[pct-l] SLR Camera

[Robert Bridges]

Sarah,

I think you're hitting this from the right angle - camera
access is critical if you're serious about the memories, and no matter
how easy it is; you're going to miss a lot of pix you wish you'd caught
later (not to mention the hiking time you'd lose monkeying with
it).

We've carried a Panasonic ultrazoom model on our recent
section hikes, and though not an SLR, the geometry is typical to an SLR
with a short lens.  Our solution was a lightweight fanny pack worn
backwards, with a disposable plastic cup cut off and lying in the
bottom, cut to length so the lens wouldn't quite touch the bottom of
the cup (I generally kept a polarizing filter on the lens any time I
was out in the open in good light anyway).  Just drop the camera into
the cup (lens down, lens cap off) when you're done - pick it up and
shoot (often left it in standby if I was taking lots of pix) when you
need.  Blew a little dust off the lens / filter occasionally, but no more
cleaning than we'd do anyway.  Zipping the fanny pack shut depends on
weather and terrain.  Adjust the strap length to avoid bouncing, which
becomes a deal-breaker wherever you mount the thing (atop the hip belt worked best for me).

For
my money, the ultrazoom was more functional than an SLR - I often took
a 500mm shot and a 28mm shot within seconds of each other, and our
image quality bested the majority of SLR shots we've seen out
there.  YMMV,  but below's a link to a message I posted last month on
the "what kinda camera should I take?" query.

http://mailman.backcountry.net/pipermail/pct-l/2009-February/025052.html

Have fun, get some great memories, and we'll look forward to seeing them.

Bob & Coleen