Skiing Camera

Snax

Snax

Snax

Soldato
Joined
5 Jul 2003
Posts
4,253
Location
Larndarn
Hi,

I am trying to find a suitable camera to take skiing with me. I have a 40d, but that is far too heavy and given that I go off piste a lot, is liable to get crunched.

So I am looking for a suitable (cheapish £100-£150) compact or bridge camera to help me take landscape shots and anything else I like. I am particularly interested in landscapes; because the light is so bright up in the mountains, are their ways of preventing over exposure with compacts/bridge cameras?

My trusty 2mp ixus 200 is awesome because it is solid aluminium and doesnt get affected by the cold (my girlfriend's samsung nv30 kept losing power because it was -10C), sadly it is showing its 6 years of ageing and I need some suggestions for replacements.

Any thoughts?
 
I took my Sony Cybershot w100 with me skiing, it tooks some bashing about (was only my second time skiing and i have no fear). All the Sony's i've had have been heavy and solid build quality, coupled with a leather soft casing for added protection.
On auto it never really had a problem with the snow.

courchevel004.jpg

courchevel059.jpg


With such bright sunlight it is normal to get a hazy look to shots, but they didnt turn out bad at all, those 2 are unprocessed and are easily sorted to remove any slight blue colour cast or up the contrast a touch.
 
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ChroniC said:
I took my Sony Cybershot w100 with me skiing, it tooks some bashing about (was only my second time skiing and i have no fear). All the Sony's i've had have been heavy and solid build quality, coupled with a leather soft casing for added protection.
On auto it never really had a problem with the snow.
Click to expand...

No real recommendations compact wise but I have a Dakine snowboarding camera pack and have no problems with equipment getting damaged (touch wood) and i have had some pretty big falls with it. I spent some days fully loaded with DSLR, video cam and helmet cam and you can get your shovel and probe on the outside.
 
the camera pack looks great, but I have to carry a camelbak and other emergency stuff with me, so a full slr set up is not so practical.

so would the w100 be emblematic of modern compacts; are they mostly good at handling excess light now? also, did you take it out at really cold temperatures (-10)?

what are good bridge cameras? any recommendations?
 
I use a Canon Ixus 70 for skiing/boarding/mountain biking duties.

It's very thin and small, so slips in the chest pocket next to the zip that most skiing/boarding jackets have, and takes good pictures.

The metering is good, and it never seems to over expose snow, unlike me and DSLR's!!
 
Snax said:
the camera pack looks great, but I have to carry a camelbak and other emergency stuff with me, so a full slr set up is not so practical.

so would the w100 be emblematic of modern compacts; are they mostly good at handling excess light now? also, did you take it out at really cold temperatures (-10)?

what are good bridge cameras? any recommendations?
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Yes in a way, Sony have very good lenses on their compacts, which i why i have chosen them in the past, and like i said the buid quality isn't plasticy. Canon obviously know what their doing with their ixus range, however dont be fooled by MP i have used some samsung 12mp and there rubbish.
(www.dpreview.com has a very good review of pretty much every camera)
But to be honest i would be happy to just say dont bother looking at others if your going to go compact and cant decide get a either a w100 or an ixus 80 both about 115quid

As temperature goes, i got stuck at the top of a mountain in a white out with it, but the camera was inside my jacket on my chest so i doubt it ever got to -10 let alone -1. Where do you plan to keep it, a bag?
When ever i took it out to use it obviously was a fairly clear sky so probably only -1 to -5
 
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a large supermarket are doing the s5800 for under £100. is there anything better for this kind of price?
 
Just take your 40D, I dont see the point in having an SLR and not using it for its intended purpose. You won't be able to fall hard enough on it to break it, just as long as it is secured in a decent bag like the dakine sequence or crumpler or something. There's a company called F-stop gear which make decent ski/board orientated bags, but even a lowepro or crumpler backpack will be fine. You can ditch the camelbak too, totally unnecessary, even for ski touring.
 
i would respectfully disagree

I have to carry LOT of gear. Mainly it is spare clothing, arva, ski tools, food and water. I also carry my girlfriend's stuff. A full on SLR is not feasible. 2kg of SLR, 2kg of water and 2kg of equipment is nearly a stone of extra weight. I dont have the strength to carry that all day.

