Request for advice from the photographers here?

If you are worried about banging or knocking your camera then either don’t take your expensive digital camera with you up the mountain (but a cheap, used, film SLR instead) or get a good insurance deal. A colleague at work warned that a friend of hers had a car accident in a car park – someone went into the back of him – which dented his rear bumper and knocked the chip out of alignment in his camera (which was apparently secure in a Billingham). Sometimes you just cannot pad your camera up enough…
New professional digital cameras are not like the old professional film cameras (the Nikon F3 could be used to literally bang nails in a wall!) so the amateur bodies will be that much more flimsy again. If you use the camera in an unsteady environment then expect some repair bills.
Have to point out that the all-in-one digicam would go from wide to narrow on the zoom and have a flash, but for a digiSLR you’d need to buy the appropriate lenses and flash – at an additional cost. And the good lenses cost good money, of course.

Flood.

DSLR v the rest

No contest the DSLR wins hands down. I bought a Canon 300D Kit which includes the EF-s 18-55mm lens. It cost £799.99 from Amazon with a further £88 spent on a 512MB Hi speed compact flash.:D

Mr Canon has made me a happy man. I take a lot of high speed photos at motorsport events and airshows. Suffering winter withdrawl from said I ventured to LTN at the weekend. The images are stunning.

It’s your choice but there is only one to make in my opinion.

Like the others, I agree a DSLR is the best option for any kind of aviation photography. The shutter lag on the non SLR types makes aircraft snapping a real chore unless you snap static types.

In terms of focal length, I find the more glass you can put in front, the better. I use a 300mm (35mm format) zoom lens. On the Canon 10d this equates to around 460mm because of the size of the imaging chip.

The benefits of an SLR system are endless, compared to the point and shoot equivalents. This is mainly down to the flexibility offered in terms of creative control and lens interchangeability, yes you can crop, I do but you need a reasonably high pixel count to get away with it, especially when it comes to printing.

I know DSLR’s are perceived as being expensive, that will all change as more and more models come out. I’m paying mine off over a year and don’t regret it for one minute. The money I’ve saved in film and processing more than makes up for the repayments.

As others have suggested, have a look at the broader range of “affordable” DSLR’s out there now, the Canon 300D is an excellent example at around £800. Buy a case or cushion case for it and always use the strap.

If you can’t afford to go down that route then certainly look for a less expensive non SLR model with the highest pixel count and optical zoom you can find, but generally I find these to be unsatisfactory for most aviation shooting situations.

Thanks for your help so far guys.

Agreed: digital zoom = poor idea. But with an 8MP camera could I crop away some to leave (say) the most central 5M pixels and simulate a longer zoom in this way? Hope you see what I mean?

My worry isn’t so much about dropping the camera any distance, you are right in saying that that would be seriously bad for any camera. It’s more about (for example) the camera swinging against the rock while I am climbing, or me taking a fall with it in my pack and swinging against the rock / ice. I’m not sure whether the plastic body of the SLRs would be much more likely to crack.

I quite like the smaller size of the other option (the Nikon 8700), but that’s very much a ‘nice-to-have’ rather than a primary consideration.

The shutter lag is obviously a very important consideration indeed though. Moving aircraft are not exactly slow. I’m thinking my best bet is to try the 8700 and test the shutter lag as that might rule it out immediately.

Thanks again, all help highly appreciated. BTW, if WhiskeyDelta reads this do you have any focal length advice for CMH and/or CVG as these will be my local airports within a month?

Mike

[b]but I wondered if I am likely to find this maximum focal length too restrictive for typical airliner photography[b]

That depends very much on where you normally shoot. My camera goes ” only” to 200mm optical zoom, and where I spot that is sufficient. I spot at AMS, DUS and in the last year spend a lot of time at LHR. At all these airports it is possible to get close to the runway and/or final approach. A large zoom is not required there.

At other airports a longer zoom is required because of buildings/fences/security obstructing views to and near the runway. You will just have to go to your favourite airport(s) and see if it will suffice or not. Maybe you can aks other spotters in the area?

Fact of the matter is, for aviation photography you can never go wrong with a decent DSLR. But they are also less compatible with your mountainclimbing. Having said that, the difference between a DSLR and a high-quality point-and-shoot falling on the rocks is negligable. Both will be damaged substantially.

Many camera’s, both DSLR and compacts, have special cases for added protection against falling. You will have to buy them seperately. While in the store it may also be advisable to talk to the shop keeper about special insurance for your camera.

I’d be very surprised if you really needed 8MP. That would be large enough for huge A1 photos (2 broadsheet paper pages)! That’s a matter of opinion I suppose. Just stay away from digital zoom!

Hi Mike,

The Eos 300D, or the Nikon D70 are fine and, although they look maybe different, very strong. So that’s no problem.

You talk about digital zoom. well you need optical zoom as digital zoom is useless and gives extreme bad quality.

The main thing why I prefer the slr is because of the shutter lag. With a slr, you push the button, and almost at the same time the picture is taken. With a buffer of 7 or 9 pics, you can continue to photograph.

With most others, there is a shutterlag. When you push the button, the camera waits some time, this can be as worse as 2 seconds, before it takes the pic. After that, it needs some 5 seconds or so to write the pic down. This is fine with normal photography as long as the photo object isn’t moving. However with moving things like aircraft or so, it is a nightmare.

So if you don’t go for the slr, try to shoot some fast passing cars or so with the non slr and than you can see how good or worse the shutterlag and writing down time is.

BW Roger

Thanks, I hear what you say and agree. If I didn’t want it for mountaineering use too then I would automatically go for the SLR.

The only thing is that I simply cannot afford the EOS-10D, so my choice in SLRs is restricted to the budget models from Canon and Nikon which have plastic bodies. I might be a little nervous about whether these would survive a fall on them and weight is another consideration.

The non-SLR that I have seen is a little cheaper and goes out to 280mm (optical, 35mm equiv) and has a fairly compact alloy body. I am tempted toward this one for these reasons.

The big question is whether this maximum focal length is likely to be too big a handicap for airliner use, which is where I am looking for a bit of experience from others. Also, at 8MP should I find some compensation for reduced quality from the digital zoom or have more scope to crop an image – I agree, 8MP is not normally necessary for the use that I have in mind unless it will help compensate for the maximum focal length?

Thanks in advance
Mike

I always should go for the dslr! And an 8Mp may not be sharper than a 6MB. What is inportant is the size of the pixels. I have a 6.1MB camera (Eos10D) and I can print A3 without any problems. BW Roger