Fritz
Member
- Time of past OR future Camino
- Frances SJPDP- Muxia (2013)
Frances San Sebastian-Bilbao-Belarado-SDC (2016)
Frances SJPDP(2020)
Hi all, I posted my “unpacking list” thread in November and hope it was helpful. I mentioned I carried a full camera kit and wanted to share my experiences with other forum members. I’m hoping to give back to the forum that has given much to me, by sharing my experiences.
Can I make a disclaimer first? This post is a generic in hopes of helping as many people as possible. I’m not suggesting you must take my brand of camera, my specific lens, or use my specific Smartphone and software. I do list the brands and models of gear I took but only for comparison. My gear is not a prescription, but perhaps a starting point?
Also, I don’t mean to suggest that a Smartphone or a point and shoot are the wrong choices for the Camino, there are more than 5000 photos from Caminos on our forum and over 500,000 on Instagram with the hashtag #caminidesantiago, taken with all sizes, types, ages and brands of cameras. But specifically, people often ask about taking their “big/good/nice” camera. So I’m sharing what I know about that.
Warning, I have two biases: first I am an author, documentary producer, and photographer so I’m used to traveling with more gear than average so judge my experience through that eye
….and second, I hope that you will print or publish a book of your photos. While I love the Internet, forums and social media, I encourage you to print your photos either as pictures or in a book. Your once-in-a-life trip will be very interesting to future generations of friends and families and as the digital world evolves who can predict what photo digital services will still be accessible in 5, 10, or 30 years. If you are serious about publishing I'd welcome an off-line conversation to give you some ideas about how to get that process started.
My camera is too heavy.
I agree, it is heavy. On my two Camino’s I met people carrying tents, C-Pap machines, long skateboards, guitars, push/pull carts, baby strollers, and I’ve seen video of people carrying cellos or pushing wheelchairs. What that suggests to me is “heavy” is very subjective. If you enjoy using your camera, you’ll find it’s not heavy at all. And since you asked, my assumption is you like to take pictures with your camera. So….
Here is the tale of the scale: My camera kit – which included 2 cameras, 3 lenses, cables, chargers, batteries, flash unit and bag weighed just over 6 KG. In my unpacking list post, my pack weight was 7KG so my total combined pack was just over 13KG plus the 2.2 kg I was wearing including hiking shoes.
15.2 kg total or 18% of body weight. (Trust me, your kit can be significantly less!)
As I mentioned in the previous post: I'm 6'1 (1.8m) tall and 185 - 190 pounds (85 kg) and 56 years old (9 years in "dog years").
Lessons learned:
It’s not the weight; it’s how it is carried. I learned this before the Caminos from my general every day work. I’m a huge believer in the Peak Design Capture Clip along with a small camera bag that opens from the top and can be worn over the shoulder, around the neck, as a chest pack or as a belt pack. If you carry your camera in your main pack, it takes more time and more steps to make a photo. A small separate bag makes access easier. I suggest trying a bag like this with your camera before you buy one, though, or be sure you can return it or exchange it if it is too big or too small.
Hand carrying your camera or wearing your camera on it’s strap around your neck works great for a few hours but it may become tedious and bothersome after 10, 20 or 30 days.
If you struggle to access your camera or if taking it out and putting it away activates buttons or changes settings (resulting in bad photos or extra time) you may not enjoy lugging it around.
(I would though be happy to share with you my twenty-photo series entitled “The Black Camino”…. A series of photos taken from deep inside my camera bag when I forgot to turn off my camera and every so often I jostled the shutter release causing incredibly long time exposures.)
Walking sticks: I do not use walking sticks – if you do, consider how to manage both your sticks and accessing your camera. I know it can be done, but I don’t have any experience doing it.
How does your camera fit? Each of our hands and fingers are different sizes and shape. Few cameras are one-size-fits all. In my experience, different brands of cameras fit my hands differently. And while a common perception is “bigger is better,” that’s not always true. Some of the most sophisticated cameras are smaller than less sophisticated bigger models. So even though I love “brand x” you may have more success with “brand y” because it feels more natural in your hand.
It’s not just feel and weight: but also consider the balance with the lenses you might use. Big lenses on small cameras and small lenses on big cameras are sometimes awkward.
If you are buying a new camera for the Camino I encourage you to go to a physical store and hold different sizes of cameras, see how easy it is for your fingers to reach buttons and menus, and look through the viewfinder and see if you can see all the display.
