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k2exp2010
May 9, 2002, 11:27 PM
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Often, I get to a point on a rock-face where I wish I would have brought a camera. Is there any efficient way to carry a normal SLR camera with lenses on a climb? Meaning, are there special belts or clips I could use to safely secure and detach the camera when I need it?
[ This Message was edited by: k2exp2010 on 2002-05-18 19:31 ]
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rrrADAM
May 9, 2002, 11:33 PM
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I have a friend who puts on slide shows... He climbs with a "fanny pack" style case/bag, and only uses it when anchored hands free.
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jmlangford
May 10, 2002, 12:37 AM
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Ditto to what Adam said. Also, consider getting a small camera like an Olympus Stylus Zoom. They take great, quality, pictures and are small enough to zip up in a pocket. Here is a picture I took with the Stylus...blew it up to 16x24 with great results.
[ This Message was edited by: jmlangford on 2002-05-09 17:43 ]
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toprope_media
May 16, 2002, 1:02 AM
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EMS sells a crush proof camera case for smaller cameras. Clip it right onto your harness, (in back) I wouldn't do it with a $500 camera.
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k2exp2010
May 16, 2002, 1:24 AM
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Good deal. I'll check it out. Maybe I can just attach a disposable camera onto something. But, i want to have the better camera with optional lenses for the longer climbs.
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saltspringer
May 16, 2002, 1:57 AM
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Lowepro makes some excellent cases for lenses & cameras most of which come with extra webbing sewn on for additional straps/tiedown. I usually carry my camera in a Lowepro top-load case & clip it to my harness with a sling & locking biner as a backup to the strap provided. A lot of the time I'll carry a small pack with an extra lense & when I'm shooting I put the lens in the Lowepro case at my side & hang my regular camera strap around my neck: if I need to switch lenses, I just open up the case & pull out my spare lens & then pop the one on the camera in the case. This way everything is strapped on safely and there's only a brief time when a lens is in a position to take a plunge. I don't find it very practical to have a camera ready at all times since that would mean having it out of the case & bashing against the rock. It's much easier to climb with your camera secure (less worry) & look for opportunities to stop, evaluate the scene and get a really great shot
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hishopper
May 16, 2002, 3:18 AM
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I have to agree with saltspringer, the Lowepro is an unbeatable camera pack.
Mine is the offtrail 1 which I don't even think was designed for climbing, but it snuggly protects my $500.00 olympus. It's water-resistant, and has 2 sidebags for extra lenses which can be unbuckled from the main bag (and replaced with a chalkbag, if you so desire!). Quiet, light, approching bulletproof, large - stickresistant zippers, and small enough to stay out of the way - I wear mine backwards as I don't climb anything long enough (more than 2 pitches) to need a whole lot of room back there for gear.
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paintinhaler
May 16, 2002, 3:28 AM
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Didn't saltspringer pass away.
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saltspringer
May 16, 2002, 4:38 PM
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uh, nope...still here. A friend of mine died in January and I posted a memorial photo of her on RC.com: that may be where the mix up is occuring. Someone else thought I'd passed on as well but, I'm glad to say, that's not the case!
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treyr
May 16, 2002, 4:45 PM
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I always have on to take some shots at the top of the route
Trob
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maculated
May 16, 2002, 4:56 PM
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I have a little digital camera that lives in a Samsonite "World-Proof" case. My camera's taken some hard knocks without the case, but this thing is padded, locked, everything. I usually just sling it around my shoulder or clip it in to the rope tie-in point in back of my harness with an accessory biner.
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k2exp2010
May 16, 2002, 5:01 PM
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hishopper, I found your Off Trail 1. Here's the Off Trail 2. What do you guys think? If nothing else, JM makes a good point to just get a smaller camera and pack it in between something.
[ This Message was edited by: k2exp2010 on 2002-05-16 10:02 ]
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beyond_gravity
May 16, 2002, 10:00 PM
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what about that thing peter had in vertical limit?
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toprope_media
May 17, 2002, 1:19 PM
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a smaller camera..
I think that the OR/EMS Nalgene bottle insluators on a sling or biner tend to offer good protection. They are great for larger lenses too. And they are a lot cheaper than "real" lens/camera cases.
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k2exp2010
May 17, 2002, 1:46 PM
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What was that belt he used in Vertical Limit?
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jtcronk
May 17, 2002, 2:58 PM
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I climb with my full-size Pentax SLR pretty regularly. I just took the cheapo bag that was included with it and beefed it up. I'd looked at the LowePro stuff, but figured that I could actually make something a little beefier and save $75 to boot.
