All-season Camera

For years I carried a 35mm Minolta and it's associated lenses and paraphernalia. The whole kit was heavy, took up quite a bit of space, and deprived me of any control over the image development process. So, I knew I would go digital eventually, but for quite awhile both the size and weight of digital cameras left a lot to be desired, as did the quality of digital images.

Then I encountered the Canon S300 Digital Ixus, a camera with a 3.75" X 2.5" X 1.25", water resistant, stainless steel body and a 3x optical zoom lens. Complete with battery and 256 MB Compact Flash memory card, the S300 weighed 10.5 ounces and fit into a case I attached to a shoulder strap. All of the backcountry photographs in Album One were made with this camera, as were most of the "stitched" panorama shots used as main page headers. The S300 has recently been replaced by the S330, and now the S400, which are supposed to be better, although the S300 may still be found in the stock of on-line dealers at a very good price. For the best price on the S300 or the S400 I'd recommend using a mySimon, StreetPrices or BestDeal web search.

However, in the long run I found that the Ixus didn't provide me with the flexibility I need when attempting to capture images of all the incredible things I see while backpacking. So, I upgraded to a Nikon Coolpix E5700, a 5 megapixel camera with a superb 8x optical zoom lens and the control features of a professional camera, including the ability to capture high quality 32x telephoto images using the optical and digital zoom functions in conjunction. All of this comes in an exceptionally well-made, durable, magnesium body that is 4.0" by 4.5" by 2.5" and weighs 20 ounces when equipped with a filter and loaded with a 512MB Compact Flash card and a high capacity, after-market Lithium-ion battery. The processing software I use is Nikon's Capture 3.5, which can be found at www.nikonusa.com , Ulead's amazing PhotoImpact 8, which can be found at www.ulead.com , and Qimage Pro 2003, which can be found at www.ddisoftware.com . Gray market source for the E5700: www.bwayphoto.com .