Beyond phones, what photo and video equipment for canoe trips?

Aside from phones, for those of you who are photo hobbyists, what photo, video and audio equipment do you currently take or recommend for still and video images of landscapes, wildlife and canoe trip things in general?

Here's a older article on the subject by a paddling wildlife photographer:

I use an FZ80. You all should be seeing some shots taken with it on an upcoming trip report.

Waterproof Olympus P&S. Fast lens for a P&S (f2.0 on the wide end). Easy to use controls. I'd prefer a little more zoom. Still and video quality could certainly be better with a larger sensor camera but it does quite well. My days of photography being a top priority are well behind me. Even back in those days I realized that most of my best shots came from my lowest quality cameras. Why? Because they were small and easy to carry and I always had them on me when I needed them.

The waterproof Olympus is either in the thwart bag while in the canoe or in my pocket when out of the canoe, even if I'm wading through waist deep water. No faffing about with pelican cases or swapping lenses. Just pull it out and snap the pic.

Much more important than equipment is the ability to recognize good composition and lighting and then capture it. This is something I've always struggled with and despite, at one time, spending loads of money on great equipment I was always humbled by talented artists with $150 P&S digital cameras.

20160905_449 by Alan, on Flickr

20160906_458 by Alan, on Flickr

20160803_025 by Alan, on Flickr

Alan

On most trips that don't involve long carries, I take quite a bit of gear. I take a phone with me, but it is only because Gaia GPS, Earthmate and GoPro software is on it. I rarely take photos or shoot videos with it, mostly because I don't like the aspect ratios on it. I have two GoPros, one mounted on the bow and the other on the stern (with Railblaza mounts) to film while I'm paddling. I also have another action camera (Akaso Brave 4) that I mount on a clamp close to me for recording myself close-up. All of these shoot 4K video. As far as photos go, when I basecamp, I have been using my older Canon T2i (18 MP); mostly because I have multiple, varied lenses and more than one body for it. Up until last month, my other camera was a Sony RX100 (20 MP) for both photos and some videos. Unfortunately, that died on me during an extended trip out west this summer. I liked the RX100 because it could easily fit in the pocket of my PFD, making photos while paddling very easy to take. I considered purchasing another (used) one, but decided to go with a more rugged, water/dustproof camera instead. I'll be using it for the first time on an upcoming trip next month. In addition, on trips when I am also basecamping, I take field recording equipment: a Zoom H1 recorder, some stereo microphones and a small parabolic dish. This gear allows me to get good quality sound recordings on location. I use a combination of photo bags, dry bags and waterproof cases to transport and store the gear on trips.

I currently carry two Nikon Coolpix B500 P&S cameras, 2 GoPros and a 56 megapixel Vivitar 4K video camera (great zoom capability though a bit bulky). I'm still not sure why I take the GoPros or the Vivitar as I often shoot video but never edit the footage into a cohesive video.

I enjoy writing and the still pictures work better for the trip reports (although I have, occasionally, lifted still images from the video footage). I carry two B500s because they are not waterproof and I, therefore, consider them to be quasi disposable.

This past trip, I had one out and in use while the other was in a waterproof case waiting for the first to get wet & die. It never happened & I made the whole trip with the same camera (a first for me). I like the zoom capabilities of the B500 and I'm very pleased with the picture quality. It would be nice if it were waterproof but what can ya do, right?

I sometimes take pictures with my phone and have no issues with that if both Nikons succumb to the elements but I usually just snap a picture with the phone if I need the GPS coordinates or a date/time stamp for the write-up. I'd like to get better at photography / video stuff but, realistically, I've got too many irons in the fire now so it's unlikely to happen.

As to the video; I have noticed that talking to the camera is similar to having someone along on the trip and it encroaches on the solitude a bit. Both GoPros crapped out on me fairly early into the trip this past summer and it was really nice to just paddle and take still pictures without worrying about capturing the essence of the trip for future publication so I may not take the video equipment at all on the next trip.

Tryin' said:

I use an FZ80. You all should be seeing some shots taken with it on an upcoming trip report.

Panasonic FZ80 Review

The Panasonic FZ80 features a 60x wide-angle zoom and can shoot 4K. Read our Panasonic FZ80 review to see what else it can do!

www.imaging-resource.com

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I assume you like the superzoom feature. What do you carry it in?

Now almost 20 years ago, I took a trek on a /road/trail/bushwhack carry paddle canoe on a diagonal route crossing the entire adirondacks. I carried an Olympus "Tough" camera, kept ready in my piocket. But the best thing I did was to also have a small digital audio recorder in my breast pocket. Every time I noted something interesting, or conditions of the trail or paddle, and my photos, I recorded my impressions by voice. Later, at home, I used the recording to write a journal from exactly what I said and the photos I took. Most interesting was hearing the background noises of the woods and water, and times of stress in my voice, especially about the dang hot July temperature and the incessant swearing at the deer flies attacking me while composing my thoughts. Additional memories triggered from the recordings provided additional thoughts to write about. I tried to use the same system during my Yukon River races, but the recorder I used would automatically turn itself off after a few minutes of inactivity, so it did not work as I had hoped for the same purpose.

