Hi. I have only a week to go before taking the first steps of my thruhike. Currently I’m climbing the steep learning curve of my digital camera. Great fun. Great frustration. Anyway, do folks carry their USB cord to send pics to loved ones? Are libraries and other internet stops along the trail okay with it? I loved Liteshoe’s journal last year, especially the photos…but how’d she do it?
shavone
If your camera requires you to install software on your computer to view the pictures on the camera, libraries and other internet stops won’t be helpful unless they have the same camera software. I know public libraries usually don’t allow programs to be installed by users. One method you can use is to buy a few memory cards for your camera, 64mb to 128mb, and when one is full send it home for the pics to be downloaded and then the card can be mailed back to you. This works if you have reliable “I-T” support at home.
Celt
I’m having some of the same questions with 14 days to go. I’ve got some 256 cards to send back and forth to be downloaded but it would be neat to get pics on the journal site while you are in town at a library or motel. This camera will take large (2272x1704 pixels) 2 medium (1600x1200 or 1024x768 pixels)or a small (640x480 pixel) setting for e-mail as well as superfine, fine, and normal compresson ratio settings. Can you use 1 setting that will be good for e-mail as well as for a slide show and good quality prints?
Quest
Celt nailed the method for getting images from the trail. I am swapping out 32mb cards for a friend this year as we ship and receive back the mail drop packages. As far as one resolution working for e-mail, a slide show and quality prints… unfortunately the answer is no, yes and it depends. The honest short answer is this. Take the highest resolution now and let someone size the pictures down to post to your web page. Then later, when your hike is done you will have the higher resolution for nice enlargements and possibly a slide show. If you don’t get more resolution of that nice sunset now, today, you can’t put it back in later. Technically you could make a low resolution picture bigger, but the results will not be optimal.
Allen
Hi Shavone,
Congratulations on taking The Big Walk, and thanks for the kind words on the journal. Here’s how I was able to post pictures while I walked - it was just my way, there are many ways.
I had a photo support person, a friend who was up on the technology and volunteered to help in that capacity. I would mail home my CF card in a PRIORITY tyvek envelope; inside THAT, I included a PREPAID (critical point) Priority cardboard envelope - for some reason, they will only let you prepay the cardboard ones. it worked fine. I had preaddresed the cardboard envelope, so all ken had to do was rip my envelope open, download the card(s), and stick the downloaded card right back in the pre-addressed cardboard envelope. Simple.
The only time i ever outran my CF cards was in the Whites - I took SO many pictures, and so will you, I’ll wager. Pick points further ahead than you might think. I did get the cards all back after my hike, but I had to buy some pricey ones from WalMart lest I miss The Big Day on Katahdin, and i knew i wanted unlimited capacity to photograph that day.
Bouncing a mechanism for downloading ahead might be another way, but i did not do that. I, too, was on a steep learning curve, and did not yet know how to download my cards even if I had had the means. i don’t know whether or not libraries will allow that.
On the good side, my photo support guy was also a photographer, and was great about sending me feedback - tips on including other humans to give the mountain vistas scale, tips on sharpening my out-of-focus closeups, etc. Without those tips, i wouldn’t have known until the end of my hike.
It was also great seeing the pictures posted as i went along. Again, i would have had to wait until the end of my hike.
Maybe not practical for you, but that’s how I did it. have a fantastic hike and suck it all up - it ends all too soon. Jan
Jan LiteShoe
I use film. I’m just a sucker for chemical processes, and the digitals I can afford don’t have near the pixel quality I require for slide shows, and MONSTER bad-to-the-bone prints that I sell to feed my hiking habit www.thawookie.com/print .
I shoot film using a Nikon F3, and use postage-free envelopes and order forms and send to www.photoworks.com in Seattle. They digitally scan all the negatives, post them on-line (very easy for my transcriber), and then send me the negatives and prints. They also did a fantastic job color correcting when my film got zapped by heat in So. CAL. I’m sure there are other companies that offer similar services. It can get pricey though. But check out that link above and you’ll see a print I made from a 380 MEG scan that’s 2 by 3 FEET big and totally beautiful.
Tha Wookie
What’s your setup?
I’m going to be picking up some heavier photo gear for my next long hike (I’ve regretting not carrying it on my other hikes), but am feeling the immenent weight seriously. How many lenses do you carry?
The lightest that I can see myself going is a 17-40/4 (landscapes), 50/1.4 (low light), and 70-200/4. That’s 3 pounds in lenses alone, not to mention the body (about 1 pound). Add in another 1 pound in accessories and that totals 5 pounds. I’ve recociled myself to carrying this much extra weight, but what do you do for a tripod? I can use my trekking pole as a monopod for most daylight shots that need more stability, but what about slow shutter shots like moving water, blowing flora, and star trails?
