>> Reading about your trips and seeing all the wonderful pictures is a great motivator for me to develop skills which will allow me to paddle in such lovely places. I do wonder, however, what kinds of cameras you use. Are they waterproof? How do you protect them on trips? Any other photography-related suggestions? Thanks in advance! -Jessica >> I use a Nikonos V I've had for many years. It's an expensive camera designed for SCUBA diving, so it is good down to 100 meters, but it has no autofocus or other focusing aid (you have to estimate the distance and set it manually on a scale), and no built-in flash. Also, it doesn't float, so I always tether it to my PFD. It does have has interchangeable lenses and manual or automatic exposure. I've never had a moisture problem with it. My wife has had two Minolta Weathermatic 35s, which supposedly are good to three meters, but eventually both admitted moisture and stopped working, even though she took them no deeper than half a meter or so when rolling. The second one failed just after the warranty ran out. Unlike the Nikonos, the Weathermatic floats. The main advantage of the Weathermatic over the Canon Sure Shot A1 is that it has two focal lengths: 35mm and 50mm. The Canon Sure Shot A1 is another (supposedly) waterproof camera. It is rated to five meters, has a better viewfinder than the Weathermatic, but only one 32mm focal length. Like the Weathermatic, it is autofocus, auto exposure, and floats. Don't buy a splashproof camera unless you protect it like a non-splashproof camera; those babies are not designed to be immersed! Probably the biggest problem with all these cameras is keeping water drops off the lens. I have a lens cap on my Nikonos but was never able to come up with satisfactory protection for the Weathermatics. It's a good idea to carry a dry tissue or pieces of paper towel in a ziploc bag for wiping off the lens. Chuck Holst *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************Received on Mon Sep 20 1999 - 11:54:42 PDT
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