Heading Out to parts unknown

[castawaysailor]

no, I'm not russian, just been there 5 times to do photography

[AdriftAtSea]

da.. :) 

[Fortis]

Mr Drifty and I agree on a great many things, it seems...Nikon cameras are another one. Tried Cannon for a while, kept stealing my then girlfriend's Nikon to actually use....Eventually dumped the cannon and bought a Nikon before she scalped me in my sleep.

We used all kinds of supercheap medium format cameras to tie onto weather balloons with timer shutter releases...ah the joys of art school.

Hassleblads are nowadays over-rated...basically they were amazing COMPARED TO EVERYTHING ELSE OUT THERE ...but then most everything else caught up in terms of quality and precision. I would now say you would be hard pressed to find a quality difference between Olympus and Hassleblad...that is pretty telling.


As a rule for buying cameras...I tend to avoid the ones made by non camera companies...like Sony, Panasonic and such. We all know that EVERY company's cameras are built in the same five factories in china...but the comapnaies that are known for being photgraphic equipment firms actually seem to check and compare quality and useability before putting their brand name on them and rushing them to market.

Alex.

[Captain Smollett]

As a rule for buying cameras...I tend to avoid the ones made by non camera companies...like Sony, Panasonic and such.

I'll second that and put in a specific anti-plug for HP digital cameras.  I've had two, and they both turned out to be pieces of ka-ka.

The second one is particularly aggravating.  We bought it for my aging mother to use to take pictures of her grandchildren; paid a pretty penny for it and it SEEMED like a decently made camera IN THE STORE.  The thing lasted 7 months, and HP's customer service recommendation was "here, we'll give you a coupon for your next HP purchase, but you'll have to replace that camera as it will cost more to fix it than to replace it."  My reply to that notion was "not thanks, don't need your coupon; I'll never buy HP again."

They make poop.  And for some reason, we the consumers keep buying it.

[Fortis]

Honestly the best camera option when buying for the non-tech savvy and such...well...you just hold your nose and buy a Kodak digital. They are point and shoot in the extreme, they hold up pretty well, and they have the hands down easiest download photo proceedure of anything.

Alex

[AdriftAtSea]

Actually, Sony makes a pretty decent digital camera, and the picture quality off of them is excellent.  They're also quite easy to use....I've given three of them to family and friends as gifts.  For the more advanced enthusiast, you're definitely better off going with a DSLR from either Nikon or Canon.   The one real objection I have to the Canon equipment is the durability of their consumer end equipment. 

I've been a photographer for over 20 years, and have used the Canon EOS, Nikon Fx, Leica, Hasselblad, Mamiya, Pentax, Sinar and Horseman equipment. 

The Hasselblad equipment is beautiful, but way overpriced for what you're getting IMHO. 

The consumer Canon stuff is junk—you can actually flex the camera body enough to see the twist—but their pro stuff is good. 

The Nikon stuff is excellent—for years they were playing catchup to Canon in the high-end digital market, but the D80 and D200 have fixed that for the most part. 

I love the Mamiya medium format gear, but it's way to big and heavy for a boat.  Same with Sinar and Horseman—large format isn't really an option on a boat. :D 

Leica makes beautiful gear, but also overpriced IMHO.  My only Leica is an ancient M3 that I got at a yard sale for $100. :D  Getting lenses for it has been very painful.

One camera I'd love to get my hands on is a Nikonos RS, but they're very expensive and fairly rare at this point. 

Alex-

I don't think she would have scalped you in your sleep...if she scalped you, you could still mooch her Nikon from her... she'd probably cut off your hands or stab you in the heart...depending on how much she liked you....and whether she wanted to keep you around for other things. ;)

I will probably have to downsize my camera collection before I cut the docklines.  They aren't very happy about just sitting in storage, and I have enough that bringing them all on a boat isn't an option.  :( 

[CapnK]

thinking of the cost and problems with the canal makes me want to do the horn instead

LOL, castaway. :)

Aren't you fast approaching your departure date? Do you have all of your 'ducks in a row'? Are you at all nervous?

[AdriftAtSea]

He's probably busy packing and loading up the boat... :D