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So, this season’s Alpine trip was to be split into two distinct parts, a week on the mountain bikes and then a week taking on some of the peaks of the Southern Alps’ Les Ecrins region. Whilst the first weeks media focus was shooting film for an upcoming short based around mountain bikes, the second week did afford the opportunity to shoot a few frames whilst in the hills.
Interestingly, for me, all of this was done on the Canon S95, a compact camera I’d invested in last year as a compromise of size/weight and performance. I have to say I’m really impressed with the results, the image quality is excellent and the flexibility of use is exceptional, operating in much the same way as a SLR when needed.
A few thoughts then, since I know lots of people are pondering similar questions i.e. Do I take an SLR, or ‘make do’ with a compact? Whats the solution to having a camera handy but protected, and whats the fastest land animal (Airplane film quote fans)
However, it turns out the best solution, as is frequently the case, is the simplest. The humble pocket. (not a euphemism) With the lanyard clipped to the zip-pull on the chest pocket, a single zip…pull action had camera to hand. Its weather protected by finest Goretext and since most of the time there are a couple of coils of rope being carried ,a little protection from a knock is provided too. And to be fair, after a fall with a hefty chest impact, your camera is least of your worries. In fact, with this plan the biggest worry is putting used engery gel sachets into the same pocket and then having to clean your camera so the buttons work again. As ever, I do these things so you don’t have to…
As for the trip, well, as with Alpinism in general, it was early starts and long days. Good for testing low performance on the S95. Usable up to around ISO 800 by the way, higher if your output is web only… But not so good for exhaustion levels. We successfully summited Pic D’Agneaux,completed the 9 pinacles of Ridge Des Cineastes and finally, made a early start (2:45am) to be first on the summit of the Barre Des Ecrins on the penultimate day.
And then, down to the valley in Allefroide, possibly our new favourite location. Finishing the same way we started with ermm a beer or ten. In summary, after many many variations on taking cameras into the mountains I have concluded that for 90% of the time a high quality ompact in the pocket is the answer. The obvious exception is when specifically going on a shoot, but then its less likely to be at 4000m or mid way through a Grade V climbing pitch…
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