[at-l] Cameras - Say Cheese!

[Bob Cummings <ellen@clinic.net> (Bob Cummings)]

I want pictures. I will carry a camera on my thru.
So -
1) what are the advantages and disadvantages of slides vs. digital vs.
photo?

Answer

A professional photographer ran a workshop on digital photography at the ATC
conference last summer. He strongly recommended against a digital camera for a
thru hike. His reasons? Battery life. Very expensive storage if you want more
than mediocre results, fragile equipment, expense.

 2)I am no technical camera
bug, but I do publish photos from time to time. Does that doom me to slides?

Answer Most publications prefer slides. I find slides produce the best pictures
in the newsletters I publish.

3).  I also wouldn't mind putting some pictures on my website, esp. as I went
along. Does that doom me to digital?

Answer. Not to a digital camera, but to a digital scanner to convert slides or
film to digital. You will need some one back home who can operate a scanner.
Very easy. But it does require some attention to details. Fairly decent scanners
run around $200. Get one that will handle slides and negatives. HP has an
excellent one that my wife just bought for $199.

4) Am I doomed to carry a heavy camera?

Answer. No. My point and shoot weighs 11 ounces with film.

5) I already have a Minolta Freedom Action Zoom 90. I don't mind getting another
if it will suit my needs (i.e., lighter, significantly better picture quality,
etc.)

Answer If the pictures look good, they are good. Most such cameras take good
pictures. A slightly longer focal length is marginally useful, but not worth
spending a lot of money on. The same is true of an ounce or two of extra weight.

Addendum:

I took slides on the trail, because I knew MATC and AMC would ask for shows. I
was surprised how many additional invites followed those two. MATC especially
wanted some trail maintenance pixs. But I sought to document pretty much those
things that one sees while hiking the trail. With that theme I don't have to do
a lot of talking when I show the slides. I tell folks, "This is what you see"
and then I pop 240 slides on a screen with minimum explanations and a joke or
two. MOst audiences don't want elaborate explanations of who, what and why.

Increasingly all my photos are slides. I needed a scanner for my newsletters and
I tend to take too many pictures anyway in an effort to get the one "that's just
right." With prints I have 12 prints for everyone that is really worth looking
at. The rest just kick around in a file, taking up space.

With slides I scan in those that I like and print them on my printer. Excellent
results can be gotten from $100 printers these days. I sense that slides overall
are cheaper, better and more versatile. YMMV

Weary