I need a camelbak because I have had a fit from dehydration in the past while training. I cant risk that again.
 
if you pack carefully you can use your shovel to protect your camera along with spare clothing. never take a camleback skiing, liable to freeze an/or leak. Dehydration is never pretty- the only time I have suffered from dehydrationis when using a camelback!. I would also re-think your packing. even for multiple days going from hut to hut with crampons, ince axe, rope, etc, I would rarely have more than 5kgs. But i'm not saying you should definitely take your SLR....
 
Because I am the best skier in the party, I tend to end up being the one with the backpack of extra gear. Ill think about trying my slr soon.

RE the camelbak- add a little salt to the water, it prevents dehydration and lowers the freezing point. Routing the tubing down your back also helps stop freezing. Also, blowing the water back into the pack, so the tube is empty helps too.

I've skied with my 'bak for about 8 years now without any problems. the coldest I took it into was -23C with wind chill. It didnt freeze internally and worked fine using the methods listed above.

Anyone got any opinions about the s5800?
 
Snax said:
I have to carry LOT of gear. Mainly it is spare clothing, arva, ski tools, food and water. I also carry my girlfriend's stuff.
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What? Why? Are you going ski touring off into the back country? If so, fine. But if this is just a regular ski holiday in a resort then it seems totally overkill. Ski tools?! do you sharpen your skis at lunch time? 2 litres of water?! I see you've had dehydration before but seriously?! It sounds like you are skiing with way too much stuff already, so I'd definitely not pack an slr.

I'm only saying because carrying around so much extra weight is going to really affect your skiing, your stance and balance will be seriously hindered and your skiing will suffer.

I'd recommend ditching the bag entirely.
 
Snax said:
Anyone got any opinions about the s5800?
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No, but everybody has an opinion on your skiing it seems! :D ;)

I had a S5500, which was a nice camera, but no better than my Ixus 70 pic quality wise, and the zoom was useful at times.

No idea about the S5800, but like most cameras it should have got better. For skiing, I'd still go with the Ixus 80 or the W100. They will be all you need, and you won't notice you're carrying either of them.
 
if he is skiing off-piste then at a minimum he has shovel, probe + transceiver + usual extras (spare clothing, spare gloves, goggles if weather goes bad, water, head torch). If he ends up far from nearest lifts/pistes it is wise to pack a first aid kit, emergency blanket, flares.


If he is skiing more adventurous lines then you can add a harness, rope, ice screws, slings, biners, ice-axe, crampons.... The best couloirs I've skiied required a repel entry onto a hanging snowfield - keeps the tourists away.

Even if he is just doing some off-piste on glacial terrain at places Chamonix then you need to be kitted with harness + rope + crevasse rescue gear (along with you shovel, probe, transceiver.)
 
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he suggested the other skiers in the group aren't at a level to comfortably ski with a backpack. I doubt he's gonna be needing a harness etc.

this is what I take up (2 backpacks)


:D
 
omg, wookie how can you ski with all that?

DP has it spot on. I carry pretty much everything in the first list plus some others, and I carry enough for two people :P

I havent done any rapelling yet though so no need for propper climbing stuff.

Olv- The backpack is heavy. I do train core stability muscles all year with a 10kg weight to try and aclimatise to that kind of pressure on my balance. I would much prefer to be prepared and suffer some limitations than find myself in a predicament on a mountain without the stuff I rely on i.e. water, extra clothing, food, arva, goggles etc. Lots of simple things that make a BIG difference if the weather turns or someone has a funny turn.
 
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I'd forget the bridge camera, worst of all worlds, too big and clumsy to stuff in a pocket quickly, take out in the evening etc. It's overkill for quick snaps and not much use for serious photos.

Either get something like an Ixus 980 (new and really pretty good) if you're going skiing to go skiing, it'll do for quick photos and stuff.

If you want decent shots take your SLR. A bridge camera will suffer from the lack of wide angle (S5800 is 38-380mm equivalent which will hurt for landscape shots where wide angle is nice) and the lack of fast AF and high speed continuous shooting when it comes to action shots.

I have a Leica D-LUX3 which is great for a reasonable advanced compact, although it's just a panasonic LX3 with a fancy image processor really. If I was buying today on a budget I'd probably get the Ixus 980 though.
 
going along the compact lines, i am thinking of going for the panasonic fs5. it is about £120 now and has a leica wide angled lens. the sample shots i have seen look quite nice. any further thoughts from anyone?
 
the past few generations of panasonic compacts have been excellent, a friend of mine had one during my last winter skiing and it was pretty good at handling the exposure. videos were surprisingly good quality too. overally i was impressed.

And on the skiing, I'd forgotten how different it is skiing off piste in europe so i you do right to gear up.
 
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