Camera for Climbing/ Ski/ Landscape Photography

Hey everyone!

I have found some older forums discussing cameras but I wanted to know what you guys are running with in 2022?

I have rocked a Sony a6000 for years but want to upgrade to a full frame camera as well as get more into professional photography.

Anyhow, I have been looking at the Sony full frame cameras (A7 series, A9, etc). Are any of you out there using these currently for ski mountaineering/ ice climbing/ rock climbing/ landscape photography and liking them? Which model?

Thanks everyone! 

Why do you want to upgrade to full frame? I rock the a6500. With the fast lenses that Sigma & Rokinon make it seems to do a great job. The key is that it fits in my jacket pocket. 

Brendan N wrote:

Why do you want to upgrade to full frame? I rock the a6500. With the fast lenses that Sigma & Rokinon make it seems to do a great job. The key is that it fits in my jacket pocket. 

I want to upgrade to full frame for the quality mostly so that I can work my way into professional photography.

I should re-phrase/ clarify, I will still use my Sony a6000 to climb with if I am not carrying a pack to keep the nicer camera safe etc. So basically Sony a6000 when I want a beater camera and something nicer for when I know I am going to be doing photography

I’m rolling with an a7RIII. Like it for the most part. Lenses don’t have as much soul as my old Pentax but otherwise it’s pretty solid. I do wish it had serious weather sealing on it. I carry mine in a FStop Navin bag on my waist belt. Works for backpacking, alpine climbing, ski tours. I do wish the whole shebang was a bit smaller but I don’t run the smallest lenses on it either (24-70 or 16-35).

I'm also on the sony a7R. It was a really nice upgrade from my Nikon D5300. But I cheap-ed out and got Tamron lenses (17-28 and 70-300), which just don't have the range to make me bring the camera out for adventure photog. 

I run an a7iii, and for my full kit have along a 70-180 2.8, 28-75 2.8, and plan on picking up a 14/20 1.8 soon to replace my old ultrawide option.  If you upgraded to an a7iii I think you'd be very happy, I personally wouldn't recommend an a7ii or definitely not an original a7.  Especially with the a7iv out now, I'm sure a7iii used prices are dropping even more.

I will say though, there are some days I really want a small point and shoot...

Anyone using Nikon Z? I've been looking for an excuse to upgrade.

I'll just leave this here:
"Outed: Sony a7R IV Drops From a 4.8/5 to a 2.5/5 After Removing Fake Reviews"
https://fstoppers.com/gear/outed-sony-a7r-iv-drops-485-255-after-removing-fake-reviews-616240

Isaac Gray wrote:

Anyone using Nikon Z? I've been looking for an excuse to upgrade.

I shoot with a Z6II. While the Sony’s are better in some aspects I really like how the Nikon handles. The biggest pro of the Z series are the lenses. Nikon mirrorless glass is phenomenal and I wanted to be in that lens ecosystem.

I have a 50mm f/1.8 that is pretty awesome. Just picked up their new 24-120mm constant f/4 which is an amazing lens, probably up there for the best all around zoom lens.

It's also important to look at the dynamic range of a camera. While in landscape photography you can bracket, use graduated filters, etc, to bring the range into something that can be handled, for anything on the move you're going to be stuck with the range that can be afforded in one capture. DxO Mark has some easy to read comparisons for this as well as how they fall off with increased ISO

Isaac Gray wrote:

Anyone using Nikon Z? I've been looking for an excuse to upgrade.

I've been using the Z6 since it came out and been very happy. It's been soaked, frozen, blasted by dust, dropped, etc...and still does great. Their glass is great and is finally getting to be well rounded in terms of what's been released. 

However, my favorite camera and the one that I've had the most photos published or purchased while using is an Olympus EM1.2. Amazing glass, bigger and better handling than an a6000, mega tough. You don't need full frame for most pro work and FF isn't the end all be all. Even with mirrorless, they are still bigger and heavier (lenses especially) and more expensive than an APS-C or M43 camera. Get your hands on a few different bodies to get a feel for them, see what lenses you're most interested in and who's body they attach too. 

its really worth haveing a dedicated small camera for climbing and a bigger rig for wildlife and landscape. etc.. .. 

