Planning my first photography-intensive trip...

[Entity]

This weekend I'll be taking a trip into the Enchantments in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness with some of my new photo equipment (currently, a 30D, a Sigma 10-20mm, and a Canon 50mm/1.8). I'm a lightweight backpacker (technically ultralight) but will be up there for four days and would like to capture the beauty that is up there, so I'm going up with far more equipment in the photography realm than I ever have before.

Flickr Set of the Enchantments from my friend Forrest

I'm trying to figure out what other pieces of equipment I should be looking into. The weather is likely to be mostly sunny (and fairly bright, given an elevation of between 4000-7000ft for most of the photos). I'm looking into tripod options right now but am trying to figure out what best to go with, weightwise.

In addition, I'm trying to figure out what sort of filter(s) I may want to look into for this. I love the look/effect that polarized filters give, but I'm aware of the problems with trying to use a polarizing filter on a wide angle lens and am not sure of the overall effect I'd achieve trying to pair the Sigma 10-20mm with even a thin (B+W most likely) polarizer.

So, that said: I'm considering getting one more lens with the idea of bringing just two lenses up with me -- the Sigma and a walkabout of some sort. Currently looking at the Sigma 18-50mm and the Tamron 28-75/2.8 XR Di, for the most part, as I can't spend a ton more on this hobby right now (in the future, yes, but not right now). Since I do a ton of hiking and biking, something that will lend itself well to landscape shots is probably a big plus.

K, that was a mouthful. Any advice would be appreciated very much.

Rob

 

[shocksyde]

I think your idea of getting a sigma 18-50 or Tamron 28-75 is a great idea. I've heard wonderful things about both lenses. A circular polarizer is a must. It looks like your friend has one from the flickr set.

Edit: Oh, and the Sigma 10-20 is pretty darn good with color saturation, so you may be able to get away with some non-polarized shots. Maybe use it for some water shots to get some of the reflections that a polarizer would otherwise eliminate?

 

[essasin]

I would recommend getting a very solid cf gitzo tripod and ball and head. From your choice of glass it seems like you shoot mostly landscape and you would greatly benefit from a solid cf tripod when you are hiking. The gitzo cf tripods are a bit pricey but well worth it. They are light, sturdy, reduces vibration, extremely easy to use, and is a one time purchase. A very popular and cheaper alternative is the bogen 3021 and rc486rc2 head. It is solid but a bit heavy for long hikes.

The darkening effect towards the edge of the picture is just the nature of polarized filter on extreme wide angles. The thin b + w would be the best choice for a circular polarizer and I have seen great shots with a little post processing that look spectacular.

When you say a walk around lens I am assuming you are talking about your trip and not a general walk around lens. Since you already have a 50mm prime and a wide angle I would suggest you would look into a 70-200mm range that will give you more versatility for general wildlife photography and it also happens to be a great choice for compressed landscape shots.

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

Ugg, SLR photography tends to kill any ultralight weight target you're going for.

BTW, why are you going for the Sigma 18-50mm instead of the Tamron 17-50mm? I'm pretty sure the Tammy is more popular.

My CF tripod + Ballhead (Feisol + 486RC2) weigh 4 pounds just by themselves, which may not seem bad, but if your pack weight is normally 25-30lb... that sort of large lump in weight is normally reserved for something big like your entire tent... The 30D body weighs about 2 pounds, the Sigma 10-20mm is 1 pound, the Sigma 18-50mm is 1 pound, and something like 2 pounds for the 70-200mm f/4L. And you've gotta find a way to strap all this to your pack or body for easy access.

I would figure about 10 extra pounds for photography gear + a pound or two for miscellaneous things like a remote shutter cord, memory cards, batteries, filters, etc, plus even more if you have lens cases and a camera case. As you know ounces add up. I'm currently trying to figure lens cases out myself. I wear a Granite Gear Nimbus Ozone and I'm trying to figure out where to attach lens cases onto it.

Is this a solo hike? Going with a non-photography-minded hiking partner when you're trying to do serious photography can be difficult.

As for circular polarizers, they work just fine on the 10-20mm. I use a Hoya Pro1 CPL for my 10-20mm, and I don't recommend it because it is INCREDIBLY hard to take off of the 10-20mm. It uses aluminum in its construction, and I've heard that aluminum sticks more than something like brass. So I would get a CPL with brass rings. Out in the middle of the wilderness is not where you want your CPL to just get adamantly stuck to your lens.

