5 days and 4 nights of camping

[MarkBarbieri]

I'll be camping and canoeing along a river for 5 days and 4 nights. No eletricity. No laptop.

Any recommendations for photo gear I should bring? I'm planning to bring a spare battery and a lots of SD & CF cards. I'll have my main camera, my complete set of lenses, my son's p&s camera, my remote shutter release, one flash, and my tripod.

Any good tips for camping or canoeing photography?

 

[Master Mason]

other than don't drop it in.... can't help you much

 

[Lizziejane]

I'll be camping and canoeing along a river for 5 days and 4 nights. No eletricity. No laptop.

Any recommendations for photo gear I should bring? I'm planning to bring a spare battery and a lots of SD & CF cards. I'll have my main camera, my complete set of lenses, my son's p&s camera, my remote shutter release, one flash, and my tripod.

Any good tips for camping or canoeing photography?

Sounds like you have all the right photography gear, just be sure to leave some room for a tent and the canoe!

 

[jann1033]

if your car will be nearby, last time we camped minus electric we bought a car converter so i could recharge my batteries anytime we drove somewhere. you can also run the thing off your battery ( car). it worked out really well since i only had to charge them every 4 or so days anyway.

 

[bostran1]

Batteries will definately be key over 5 days!

I'm not sure what the weather is going to be like but when I'm out camping on a river/lake I like geting up with the sun when the water is calm and getting some shots of reflections off the water (probably applies more to a lake than a constantly movie river, I guess). Also, you can do some interesting things with a sunrise while there is mist coming off of the water because of the difference in air temp. and water temp.

Good luck and I can' wait to see the results!

 

[ukcatfan]

Funny you ask, we went for an eight mile canoe trip on Monday. My advice is to keep the photo gear dry and somehow connected to you. Also, be sure to think about keeping a lens cloth dry to wipe off the front element if you do plan on using a case or similar. My shirt just just got too wet after a little while. My DW and her friends canoe tipped twice and her friend's camera bit the dust even though it was in a baggie b/c it went downstream a little and the baggie opened. I made a makeshift waterproof bag for our S2 out of a large freezer baggie, a 52mm UV filter, a 49 to 52mm step up ring, and electrical tape. It worked very well at keeping the camera dry, but the results were not the greatest and it was not that easy to handle.

After I get back home this weekend, I plan to get some of the pics out to post. I really have not taken hadly any pics on this vacation and have mainly been resting and swimming.

Kevin

 

[MarkBarbieri]

if your car will be nearby, last time we camped minus electric we bought a car converter so i could recharge my batteries anytime we drove somewhere.

We'll be going downriver through a wilderness area. We won't access to any cars or electrical sources. I'm thinking that two batteries should be sufficient for 5 days. That'll get me at least 400 shots/day.

My advice is to keep the photo gear dry and somehow connected to you.

Most of the gear will be stored in a Pelican case when we're on the river. It's waterproof and floats. The river won't be moving so fast that I fear it floating away. When I'm out of the boat, I'll be transferring gear to a backpack. The stretch that we'll probably be paddling doesn't have a lot of whitewater, so I'm pretty confident that we'll only be swimming by choice.

I considered taking our ewa-marine bag for underwater shots, but I'll probably just rely on my son's W30. The water probably won't be clear enough for much underwater shooting anyway.

 

[webshark3]

I'm not a camper, but if I went out with my DSLR, I'd reduce the review time one photos to 1 sec (just enough to see if the ISO was correct ).

I'd also buy a portable waterproof solar panel to use for a charger. Something like this...

http://www.batterystuff.com/solar-chargers/PF6.5w.html

but I think there are custom ones out there for camping.

 

[MICKEY88]

We'll be going downriver through a wilderness area. We won't access to any cars or electrical sources. I'm thinking that two batteries should be sufficient for 5 days. That'll get me at least 400 shots/day.


Most of the gear will be stored in a Pelican case when we're on the river. It's waterproof and floats. The river won't be moving so fast that I fear it floating away. When I'm out of the boat, I'll be transferring gear to a backpack. The stretch that we'll probably be paddling doesn't have a lot of whitewater, so I'm pretty confident that we'll only be swimming by choice.

I considered taking our ewa-marine bag for underwater shots, but I'll probably just rely on my son's W30. The water probably won't be clear enough for much underwater shooting anyway.

why not secure the pelican case to the canoe, that way if you tip over, you only have to grab the canoe...