Thanks,
-Howie
HungryHowie
I too will be heavying my load with more gear. I tried using one of those mini tripods, but it really limits setup unless you like doing pushups to see through the viewfinder. My body is heavy -steel. I pull that thing out of my ultralight pack and people gasp. I go light on everything but the camera. I use a 28-110 mm lens w/macro for everything. It’s very versitile, but there are times when I see shots I can’t capture w/my limited setup. I plan on diversifying: maybe by bouncing a fisheye lens and a zoom or even a light tripod. I used the SLR on the PCT but not on the AT. You’d need a tripod or slow film with all that tree cover. The PCT is very open and bright. Sometimes too bright. Midday shots tended to get washed out but I shot’em anyway. Oh, I’m bringing a polarizer on my next trip for sure. Sooner or later, I might need to get one of those hipbelt thingygiggers to distribute all this weight -HAHA!
One last thing- I look at and use my shots almost every day. They are priceless to me. Sometimes i can still feel the breeze and hear the birds singing happy songs…
You can see some of my results at www.trailjournals.com/wookie
Tha Wookie
Great great great camera! My wife wanted something to shoot with but did not want to bother with an SLR. I ended up getting her an Olympus Stylus point and shoot. I used it on the last few hikes and have decided that I am going to keep using the SLR. I need to get another body so I have one for color and one for B&W. I’m with you though, I need to look at getting some of those hipbelt thingies for weight. By the way, your father and you both have a great eye. If your father knows of any pay to use darkrooms in the area could you let me know?
Zaphod
Hello. Thought I would let you know I have a clipping from the Red & Black about you. Very cool.
My question is how to shoot sunsets and sunrises? I have a digital Cannon G5 (SLR one day). See www.dcresource.com for features and menus of the camera. I am working with the shutter speed, aperature, ISO, etc. Can you give me some beginner advise as to how to utilize and cater these settings, please? Thanks, Dawg.
oh, great picture…love it!
Dawg
Zaphod… there is a pay darkroom in Chamblee near 285 off of Peatchtree Industrial. I can’t remember the name. They are really helpful. hmmm… let me ask a friend if I see him tomorrow.
Dawg… I’ve never shot a low-light situation with a digital SLR. But I understand that the settings work the same, so here it goes in film language:
Film is a bucket. Your goal is to fill the bucket with water. SAy you’re doing it from a hose. There are three variables that relate: 1)speed of the flow (Shutter speed) 2)width of the hose (aperature) 3)size of the bucket (speed of the film = ISO/ASA). Water is a metaphor for light. Depending on the intensity of the light, and what the photographer is going for (should the water “flow” or “freeze”?), the settings are made. Film speed works like this: The slower film (1600) is a bigger bucket. The faster film (50 or 100) is a smaller bucket. The slower it is, the more grainy it looks. Let’s do a case example before bedtime:
Sunset- 400 speed film. I like to close the aperature as wide as I can (because more in the depth of filed is in focus; search "camera obscura"), but am often limited because my film needs more light. Since I'm holding the camera (no tripod), I don't want to shoot below 1/60th of a second or it might be blurry. So I Open the aperature unitil my light meter says I can keep it staedy long enough. If I had a tripod -different story. Then I can not worry about the shakies, and can control the shot more effectively. Moral of story - stay above 1/60th and balance everything out, and place the horizon on a third of the horizontal (not the usual half) and you're golden.
Did you see my classes I teach independently now? Trail photography can be a lesson for the customized course content. It could be the entire focus if others were interested. Check out www.thawookie.com/abcsite .
Hope this helps
Tha Wookie
Mustek MDC3500 3.1Mpx, uses 2 AA alkline, really good color and definition ,very tiny cost $100. they have a web site, its all true. Even hungry Howie will have to agree for the weight. uses the SD cards, that are pretty cheap to now. Its simple to use. I also used to carry a big tripod and a Nikon FM with a 24mm lens and a yea, 500mm lens to even sometimes.:cheers
greg
I said, “I like to close the aperature as wide as I can (because more in the depth of filed is in focus;”
I meant to say "I like to close the aperature as SMALL (like F22) as I can (because more in the depth of filed is in focus;
Tha Wookie
Width of the Hose: Aperture:
small aperture = good depth of picture, no?
aperture should be open large in low light or open small in low light?
Size of the Bucket: Speed of the Film:
Could you give an example for using the ISO settings?
ISO 50 or 100 (low)?
ISO 800 (high)?
Speed of the Flow: Shutter Speed:
Fast shutter speed for quick moving object like waterfall, right?