In my experience, the biggest reason people don’t take photos is: it is not fun/easy to use the controls on their camera. If it takes extra steps, you either miss the photo or it’s not worth the bother.
So okay Fritz, what did you actually pack?
Here is my gear and where possible I added some notes about the “why”. All the photographers I met carried different kinds and brands of gear – in short there is no “one best” camera or smart phone for the Camino. The best one is the best one FOR YOU that helps you make the kinds of photos you like.
Cameras:
Canon 5D mk III. 33.5 oz 950 gms (body only)+ two camera batteries
This one is in the middle of the weight range. Canon makes 17 different SLR interchangeable lens cameras, the lightest weight model is 14.4 oz 407 gms and the heaviest is 54 oz 1530 gms. Nikons are in the same range but their heaviest is lighter at about 1235 gms. In my overly simplistic opinion, as the cameras get both heavier and more expensive, the main difference is their ruggedness and faster access to certain features. Ie: a dedicated button vs scrolling through a series of menus.
I am very very hard on my gear, the 5D tolerates my punishment.
Fuji x100T 15.5 oz 440 gms (has fixed lens 35 mm focal length) Plus two camera batteries. The Fuji battery life is less than the Canon -- typical of mirrorless cameras. In a very basic comparison, many iPhones and Smartphone lenses take a photo close to 35mm in focal length.
Samsung Note 3 (camera and back up system to copy photos from camera cards to a portable hard drive) I under use the camera on my smartphone, but when I do use it, the quality and size is sufficient to print a full page image in an 8 x 10 photo book and sometimes larger.
Bag/holder:
Peak capture clip (see forum post https://www.caminodesantiago.me/community/threads/camera-protection.44216/ )and an over the shoulder convertible top-loading camera bag similar to the Lowepro AW top loader. My bag is similar but is made by a company no longer making the bag) Both the Fuji and the Canon were comfortable to carry in the Capture clip and I alternated cameras depending on the kinds of photos I anticipated making.
Having a dedicated bag also makes it easy to carry the camera around and not have to lug your main backpack everywhere. Be aware of the weight of your empty camera bag, some bag makers love to add extra straps, buckles, and “stuff” which adds more weight than value.
Lenses:
Here is what I packed but there is no perfect lens or set of lenses. For example, Canon alone sells 40 fixed length lenses and 39 zoom lenses. Nikon's website lists 98 lenses. Fuji, Sony and others also sell multiple lenses for their cameras.
16 – 35 f/4 Zoom lens 22.6 oz (640 gms)
50 mm f/1.8 fixed 6.3 oz (178 gms)
70 – 300 f/4 – f5.6 39.7 oz (1125 gms ) yes it is heavier than the camera.
24- 105 F/4 For part of my camino, I had the benefit of working alongside New Zealand author and photographer Brett Payne @BrettP who was also carrying a Canon and a 24 – 105. This combination gave us options. So if you are walking with another photographer and you both use the same brand, consider dividing the lesser-used gear between you.
The 70-300 rode in a side backpack pocket and as a result, I stopped and took off my pack to use that lens during the day. Otherwise, the Canon had either the 50mm or the 16-35mm on during the day and the other lens was close at hand in the bag. With the camera in the capture clip and the other lens in the bag – it was easy to swap lenses with one hand if necessary.
Did I need them all? It depends. I was working on a project and needed lots of overlap in the event of a problem image. So I shot 4900 frames more or less over 40 days. The photographers I talked with shared that they, too, took between 50 and 200 images a day.I have edited my photos to 741 that I want to keep. Those frame numbers may seem too high or too low, depending on your point of view. Of the 741 that I think are strong images.
374 images were shot on the Fuji at 35 mm equivalent
200 images shot with the 16 - 35 f/4
86 images shot with the 50 mm f/1.8
81 images shot with the 70 - 300 f/4
(The above numbers say more about my photography style than they do anything about the lenses, but it’s a comparison.)
Backing up – saving photos
Backing up large numbers of photos for 20, 30, or 40 days can be a very complicated process. I’d be glad to share my backup system with anyone drop me a note – but as a simple explanation, I used an adapter to copy my photos to my smart phone and then to a portable hard drive. The simplest and most secure method is to probably just save your camera cards until you get home, but that is more expensive and still leaves you without a backup. Depending on the size of your photo files and the number of photos you take, wifi may or may not be a reasonable option.
