Adventure Camera: Micro Four Thirds System

 

Climbers on the summit mushroom of Nevado Chopicalqui, 6354m high, in Peru. Photo © Alexandre Buisse.

While searching for a lightweight alternative to my Nikon D300 for mountaineering, I came a cross this very interesting guide to digital mountaineering photography by Alexandre Buisse.

 

Alexandre Buisse.  Photo by Morten Kallesøe

Most of Alexandre’s thoughts run very true to mine, and so I contacted Alexandre to find out if he was still using the D90 as I had also heard that he was also considering a D700 or its replacement. To my surprise, he replied that he was currently testing out the Olympus E-P1, a camera that uses the new micro Four Thirds format.

If you’ve not heard of it, Micro Four Thirds is a new camera system with interchangeable lenses developed by Olympus and Panasonic. The system does not provide space for a mirror and pentaprism, allowing smaller and lighter bodies to be designed.

At the time I first looked at it, there was only one body and few lenses, and it did not look like a serious alternative to my current DSLR system. Currently, however, there are 4 bodies (Panasonic G1, GH1 and GF1, and the Olympus E-P1) and some interesting new lenses such as the 20mm f/1.7 pancake and 7-14mm f/4 ultrawide-angle lens, and more are on the way!

Since I don’t have first hand experience with this system, I asked Alexandre for his thoughts:

In terms of image quality of his Nikon D90 vs. the Olympus E-P1, he says, “I would say that the images from the E-P1 with the 14-42 lens are 90% as good as those I could get from my D90 with a similar 18-55 kit lens.” The slight loss in quality is made up for in the lower weight and bulk of the camera system.

I was concerned about image noise, and Alexandre replied: “I rarely shoot high ISO, but the E-P1 seems to have a grain-like noise which I find very pleasant (see e.g.
http://www.aperturefirst.org/index.php?showimage=1065)."

I also asked if using the LCD to frame the subject instead of a viewfinder a problem, especially in bright sunlight or when wearing sunglasses? “It is,” he says, “and in the future I would consider the optional electronic viewfinder an essential accessory. When I skied down Vallee Blanche in Chamonix on a cloudless day, I had absolutely no idea what I was shooting at, and could only point the camera in the general direction of my subject, guesstimate the appropriate focal length and pray. Even in less extreme conditions, there is something about putting my eye into an optical viewfinder that is important in how I shoot, and one of the main reasons I still carry a DSLR.”

Our common concern is the battery life:
“I have only used the E-P1 on winter climbing weekend trips, and never shot more than 150 frames with it, so I can't really comment. The absence of detailed battery information is somewhat of an issue for me. Battery life
would be one of my main concerns for longer trips.”

In closing, Alexandre says "The E-P1 is a great camera capable of producing beautiful images, and it has found a nice spot in my photography practice: whenever I am going light and the focus of the day is on climbing more than on photography, both conditions often satisfied in winter and alpine climbing, then I'll take the E-P1. For everything else, I'll still go through the trouble of carrying the D90."

Thanks Alexandre, it's a very exciting time for the micro four thirds system and I'll be keeping a close watch on it :o)

Everest: Daring to Dream

I’ll be making an attempt to climb Mt. Everest in the Spring of 2011.

 

Blast from the past: Paul Niday and myself on Mt. Rainier, Jun 1984

This is just a little over a year from now, and I’m currently in the midst of making preparations for the climb: sourcing a reliable commercial company to do the climb with, getting the gear together, training, etc.

If you’re wondering what this is going to cost, it’s about US$40,000. That’s right folks, it IS a lot of money that I could do a lot of things with. If I were practical, I could pay my rent or buy a small car; if I were noble, I could feed an clothe and impoverished village; if I were fashionable, I could buy an Hermes Birken Handbag ;o)

 

Let me see... Everest or this black alligator skin bag?  Hmm...

But I’m none of those things...

Heck, I just want to climb it.

I still don’t shoot weddings but…

 

The bride

Shooting this wedding in India for a friend made it clear that I needed a second camera body for events where I don’t have time to change lenses.  Or for when the action is happening so thick and fast, that the time taken to swop lenses would mean losing a shot. Ideally, I would want to put a wide-angle zoom on one body, and a telephoto zoom on the other.  That’s a pretty typical photojournalist type setup.