I was an early adopter into the M43 system, and am still a huge fan. As someone else mentioned, FF is definitely not requisite for a professional. Really, any of the mirrorless systems are going to produce output more than sufficient for nearly any pro need. 

There's not so much difference in the size/weight of bodies between the systems and sensor sizes, but the real advantage of M43 is the total bulk/weight of a body + pair or trio of pro lenses. And it could be argued that the M43 in-body stabilization is more effective than any other system, due to the smaller/lighter sensor. 

Teton Tom wrote:

I was an early adopter into the M43 system, and am still a huge fan. As someone else mentioned, FF is definitely not requisite for a professional. Really, any of the mirrorless systems are going to produce output more than sufficient for nearly any pro need. 

There's not so much difference in the size/weight of bodies between the systems and sensor sizes, but the real advantage of M43 is the total bulk/weight of a body + pair or trio of pro lenses. And it could be argued that the M43 in-body stabilization is more effective than any other system, due to the smaller/lighter sensor. 

I love the image quality and noise performance I get from my FF setup, but will admit a M43 setup is really compelling for a lot of use cases.  If I had disposable income(that wasn't spent on climbing haha) I'd like to try a setup.

Nick Goldsmith wrote:

its really worth haveing a dedicated small camera for climbing and a bigger rig for wildlife and landscape. etc.. .. 

Ya. I should have clarified. I’ll still be using my Sony a6000 for climbing as I currently am. Just looking for an upgrade in general haha

Other than a cell-phone ,which  mini camera for year around use? In the old days I used a Minox35.

Teton Tom wrote:

There's not so much difference in the size/weight of bodies between the systems and sensor sizes 

Can you elaborate? I’d like to hear your perspective but this seems way off to me. Saying there is not much difference between sensor size doesn’t seem very accurate in my eyes. One of, if not the the biggest, reason people prefer FF over M43 is due to sensor size. After all, the sensors of FF are literally twice as large. That’s why the M43 crop factor is 2x (i.e. a 24mm lens on FF is mostly equivalent to a 12mm lens on M43).

but the real advantage of M43 is the total bulk/weight of a body + pair or trio of pro lenses. And it could be argued that the M43 in-body stabilization is more effective than any other system, due to the smaller/lighter sensor. 

I agree with these statements and think a lot of M43 set ups are equivalent, if not better, than APS-C mirrorless set ups if shooting in daylight, but shooting climbing in shady and/or low light I don’t see much advantage. To me, aside from 5-axis stabilization (which is fuckin phenomenal. I remember taking a handheld shot with 3 second exposure on the original OM-D and having no noticeable blur) and weight are huge advantages over APS-C and FF. 

It should also be noted that, while the gap is closing, the biggest difference between the various systems (from a perf perspective) is lowlight/high iso and DR performance. As I mentioned above FF sensors essentially allow twice the amount of light into the sensor. If you are using this camera professionally this absolutely matters unless only shooting in a studio or in bright lights. There are certain climbing shots I’ve taken that just could not have been published if I took them on a M43 as opposed to FF mirrorless. We could go into how pixel size and pixel count attributes to different noise levels in images as well, but overall DR and lowlight scenarios are undeniably better than m43. 

Desert Rock Sports wrote:

I'll just leave this here:
"Outed: Sony a7R IV Drops From a 4.8/5 to a 2.5/5 After Removing Fake Reviews"
https://fstoppers.com/gear/outed-sony-a7r-iv-drops-485-255-after-removing-fake-reviews-616240

Sony has the Tacoma syndrome where it is probably still the best option for a lot of people but they have competition now and doesn’t have a near monopoly.

With that said, I rock an A7C now. Went from a Nex-7 to A6000 to A7 to A7II to A7III to A7C. The A7C is without a doubt the most fun to shoot with. Something about the size/style makes it more enjoyable to me. My A6000, like yours, gets thrown into whatever pack/pad I am taking out with me that day with a Tamron 35mm lens no matter what. The A7C goes with me when I know I’ll be shooting. The A7IV goes with me when I am getting paid to shoot.  

Go Back to Super Topo wrote:

Sony has the Tacoma syndrome where it is probably still the best option for a lot of people but they have competition now and doesn’t have a near monopoly.

