While there are many books on how to take better photos, there are none (that I can find) covering the needs of a mountaineer. The closest book on the subject is “Guide to Climbing Photography” by Jeff Achey. It is a good resource for the minimalist way to climb rock with an SLR, but doesn’t cover mountaineering specifically. With this in mind, I thought I’d share a few of my thoughts on the subject.
My experience with digital photography lies entirely with Canon’s line of DSLRs. While Nikon and other brands make fantastic cameras that will give superb results, I’m not entirely familiar with their model ranges. As such, this article primarily will refer to Canon’s mode lineup. However, the advice given can apply universally to any manufacturer’s cameras.
The name of the game when it comes to mountaineering photography is how much you’re willing to suffer for the results. A 10 pound tripod, 5 lenses, and a Canon 1 series camera would certainly provide some excellent photos, but I would seriously question the sanity of anyone that wants to carry that to the top of a 6,000 meter peak. So, we need to pare down the amount of gear required.
Technical Routes
To start, you need to know how technical of a route you’re going to be on. If you’re climbing a route that’s anything more than AD on the French alpine grading system. the best you’re going to be able to use at altitude (without putting your life at risk) is most likely a point and shoot. Get yourself something like the Canon G series point and shoots and bring some spare charged batteries.
A guide I climbed with liked to keep a point and shoot in a waterproof box tied around his neck with a bit of webbing. When needed, he would take the camera out of the box and snap away. This way the camera was secure and easily accessible when you are tied in and want to take a shot. On any sort of technical route, you will not be able to easily take two hands away from your tools to focus and compose a picture with an SLR.
On a less technical route, you will be able to effectively compose a photograph with an SLR. In this case, the altitude becomes the main concern. The higher you climb, the more difficult it will be to carry each pound of gear. So, you will want to limit yourself to the bare essentials. Any non-essential weight should be eliminated to reduce pack size and the difficulty of climbing. The first place to start in this weight reduction program is the camera itself.
The Camera
While cameras like Canon’s full size 1 series are rugged and waterproof, they are simply too large and too heavy for the purposes of mountaineering photography. I have seen a few people carrying them, but they take up massive amounts of pack space and in my opinion don’t provide a whole lot more to justify the added weight and bulk.
So, the heavy weight solution in my mind would be something along the lines of a Canon 5d Mk 2. The camera weighs in at around 1.8 pounds (810g) without a battery (body only). It’s not a cheap camera (Around $2500US), but it’s lighter than a 1 series body and has unrivaled picture quality.
For the rest of the world, I say skip the mid level ‘pro-sumer’ cameras like the Canon 50d and go with an entry level consumer model like the Canon 450d. While this may be heresy in photography circles, there is sound reasoning behind the idea.
The major difference between an entry level camera such as the 450d and a pro-sumer model like the 50d is the ergonomics of the camera. The 50d for example has a nice thumb-stick and wheel to change the various settings on the camera. To aid in this, the camera is quite a bit larger and feels a bit more comfortable in the hand in daily usage.
The consumer models however are much more bare bones. Anything that isn’t needed is stripped out entirely. The core capabilities of the camera still exist, but anything that isn’t needed has been removed. This is exactly what we’re looking for. The result is a camera that performs much the same as its bigger brother, but without much of the weight and the bulk. As a nice side effect, the 450d is significantly cheaper than the 50d.
The 50d weighs in at 1.6 pounds without a battery while the 450d weighs in at 1.1 pounds. While this weight savings might not seem like a lot, any weight saved adds up quickly and can make a significant difference in my pack at altitude.
Lenses
The eternal question of photography is always what lenses to bring along on an outing. When every ounce counts, this question is of extreme importance. For a summit push I limit myself to two lenses maximum. This makes me think carefully about exactly what I will shoot and reduce anything that I probably won’t need.
When picking a lens, the first thing you need to decide is are you going to use zoom lenses or primes. A prime lens is limited to a single point of view but tends to be quite a bit lighter and have slightly better picture quality than the zoom equivalent.
