Best Camera for Denali Expedition

[ambys]

Hey folks,

 

I'll be attempting Denali this summer, and it goes without saying that I have every intent of bringing home some great pictures.

 

I currently own a Nikon D-50 DSLR camera that I bring everywhere I go. As far as Denali goes...

Pros:

* GREAT battery life - about 2000 pictures per charge (no flash).

* Good quality, obviously; both of my lenses have Nikon ED glass.

Cons:

* Very heavy and bulky

* Have to manage both detachable lenses

* Lens fog? (I don't know if this will be notably different than a standard point and shoot)

 

I'm hoping that somebody can weigh in on whether or not this is my best bet, or if there is a smaller point-and-shoot that would compromise not *too much* quality for a lot of convenience and saved weight. I'll be bringing with me a solar panel and rechargeable batteries, so it would be great if whatever you recommend could take AAs or AAAs.

 

Obviously if the D-50 is my best bet, I'm happy to use it . That said, if there's good reason not to bring it, I do have the budget to buy something smaller.

 

And please, feel free to weigh in even if you're not a photography expert! I'm most interested in hearing what folks use on the mountains, regardless of photographic knowledge

 

Thanks in advance,

Ambys

[crazy_t]

I have a d50, i think it's a good balance btw weight and photo quality. It's not enough optical quality sometimes, but I'd rather have it's weight (pretty light considering) than less quality.

[BirdDog]

My advise is to get a camera that has large buttons and can be operated with gloves on. A lot of frostbitten fingers have occurred while snapping that summit shot. I've a small Nikon L5, nice shutter botton size, but you need a finger nail to hit the ON button. My 2 cents.

[wfinley]

I always carry both a point and shoot and my SLR. I carry 2 lenses for my SLR (a fixed 20 and a 28-200); but usually only carry the mid-zoom on summit day. My fully manual SLR worked fine on Denali until the summit ridge where it froze solid. My P&S I always keep in my jacket pocket so it stay toasty and the battery lasts a very long time. It's up to you; a P&S won't give you the pix your SLR will; however it's only a quarter the weight. That said your SLR will most likely stay in your pack except for breaks and camps whereas an accessible P&S will give you better spur of the moment shots.

 

So if I were you I'd bring the D50 but also buy a small point and shoot!

[underworld]

The best camera for denali expedition is the one having the most phun.

 

 

[Clavote]

Get yerself one of those new Olympus Stylus 770SW cameras.

 

Great fun point and shoot camera and it is fully sealed. You can take it 33 feet underwater and it can be dropped onto granite from five feet.

 

I also like that it has an altimeter and barometer.

 

Kinda cool and it's small. The batteries are real small too.

[ambys]

Thanks for all the replies. I'm still not sure exactly what I'll do, but I'm leaning towards taking the D-50 and a P&S, and perhaps leaving the D-50 at mid or high camp. Everybody else will have P&S cameras, so I'm not too worried about the "summit shot", but your point is well taken.

 

Ambys

[wfinley]

Thanks for all the replies. I'm still not sure exactly what I'll do, but I'm leaning towards taking the D-50 and a P&S, and perhaps leaving the D-50 at mid or high camp. Everybody else will have P&S cameras, so I'm not too worried about the "summit shot", but your point is well taken.

 

FWIW - Hauling a SLR to 17 camp is well worth the weight - if the weather cooperates the photos you can get from high camp can be some of the best from your trip.

[ambys]

You're not making this any easier!

 

But thanks. Come to think of it I can probably get good P/S shots from my buddies and take care of the dSLR shots myself.

[jerseyscum]

disposables work pretty good.

[ambys]

disposables work pretty good.

I need a decent lens and zoom, so that just won´t cut it.

[rickus]

Ambys,

 

I'm doing Denali this year too. I also have the D50. I opted out of taking it up the mountain though. The first couple of camps can be quite wet depending on the time of year you're planning on climbing. The last thing I wanted to do was to trash my digital SLR by getting water in it. So I went to my local camera shop and explained what I was doing and my concerns and they handed me the Nikon COOLPIX L12. It's wonderfully light, about 5oz with batteries. When loaded with fresh Lithium batteries can take about 500 shots. It excepts up to a 4GB card and has a host of brilliant built in features. The zoom isn't the best in the world but I'm willing to make that sacrifice whereas I'm not willing to sacrifice my D50.

 

Best of luck to you on your climb. I'm at 27 days now and counting.