Because cards can be lost, stolen, or break, I like using smaller size camera cards than bigger cards. I currently shoot with 16 gb and 32 gb cards – I think you can buy them as large as 128 gb
Electronics:
eyeFi Pro card -- in Canon to move jpg images to phone for potential Instagram posting. The Fuji has wifi built in. I shot both .jpg and Raw format -- a topic for another conversation.
Generic Samsung OTG card reader and cables (USB 2 and USB3) and
Western Digital USB3 1 TB hard drive.
Canon camera charger
USA to Type F European plug adapter
Multi jack powerplug and USB power socket
(Added in Spain) 4800 amp/hour portable charger
Would I pack all this gear again? YES, absolutely. I might swap out the flash and batteries for a Fuji Instax Printer – but that’s another conversation and topic for another day. But If I was doing a longer series of portraits, the flash and remotes would be a must take.
If I only took one camera: It would be the Fuji x100T. Why? People sometimes “freeze up” or put on their “picture face expression” when they see you with a SLR camera. The Fuji mirrorless (about the size of a point and shoot) takes most of that away. The 35 mm focal length was by far the most used and the Camino lends it self to photos taken within a short distance.
If I only took a single DSLR and one lens: the 50mm f1/8 – or if I really wanted to be small, Canon makes a very flat 40mm. Again Nikon and other major camera companies offer similar options, go with a camera body that fits your hands and eyes, then add the extras.
Would I leave it at home?
Cameras are both big and awkward to pack. In fact, in 2013 I did not take a camera or phone and enjoyed a very social and fun way to have awesome Camino photos. I packed some cards with an email address and asked many pilgrims to either take my photo or share a photo they took.
In 2016 I saw so many people with cameras and smartphones, this would be even easier and it’s a great conversation starter. And remember to offer to take photos of your pilgrim friends with their camera!
As a closing thought, perhaps I’m too conservative. I don’t recommend carrying a camera or gear you are not financially prepared to lose. People fall, gear gets dropped, it rains hard, and cameras are misplaced, forgotten, and stolen. It can and does happen and if you are not comfortable with losing your gear or having to replace it when you get back home, I don’t encourage taking it. It is very easy to spend more on a camera and lens than the cost of an entire Camino. (It is also quite easy to have a camera and lens that have amazing technical abilities for much less money.)
What else can you add? There are very talented and experienced photographers on our forum and I hope you will add your experiences. If you like making photos, I hope you make many and that you print and share them with your friends now and in the future.
Can I make a disclaimer first? This post is a generic in hopes of helping as many people as possible. I’m not suggesting you must take my brand of camera, my specific lens, or use my specific Smartphone and software. I do list the brands and models of gear I took but only for comparison. My gear is not a prescription, but perhaps a starting point?
Also, I don’t mean to suggest that a Smartphone or a point and shoot are the wrong choices for the Camino, there are more than 5000 photos from Caminos on our forum and over 500,000 on Instagram with the hashtag #caminidesantiago, taken with all sizes, types, ages and brands of cameras. But specifically, people often ask about taking their “big/good/nice” camera. So I’m sharing what I know about that.
Warning, I have two biases: first I am an author, documentary producer, and photographer so I’m used to traveling with more gear than average so judge my experience through that eye
….and second, I hope that you will print or publish a book of your photos. While I love the Internet, forums and social media, I encourage you to print your photos either as pictures or in a book. Your once-in-a-life trip will be very interesting to future generations of friends and families and as the digital world evolves who can predict what photo digital services will still be accessible in 5, 10, or 30 years. If you are serious about publishing I'd welcome an off-line conversation to give you some ideas about how to get that process started.
My camera is too heavy.
I agree, it is heavy. On my two Camino’s I met people carrying tents, C-Pap machines, long skateboards, guitars, push/pull carts, baby strollers, and I’ve seen video of people carrying cellos or pushing wheelchairs. What that suggests to me is “heavy” is very subjective. If you enjoy using your camera, you’ll find it’s not heavy at all. And since you asked, my assumption is you like to take pictures with your camera. So….
Here is the tale of the scale: My camera kit – which included 2 cameras, 3 lenses, cables, chargers, batteries, flash unit and bag weighed just over 6 KG. In my unpacking list post, my pack weight was 7KG so my total combined pack was just over 13KG plus the 2.2 kg I was wearing including hiking shoes.
15.2 kg total or 18% of body weight. (Trust me, your kit can be significantly less!)