With that said, I rock an A7C now. Went from an A6000 to A7 to A7II to A7III to A7C. The A7C is without a doubt the most fun to shoot with. Something about the size/style makes it more enjoyable to me. My A6000, like yours, gets thrown into whatever pack/pad I am taking out with me that day with a Tamron 35mm lens no matter what. The A7C goes with me when I know I’ll be shooting. The A7IV goes with me when I am getting paid to shoot.  

Thank you for this. When I was preliminary research before asking on here I was basically deciding between two options at the time:

1. Go with the A7C and spend more on lense options thus replacing my Sony a6000 and trying to use it all around (for climbing, skiing, professional use as in taking landscape photography etc for sale).

2. Continue using the Sony a6000 for my “beater” camera and picking up a Sony A7iii for all those times where photography is one of my primary objectives.

I ended up asking on here what you all thought because I couldn’t decide between the two. I love everything about the A7C aside from the 24 MP when the Sony A7iii has 64 MP.

I guess I should ask you, is there a significant difference in size/ weight that you find yourself treating the A7C and the A7iii different in the field? One of the biggest things I’m worried about with the Sony A7iii is that it’ll be so big/ heavy that I won’t be able to have it out and at the ready nearly as often as I would the A7C or a6000 and rather I’d have it buried in my pack. 

Zach Eiten wrote:

Thank you for this. When I was preliminary research before asking on here I was basically deciding between two options at the time:

1. Go with the A7C and spend more on lense options thus replacing my Sony a6000 and trying to use it all around (for climbing, skiing, professional use as in taking landscape photography etc for sale).

2. Continue using the Sony a6000 for my “beater” camera and picking up a Sony A7iii for all those times where photography is one of my primary objectives.

I ended up asking on here what you all thought because I couldn’t decide between the two. I love everything about the A7C aside from the 24 MP when the Sony A7iii has 64 MP.

A7III is not 64mp. Could be thinking of one of the “R” models? In any case I have never ever needed more than 20 mp YMMV

I guess I should ask you, is there a significant difference in size/ weight that you find yourself treating the A7C and the A7iii different in the field?

A7III is much friendlier when doing professional/client work and/or you focused on the end photograph side of things. What I mean by that is that it has more buttons/settings available. I don’t notice the “worse“ viewfinder too much. AF is the same. A7C is also cumbersome to hold with most pro grade zooms like the old 24-70mm gm or any 70-200mm. The viewfinder being located on the left on the A7C also bugs some users.

One of the biggest things I’m worried about with the Sony A7iii is that it’ll be so big/ heavy that I won’t be able to have it out and at the ready nearly as often as I would the A7C or a6000 and rather I’d have it buried in my pack. 

This is the sole reason I bring/use/bought the A7C. It’s not so much a weight thing for me as it is a size and streamlined thing for me. Taking photos with the A7C and the Sony 85mm is much more enjoyable than the A7III with the equivalent lens. This is very much preference as it brings me back to when I had the Sony NEX7 learning how to shoot photos for the first time. Overall, the A7III is a better camera, but I use and have much more fun with the A7C. I also feel like I’ve never missed a shot because I had the A7C and not another camera, but again, I only bring it with me when I don’t need the photo. 

Go Back to Super Topo wrote:

A7III is not 64mp. Could be thinking of one of the “R” models? In any case I have never ever needed more than 20 mp YMMV

A7III is much friendlier when doing professional/client work and/or you focused on the end photograph side of things. What I mean by that is that it has more buttons/settings available. I don’t notice the “worse“ viewfinder too much. AF is the same. A7C is also cumbersome to hold with most pro grade zooms like the old 24-70mm gm or any 70-200mm. The viewfinder being located on the left on the A7C also bugs some users.

This is the sole reason I bring/use/bought the A7C. It’s not so much a weight thing for me as it is a size and streamlined thing for me. Taking photos with the A7C and the Sony 85mm is much more enjoyable than the A7III with the equivalent lens. This is very much preference as it brings me back to when I had the Sony NEX7 learning how to shoot photos for the first time. Overall, the A7III is a better camera, but I use and have much more fun with the A7C. I also feel like I’ve never missed a shot because I had the A7C and not another camera, but again, I only bring it with me when I don’t need the photo. 

Thanks for all the information and yes I misspoke and forgot the “r” in the A7riii. Good catch.  

Ya it’s tough decision haha