Slower shutter speed allows more exposure time on the picture and a tri-pod should be used for best preformance, right?
Thanks, Wookie. The more I learn about you, the more I like you. Go against the flow.
DawgTrekker
dawg
Let’s call the aperature “wide” instead of large.
If it’s wide (2.8 or 3.5), then the depth of field focus is short. It lengthens as the the aperature closes (F22).
ISO(international) or ASA(american, mostly) is the speed of the film, it ranges from fast (small #s) to slow bigger #s). You match the ISO setting on your camera to the speed of your film (except for more complex circumstances I don’t have time to discuss). So if you have 400 film, set the ISO to 400 and leave it there until you put a different speed film in your camera. This tells your camera the size of the bucket.
Yes, faster shutters can capture action with less blurring. But sometimes a blurring effect is desired (getting into the artistic side here). If you have a stable tripod setup in an area with little ambient light, you can point your camera at the north star and leave the shutter open (ie, “long exposure”) for ten or fifteen minutes, thusly capuring the circular rotating action of the heavens. Pretty cool stuff!
Use a tripod for shots under 1/60 sec. Hold your breath when you shoot always (unless it’s a long exposure lol!)
I just got back to Athens today from the islands. Great weather!
Tha wookie
Hey Dawg, try this. Find a long fence or stone wall, something at least a hundred feet long. Set you camera on one post looking down the row. Set it to manual. If your using your digital camera set something large enough for it to focus on about thirty feet away. A child, something the range finder can grab. If your using a film camera with a manual lense focus on the wall about thirty feet away and leave it there. Set the shutter speed to 125. In steps start at the widest apeture, 2.8 eg. Take consecutive shots each using a large stop, 2.8, 3, 4.5 what ever you have until you run out. make sure the camera focuses on the object each time. Now look at the results. Each one will show an ever increasing “depth of field” or area that is in focus. The result is cuase by how the light passes though the lenses.
Picture a lens that is convex, that’s the one that’s not dished but rounded out like you eye ball. Light passing straight through the middle goes straight. Light, as it passes closer to the edge from center is bent by the lens curve. If you place an apeture or iris in front of the lens, works just like your eye’s iris, you can control how much bent light is allowed to enter the camera. This also controls the total light allowed in and is relative to the shutter speed. The two have to sort of match to get the picture to come out for a given scene. Matching in a way that you have a fast enough shutter speed so the picture won’t generally be blurry. Here’s a thing.
http://www.outdoorphoto.com/apert.htm
You’re local camera store should have a basic book on what’s what.
Bushwhack
What you guys are discribing is the pinhole effect. You can actually make a camera without a lens at all if you use a small enough aperature (a pinhole). Basically, everything you “see” is emitting an image in all directions. Imagine that thing as being the only thing out there. Say a ball of light. Now imagine your film just sitting somewhere, say 10 feet from the ball of light. If you draw a line from the ball of light to each spot on the film, you will get what the film will capture - just a diffuse glow. Now put an aperture in front of the film, say 3 inches in front of the film and it is really tiny. Now you can only draw one line from the ball of light to the film. So all the film will see is a single point of light. Now, with the aperture there, put another ball of light just above the other one. Say at 1 ft above it. Now you can draw a line from that ball of light to the film, and the fil will see two balls of light, upside down from what it is looking at. Now imagine putting a bunch of balls of light in the shape of a tree, each on with the proper color of a tree. The film will capture a tree upside down, as long as the aperture is small enough to only allow one ray of light through.
The problem with the pinhole camera is that it is only allowing one ray of light in at a time. A tiny hose. So, how do you get more rays of light through. Well, just put a lens where aperture was, and pick a focal length so that the single ball of light is focused exactly to one spot on the film. Add in a second ball of light, and that will too be focused at a single spot on the film… wait, it looks a little blurry. Why is that? Because it is “off-axis” You can only get a point of light to reimage in a point of light if the “central ray” (the one that is not bent by the lens) also passes throught the center of the front and rear surface of the lens. So, how do you make it a single point again? One way is to put in an aperture again, and gain some benifit of that pinhole effect again…
Okay, this is really turning into an optics lesson… I do enough of that at work 
Gravity Man
Gravity Man
I made one of those after dad got me into black and white back in the 70’s. I still have the pic I made, a telephoto of a barn. Looks like something out of the X-Files. And yeah, what you said with the ball thingy.:tongue
BW
I think I get it. I think. We’re all balls of light emitting our rays into pinholes…er, something like that. I like the website, bw. Thanks to all. I’ll fiddle and get back…
dawg
dawg
I thought we we talking about Backpacking on the A-T? Well, How do they take pictures on Mars then?OK?
Greg