Backpackers regularly obsess about bulk and weight, and, since I regularly backpack in the Sierra Nevada it follows that I too obsess about bulk and weight, including what kind of camera I use when hiking. I remember one memorable trip when I carried in a Nikon F-100 and a tripod: my backpack, a top-of-the-line Gregory, weighed so much that trees shook when I dumped it onto the ground! OK, maybe they didn’t, but the pack was pretty heavy. I’ve also been known to carry in additional lenses but this stopped when I left a wide-angle lens sitting on a log, only remembering it some time after I got back to the trailhead. Just one zoom lens for me now, thank you.
So I’ve tried to strike a balance between bulk and weight . . . and image quality. For a number of trips I carried an Olympus C-8080 and was extremely satisfied. Now this isn’t one of your tiny pocket-sized cameras, but hiking with the camera strap slung over one shoulder I was able to get a number of nice photos.
I’ve now switched to an Olympus E-510 SLR. As you may know, it has RAW capability, larger file size, live view, in-camera image stabilization plus the advantages of a single-lens reflex viewfinder. When I received it I immediately got out the kitchen scale and was pleasantly surprised to find out that it only weighed, with the "kit" lens, a few ounces more than the C-8080 (at most) and, equally as important, was comparable in size. So, I took it backpacking last summer, up over Bishop Pass, through Dusy Basin and then down, down, down into LeConte Canyon, and it performed very nicely.
The reason I’ve been thinking about the issue of weight and size is that Olympus has just introduced their new "pro" camera, the E-3. Unfortunately (or should I say, fortunately), it is apparently very bulky and heavy as per this review, so I have just dodged the bullet in terms of new-camera desire!
Photos: Top: Mt. Agassiz, Approaching Bishop Pass 2007 (taken with E-510.) Bottom: Rocks at Forester Pass 2005 (taken with C-8080.)
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