I took an old Nalgene bottle and cut the bottom off to the size of my lens. Then I took a rectangular orange juice jug and cut the bottom half from that. I then cut along 3 sides of the oj jug so it is hinged. I then duct taped, yes it does do everything, the two pieces of plastic together.
The whole thing is then slid into the bag with the open end of the oj jug to the top zipper opening. And voila! You have a burly hard-sided camera bag that basically cost nothing. I then use the neck strap that was included (just duct tape those Fastex buckles shut) and ran a secondary piece of webbing with a buckle through the same loop. This one goes around my back. It actually carries very securely on the front of my torso that way.
It's been up dozens of rock pitches, including a bunch in Yosemite, dozens of ice pitches, up the West Rib on Denali, etc. It may not be pretty, but.....
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rrrADAM
May 17, 2002, 3:17 PM
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Jody named the camera I use... Olympus Stylus Zoom, but it's so beat up that it will not focus if zoomed anymore.
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verticallaw
May 17, 2002, 3:40 PM
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I climb with my SLR and I bought one of the lowerpro top loading bags. It works great and I modified it so that it would attach to my harness. It also has side clip spots so that I can attach it to my station and have the camera open in front of me with all my lenses ect there. I find that this works great but I do have difficulty when doing book end style moves as my SLR is bulky and ALWAYS seems to get in my way. I keep it to the small of my back and that seems to be the best spot.
I also thought about the clip system that was used in Vertical limit and searched for something simmilar. The closest that I could find was a normal (old school)top loading
case with the back cut off and velcro attached. It looked like it would work but did not seem very beefy.
Hope this helps
Mike
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tim
May 17, 2002, 4:02 PM
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check out Kinesis belt systems... if you're going to strap on an SLR with an 80-200 or other heavy lens (eg. for rigged shots) it's the only way to fly. Of course you would only really want to do this for rigged shots or when you are climbing an easy route in parallel with anoter party that you want good shots of. Or maybe an aid route. Anyways, the nice thing about the Kinesis cases is that they are built to withstand a bomb blast, have quick closures that evolved from pros testing them in hard use, and they can either be clipped onto a modular belt system, or (and this is my preference) threaded onto your harness or an extra swami with the built-in loops. Another company, "M-Rock", used to make good, cheaper versions of the Kinesis cases, but M-Rock seems to have gone belly up.
Beer-cozy-type waterbottle insulators make good lens cases and often can be threaded onto your harness if you have an alpine-style (adjustable/detachable legs) harness. Again, I would not carry a fast pro zoom lens on most climbs, rather, it is for hanging on rappel or from an outcrop and shooting in midair (best angles are out from the cliff, above the leader, in most cases -- you get a sweep of the rock as the backdrop, way cool)
Personally I am going back to a point-and-shoot-sized rig for most climbs, an old Nikon FA (manual focus compact SLR with modern matrix-style autoexposure) and the very small 45mm "normal" pancake lens. Similar size and weight to my old Olympus XA (the predecessor to the Stylus) but I get the visual confirmation of focus, etc. through the viewfinder. This fits into your standard large-point-and-shoot or small-digital-camera case (I have an old Case Logic leatherette thingy that apparently was meant for a Walkman, but has a grab loop that threads onto my harness).
I asked Greg Epperson this question a while ago ("what camera do you carry when you are actually CLIMBING?") and his answer was similar in nature, he takes a small Contax G2 rangefinder. This is more expensive than my solution, but it illustrates a similar approach to the problem. Another popular solution is something like a little Canon Elph-style digicam. Those things are pretty robust, it's a good way to go, if you can put up with the delay between pressing the button and recording the image (I can't, FWIW).
What you do NOT want to carry on a 5.10 or 5.11 lead is a full-size, 3-pound SLR rig (eg. Nikon or Canon, film OR digital SLR body w/fast zoom lens). It's equivalent to carrying a double rack. Ugh!
[ This Message was edited by: jabbeaux on 2002-05-17 09:11 ]
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newtocalgary
May 17, 2002, 4:18 PM
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The best thing I have used is the underwater dispoable cameras they have a hard plastic case and cheap enough you dont care if you bang them around. They take decent pics too
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womble
Jan 3, 2003, 4:37 PM
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A very late reply but...
If you are carrying a large SLR+lens Lowepro (again) makes a toploading SLR zoom holder with a chest mounted harness. I reverse this (ie have the camera on my back) until I use it. Works for a single body + 80-200 f2.8 and keeps it out of the way of anything but a backwards slam into rock.
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