I like to take photographs and I’m quite serious about photography. (I have a website, AnythingButAWedding.) I don’t like skiing with bulky and expensive photography equipment, however. I recently came up with a working solution, which I’d like to share.
My primary camera is a Panasonic G7, which is a micro four-thirds (m43) camera. Micro four-thirds has an inherent advantage over many cameras in that the format allows for smaller camera bodies and smaller lenses. The format is referred to as “cropped sensor” which means that the image sensor (the place where film used to be) is smaller than the size of a traditional 35mm film frame. As such, the lenses m43 cameras have half the focal length of 35mm cameras. For example, a “standard” lens on a 35mm camera has a focal length of 50mm. A lens for a m43 camera, with the same framing is a 25mm lens. Smaller focal length leads to smaller physical size.
If I were to go out skiing for the sole purpose of taking photographs, such as shooting a race or other competition, I would have no problem bringing along a bunch of gear and my best and longest lenses. If my purpose is to go out skiing for fun, however, I do not want all this gear with me. Any fall with a large, hard, fragile camera is likely to result in injury to both the camera and the skier. As a result, I’ve not been bringing my camera. If want a picture, I just use my cell phone.
Now, I’m not opposed to cell phone photography, but you do give up some important features. Apple and Samsung have closed the gap between cameras and phones, but I still prefer a dedicated camera. So, what to do?
Panasonic offers a couple of so-called “pancake” versions of their lenses. These lenses are considerably smaller than regular lenses and give up some performance compared to regular lenses. Their major shortcomings are that they are not as good in low light conditions and are not quite as sharp as their larger versions. Well, light is not usually an issue when skiing – perhaps on a very gray and dark day it might be - but that wouldn’t be a good time for shooting anyway. The loss of resolution with the pancake lenses is minor and mostly in the periphery of the image. This is not a huge issue for casual shooting.
Looking at the gear I have, my favorite “walking around” lens is a 14-140mm, 10x zoom, telephoto. In 35mm terms, this lens shoots from 28mm (wide angle) to 280mm (long telephoto). This is excellent versatility, but the lens is large and heavy. It is not suited for skiing with. I also have a smaller 12-35mm telephoto, which is both faster and sharper than the 14-140mm lens and it shoots from wide angle to short telephoto or portrait length. Still, the 12-35mm lens is quite large and it was expensive. I do not want to risk breaking it. Enter the pancake lens.
Some time ago Panasonic introduced the 12-35mm pancake lens. I never looked at this lens as I have an excellent full-size lens in the same focal length. But skiing adds a new parameter; I need a small and light lens. I checked the specifications for the pancake 12-35mm lens and compared it to my full-size 12-35mm lens. The pancake version is two f-stops slower than the full-size lens and you need to stop it down to about f8 to get image quality close to the full-size lens, but it is significantly smaller and more than half a pound lighter. I found a number of these lenses available on eBay and picked one up for a about a hundred dollars.
With the pancake lens, the camera nestles nicely in a fanny pack, which I wear reversed; most ski falls tend to be on your side or back. The camera is more easily accessed than with a backpack. The weight of the camera with the pancake lens is just over a pound and essentially unnoticeable while skiing.
My primary camera is a Panasonic G7, which is a micro four-thirds (m43) camera. Micro four-thirds has an inherent advantage over many cameras in that the format allows for smaller camera bodies and smaller lenses. The format is referred to as “cropped sensor” which means that the image sensor (the place where film used to be) is smaller than the size of a traditional 35mm film frame. As such, the lenses m43 cameras have half the focal length of 35mm cameras. For example, a “standard” lens on a 35mm camera has a focal length of 50mm. A lens for a m43 camera, with the same framing is a 25mm lens. Smaller focal length leads to smaller physical size.
If I were to go out skiing for the sole purpose of taking photographs, such as shooting a race or other competition, I would have no problem bringing along a bunch of gear and my best and longest lenses. If my purpose is to go out skiing for fun, however, I do not want all this gear with me. Any fall with a large, hard, fragile camera is likely to result in injury to both the camera and the skier. As a result, I’ve not been bringing my camera. If want a picture, I just use my cell phone.
Now, I’m not opposed to cell phone photography, but you do give up some important features. Apple and Samsung have closed the gap between cameras and phones, but I still prefer a dedicated camera. So, what to do?
Panasonic offers a couple of so-called “pancake” versions of their lenses. These lenses are considerably smaller than regular lenses and give up some performance compared to regular lenses. Their major shortcomings are that they are not as good in low light conditions and are not quite as sharp as their larger versions. Well, light is not usually an issue when skiing – perhaps on a very gray and dark day it might be - but that wouldn’t be a good time for shooting anyway. The loss of resolution with the pancake lenses is minor and mostly in the periphery of the image. This is not a huge issue for casual shooting.
Looking at the gear I have, my favorite “walking around” lens is a 14-140mm, 10x zoom, telephoto. In 35mm terms, this lens shoots from 28mm (wide angle) to 280mm (long telephoto). This is excellent versatility, but the lens is large and heavy. It is not suited for skiing with. I also have a smaller 12-35mm telephoto, which is both faster and sharper than the 14-140mm lens and it shoots from wide angle to short telephoto or portrait length. Still, the 12-35mm lens is quite large and it was expensive. I do not want to risk breaking it. Enter the pancake lens.
Some time ago Panasonic introduced the 12-35mm pancake lens. I never looked at this lens as I have an excellent full-size lens in the same focal length. But skiing adds a new parameter; I need a small and light lens. I checked the specifications for the pancake 12-35mm lens and compared it to my full-size 12-35mm lens. The pancake version is two f-stops slower than the full-size lens and you need to stop it down to about f8 to get image quality close to the full-size lens, but it is significantly smaller and more than half a pound lighter. I found a number of these lenses available on eBay and picked one up for a about a hundred dollars.
With the pancake lens, the camera nestles nicely in a fanny pack, which I wear reversed; most ski falls tend to be on your side or back. The camera is more easily accessed than with a backpack. The weight of the camera with the pancake lens is just over a pound and essentially unnoticeable while skiing.
- Camera and 14-140mm lens: 2.028 pounds
- Camera and 12-35mm lens: 1.671 pounds
- Camera and 12-35mm pancake lens: 1.074 pounds
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