Again - what to take - El Cielo Biosphere, MX, Dec - D60 or D700?

[paullgj]

Hi!

Finally, after two years in "lockdown" hitting the trail in Dec.  No, no La Ruta Maya or Inca Trail (still too high COVID 19), but El Cielo Biosphere cloudforest in  La Sierra Madre Oriental of northeast Mexico, and not to the tourist cabins, but one week in a remote area, cabin with rain catchment water.  Bus out of Matamoros to Gomez Farias, then in the back of lumber truck up the mountain.  A biologist friend from Mexico will meet me there.

So what to take? I have to go light.  I have a D60/18-200 - throw in a wide zoom?  Or the D700 with 3 (heavy) f4 zooms?  The decision is one I have to make, but I'd like your input.  This is a rugged overland backpack trip.

Thanks.

Gene, Brownsville, TX

[Jan Anne]

Kind of depends on what kind of memories you would like to capture for future enjoyment or sharing your adventures with others.

I’ve dragged 300mm 2.8 lenses up the mountains and payed the price on higher altitudes without reward while on other trips the same lens brought home the bacon.

Whatever the trip I will always bring something ultra wide around 15mm for the grand vistas, star trails, etc and something fast like a 35 or 50mm prime for the general story telling. Whenever I can muster I will bring something long for wildlife and long landscape shots.

So in your case I would bring the wide zoom, the tele zoom and a lightweight prime in the middle

[Hugh_3170]

I would agree with JA's suggestion, but might substitute a 55mm or 60mm Micro Nikkor for the lightweight prime.  Also if weight is an issue, why not a DX or M43 system?

The late Galen Rowell's essays might also be worth looking at, as he used carefully selected lighter weight Nikon consumer grade lenses for his back packing and long distance running forays into the wilderness.

Kind of depends on what kind of memories you would like to capture for future enjoyment or sharing your adventures with others.

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So in your case I would bring the wide zoom, the tele zoom and a lightweight prime in the middle

[paullgj]

Hi again,

Thanks all for answering.  Yes, going to go with DX - D60, even though it's old.  Means I can also take a lighter weight Slik tripod.  I've got a lot of small lightweight primes from the FE2 days, plus a 35 mm DX prime.  Here's a lightweight kit - D60, 10-20 wide angle zoom, 24 and 35 mm primes, plus the 18-200, SB400 flash, Slik Sprint Pro tripod - all fits nice in a small daypack.  Will have to take three batteries as there's no USB charger on the D60 to use solar pack. 

[Jan Anne]

I use third party USB battery chargers to charge the camera batteries with solar, batterypack, car or with the usb wall charger I am bringing anyways for my phone.

Currently using a Nitecore dual en-el14 / en-el15 charger but I see that they don’t have a solution for the en-el9 batteries but I am you sure you can find some on the local Amazon shops

Had an issue once with batteries while canoeing in Finland and had to make the “hard” decision to spend energy and time on returning to civilization to charge them or spend the remainder of the trip without a working camera. It became the former and a very tasty Finnish ice cream during charging made the detour worthwhile haha after a week or so eating only dried foods haha.

[Bruno Schroder]

My light DX kit is 10-20DX, 35DX and the 70-200 F4. It is 290gr heavier than the 18-200 but I like the pictures better. It takes a bit more space however.

It looks like you're off to a interesting trip. Enjoy!

[paullgj]

Images from La Biosfera el Cielo, July 2022, Nikon D60.  Just ordered a D7500 for new travel/backpack camera.

[Wannabebetter]

Images from La Biosfera el Cielo, July 2022, Nikon D60.  Just ordered a D7500 for new travel/backpack camera.

The D7500 should be an excellent fit for you. And, if I have my facts straight, should produce stunning results with your legacy glass and most anything "modern" you mount on it.