony TX20. It's a great camera. Very light, 4.8 oz with battery and SD card. It takes absolutely stunning pictures and has every bell an whistle imaginable except for GPS.

But I was wrong about one key point. It does use a USB charger and can be charged from a computer but it has a NON-STANDARD USB connector on the camera side. So it also requires a proprietary USB cable, same as the Olympus. I don't know why every company insists on re-inventing the USB standard, but for some mysterious reason it's important to them. At least a cable weighs less than an entire charger. I'd still recommend it as a great hiking camera.

One outstanding feature is the user interface. It has a touch screen menu that's much easier to understand instead of the usual assortment of incomprehensible icons. And the manual is built-in, so you can leave the paper version at home.

One option is the Cottonpickers charger. It's a very tiny usb charger that will charge any lithium ion battery. Using its magnetic clips, you can charge the phone, camera and headlamp batteries if those devices have removable lithium ion batteries. The reason that's nice is that you can have a backup battery and charge the depleted battery while still using the device.

If the Cottonpickers charger is too expensive for you, you can get a Tindie charger that's also very tiny, but you have to source your own magnetic clips for it. Unlike the Cottonpickers charger, the Tindie doesn't have adjustable charging rates or a screen, and it's also slower. It's only $11 though.

[Odd Man Out]

would you say the s100 series cameras are durable enough for a thru hike? How important is it to get a waterproof or shockproof camera if it is going to be stored in a dry bag in my pack?

I had an S95. Sorry to say, I dropped it once (in Quebec City) and it was toast. I really liked it and would get another if I could afford it. I replaced it with an SX 260 (their best long zoom pocketable P&S). This time I got the extended warranty and promised to myself to be more careful.

So the answer, I would way yes, the S100 series are plenty durable for a thru hike, as long as you don't let it get wet, don't drop it, and you get the extended warranty.

[Bear168]

I would put value in the optical zoom (not digital zoom) over Mega pixels. 8 to 10 mp is good enough to print some decent sized photos.. If the main point of inertest of the photo is small because you could not zoom in you will gwt alot of pixelation of the photo. Having hiked wth my film SLR and the DLSR and several lences for many years I looking for less weight to. Plus don't want to carry battery charger either, so AA batteries are in my plans. That being said I still want best of boyh worlds so I'm looking something like this



Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H200 Digital Camera and a small gorilla pod.
little heavy but works on AA batteries and has both high optical zoom and MPs.
20.1MP 1/2.3" Super HAD CCD Sensor
Sony 26x Optical Zoom Lens
35mm Equivalent Focal Length: 22.3-580mm
3.0" 460k-Dot Clear Photo LCD Monitor
HD 720p Video at 30fps
Optical SteadyShot Image Stabilization
Picture and Beauty Effect
360° Sweep Panorama
Face Detection and Smile Shutter
Uses AA Batteries

[Portie]

Do AA batteries really save you anything? They seem to weigh a lot and my old Canon used four AAs and my old Pentax DSLR also used four AAs. Very heavy. I always liked AAs until I got my newer cameras.

My newest camera is a Canon SX30 (which was way below $200 as a Canon refurb back in December and a great camera). It uses a tiny LI battery. That battery seems to last forever. I'd be comfortable buying a spare LI battery to carry with me, and then put the charger in a bounce box and charge both batteries every 2-3 weeks in a town. I suppose someone from home could also mail you a couple of these spare batteries every few weeks and you could mail home the expended batteries in a very small padded envelope. On Ebay the spare batteries are pretty cheap.

[leaftye]

It doesn't help that AA's are usually in bulky cameras.

Alkaline AA's shouldn't be used. Only lithium or nimh. My experience shows that both offer incredible battery life. With a Canon a720 (2AA) I've taken over 700 shots on a single charge of nimh Eneloop AA's. With a Fujifilm S9000 (4AA) I've taken over 2000 shot on a single charge with nimh Eneloop AA's. Lithium AA's should have performed even better at a lower weight, and doesn't require recharging. Not requiring charging is one of the big advantages of lithium AA's. Eliminating charging means getting out of town more quickly. There's a AA cell phone too.

http://www.amazon.com/SpareOne-Emerg.../dp/B008B291SQ

[Dogwood]

Me likee likee this thread. Still reviewing some of the pics some of you have submitted. Enjoy so much of what I've already seen. Brad some nice stuff. Another Kevin, I almost enjoyed the way you described the waterfall shot more than the shot of the waterfall. Ahh! I actually feel like I"m there with all of you with the way some of your shots have been taken! PLEASE keep taking me beyond my current photography ignorance level. Feed me!

[Odd Man Out]

Another bit of advice my uncle (professional photographer) gave me is not to chase MPs. 10 good megapixels is better than 16 crappy megapixels. In general, the bigger the light collecting chip, the better. These were from South Padre Island with my Canon S95. Can you find the nighthawk in the last pic?

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