A zoom lens on the other hand will be a bit heavier but will be much more versatile. My main lens can zoom from 24mm to 105mm. This gives me a somewhat wide field of view at the wide end and a decent telephoto at the long end. While a zoom lens is heavier than a single prime lens, the universal applicability of the zoom makes it indispensable for a mountaineer.
The second choice you need to make is what field of view you are going to need. For the summit push you do not want to take any photo equipment that you might not use. I’ve found that I rarely use my telephoto lens since my photos tend to be of the mountain I’m climbing and not the others in the area. So, my 70-200mm zoom stays at home or at base camp while I climb.
So, the two lenses that end up in my pack are a super-wide angle lens (such as the Tokina 11-16 f/2.8 or the Sigma 10-20mm f/3.5-4.5) and a normal zoom (Canon 24-105mm f/4L IS). With these two lenses I can cover nearly everything that I’m bound to come across from close up detail shots to landscapes or group summit photos.
While a discussion of specific lenses is beyond the scope of this article, I should point out some general things to keep in mind. When looking at the end photograph from a DSLR, the big differentiator is going to be the lens that was used. I tend to spend a bit more weight in my pack on professional series lenses as a result. That said, there are some fantastic lightweight consumer level lenses that will save a disturbingly large amount of money over the professional versions and quite a bit of weight.
Thanks Branden. Great info
Great stuff, man. Always nice to see the work of a peer. You should add buttons to the bottom of your posts to digg, stumble, etc your content.-Tom
Nice article, Branden. I just wanted to mention that I was in the process of writing a book on hiking and climbing photography that should cover all of these issues (should be in the bookshelves in early 2011), and I also have a similar article on my website. Interestingly, all of the images in the article were shot on Chopicalqui, almost visible on your photo. I had been in that camp and climbed Yanappaccha three days before, but didn’t get such a nice photo as yours.
It’s a beautiful area of the world. Funny enough I know the person and dog in one of your photos on that page. The dog is named toast and the guy climbing is Ted from Skyline Adventures (http://www.skyline-adventures.com/). It’s a small world.
Heh yes, I went for a BBQ at Ted’s place (and got myself a nice pulley injury on his climbing wall). It was fun to meet them in Yannapaccha a couple of days later.
While I agree that bringing a typical full-frame camera is too heavy for mountaineering, I wouldn’t agree with skipping on prosumer camera’s in favour of consumer SLR’s like canon’s rebel series (triple-digit D series camera’s in europe/japan). The differences are more than ergonomic: most importantly, prosumer bodies are usually made of sturdy magnesium, both more durable against falls and rocks, *especially* in cold weather. Consumer SLR’s tend to be made of plastic, which while admittedly lighter, are terrible as far as durability, especially in cold weather when the plastic becomes rigid. I have had enough problems with these cameras in clement weather that I wouldn’t dream taking them up an alpine mountain. Prosumer SLR’s also offer additional water and dust resistance (although nothing like the 1D, which I’ve heard can be safely washed with a garden hose). *Personally*, from my own experience, avoid consumer SLR’s for this sort of application.
Durability between plastic and magnesium isn’t really a problem. This is because if you drop your camera, it’s generally going to slide 2-3,000 ft down and you’re never going to see it again. It doesn’t really matter how strong the body of the camera is if it’s sitting at the bottom of a crevasse. I’ve taken both plastic and magnesium cameras to altitude and they’ve performed exactly the same. With mountaineering, the prime consideration is weight, not the durability of the body.
I much prefer the interface of the prosumer cameras, but as long as you don’t mind the compromise of the interface changes for a lower level body, it’ll save a good amount of weight off your back. This is huge at altitude.
Water isn’t a giant issue at altitude as precipitation is generally in the form of snow, not rain. As long as you brush off the snow that does get on your camera, it’s going to be fine. I’ve had an XSI in weather for the past couple years and it hasn’t let me down. If you’re really concerned, there are a bunch of cheap waterproof bags available for SLRs that work better than weather sealing.
i like it:)