What camera for hiking?

DaelpixPhotography

DaelpixPhotography

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I'm thinking about recording walks/hiking I do.

What cameras could I look at?
 
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I use the Canon 1Dx and 35mm f/1.4L USM when I go hiking sometimes even take the 70-200mm...epic battery life and waterproofing, but when proper hiking/scrambling I'm normally swearing at myself half the time for bringing the lump with the rest of my kit, wouldn't recommend :LOL: Maybe a Sony RX100 Series if you want light light with good quality for what it is?
 
I'd suggest something in the fuji line, small and light, not the best battery life, but they too are small and light :)
 
It totally depends on what you mean by walks/hiking.

I hike hills/mountains of UK parks (normally US and the alps too, but not recently of course!). Mostly day hikes but I do thousands of km a year and a lot of vert. But I don’t do anything too extreme, so no hard scrambles or exposure.

I have an A7 IV on order (replacing a 5D). If I’m moving quickly I just use my iPhone.
 
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I guess it depends what you mean by 'recording'?

Do you mean video as in a YouTube style vlog?

Or just documenting the walk with photos?

I usually walk/hike to take photos so camera gear makes up at least half of my kit I would carry. Sony A7, 35GM or CV40, FE85 or Contax 80-200/4 & the tripod/batteries/filter. Lately I've been taking the film camera too. Don't even ask how much I take out at night to shoot the night skies.......
 
1) Budget?
2) Weight?
3) Video or photography or both?
4) Will you edit the RAW files or just take jpegs?
5) weatherproof?

Off the top of my head the Olympus OMD EM5mkiii would probably fit the bill, though I am not familiar with how good the battery life is. One extra battery isn’t going to add that much extra weight I would imagine.
 
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I agree, unless there's a reason why battery life is important just take sxtra batteries, they're the lightest thing you'll carry., hence my suggestion above,
BTW if I'm being more specific I'd suggest the Fuji. Xs10, it's light, a crop sensor so descent depth of field without the full frame weight restrictions, has ibis so good for handheld and video, decent resolution and the price isn't daft.
 
I used a Sony RX100 for many years, it really took a beating. Can't fault it really.
 
mirrorless if you want smaller, DSLR if you want better battery life. How long are you reasonably going to be out for? Several days? If so probably a DSLR would be needed for battery life. Otherwise, I’d get a fujifilm x-t20 or similar and a few spare batteries.
 
Tom Pinchenzo said:
mirrorless if you want smaller, DSLR if you want better battery life. How long are you reasonably going to be out for? Several days? If so probably a DSLR would be needed for battery life. Otherwise, I’d get a fujifilm x-t20 or similar and a few spare batteries.
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Pretty sure my mirrorless either achieves the same or better battery life than a DSLR.
 
For stills:
Ricoh GRIII / GRIIIx + a USB powerbank/spare batteries. The lens + sensor combo punches well above its weight, and that's not even taking into account its size.

Although whenever I hike I just pack my 5x4 and a tripod! The Ricoh tags along as a snapshot camera so I don't feel bad about exposing 'only' two sheets of film.

For video: DJI Osmo Pocket II. This:
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hiVbB7Pf2lY
is a good example of what V1 can do (although there is some A7S footage mixed in - easy to tell though).
 
Tom Pinchenzo said:
mirrorless if you want smaller, DSLR if you want better battery life. How long are you reasonably going to be out for? Several days? If so probably a DSLR would be needed for battery life. Otherwise, I’d get a fujifilm x-t20 or similar and a few spare batteries.
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DSLR having better battery life is no longer correct as a blanket statement. A lot of the recent (last few years) mirror less cameras have very good battery life these days (My Sony A7r3 and R4 are superb)
 
LeeRatters said:
I guess it depends what you mean by 'recording'?

Do you mean video as in a YouTube style vlog?

Or just documenting the walk with photos?

I usually walk/hike to take photos so camera gear makes up at least half of my kit I would carry. Sony A7, 35GM or CV40, FE85 or Contax 80-200/4 & the tripod/batteries/filter. Lately I've been taking the film camera too. Don't even ask how much I take out at night to shoot the night skies.......
Click to expand...