 

The Groom

I’ve been happy with the cropped sensor of my Nikon D300, but have been eyeing the full-frame D700 for some time.  At the same time, I wanted to keep my setup as lightweight as possible, for shooting serious adventures.  My choice for a second body came down to getting a full-frame format Nikon D700 or a cropped-format Nikon D90 to complement my existing D300. 

 

Preparations

The advantages of the lighter weight D90 body kind of weighed up evenly against the lower noise images I would get with the D700.  I was pretty much sitting on the fence.  On some days, I would be leaning towards getting a D700, and on other days, the D90. 

 

Dancing at Home

My breakthrough came with the launch of the Nikon D3s, which although has a sensor with the same number of Megapixels as the older D3, ups the ante with even cleaner images at high ISOs.  I looked at this and started thinking that the creation of a ‘D700s’, using the same sensor as the D3s was imminent.  

 

Dancing in the Street

This would seal the deal for me.  A D700s would offer a significant image quality benefits over the D90.  It would be heavier, particularly with the lenses I would want to use with this body, but if I needed to go lightweight with just one body, I could always just take the D300.

So now I’m waiting, as I’m sure many others are, for Nikon to start selling a camera that doesn’t yet exist …

Ice-Climbing in the Shuangqiao Valley

Stupa, Shuangqiao Valley.  Nikon D300, 12-24mm, 1/80, f/22, ISO 200.

This is probably one of Climbing’s best-kept secret. The Shuangqiao Valley (Shuang Qiao Gou) in the Siguniang Mountain area (Si Gu Niang Shan) is pristine in winter. The hoards who visit the park during the rest of the year are noticeably absent when the thermometer plummets, and the many waterfalls in the park freeze over, making it a winter paradise: clean, quiet, and beautiful.

 

Camping in the Shuangqiao Valley on the way up Daguniang Peak (Da Feng)

There are at least 60 known climbable waterfalls here, but there is little published information available. What little information is available is mainly in Chinese, as most of the climbers who visit are Chinese. The few foreign climbers here either have Chinese friends or engage a guide.

One guide, Lim Kim Boon, specializes in foreign climbers. Most of his clients come from Singapore, where he is best known. He is completely bilingual, speaking English and Chinese, and will negotiate the beaurocracy of Chinese permits required to climb here. He can also arrange transport and accommodation from Chengu, the nearest city.

Back to School: lessons at the guesthouse in the Shuangqiao Valley.

A typical program from Kim Boon includes 4 days of guided ice-climbing with beginners instruction, and costs US$994 (S$1400). He can also include a 3-day climb of Daguniang Peak (Da Feng) 5025m for an additional US$215 (S$300).  The price includes transportation to and from Chengdu, food and lodging.

 

Climbing Daguniang (Da Feng) 5025m

Kim Boon resides in Cardiff, U.K. and spends each winter climbing and guiding in the Shuangqiao Valley. He can be contacted at kbclimbing@gmail.com and more information on his website: www.kbclimbing.com

Lim Kim boon in the Shuangqiao Valley

Rise of the Mid-Range Zooms

Baba, Pushkar, India. Canon 7D, 15-85mm, f/5.6, 1/125, ISO 2000. Photo Courtesy of Laura Liong.

My wife has a new Canon EOS 7D Body(Sweeet! :o) with the new Canon EF-S 15-85mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM Lens. Wide-open, it produces some corner vignetting, but is otherwise tact sharp. I'm a Nikon user, but I figure if it were to go head to head with my Nikon 18-200, I’m pretty sure it would outperform it in sharpness. Pair it with a Canon 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM Lens, and you’ve got quite a compelling two-lens travel setup. Yup… I have half a mind to trade in my trusty Nikon 18-200mm VR lens for Nikon’s equivalent Nikon 16-85mm f/3.5-5.6G Lens and a 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6G AF-S VR Lenssetup. If I add my 10.5mm f/2.8 Fisheye Lensinto the mix, I'll have a pretty sweet three-lens setup!