 

[Entity]

Originally posted by: fuzzybabybunny
Ugg, SLR photography tends to kill any ultralight weight target you're going for.

BTW, why are you going for the Sigma 18-50mm instead of the Tamron 17-50mm? I'm pretty sure the Tammy is more popular.

My CF tripod + Ballhead (Feisol + 486RC2) weigh 4 pounds just by themselves, which may not seem bad, but if your pack weight is normally 25-30lb... that sort of large lump in weight is normally reserved for something big like your entire tent... The 30D body weighs about 2 pounds, the Sigma 10-20mm is 1 pound, the Sigma 18-50mm is 1 pound, and something like 2 pounds for the 70-200mm f/4L. And you've gotta find a way to strap all this to your pack or body for easy access.

I would figure about 10 extra pounds for photography gear + a pound or two for miscellaneous things like a remote shutter cord, memory cards, batteries, filters, etc, plus even more if you have lens cases and a camera case. As you know ounces add up. I'm currently trying to figure lens cases out myself. I wear a Granite Gear Nimbus Ozone and I'm trying to figure out where to attach lens cases onto it.

Is this a solo hike? Going with a non-photography-minded hiking partner when you're trying to do serious photography can be difficult.

As for circular polarizers, they work just fine on the 10-20mm. I use a Hoya Pro1 CPL for my 10-20mm, and I don't recommend it because it is INCREDIBLY hard to take off of the 10-20mm. It uses aluminum in its construction, and I've heard that aluminum sticks more than something like brass. So I would get a CPL with brass rings. Out in the middle of the wilderness is not where you want your CPL to just get adamantly stuck to your lens.

Thanks. Solid advice all around. I'm not quite at the point that I'm doing this as "serious" photography, and my base packweight is quite a bit lighter than 25-30lb (my base weight is usually around 10-12lb, and I tend to carry around 2lb/food/day, so we're sitting at ~18-20lb max for this trip before photography equipment). I use a Granite Gear Vapor Trail as my predominant pack, but I have other packs I've considered as well for the trip -- I think I need to find a way to sew a mesh pocket onto the Vapor Trail to make it ideal for this sort of trip.

I'm probably not going to take a 70-200 with me, despite the fact that I know it'd be nice, because it's just going to kill me in the weight department. This trip will be the 10-20 + one other lens, which will most likely be the Tamron 17-50 or the 28-75. I'm going to weigh everything before I head up to see how lightweight I can go and still make it manageable.

For someone whose tent (2-person) weighs only a hair over 2lb, it's going to be pretty crazy to be carrying this much "extra" weight up, so I really hope to make it worthwhile.

Rob

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

Originally posted by: Entity

Originally posted by: fuzzybabybunny
Ugg, SLR photography tends to kill any ultralight weight target you're going for.

BTW, why are you going for the Sigma 18-50mm instead of the Tamron 17-50mm? I'm pretty sure the Tammy is more popular.

My CF tripod + Ballhead (Feisol + 486RC2) weigh 4 pounds just by themselves, which may not seem bad, but if your pack weight is normally 25-30lb... that sort of large lump in weight is normally reserved for something big like your entire tent... The 30D body weighs about 2 pounds, the Sigma 10-20mm is 1 pound, the Sigma 18-50mm is 1 pound, and something like 2 pounds for the 70-200mm f/4L. And you've gotta find a way to strap all this to your pack or body for easy access.

I would figure about 10 extra pounds for photography gear + a pound or two for miscellaneous things like a remote shutter cord, memory cards, batteries, filters, etc, plus even more if you have lens cases and a camera case. As you know ounces add up. I'm currently trying to figure lens cases out myself. I wear a Granite Gear Nimbus Ozone and I'm trying to figure out where to attach lens cases onto it.

Is this a solo hike? Going with a non-photography-minded hiking partner when you're trying to do serious photography can be difficult.

As for circular polarizers, they work just fine on the 10-20mm. I use a Hoya Pro1 CPL for my 10-20mm, and I don't recommend it because it is INCREDIBLY hard to take off of the 10-20mm. It uses aluminum in its construction, and I've heard that aluminum sticks more than something like brass. So I would get a CPL with brass rings. Out in the middle of the wilderness is not where you want your CPL to just get adamantly stuck to your lens.

