About the Photos...



In the fall of 2006, I purchased a used Canon EOS D-60 digital SLR camera body. At only 6 megapixels, the resolution isn't as high as current models (e.g., the affordable Canon Digital Rebels at 10 megapixels), but there's a lot for me to learn as I move from a compact camera (see Olympus, below) to a "serious" camera with interchangeable lenses. Over the intervening months (I'm writing this in May 2007), I've purchased three lenses for the D-60 body. (They'll fit other Canon digital bodies if I ever upgrade.) Note that the focal lengths mentioned are carryovers from the film world. Because the image sensor in many digital SLR bodies, including mine, are smaller than a 35mm film frame, you have to apply a 1.6x multiplication factor to get a digital equivalent. So for instance, the 28-105mm zoom I use equates to roughly 45-170mm.

  • Canon EF 28-105mm f3.5-4.5 USM zoom: This serves as my general purpose lens.
  • Canon EF 100mm f2.8 Macro USM: Great for close-up work, and for sports photography (surprisingly).
  • Canon EF 70-300mm f4.5-5.6 IS USM: I bought this for long telephoto shots of birds, handheld where the len's image stabilization makes a huge difference in quality, but I find it useful in fairly close work as well.

Everything fits into a LowePro SlingShot 200AW backpack. It's a clever design that allows you to swivel the pack around to sit horizontally in front of you for eazy lens changes.

There's a valuable Guide to Canon EOS Digital Cameras and Lenses at photo.net

Until fall 2006, I used a compact Olympus Camedia C-750 Ultra Zoom digital camera. I selected it because of the 10X optical zoom lens (allowing wide angle and telephoto shots) and the fact that shots are composed "through the lens" versus a viewfinder. (Viewfinders just aren't practical for close-up photography.) It has a host of advanced features, but you can start shooting on "auto" while you gradually learn the tricky stuff. With a tripod, you can take panoramas. From time to time, I use a polarizing filter to cut reflections from water surfaces or to increase contrast between sky and clouds. Recently, I purchased a Nikon 4T closeup lens and am very happy with it: Allows high magnification of small objects while still being far enough away not to spook insects, for example. The Olympus C750 has 4 megapixels resolution, which allows me considerable freedom to crop and still have a picture sharp enough for on-screen viewing. Note that the C750 uses four rechargable AA-size batteries - and I can use standard alkaline AAs as backup in a pinch. Newer models from Olympus, like the C765 and C770, use an expensive proprietary battery not compatible with AAs.

My Olympus was a very compact camera, about the size of modern "point-n-shoot" film cameras, but not nearly as small as some pocket digital cameras. Although my C750 accepts add on wide angle and 2x tele-extender lenses, I've been disappointed with the results and have abandoned them. Minolta and Fuji offer cameras with similar 10x optical zoom lenses at similar prices (well under $500) but I have no experience of them. From there, the price jumps to the least expensive true digital SLR camera, Canon's digital Rebel at $999 - and 6 megapixels. The Canon accepts a wide range of standard Canon lenses. If you've already invested in a film SLR and accessory lenses, consider buying a digital camera body if one is available. But, for portability and flexibility, the compact 10x zoom cameras from various makers are hard to beat.

On average, I take about 40 pictures each day. Most aren't worth keeping, much less sharing, but it's still a challenge selecting the 50 to 60 images I'm posting in each warm weather month when so much is happening on the trail.