What Camera to Take?

Last weekend was the chance to meet the explorers coming on the British Exploring Expedition to the Oksfjordjokelen Glacier and beyond in Finnmark, inside the Arctic Circle.  A great bunch of guys and gals!

As the expedition photographer, I have a role to help people improve their photographic skills, and advise throughout.

One of the obvious questions is – “what camera should I take with me?”.  Now, this part of the world is beautiful – apparently the landscapes are stunning; so in that case…. a photographer travelling to that sort of area should take a DSLR with a couple of lenses, right?

Well, having spent a training weekend in the snow in Cairngorm, roped up (with a harness, crampons, and ice-axe) I am not sure a big, heavy camera is the ideal companion to help you capture the expedition.  That weekend, I had my Nikon D3s in my pack and my Fujifilm x100 around my neck.  Almost every photograph I took was with my Fuji x100.  Very challenging with the fixed 23mm lens, but I got the shots, and I think they look great!

I then spent a week photographing for SkiVerbier in Switzerland – again, some of that in the snow with my Nikon D4, and it is certainly awkward – you have to be very prepared and free with movement.

Not only that, the water ingress and condensation in snowy and icy conditions makes lens changing and equipment husbandry in general difficult.

That said, as the expedition photographer I will definitely take a DSLR (probably the Nikon D3s, with a 14-24 f2.8, 24-70 f2.8, and 70-200 f2.8) with me to the Arctic – there will be opportunities to take photographs at base-camp and at tented camps that will, for me, shout DSLR.  I will also take a Manfrotto 055Pro (at 2.5kg!!) to cope with the wind and weather.   Oh….. plus a couple of SB-800 strobes and some Pocket Wizard triggers…..

But I also want to take a smaller, capable camera that will be accessible at all times and still provide great quality images, while coping with the weather….. and an optical viewfinder is preferred as looking at a screen can a. be difficult and b. waste valuable battery…

My Fujifilm X100 is almost there!  But it has no zoom, and it is not weather sealed.  The fixed lens helps, but it will still allow water in if dropped into the snow…..

So what to do?

1.  Buy a waterproof camera.

There are some good cameras around, but waterproof (underwater!) cameras start to become restricted in other areas.  Olympus TG-2 at £230 , Panasonic Lumix FT5 at £250, and Nikon Coolpix AW110 at £210 are all great cameras in this range. Fulifilm do 2 decent cameras that fit this mould – XP60, around £100 but lacking in total quality, and the new XP200 for £170 which has some great initial reviews.*

2.  Buy a waterproof case.

There are some great waterproof cases around – probably the best being DiCAPac.*  These range from £15 – £70 and there should be one to fit your camera, but be aware that it is essentially a bag over the camera so twisting dials is tricky.  But, they are easily removed, and keeping it in the bag only in the “weather” or in high condensation, and putting aside when not needed makes this a good option.

3.  Buy a Great little camera and accept it needs looking after!

The Sony RX100 is about £400, but if you can afford it and look after it, it’s a goody – but for my money, the Fujifilm X20 at £350 is great.  The zoom is not massive (28-112mm)…..BUT, it has an optical viewfinder, and a manual zoom.  Both of these factors will improve battery life.  Plus…it looks awesome!*  Neither of these are weatherproof, so a certain amount of care needs to be taken.

My final point would be – take some silica gel pouches to keep in your camera pouch or bag.  These will withdraw moisture from the bag or camera in times of high humidity….or worse..

(*other models are available, and this blog is purely to help you start investigating for yourselves!)