Thanks. Solid advice all around. I'm not quite at the point that I'm doing this as "serious" photography, and my base packweight is quite a bit lighter than 25-30lb (my base weight is usually around 10-12lb, and I tend to carry around 2lb/food/day, so we're sitting at ~18-20lb max for this trip before photography equipment). I use a Granite Gear Vapor Trail as my predominant pack, but I have other packs I've considered as well for the trip -- I think I need to find a way to sew a mesh pocket onto the Vapor Trail to make it ideal for this sort of trip.

I'm probably not going to take a 70-200 with me, despite the fact that I know it'd be nice, because it's just going to kill me in the weight department. This trip will be the 10-20 + one other lens, which will most likely be the Tamron 17-50 or the 28-75. I'm going to weigh everything before I head up to see how lightweight I can go and still make it manageable.

For someone whose tent (2-person) weighs only a hair over 2lb, it's going to be pretty crazy to be carrying this much "extra" weight up, so I really hope to make it worthwhile.

Rob

Ah, with a base packweight that light you should be able to afford to put on some extra weight

How do you manage to get that low exactly? I'm assuming this is for warm weather backpacking. I primarily do solo cold weather so I can't really afford to go out with a 1lb sleeping bag, a tarp or fastpack tent, a rather non-insulating sleeping pad, etc. or else I would die, which unfortunately I've come close to doing in the past.

 

[Entity]

Originally posted by: fuzzybabybunny

Originally posted by: Entity

Originally posted by: fuzzybabybunny
Ugg, SLR photography tends to kill any ultralight weight target you're going for.

BTW, why are you going for the Sigma 18-50mm instead of the Tamron 17-50mm? I'm pretty sure the Tammy is more popular.

My CF tripod + Ballhead (Feisol + 486RC2) weigh 4 pounds just by themselves, which may not seem bad, but if your pack weight is normally 25-30lb... that sort of large lump in weight is normally reserved for something big like your entire tent... The 30D body weighs about 2 pounds, the Sigma 10-20mm is 1 pound, the Sigma 18-50mm is 1 pound, and something like 2 pounds for the 70-200mm f/4L. And you've gotta find a way to strap all this to your pack or body for easy access.

I would figure about 10 extra pounds for photography gear + a pound or two for miscellaneous things like a remote shutter cord, memory cards, batteries, filters, etc, plus even more if you have lens cases and a camera case. As you know ounces add up. I'm currently trying to figure lens cases out myself. I wear a Granite Gear Nimbus Ozone and I'm trying to figure out where to attach lens cases onto it.

Is this a solo hike? Going with a non-photography-minded hiking partner when you're trying to do serious photography can be difficult.

As for circular polarizers, they work just fine on the 10-20mm. I use a Hoya Pro1 CPL for my 10-20mm, and I don't recommend it because it is INCREDIBLY hard to take off of the 10-20mm. It uses aluminum in its construction, and I've heard that aluminum sticks more than something like brass. So I would get a CPL with brass rings. Out in the middle of the wilderness is not where you want your CPL to just get adamantly stuck to your lens.

Thanks. Solid advice all around. I'm not quite at the point that I'm doing this as "serious" photography, and my base packweight is quite a bit lighter than 25-30lb (my base weight is usually around 10-12lb, and I tend to carry around 2lb/food/day, so we're sitting at ~18-20lb max for this trip before photography equipment). I use a Granite Gear Vapor Trail as my predominant pack, but I have other packs I've considered as well for the trip -- I think I need to find a way to sew a mesh pocket onto the Vapor Trail to make it ideal for this sort of trip.

I'm probably not going to take a 70-200 with me, despite the fact that I know it'd be nice, because it's just going to kill me in the weight department. This trip will be the 10-20 + one other lens, which will most likely be the Tamron 17-50 or the 28-75. I'm going to weigh everything before I head up to see how lightweight I can go and still make it manageable.

For someone whose tent (2-person) weighs only a hair over 2lb, it's going to be pretty crazy to be carrying this much "extra" weight up, so I really hope to make it worthwhile.

Rob

Ah, with a base packweight that light you should be able to afford to put on some extra weight

How do you manage to get that low exactly? I'm assuming this is for warm weather backpacking. I primarily do solo cold weather so I can't really afford to go out with a 1lb sleeping bag, a tarp or fastpack tent, a rather non-insulating sleeping pad, etc. or else I would die, which unfortunately I've come close to doing in the past.

I pack a bit heavier than I used to, but I learned to hike ultralight when hiking the PCT in 2001 and carried a pack with a baseweight of anywhere from 8.5-12lb depending on the section (12lb through the Sierras with an Ice Axe and a heavier sleeping bag). Now I've loaded up on good gear that works quite well in all conditions (Marmot Helium EQ 15 degree bag, for example, and a tent from www.tarptent.com which I've used in snowy conditions as well as as a general 3-season tent).

Rob

 

[AndrewR]

If you're that concerned about weight, you have serious problem with tripod selection if money is an issue. The carbon fiber tripods tend to be over $300 WITHOUT a ballhead (you can get one of those fairly cheaply though), and the cheaper legs are much heavier. I would NOT recommend the 3021PRO for hiking -- it's just too heavy and unwieldy. I took it up a small mountain near Vegas recently, and it was a considerable problem. I was longing for a carbon fiber tripod.

 

[Entity]

Photos are in -- a mix of general shots and of me trying to work my chops. Feel free to critique in either case.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/k...ets/72157601247455783/

I ended up using a Gorillapod for my Tripod, which I really actually can't recommend more highly. Wow. What a great priceerformance and weighterformance ratio. About 8oz in weight before adding the ballhead (I grabbed a v. small and inexpensive Giotto ballhead, I forget the #). Pics of Gorillapod SLR Zoom here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/k...set-72157601247455783/

Anyway. The trip was awesome, my packweight was reasonable (we covered great ground whenever we needed to, getting in about 10+ miles with elevation gain of 5000+ft), and I'll definitely recommend any piece of gear I had with me. One small thing that I'm a bit upset about -- for a ton of my initial photos, apparently I had a bit of gunk (sand/smudge/etc) on my polarizing filter and it will need to be edited out (not a ton of work but still annoying) from any of this 10mm landscapes I shot that feature a reasonable amount of sky.

Questions? Comments? I'd love to hear it. My first attempt at "serious" photography in quite a while. I'm pleased with the results but moreso of the hiking and the amazing time I had than the photos, since I really can't separate one from the other.

Rob

PS - Am working on a few attempts at HDR images from some of the skyscapes I shot on day 3. Any tips on that would be much appreciated -- they may not turn out as I think most were handheld attempts from reasonably stationary positions (landscape shots with lots of sky+clouds).

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

Grrr... I hate Ohio so much!!! Your trip looks like it was so fun. If I lived out where you live I would be such an outdoor hermit.

Did you manage to get lots of shots during the golden hour, like right before and during sunset and right after and during sunrise? I only saw a couple. Were you camping off the trail or in designated backcountry camps? Your pics make me want to go backpacking so bad, but backpacking in Ohio right now would just be miserable with the humidity, heat, mosquitoes, and very boring because there's essentially no where to go and nothing to see or photograph.

 

[corkyg]

Just a minor suggestion. I recently completed a two weeker in Greek Isles and Italy, and I left the tripod home. I found a good monopod met all my needs and also served as a very valuable hiking stick. It was particularly useful when climbing rocks and ruins.

May favorite lens for mountain shots and related wildlife is the relatively unsung, but very compact and lightweight for its size - the Canon EOS DO IS 70-300mm.

Am presently in Ohio - but not backpacking. Will start home for Arizona tomorrow.

 

[Entity]

Originally posted by: fuzzybabybunny
Grrr... I hate Ohio so much!!! Your trip looks like it was so fun. If I lived out where you live I would be such an outdoor hermit.

Did you manage to get lots of shots during the golden hour, like right before and during sunset and right after and during sunrise? I only saw a couple. Were you camping off the trail or in designated backcountry camps? Your pics make me want to go backpacking so bad, but backpacking in Ohio right now would just be miserable with the humidity, heat, mosquitoes, and very boring because there's essentially no where to go and nothing to see or photograph.

I actually found that in the area we were (a bit of a basin surrounded by large peaks on almost all sides), the "golden hour" really wasn't as impressive as I was hoping -- not nearly as substantial of an effect as it is here at sea level in Seattle, for sure. When combined with the fact that I was nearly asleep by that point, I definitely didn't get as many perfect shots from that period as I'd like.

Very sore today. I'll see if I can work on some of those HDR pics if/when I get a shot . . . really interested in the process for creating those.

Rob