 

[MarkBarbieri]

I'm not a camper, but if I went out with my DSLR, I'd reduce the review time one photos to 1 sec (just enough to see if the ISO was correct ).

I'd also buy a portable waterproof solar panel to use for a charger. Something like this...

http://www.batterystuff.com/solar-chargers/PF6.5w.html

but I think there are custom ones out there for camping.

I'm tempted to turn the review off and just pull them up manually as needed. I wonder what percent of battery usage the LCD accounts for. It probably doesn't matter; two batteries should get me through three full days and two half days OK. Still, it is cutting it a bit close. I did order a couple of spare batteries for the kids camera. I really don't have a good sense for how long that battery lasts or how much the kids will use the camera.

I'm also concerned about power consumption during star trails shots. Anyone know if that uses any appreciable amount of energy during exposure?

The charger looks pretty cool, but I don't think I'll hassle with it for short trips. I'd be more inclined to add more batteries. The boys might want one for charging their eletronic toys. Then again, if they're using their electronics that much, we probably aren't doing enough to make the trip interesting.

One other power consumer that I'm bringing is a voice recorder. I ordered an Olympus (yeah, first Pentax, now Olympus, who knows where it will end) voice recorder that can hold lots and lots of voice recordings. I'd like to record the conversations around the camp and in the boat. My plan is to pull snippets from the conversations to use later in a slideshow.

why not secure the pelican case to the canoe, that way if you tip over, you only have to grab the canoe...

That's a good suggestion. I'll have to weigh the gear safety increase against the hassle factor and the added risk of entanglement. All in all, we'll be on a really tame stretch of river and my wife and I have lots of experience canoeing, so I don't see tipping the boat as a significant risk. Still, you never know. I wouldn't be bringing the pelican if I didn't think that there was some chance that something could go wrong.

 

[MICKEY88]

That's a good suggestion. I'll have to weigh the gear safety increase against the hassle factor and the added risk of entanglement. All in all, we'll be on a really tame stretch of river and my wife and I have lots of experience canoeing, so I don't see tipping the boat as a significant risk. Still, you never know. I wouldn't be bringing the pelican if I didn't think that there was some chance that something could go wrong.

use the shortest line possible to reduce risk of entanglement..

 

[webshark3]

Just to give you unofficial numbers

I get about 300-350 shots (RAW) on my 300D with NO flash to one BP-511 battery (3 year old original Canon battery), using Flash memory. Microdrives will reduce the battery faster.

I average about 100 photos on my Pentax Optio WP (mixed flash and no flash) to one battery.

I'm pretty sure (but not totally) that star trails will drain the battery rapidly. A "normal photo" has the CMOS sensor active for 1/60 sec. Now imagine it active for an hour...

 

[klmall]

Mark - My advice is very basic. I have canoed and rafted on two long trips and never take my Canon G5 (been too chicken) but I wished I had taken my old Canon (2 mp). My trips have been on big lakes, rivers and whitewater in Maine and whitewater in Idaho. Weather is as much a threat as falls into the river.

Sounds like you are packing your own gear, (not outfitter/guided) correct? The Pelican case sounds good. Hopefully it allows quick access to your camera but I always find canoeing keeps me so busy that taking pictures is a far second activity when on the water, especially if kids are around. Use a large carabiner to attach your small dry bag or Pelican case handle to the canoe thwart. Bring a few extra carabiners to attach things as needed.

Don't laugh, but our Scouts have had excellent luck with getting a wide variety of on the water pictures of everyone in the group using waterproof cameras with the long rubber bands that can be hooked right to their PFDs. We develop them on cds and edit using Photoshop Elements.

As to getting memorable camping pictures go for the everyday activities such as putting up tents, loading the canoes, cooking meals, washing dishes, dirty faces, and sleepy heads waking up in the morning. Take a picture of each site to keep track of your trip later. Be sure to take a group picture at the beginning AND at the end to show the wear and tear! If you can have real campfires be sure to try for a picture. I love campfire pictures with people in the background. Get the nitty gritty and the beauty of paddling. I always wanted to catch the paddle mid-stroke dripping...........canoes in a rows and so on

Have a wonderful trip and let us see the results!

Here's a few of my fave's taken using an older Canon: