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New and Experienced Climbers Over 50 #13
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Not to be a contrarian (or maybe just a downer), but taking video footage of your climbing is not going to ever result in satisfactory images - unless you have a third (and fourth) party shooting with high quality equipment from on cliff and other angles. As demonstrated by Nick, still photos are the only real approach to taking pictures of you or others climbing that will look decent. Maybe using an iphone for shooting video of gym routes kinda made sense, but for remote video outside (whether on a tripod or propped in your shoe), it will always look bad. Even as "instructional" tools to examine your technique, these are of very limited value. Climbing photos taken on route are best done in the manner Nick describes. Unless the climber is below you, or off to the side (and a bit up), your pictures will be totally unremarkable. For taking pictures of others, shooting from a bit above or a bit above and to the side make for the best lead pictures. A wide angle is best. You are usually hanging on a rope, and the pros use stilts to put themselves out from the cliff as well. If shooting from the terra firma, seek higher ground off to the side. A medium to longer lens is necessary. [I'm not interested in posting more of my pictures to MP, but here is one already here that demonstrates this]:  If shooting straight-on, you should use a telephoto so you can be positioned well back. This will mitigate "foreshortening" and make the crags (or Mountains) look more like they do to you. [no example] |
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Lori: If I only went climbing (or biking, kayaking, etc.) when I felt like going climbing, I would never go climbing. Getting up early, packing, lugging gear in is always a chore for me. I am almost never eager to get up and go. Only when I am there truly enjoying the activity it is fun. It was even worse on race days (when I was racing bikes or boats). Maybe that's why I stopped ? :) |
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I am at the point where i very rarely go climbing simply to tick another day on the calendar or for forced practice. i climb when i want to climb which is fortunately often enough to remember how to do it ;) |
Tim Schafstallwrote: Tim, I agree with you on this. The older I get the more I like to have a lie-in in the morning. I wake up lateish (around 7), but sometimes I don't get up for an hour, I lie in bed and read and then get up and have a leisurely breakfast. So on the days I'm climbing, where it's not unusual for me to get up at 4:30 or 5 AM, I just hate it! Until I start the approach and then all is well. Cold mornings have started here in Bishop, so today the alarm was set for 7 AM. Great route today, The High Life + The Big Deal:  |
Lori Milaswrote: The mini-tripod I posted a link to a while back costs $50 and can be carried anywhere.  Randy has a point; it depends what kind of images/footage floats your boat. |
phylp phylpwrote: Cool looking route. I never sleep in, really, lately, as I have a new puppy who excitedly tells me each morning "Daddy! There's ANOTHER day!". If it's a weekend I often sort of force myself to climb. If I listened to my tired, aching body I'd do nothing. I have to keep moving, it's too easy to do nothing. |
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Multi-tasking in Oregon, climbing at Smith Rock and ordering a teardrop trailer from TeardropNW in Salem. Went to the ZOO (an eastern annex of Smith) and found rock of pretty high quality compared to many of the main Smith areas. Many more climbs at the ZOO than the few listed in the 2009 guidebook. If anyone is interested in climbing there contact me for some supplemental information I was luckily enough to find. The teardrop will be completed in next March, just in time for a spring road trip to points south. |
rgoldwrote: I have one like that I like a lot. Not so good at getting above things but just like the best camera is always the camera you have with you, the best tripod is the one you actually will carry and use. |
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I have one simeler for a point and shoot camera. never carry it or use it. when I first got it I had big intentions but then I did my normal bare down the essentials in the pack routine and it never made the cut from the van into the climbing pack. I think a selfi stick that doubled as a stiffy clip would have more luck with me ;) |
Nick Goldsmithwrote: I've found mine occasionally useful for (1) group pictures and (2) exposures at low shutter speeds. For this I twist the 'pod onto a trekking pole to make a unipod. When I have an ice axe, better than a unipod. Shutter release with a bluetooth button. But I don't use it very often and not much at all for climbing. Lori wanted to make videos from an untended camera. The mini-tripod is way better than a shoe for that, but not as good as a full-on tripod. But now we're talking real money to get something that works and that isn't so heavy and bulky you never bring it anyway. I have a Sirui Traveler 5C carbon tripod that folds up to 13" tall, weighs 2 lbs, and costs $80--$100 depending on sales. It's fine for my Sony A6500, which is very compact and relatively light, but the tripod rarely makes it beyond the trunk of my car, only coming along if my primary purpose is photography. I'll bring it if I want a lot of depth of field without expecting much light, if I'm hoping to do some kind of night photography, or if I want to photograph running water at a low shutter speed. Most of my hiking and climbing has other purposes and objectives and the tripod is out. |
