Point and Shoot

imported
#1

I’m looking for a good 35mm trail camera, any suggestions? I think it’s time to graduate from the disposable. Thanks

Drew

#2

hey there,

i would suggest any of the cannon elph series.  they are all very small, compact and lightweight. also it is nice to have an aps film type because you can take 3 different size pictures, 3x5 4x6 and panoramic.    

 i own the cannon elph sport.  it is nice because it is waterproof up to like 33 ft.  so when your hiking you dont have worry about it getting wet or dropping it in a lake or whatever crazy things one might do.    and the cannon elph cameras are all inexpensive unless you start into the digital ones.    

  also just a tip for film when hiking long distances,  buy on ebay.  i just bought 20 rolls of 25 exposure aps film for just $19.24. you cant beat that with a stick you know. okey dokey   i hope this helps you out some.

have a wonderfull day and the grandest hike of your life!!!

orion pct 2005

orion

#3

I respectfully disagree with orion. I strongly dislike the elph. Yes it is lightweight, but aps film is a major pain (in my opinion). Plus, you asked about 35 mm.

I really like the Olympus Stylus. It is durable, water-resistant, and has a glass lens, making for extra-sharp pictures. It is the best point & shoot camera on the market (and not bad price-wise either).

FrogLog

#4

I have to agree with FrogLog, I have an Olympus Stylus 300, it is small, lightweight, durable, very water resistant, easy to use, and takes great pictures (3.2 Megapixel, more then enough, IMHO… those 5-6 Megapix cameras are overkill)…the Nikon Coolpix cameras tend to be a little less durable, and more expensive, for rough hiking use…

Check websites like pricewatch.com for comparison pricing, they have come down significantly, especially as everyone wants (thinks, see above) that they need ultra-high pixel shots… A hiking partner just bought one from B+H photo online, including all the periphereal stuff, plus an extra battery and a 256 xD card, all for under $225 (he had it shipped overnight at that)…

-xtn :boy

airferret

#5

I have used a Cannon Elph series camera on my last 2 section hikes and love mine. It’s very small, lightweight, and has held up well to the trail so far. I recommend it also.

Zydecajun

#6

I bought a relatively cheap pentax camera (about $100) for my hike. It wasn’t waterproof like the Elf, but it would switch from the normal photo size to panoramic which I LOVED for the shots that just couldn’t work in normal size. You get regular film, but they develop them panoramically. I think it basically chops off a bit of the top and the bottom, but I was NOT disappointed with my photos with that camera. you can look on my journal if you want www.trailjournals.com/joy for some photos.

Xena

#7

From someone who has sold cameras in all prices ranges for a good number of years in a camera store, the best way to buy a camera is to take the recommendations you receive here, write each model number down, & then go to your closest store & try them. It won’t be long before you find a favorite.

I found that opinions on “the best” camera is a very subjective thing. What one person dislikes, another person loves. All take good photos, so it then becomes a matter of which feels, balances, and weighs “right” in your hands, looks best through the viewfinder when you put it up to your eye (or view the LCD if you go digital), and has the features that you want & are “learnable” according to your abilities.

I sold a LOT of cameras over the years when I finally learned to not ‘push’ my personal favorite & to let each customer pick up & try various models out in the price ranges they were interested in. It never took long before each was able to determine their favorite, and I never had any come back that were functioning properly.

Remember that, if you go digital, don’t settle for anything less than a 3 megapixel camera. This will work fine for up to 8 X 10 enlargements or print-outs or for reasonable blow-ups of cropped areas. Anything less becomes noticeable in the final results. And, of course, the higher the megapixels, the greater the enlarging and/or ‘zooming’ printing quality.

eBay does indeed have some great values, but try to handle one first in a store before you put your bid down on it.

Canaima

#8

Drew –

I can’t comment on the Elph, but I did use APS for years. I liked being able to adjust photo size in the beginning…handy when taking the photos. However, once I got the photos developed, it was a different story. Huge pain in the ass to find albums that can accomodate all the different sizes. Mine from 4-5 years ago still sit in stacks or boxes.

I don’t know what your post-hike plans are for photo storage, but if you do albums, think HUGE time investment…both to find a suitable album, then arrange photos how you want. Some places (printfile.com is one) sell sleeves specifically for APS sizes, but the individual sheets are either all 4x6 size, or 4x7, or panoramic…challenging for me to display the photos chronologically. If you scan and store in digital format, then albums ain’t an issue (tho I would ask, why not just take dig photos in the first place?)