Youtube yes

I already takes photos for walks on my website.

Mintchocs said:
1) Budget?
2) Weight?
3) Video or photography or both?
4) Will you edit the RAW files or just take jpegs?
5) weatherproof?

Off the top of my head the Olympus OMD EM5mkiii would probably fit the bill, though I am not familiar with how good the battery life is. One extra battery isn’t going to add that much extra weight I would imagine.
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1. Unsure about budget. Certainly much less than £1000
3. Video
4. Errrrr don't know
5. Probably


I was thinking about a GoPro then I can attach it to myself on a harness.

Will be better than a camera because I might take up fishing again.

Due to work, I'm not going out much at the moment, but would be nice to have something to take video with when I do go out. and I'm going to my holiday spot end of May next year.
 
Given you answers in the post above, a GoPro or clone should do what you want. I've used a cheap clone to take timelapses of motorbike rides (IIRC, I used 1 frame/second to keep it reasonably smooth but compress time.)
 
I would not even consider battery life. Just get one of the lens that fits the bill, get spare batteries and take a small solar powered power bank - jobs a good’un. Power bank would easily weigh under 17 oz and you’d be able to charge your phone etc etc too
 
Nikon Z50 with 16-50 lens. Easy to fit this into a waist pack.
Or with the new 18-140 lens - this one is new so no used or discounts yet.
 
Sadly I don't think I want anything too bulky such as a camera, so looking at GoPro's
 
Dael_Pix said:
I was thinking about a GoPro then I can attach it to myself on a harness.
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To give you some idea, i was out today with a GoPro 9, shot 20 short clips for a total playing time of just over 12mins, they were taken over a 2hr period with the camera left on inbetween shots and it was still showing the battery at 38%. Small lightweight and fully waterproof.
 
Bumped into a chap a few years ago who swore by using 8x10 or 4x5 view cameras. He did a load of hiking around parks in the USA. He said the cameras he used were fully manual and didn't need batteries. He said you can use an external light meter (iPhone app?) but once you've shot a few thousand pictures you can pretty much get anything you want by fudging the print. He said he was going to write a book about it.

Worth noting that view cameras are mirrorless so they must be quite modern.
 
adrianday said:
Bumped into a chap a few years ago who swore by using 8x10 or 4x5 view cameras. He did a load of hiking around parks in the USA. He said the cameras he used were fully manual and didn't need batteries. He said you can use an external light meter (iPhone app?) but once you've shot a few thousand pictures you can pretty much get anything you want by fudging the print. He said he was going to write a book about it.

Worth noting that view cameras are mirrorless so they must be quite modern.
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I think we have a forumer who can sell anyone interested a brand new and very compact snapshot 4x5. Perfect for hiking :D
 
I've bought the GoPro Hero 10 camera along with some accessories. Can't wait to play around with it.

I'm taking up fishing again next year after some time away, so I'll be filming my fishing, along with walks and fly tying. (Although for fly tying I'll use my main camera).

I'm also revamping my website. Looks better than it was now.
 
Dael_Pix said:
I'm taking up fishing again next year after some time away, so I'll be filming my fishing,
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Get a mount so it fits on the spreader block of your landing net, you'll get some great shots of fish being netted (if you catch any). Also get a bankstick to camera adaptor attach the GoPro to the end of your landing net handle so you can get some extra height in your shots, use it like a very long selfie stick.
 
ScottT said:
Get a mount so it fits on the spreader block of your landing net, you'll get some great shots of fish being netted (if you catch any). Also get a bankstick to camera adaptor attach the GoPro to the end of your landing net handle so you can get some extra height in your shots, use it like a very long selfie stick.
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Thanks for the suggestion, but I won't be using a large net handle for most of the time
 
Videography will be done via a chest mount as I don't want to be messing around putting a camera on a net handle, and there are times when I don't use one unless the fish are large.
 
Currently I don't have much choice other than 5Ds or older 5DIII with a few L zooms. And there is nothing wrong with that to be honest, but one would prefer the above choice obviously.
 
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