Yes, I've started carrying a voice recorder (and have one on my phone) to take trip notes instead of writing in a journal. I make far more entries during the day than if I was putting pen to paper.

Glenn MacGrady said:

I assume you like the superzoom feature. What do you carry it in?

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A pelican case with all my other electronics like phone, gps, satcom. Battery bank, etc. It lives around my neck a lot. I don't baby it. But I don't go out of my way to test its durability, either. I do love the high zoom capability. ALTHOUGH, I misspoke and I am using the FZ30, the FZ80s little brother. The price of the FZ80 was not as favorable when I was making purchase decisions.

I go with a point-and-shoot waterproof camera that I can stick in my PFD pocket. I have used both of these over the years – Olympus Tough and Pentax WG. I have the Tough TG-6 - they are now on the TG-7. The camera has a ton of capabilities that I don’t use. I use two preset functions – Landscape and Action – and occasionally the video. I also have the telephoto and wide angle lens. The camera and the lens fit in the two pockets of my PFD, so I can pull them out quick. i don’t use the lens if I am paddling in any sort of conditions, but they are great to have on flatwater, or if I am pulled over in an eddy or on shore.

For pictures, I think the camera is less important than a good photo editing software. I use Photoshop Elements. Mine is 2022 version – I have never upgraded. It also has lots more features than I will ever use, but I use it for cropping, auto picture correction, and occasionally things like object removal. It definitely makes mediocre pictures look a lot better.

The video from this camera is fine. I don't use it as a helmet cam, but I'll sometimes mount the camera on a thwart with a camera mount. There was a time when I did lots of narrated videos of my local runs - haven't done much of that lately. I have a Mac, so I use iMovie for video editing.

Sample of what you can do with editing software - do you like it with the bush, or no bush?



Four clicks and it is done. Comparing both you can see faint shadows where it removed the object, but if you didn't have the original to compare you'd have a hard time figuring it out.

After ruining a few phones I bought a waterproof Olympus Tough TG6 waterproof camera, nothing fancy but it is waterproof and has probably saved me a phone or 2.

eckilson said:

For pictures, I think the camera is less important than a good photo editing software. I use Photoshop Elements.

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Interesting. I had a much older version of Photoshop Elements (before AI corrections were available) and much preferred a program called Picture Window Pro, now available as freeware with a suggested $25 donation from Digital Light & Color.


What caught my attention about your recommendation of Elements was how easy it is to edit out distractions in an image. Nice. I can do a better (more realistic) job using Picture Window Pro's cloning tool but it's time consuming. And as you point out, most people wouldn't notice the AI edits. If you look closely though, you'll see where Elements borrowed the filler for the brush. The "shadows" are repetitions of portions of the waves. Still, I'm impressed, and for $99 the new Elements program is now on my shopping list.

...It definitely makes mediocre pictures look a lot better.

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Interesting. I'm old school in that I take thousands of pictures and keep the best ones but I might look into this for the "it's a real shame that didn't come out better" ones. (personally, I liked the bush )

Also... missed a leaf on the stern.

eckilson said:

Sample of what you can do with editing software - do you like it with the bush, or no bush?

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eckilson said:

Four clicks and it is done.

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I find this fascinating. Seriously for a further demo, Erik, if you have time for eight more clicks, can you remove the kayaker and the bow paddler.

I used to take a ton of camera gear but phones these days are remarkable
We are going to Norway by air in Nov and to save weight its my phone and a light tripod
It did well on this aurora shot from
home
What it doesnt do well is zoom
I prefer a Canon sx60 for wildlife shots

yellowcanoe said:

We are going to Norway by air in Nov

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Good to hear from you again, Kim. Are you paddling while in Norway . . . in Novembrrrrr?

Glenn MacGrady said:

I find this fascinating. Seriously for a further demo, Erik, if you have time for eight more clicks, can you remove the kayaker and the bow paddler.

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Different picture - original and with the paddlers gone





It made some weird changes to the waves on the big rock in the middle, but if you didn't have the original to compare to you'd probably never notice. I could figure out how to fix stuff like that, but usually it comes out good enough for me.

Object removal isn't something that I do a lot. When I do it is usually something like a stick, or the bow of my boat, or someone's paddle sticking into the frame. Cropping and auto correct is something that I do on every picture. Its hard to get prefect pictures from the camera when you are bouncing around on the water, and I wouldn't know how to do it anyway. It's much easier to do it on the computer after.

Gamma1214 - good eye on the leave - totally missed that. I like it better with the bushes as well.

tketcham - Photoshop Elements works for me, but I am no expert and probably use 20% of its capabilities.

eckilson - The examples you provided has convinced me to give Photoshop Elements another try. I've used Picture Window Pro to make corrections (cropping, color balance, brightness, saturation, contrast, etc) for so long that it's become routine. But getting rid of unwanted objects takes time; it would be nice to have an editing tool that made it fairly easy. I'm curious to find out how the newer Elements does for all the other tools I use in PWP, I may end up switching to Elements.

A more typical example of object removal from a trip yesterday - getting rid of the paddle.