As I mentioned in the previous post: I'm 6'1 (1.8m) tall and 185 - 190 pounds (85 kg) and 56 years old (9 years in "dog years").
Lessons learned:
It’s not the weight; it’s how it is carried. I learned this before the Caminos from my general every day work. I’m a huge believer in the Peak Design Capture Clip along with a small camera bag that opens from the top and can be worn over the shoulder, around the neck, as a chest pack or as a belt pack. If you carry your camera in your main pack, it takes more time and more steps to make a photo. A small separate bag makes access easier. I suggest trying a bag like this with your camera before you buy one, though, or be sure you can return it or exchange it if it is too big or too small.
Hand carrying your camera or wearing your camera on it’s strap around your neck works great for a few hours but it may become tedious and bothersome after 10, 20 or 30 days.
If you struggle to access your camera or if taking it out and putting it away activates buttons or changes settings (resulting in bad photos or extra time) you may not enjoy lugging it around.
(I would though be happy to share with you my twenty-photo series entitled “The Black Camino”…. A series of photos taken from deep inside my camera bag when I forgot to turn off my camera and every so often I jostled the shutter release causing incredibly long time exposures.)
Walking sticks: I do not use walking sticks – if you do, consider how to manage both your sticks and accessing your camera. I know it can be done, but I don’t have any experience doing it.
How does your camera fit? Each of our hands and fingers are different sizes and shape. Few cameras are one-size-fits all. In my experience, different brands of cameras fit my hands differently. And while a common perception is “bigger is better,” that’s not always true. Some of the most sophisticated cameras are smaller than less sophisticated bigger models. So even though I love “brand x” you may have more success with “brand y” because it feels more natural in your hand.
It’s not just feel and weight: but also consider the balance with the lenses you might use. Big lenses on small cameras and small lenses on big cameras are sometimes awkward.
If you are buying a new camera for the Camino I encourage you to go to a physical store and hold different sizes of cameras, see how easy it is for your fingers to reach buttons and menus, and look through the viewfinder and see if you can see all the display.
In my experience, the biggest reason people don’t take photos is: it is not fun/easy to use the controls on their camera. If it takes extra steps, you either miss the photo or it’s not worth the bother.
So okay Fritz, what did you actually pack?
Here is my gear and where possible I added some notes about the “why”. All the photographers I met carried different kinds and brands of gear – in short there is no “one best” camera or smart phone for the Camino. The best one is the best one FOR YOU that helps you make the kinds of photos you like.
Cameras:
Canon 5D mk III. 33.5 oz 950 gms (body only)+ two camera batteries
This one is in the middle of the weight range. Canon makes 17 different SLR interchangeable lens cameras, the lightest weight model is 14.4 oz 407 gms and the heaviest is 54 oz 1530 gms. Nikons are in the same range but their heaviest is lighter at about 1235 gms. In my overly simplistic opinion, as the cameras get both heavier and more expensive, the main difference is their ruggedness and faster access to certain features. Ie: a dedicated button vs scrolling through a series of menus.
I am very very hard on my gear, the 5D tolerates my punishment.
Fuji x100T 15.5 oz 440 gms (has fixed lens 35 mm focal length) Plus two camera batteries. The Fuji battery life is less than the Canon -- typical of mirrorless cameras. In a very basic comparison, many iPhones and Smartphone lenses take a photo close to 35mm in focal length.
Samsung Note 3 (camera and back up system to copy photos from camera cards to a portable hard drive) I under use the camera on my smartphone, but when I do use it, the quality and size is sufficient to print a full page image in an 8 x 10 photo book and sometimes larger.
Bag/holder:
Peak capture clip (see forum post https://www.caminodesantiago.me/community/threads/camera-protection.44216/ )and an over the shoulder convertible top-loading camera bag similar to the Lowepro AW top loader. My bag is similar but is made by a company no longer making the bag) Both the Fuji and the Canon were comfortable to carry in the Capture clip and I alternated cameras depending on the kinds of photos I anticipated making.
Having a dedicated bag also makes it easy to carry the camera around and not have to lug your main backpack everywhere. Be aware of the weight of your empty camera bag, some bag makers love to add extra straps, buckles, and “stuff” which adds more weight than value.
Lenses:
Here is what I packed but there is no perfect lens or set of lenses. For example, Canon alone sells 40 fixed length lenses and 39 zoom lenses. Nikon's website lists 98 lenses. Fuji, Sony and others also sell multiple lenses for their cameras.
