[pct-l] Re: camera

[pcnst@oakapple.net (David hiking PCNST in bits)]

> Years ago in the early 70's when I first started backpacking I carried a Cannon
> FT-QL slr with a standard ~50mm lens and also a 135mm lens. Didn't use the 135mm
> lens much though.  Usually too much trouble to stop and change lenses.

> Took lots of
> slides. Hardly ever looked at them.

I've had similar experiences.    Most of my slides will never be seen except
by whoever scans them in to my website, a job so boring that even my
bankrupt teenage daughter won't do it any more, for 30 cents a piece.

In one of his books, Colin Fletcher recounted the great freedom he discovered
the trip his camera broke and he could just enjoy the moment without attempting
to record it.

Even so, I've found that at least for short trips, taking lots of pictures
with a digital camera is well worthwhile, if one is in a social setting.
People seem to like to see pictures of themselves with other people, in
natural or unnatural settings.     In contrast, my photos from solo trips
get very little attention.    Natural scenery alone
doesn't really cut it in the end.
But alone or in groups, I always take lots of digital photos, so that a few
will be worth keeping - though in order to subsidize my friends in the disk
business, I keep them all.

If I ever do a long or through hike, I would probably take a small digital
camera (Olympus D510Z currently, despite numerous shortcomings) that fits
in a shoulder strap pocket, and refill it with fresh batteries and storage
media at resupply stops, and keep a backup camera in a drift box for when
the primary quits working.    That requires somebody at home to download
the filled storage media and send them back out.

> Besides how many pictures of two or three
> hiking companions sitting around some unrecalled camp or some beautiful view
> we've forgotten where does one need.

That's a real problem on long outings - months later when one organizes
the images, all the details are forgotten unless copious notes were taken
at the time.    And what through hiker has that kind of time?    Last year,
after a ten day trip in September,
I fell behind on annotating just my day hike photos
and never caught up.