Planning a thru hike of the PCT and I’m looking for a good digital camera to bring along. Any suggestions on what features I should be looking for?
funtimecool
Good cameras - Pacific Crest Trail
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#2
You’ll want a camera that features the ability to still function after sucking up desert dust, getting dropped on a rock once a week, and being submerged in a Sierra stream.
markv
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#3
try any of the Olympus tough series.
shockproof, waterproof and freeze proof. which makes them trail proof.
Scree Freak
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#5
Based on some internet research, the Panasonic is a little out of my price range but I think I can manage some of the cameras in the Tough series. I’m curious as to how their memory cards work. On my current camera, I can only upload pictures if I plug in the camera + memory card to my computer. This is a problem because I don’t want to send my whole camera back and forth to my transcriber nor do I want to buy tons and tons of memory cards. I’ve seen cards for other cameras that are basically flash drives, so they just hook up to the back of the computer no problem. Something like that would definitely be ideal.
funtimecool
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#6
I carried an Olympus Stylus this year on the AT. It was a good camera on the trail since it was waterproof, shockproof and freeze proof. I had no issue with the camera. The battery easily held a charge between town stops (4 - 5 days). I used a 2GB card (I think - it might have been a 4GB card)and could take 1,500 pictures per card. The card is very easily remove to send back home or to take to Wal-mart and download to a disk. If you wanted to send cards home, you would only need 2 cards.
Keith
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#7
You can get a 16 gig card (make sure it’s the high speed) for like $30. Don’t skimp on your file size though, or you’ll be sorry. Sure, you could get 10,000 pictures on a 16 gig card, but why? The quality would suck, and if there were any you really liked they wouldn’t enlarge for beans.
Buy two or three cards. Enlist a freind or family member to download the pics every now and then and mail the empty card back to you. Or just keep the cards full, because 16 gigs of photos is a LOT, and you just might not fill up three cards.
Pluses of this approach: If you lose your camera at some point, you won’t lose all your pics.
Remember, you’ll probably take a lot more pics early on, then wind down as you focus more on finishing than taking pictures, rest breaks, and eating. 
daniel smith
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#8
I have the Nikon Coolpix L20 10 Megapixel. I got it this February at BestBuy for $86. It’s photo quality is awesome. I needed cheap, and this thing definitely over delivered for the price, and the abuse that I gave to it over the last 10 months. I’ll reccomend this camera or it’s newer fancier cousins in the series to any one who wants to take quality pics that they will be proud to share with their friends. The camera is decently light weight too. With batteries it weighs in at 6 ounces. I have a 8 gig memory card in it that fits a ton of pics on it. I agree with DS above, you should get several cards and mail them as you go in case you lose your camera. Take all pics on the highest quality setting possible. You can reduce the size later if you’d like to send them, or so I’ve heard. I email full high quality pics and post them on FaceBook too. The SD memcard pops out easy and inserts into any computer with a SD port. Otherwise, just carry the cord. I wish I had the cord on trail to upload pics to FaceBook for sure, but for weight I left it at home. The batteries last for months if you get the Lithium kind.
Online reviews had people complaining that the pics didn’t look good. This is because some users probably wont switch between pic modes. For example, for landscapes put it on landscape mode, for close ups, put it on Macro mode. Like all good things theres a manual you should read to get the best use out of it. Please do. You’ll learn alot about this great product.
Guino
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#9
The diff with the LX3 is that it has a larger sensor than every other point & shoot on the market, so your photos will look better. Otherwise, just take an iPhone, as the compact camera market is a dying breed. And don’t believe the hype about needing a bullet-proof design unless you’ve had bad experiences with electronics before. It’s all in how careful you are.
File size does not equate with image quality. Shoot large files if you want the flexibility to print or to resize. Otherwise shoot smaller files and fit more images on a card. A 16MB card will hold about 1000-1500 images if you shoot full size using a 12 megapixel camera.
tron
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#11
Thanks for the suggestions, I’ll definitely look into getting a bigger memory card. I want lots of pictures to remember this whole insane journey by.
funtimecool
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#12
Most cameras these days have the capability to record sound recordings for each picture taken. No need to spend any more for this … simply make sure the model you choose has it. I found it extremely helpful during my AT Thru-Hike to record info (e.g. where the picture was taken, why I took it, name of mountain top, etc).
Enjoy the hike!
Bison
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#13
That’s actually a pretty good idea! I have no idea if my current camera does that. I know it can record videos, but I’ve never actually tried, haha. I’ll look into it.
Funtimecool
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#14
I always take pictures of trail junction signs and stuff like that. This way when Im looking at my pictures from a few years ago, I have a reference point as to where that pic was taken. Another way is to take a pic of a note with peoples names on it or a location name after you take your shot. This way you know whos in the shot later.
Guino
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#15
i tried a brand new olympus stylus on the PCT in '08. It crapped out on me by the time I hit the Mt Laguna store. It was apparently shock/freeze/waterproof. I may have been at around 30 degree temps but never dropped it or submerged it in water. used a cheaper $100 model olympus from warner hot springs to manning park. worked awesome. picture quality was great. who knows, perhaps the first was a lemon.
slick b
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#16
I had good luck & good pics with the Olympus Stylus 850SW. If the issue is “bombproof,” it was.
Jester