When I did APS, I bought some film in bulk on eBay (as Orion recommends) and thought I’d scored a huge deal. When the film arrived, I discovered most of it was long expired. Be careful with eBay bulk deals and too-good-to-be-true prices.

I haven’t used a good, small 35 mm on the trail so I can’t recommend anything there…just offering my opinion/experience with APS. For my part, I use a Pentax Optio S4 (4 megapix) while hiking, a very small and handy digital. Gotten awesome pics with this.

Backtrack

#9

Olympus Stylus for a point and shoot is the best bang for the buck. Xena is correct, if you have a camera that shoots “panoramic” the camera slides covers down over that frame of film so the top and bottom does not get exposed and they just chop off the top and bottom of the photo when they print it to make it look panoramic, you don’t actually get any more image left to right.

Prospector

#10

You can’t beat APS (24 mm) for panoramic shots. And when you’re on a hill or mountain top on the trail, and the lighting is good, a good panoramic shot is unlike anything else you can take to show beautiful scenery. So there are times when you want to use the APS format, and other times that you won’t. Again, it’s very subjective, just like picking out a good camera. It depends what you want to do with the camera.

Having said that, remember that, being a smaller format, the standard shots you take with APS (24 mm) won’t enlarge into the larger-size enlargements (above 8 X 10) with as much clarity as a 35 mm shot. But that only matters if you’re concerned about big enlargements or selective cropping.

There’s also the difficulty of finding a suitable frame to display your panorama photo properly, and it’s tough to get them enlarged further. But you can’t beat the image for it’s “wide-view” impact.

Are there any alternatives? In fact, there is, but the end result is digital and will require some work on your part. The beauty of it, though, is that it will work with any format or camera type because if you don’t have a digital camera, you can just scan your photos to produce a panorama digital result.

First, take a series of overlapping shots from left to right (or right to left - doesn’t matter). The overlap is crucial, although an excessive amount isn’t necessary.

Once you get home & have some time on your hands, if you haven’t taken them in digital format, scan your overlapping photos and save them to your hard drive. Next, with a good graphics program (Photoshop,if you can afford it, or Photoshop Elements or Jasc’s Paint Shop Pro for cheaper alternatives.

You can try to paste them together, and you’ll wind up with mixed results. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. A better alternative is to pick up a “photo-stitching” program to “stitch” the photos into a panoramic view. I like Panavue ImageAssembler myself (http://www.panavue.com/index.htm), but there are other programss out there that are equally good.

These programs make a better panoramic image possible than just trying to stitch them together manually. A stitched panoramic image will only want to stitch together properly in the shape of an inverted “U”. Distortion arises when you try to make them rectangular. A good stitching program helps you do this with less distortion, and therefore makes for a more naturally-looking panoramic shot.

The results can be absolutely stunning.

So how best to show it off? Why not convert it into a panning FLASH file? You can do this easily with Imagematic’s StillMotion Creator. Then send it to a friend, or make a screensaver out of it.

Here’s an example I made with both programs mentioned above in Rio a few months ago. It consists of 6 photos taken to produce about a 200-deg. panorama:

http://www.cclausen.net/other/windows-rio_screensaver.htm

Again, what format you use all depends upon what you want to do with the camera - what kinds of photos you want to take. Each format has its pros & cons. Only you can decide what kinds of photos you want to take and what your budget is. Let these guide you to the best camera in the format of your choosing.

Canaima

#11

I have used the Canon Elph on numerous hikes and use all 3 photo sizes. As an album I use an artists drawing/sketch pad from the craft store and rubber cement on the photos. The pads come in different sizes and number of pages. The acid free paper type in 11x14 and 24 sheets can be $4 - $8 depending on if the store has a discount coupon. With something like this the photos of different sizes can be mixed on the same pages, and you can write your comments on the page with the pictures. Things such as brochures, maps, permits, calling cards, etc. that were collected along the way can be added in.

Bionic Boots

#12

Thanks for everyone’s advice, I think I may have narrowed it down to an olympus stlyus 150 and a cannon elph sport, both of which i’ve find cheap online. I just need to go and get my hands on each before I decide.

Drew