16 – 35 f/4 Zoom lens 22.6 oz (640 gms)
50 mm f/1.8 fixed 6.3 oz (178 gms)
70 – 300 f/4 – f5.6 39.7 oz (1125 gms ) yes it is heavier than the camera.
24- 105 F/4 For part of my camino, I had the benefit of working alongside New Zealand author and photographer Brett Payne @BrettP who was also carrying a Canon and a 24 – 105. This combination gave us options. So if you are walking with another photographer and you both use the same brand, consider dividing the lesser-used gear between you.
The 70-300 rode in a side backpack pocket and as a result, I stopped and took off my pack to use that lens during the day. Otherwise, the Canon had either the 50mm or the 16-35mm on during the day and the other lens was close at hand in the bag. With the camera in the capture clip and the other lens in the bag – it was easy to swap lenses with one hand if necessary.
Did I need them all? It depends. I was working on a project and needed lots of overlap in the event of a problem image. So I shot 4900 frames more or less over 40 days. The photographers I talked with shared that they, too, took between 50 and 200 images a day.I have edited my photos to 741 that I want to keep. Those frame numbers may seem too high or too low, depending on your point of view. Of the 741 that I think are strong images.
374 images were shot on the Fuji at 35 mm equivalent
200 images shot with the 16 - 35 f/4
86 images shot with the 50 mm f/1.8
81 images shot with the 70 - 300 f/4
(The above numbers say more about my photography style than they do anything about the lenses, but it’s a comparison.)
Backing up – saving photos
Backing up large numbers of photos for 20, 30, or 40 days can be a very complicated process. I’d be glad to share my backup system with anyone drop me a note – but as a simple explanation, I used an adapter to copy my photos to my smart phone and then to a portable hard drive. The simplest and most secure method is to probably just save your camera cards until you get home, but that is more expensive and still leaves you without a backup. Depending on the size of your photo files and the number of photos you take, wifi may or may not be a reasonable option.
Because cards can be lost, stolen, or break, I like using smaller size camera cards than bigger cards. I currently shoot with 16 gb and 32 gb cards – I think you can buy them as large as 128 gb
Electronics:
eyeFi Pro card -- in Canon to move jpg images to phone for potential Instagram posting. The Fuji has wifi built in. I shot both .jpg and Raw format -- a topic for another conversation.
Generic Samsung OTG card reader and cables (USB 2 and USB3) and
Western Digital USB3 1 TB hard drive.
Canon camera charger
USA to Type F European plug adapter
Multi jack powerplug and USB power socket
(Added in Spain) 4800 amp/hour portable charger
Would I pack all this gear again? YES, absolutely. I might swap out the flash and batteries for a Fuji Instax Printer – but that’s another conversation and topic for another day. But If I was doing a longer series of portraits, the flash and remotes would be a must take.
If I only took one camera: It would be the Fuji x100T. Why? People sometimes “freeze up” or put on their “picture face expression” when they see you with a SLR camera. The Fuji mirrorless (about the size of a point and shoot) takes most of that away. The 35 mm focal length was by far the most used and the Camino lends it self to photos taken within a short distance.
If I only took a single DSLR and one lens: the 50mm f1/8 – or if I really wanted to be small, Canon makes a very flat 40mm. Again Nikon and other major camera companies offer similar options, go with a camera body that fits your hands and eyes, then add the extras.
Would I leave it at home?
Cameras are both big and awkward to pack. In fact, in 2013 I did not take a camera or phone and enjoyed a very social and fun way to have awesome Camino photos. I packed some cards with an email address and asked many pilgrims to either take my photo or share a photo they took.
In 2016 I saw so many people with cameras and smartphones, this would be even easier and it’s a great conversation starter. And remember to offer to take photos of your pilgrim friends with their camera!
As a closing thought, perhaps I’m too conservative. I don’t recommend carrying a camera or gear you are not financially prepared to lose. People fall, gear gets dropped, it rains hard, and cameras are misplaced, forgotten, and stolen. It can and does happen and if you are not comfortable with losing your gear or having to replace it when you get back home, I don’t encourage taking it. It is very easy to spend more on a camera and lens than the cost of an entire Camino. (It is also quite easy to have a camera and lens that have amazing technical abilities for much less money.)
What else can you add? There are very talented and experienced photographers on our forum and I hope you will add your experiences. If you like making photos, I hope you make many and that you print and share them with your friends now and in the future.