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Photography has been of an evolution for me. I started out with a medium quality Canon, not quite an SLR but close, that I quickly destroyed due to our rough treatment of equipment during outdoor activities. I got a gopro primarily for skiing and water related activities. I learned it takes twice the amount of time to edit gopro vids as it does to shoot them. After I bought my second terabyte external drive to store the raw footage on I kind of gave up on using the gopro. I bought a little pocket camera, it lasted about 6 months. Then I got smart and bought a "tough" camera. Easy point and shoot with 8x zoom. It did pretty good, got about 4 years out of that one. The viewing window finally got so scratched up you couldn't see what your trying to take a picture of, whole new meaning to the term point and shoot. Working on our second "tough" camera. The tough camera has a carabiner lanyard on it, so we can clip it to our belts. Cell phone cameras have really improved. So mostly I just carry a cell phone in my pocket. My climbing belt leg loop sits towards the top of my pocket so it holds the camera in so it won't fall out. . But cell phones aren't very robust, a fall of just one pitch and they are done. We found this out at the top of Theater of Shadows when Barb pulled out her cell phone to take her victory photo's. It was particularly windy that day, she pulled the phone out and was aiming it when she got hit by a gust, nearly knocked her down, her sail phone caught some air and was headed (dink dink dink dink) down the last pitch, stopped on a ledge. I lowered her down to the ledge, but the cell phone did not survive the fall. I carried a tripod around a bit, but the second time I fell on it the legs were so bent it wouldn't open or stand. We switched to "The Claw", similar to what is pictured above, they work pretty good when you remember to bring them. Barb grabbed an old one recently and was trying to figure out how it would work with her cell phone, ha ha, it only had the camera mounting screw on it and not the cell phone gripper connection. Back to propping the cell phone up with the water bottle, we are getting pretty good with that. I found that putting a rock in front of the phone helps it to stay in place, you just have to careful not to cover up the shutter button. A fun trick is to put it on video instead of 10 sec time, then when the shutter button is clicked it starts taking a vid of the person trying to run or hop over rocks to get to the pose before the timer runs out, then their inquisitive look trying to figure out if the picture was taken, and then a close up their face when they realize it was on vid not photo. I am easily amused. |
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Rich. I am certain that the little tripod would come in handy. I just didn't ever get it in the pack. Bought it for a teton trip and when weighing(literally) hiking distance to objective vs what went in the pack the tripod never made the cut... I still have it somewhere.. |
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Well, we all seem to follow the same trajectory--so great to be sharing all of this great info. Everyone has helpful gadgets, no one really uses them because they are a hassle to carry along. This is why I stopped lugging my tripod everywhere, and started using my shoe. I was already wearing a shoe, so it was no extra baggage. This conversation has helped me clarify a few issues in my mind. There are lots of great cameras, for those days when you are out taking pictures. None of those cameras really belongs on a climbing outing... as Dallas described, they get smashed, bashed and destroyed. And the pictures probably aren't all that much better. I ordered rgold's Joby. That's probably an improvement, and on those days when it is possible to set up a shot like Randy suggested, or Senor... from a distance, at the right angle etc... that'll be great. But they'll never be great videos, and they'll probably mostly be butt shots, but they may mark the occasion. What started my inquiry was my desire to have a really good capture of that future date when I make climbing history. It may only happen once in my lifetime, and I want to remember it well. Probably send pictures to all my relatives, impress my kids. So on that glorious day, (or those several), I probably won't leave it to a bluetoothed camera set up somewhere far away. I'll have to beg a friend or pro to come out... and hope that I don't fuck up the climb. The other possibility is Photoshop. I can just airbrush an image onto Run For Your Life, and on the honor system, we'll call it a send. --------------- Bob said the tiny camera he carries is the Canon Elph. It looks pretty hardy. This might be a good one at the crag. The more I think about it, the more this seems like the solution to not using my iPhone. (besides overheating, my phone keeps real-time diabetes numbers, and so it uses up battery very fast.)  |
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Good story, Dallas! |
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Lori, I've had two or three Canon point-and-shoots over the years. The motorized extendible lens is a weak point; it's fragile and prone to failure even if not dinged or contaminated with grit. Some people get along with it fine, Others have no end of problems. Most of these tiny cameras only have an LCD screen, which is hard to view in bright sunlight. I don't know if there are point-and-shoots with viewfinders in addition to the screen, but if so that would be preferable. Olympus makes a "tough" line of cameras that look like the best idea to me in terms of durability. |
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Rgold, I also have a carbon fiber Sirui tripod. It's a great tripod but rarely makes it on climbing trips with me. Mostly because I tend toward multipitch and that would be silly. |
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The only camera Dave killed in his long career, was one of his personal ones. On a tripod. One leg got jostled, and over it went, into the rocky stream. Oops. He also had one that was MIA and presumed dead. It came off an airplane strut though, so there's that. Lori? There's an obvious solution here. Climb with Nick Goldsmith. Especially ice. Everyone looks badass on ice. Wow! I added an emoji on that, posted, and it axed what I wrote after. Sheesh. Headed back to City of Rocks Saturday. First real rock in....too long. Wish me well, eh? I need it, the climbing I love so, even when it's harsh. Gym is nice, but just won't do, this time. Best, Helen |
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A little thrill for Senor. A “moving wall”. Now if only SOMEONE will teach me to surf.  |
Old lady Hwrote: Happy happy Helen! Get out there and climb. Make it happen! |
Lori Milaswrote: I like how Jimmy pretty much pretended he didn't know how to surf during that film while, you know, totally surfing like an experienced surfer. |
