What gear for hiking?

I like to walk, but if I 'm going to bring a lotta stuff I usually bring my mule!

Jeff

Consider taking no camera at all. I've never been into the wild and taken a picture that was anything but a disappointment compared to actually being there. Furthermore, if you want to show your friends any of your images they will only be interested in the ones with people in them and capturing a portrait in the backcountry that pleases you is almost impossible compared to what you might think while setting in an armchair at home.

Most pleasing landscape photography is done by people traveling directly to the site (usually by car), at the perfect time of day and year, with the perfect weather and without the time constraints imposed by a backpacking trip. Backpacking and landscape photography are equal avocation, and are best practiced separately, in my opinion. If anything, take a P&S with fill flash for group shots.

Denis K

Denis K said:

Consider taking no camera at all. I've never been into the wild and taken a picture that was anything but a disappointment compared to actually being there. Furthermore, if you want to show your friends any of your images they will only be interested in the ones with people in them and capturing a portrait in the backcountry that pleases you is almost impossible compared to what you might think while setting in an armchair at home.

Most pleasing landscape photography is done by people traveling directly to the site (usually by car), at the perfect time of day and year, with the perfect weather and without the time constraints imposed by a backpacking trip. Backpacking and landscape photography are equal avocation, and are best practiced separately, in my opinion. If anything, take a P&S with fill flash for group shots.

Denis K

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Actually that so close to the mark its not funny, bushwalking is bushwalking, photography trip is photography. But thats not to say you don't/cannot get some great images.

Denis K said:

Consider taking no camera at all. I've never been into the wild and taken a picture that was anything but a disappointment compared to actually being there. Furthermore, if you want to show your friends any of your images they will only be interested in the ones with people in them and capturing a portrait in the backcountry that pleases you is almost impossible compared to what you might think while setting in an armchair at home.

Most pleasing landscape photography is done by people traveling directly to the site (usually by car), at the perfect time of day and year, with the perfect weather and without the time constraints imposed by a backpacking trip. Backpacking and landscape photography are equal avocation, and are best practiced separately, in my opinion. If anything, take a P&S with fill flash for group shots.

Denis K

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_____________________________

Oh dear. That's hardly funny, amusing or correct, what you have actually written suggests a lack of skill, discipline, drive, enthusiasm and the capacity to blend two enjoyable pasttimes. Backpacking and photography go together, not separately, and the best places can only be reached by going quite literally off the beaten track—on foot (of course a car is used to transport you to the start). Bushwalkers have been doing this since Nelson lost an eye! The original OP had a good list of equipment that he wanted pared down, and we answered based on what is common and sensible (many bushwalkers do take more than one camera: I have a Russian colleague who takes a Nikon digital and a Hasselblad 503CX with flexbody). Further, I can guarantee that well-executed photography, be it landscape, wilderness et al, has a good and receptive audience — and buyers, too — but it must be produced up to a very high standard, and your reputation will be made on the foundations of how much quality and effort you are putting into both getting "out there" to the subject and bringing the subject back skillfully in photographs—irrespective of perceived "perfect time of day and year, perfect weather etc.", none of which is true in reality. We learn to photograph well in all conditions.

Denis, I go into the bush to take photos just for myself. If other people like them or don't like them, I don't really care. I enjoy the bushwalking, even if I am carrying a heavy load, but the photos are the reason I go walking in the first place, and I find that I appreciate the places I visited more because I have taken the trouble to photograph them.
Mike

Come on,
No guts no glory. I agree with the 8 x 10. I myself would be carrying the large film format you can. Cut down on fancy lens Carry more film. A good wide angle, a medium tele and a compact zoom. Also the most stable tripod you can handle. My kit for an average shoot is three bags. 1 film, 2 light meter and other gear, 3 tripod. Oh then the camera.
Enjoy yourself.
Pat

largeformat pat said:

Come on,
No guts no glory. I agree with the 8 x 10. I myself would be carrying the large film format you can. Cut down on fancy lens Carry more film. A good wide angle, a medium tele and a compact zoom. Also the most stable tripod you can handle. My kit for an average shoot is three bags. 1 film, 2 light meter and other gear, 3 tripod. Oh then the camera.
Enjoy yourself.
Pat

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Hmm.
Wonder how well all that would travel down the slippery slope and back from Yannathan Falls?

Methinks it takes more than a little devotion, but it can be done, as Wyno has famously demonstrated with that Tachihara on several trips I have organised. I agree with carrying more film than lenses; film is cheaper than a return trip; all things being equal, I generally make as many trips as I want to a destination I am smitten by!

I agree that backpacking/hiking and photography are wonderful companions. However, the type and amount of gear that I take camping depends upon where I am going, how far I am walking, who I am going with, and how much opportunity there will be for contemplative photography. The things that often don't mix well with carrying bulky gear are companions who are not photographers and a fast pace.
Each to his own, but I would almost never take more than one camera with me on a serious hike. It might be 35mm, MF or LF, but I personally find it liberating to remove a few choices. That's part of the reason I go walking in the first place - to get back to some simplicity. Taking just a good rangefinder and a light tripod can be a very nice way to travel in the bush.
Ian