Backcountry Travel with the Sony A7rIII

I do some backcountry travel and camping. One draw for me of the Sony system is full FF system performance with a kit that is modestly smaller to pack. The largest Pelican case I can bungee under a canoe seat is a Pelican 1500. I was able to fit a very complete (more than needed, really) Sony based system in this case for a recent trip.

We spent five days living out of the boats while traveling the eastern shore of Lake Superior. My pictures are here:
https://www.flickr.com …/albums/7215770​0636990145

I love the Sony sensor images, even with my modest skills in post processing the files are very easy to work with. I brought along two batteries total, which was more than adequate. I could have done the whole trip on a single battery, but I live in fear of leaving the A7rIII switched 'on', a mistake that inevitably leaves one dead in the water. IMO, it is bizarre that there is no option for an ultimate time-out shut down sequence on this camera. After some extreme.....1 hour, 2 hours, the camera should be configurable to just shut down.

I also like the combination of the Sony A7rIII with the 24-105 lens. This is a similar rig to my previous Canon 24-105 setups, which covers something like 95% of what I need to do when I am backcountry. If I was really space-constrained, this and a tripod would be all I would bring.

One other niggle with the Sony, it seemed to pick up sensor dust more easily than a dSLR. I shoot f/11 almost as a default on travel, and I was clone stamping a heck of a lot of shots from this trip despite regular bouts with a blower.

Yup. I've been looking at picking up a kitfox to fly out west and do some back country camping/flying. The sony system definitely brings a weight and size reduction.

Tell me about sensor dust! It's a magnet. On a week-long trip to the Canadian Rockies, I cleaned it repeatedly, and then cleaned it more when I got home. And like you, clone stamped the heck out of my photos. . .

I've gotten into the habit (where possible) of cleaning before an outing and attaching the lens immediately so that I'm hopefully not having to change lenses in the field. Also packing sensor cleaning kit with me on trips.

Shoot wide open... no dust problems

JeffreyG wrote in post #18693557
I do some backcountry travel and camping. One draw for me of the Sony system is full FF system performance with a kit that is modestly smaller to pack. The largest Pelican case I can bungee under a canoe seat is a Pelican 1500. I was able to fit a very complete (more than needed, really) Sony based system in this case for a recent trip.

We spent five days living out of the boats while traveling the eastern shore of Lake Superior. My pictures are here:
https://www.flickr.com …/albums/7215770​0636990145

I love the Sony sensor images, even with my modest skills in post processing the files are very easy to work with. I brought along two batteries total, which was more than adequate. I could have done the whole trip on a single battery, but I live in fear of leaving the A7rIII switched 'on', a mistake that inevitably leaves one dead in the water. IMO, it is bizarre that there is no option for an ultimate time-out shut down sequence on this camera. After some extreme.....1 hour, 2 hours, the camera should be configurable to just shut down.

I also like the combination of the Sony A7rIII with the 24-105 lens. This is a similar rig to my previous Canon 24-105 setups, which covers something like 95% of what I need to do when I am backcountry. If I was really space-constrained, this and a tripod would be all I would bring.

One other niggle with the Sony, it seemed to pick up sensor dust more easily than a dSLR. I shoot f/11 almost as a default on travel, and I was clone stamping a heck of a lot of shots from this trip despite regular bouts with a blower.

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forum: Sony Digital Cameras

Super pictures ! Were you nervous around all that water?

squashed wrote in post #18717493
Super pictures ! Were you nervous around all that water?

Thanks. In answer to your question, fundamentally yes we are nervous on Lake Superior (But not for the camera gear ). The lake is very large, and for people unfamiliar it acts like a sea. The lake can become rough very quickly, and the water temperature in summer hovers around 50F (10C) which can bring on hypothermia pretty quickly in unprotected swimmers. Finally, a lot of the shore is cliff or rock, so it can be very hard to try and land loaded, swamped canoes in a running surf.

The key to any backcountry trip paddling on the Great Lakes is preparation. Everything is in waterproof gear and lashed in, we wear neoprene suits to extend our safe time in the water, we carry marine radio and watch the forecast, we have specific plans for team rescue in the event we lose a boat, and we practice self-rescue. Finally, we are flexible in schedule, when the lake isn't safe, we hole up and wait it out.

The week after our trip, a father and three children died of hypothermia in Lake Superior. They were padding sit-on-top kayak in the Apostle Islands. That's not an appropriate craft and they were overloaded, but I suppose they felt safe given the appearance of being in sheltered waters in among the islands. It was a really heartbreaking story and a warning for anyone who isn't prepared.