TWOLOST: Banff/Jasper, April 2008

[bitburger]

Great trip report. I appreciate the maps and tracks and the pics are outstanding.

Thanks for putting it together.

We are getting ours delivered this month and once school is out, we will be on the great circle of Tetons, Tellowstone, Glacier, Jasper and Banff.

Around Jasper and Banff, are there strong guidelines pushing you toward campgrounds or is there an opportunity for dispersed (remote, camp on your own) camping? Any advice appreciated.

-Mark

[twolost]

I shoot with a Canon EOS 1d MkII for 70% of the shots I take. The 1d is a large and bulky digital SLR, it only captures at 8 megapixels, but it is very fast and durable. For the other 30%... I use a Canon PowerShot SD750. The 750 is a pocket digital camera (about the same size physical size as a pack of smokes - only half as thick). The 750 captures at 7.1 megapixels and has both a physical and digital zoom. I also purchased a twin to my SD750 for my wife and she takes a fair number of the shots I post here. The 1d and the pair of 750's serve very different purposes. My 1d is great for low light and fast action. I have interchangeable lenses that range from 24mm wide angle to 800mm of zoom. The trade-off with the 1d is that you have to take it out for a purpose (before you want to take the shot). Once the 1d is deployed, there are very few limitations. Because of their size, the 750's are super accessible and can be setup in a moments notice... but they tend to work best with lots of light and stationary to slow moving subjects.

Here are a few downsized examples of images in this post that were captured using the SD750's:







Here is the difference between the SD750 and the 1d with regard to reach and stop-action. The area around where this mtn goat was standing happened to be in the shade... and the hillside was naturally dark in color (relatively low light):


SD750 (maxed zoom, wife had to steady the camera on the passenger door frame):




1d MkII using 400mm zoom with 1.4 extender (560mm total), lens was mounted on tripod):



Hope that helps,

[twolost]

In the limited amount of exploring we have done in the Banff/Jasper parks, we found very little 'remote' camping opportunities inside the parks themselves (remote, inside of a van). We did find a few places (maybe three) where we might get by for one night - guess on my part... but I would not push it for more nights than that. On one of our visits, we stayed in Whistlers campground near Jasper and it has something like 900+ campsites. We stayed off-peak season, so there were many times less occupants when we were there. It was actually very nice and peaceful. With that kind of capacity, oh man... I cant even image what it would be like during peak.
Outside of the park may be a different story (depending on the time of year). We picked up a series of road and recreation atlas books from Backroad Mapbooks (Central Alberta & Southwestern Alberta) that show pretty good detail of Forestry Roads, etc. These references might be worth looking into.


http://backroadmapbooks.com/


Cheers,

[lowracer]

Originally Posted by twolost

I shoot with a Canon EOS 1d MkII for 70% of the shots I take. The 1d is a large and bulky digital SLR, it only captures at 8 megapixels, but it is very fast and durable.

In my day I've shot Olympus, Nikon, Sony, and Canon, and for my money it just doesn't get any better than Canon's recent line of digital SLRs. I've owned a 350D and now carry a 5D with the extended battery pack.

Great shots, really enjoyed them. Thanks for sharing the secret of how they were made.

[scatter]

Originally Posted by twolost

We picked up a series of road and recreation atlas books from Backroad Mapbooks (Central Alberta & Southwestern Alberta) that show pretty good detail of Forestry Roads, etc. These references might be worth looking into.

Another good set of maps that we use up there that have a lot of detail can be seen here:
http://www.recreationalatlas.com/
Have fun, the parks are super, but you really do need to camp in a campground. Once outside the parks, there are a zillion places available. Just take off on any forest road.

[sdwindansea]

TwoLost - Thanks for the write up on the different cameras. The Canon EOS 1D is definitely outside our skill range for photography (and probably price range as well). We currently use a 4.5 year old Casio Exilum that actually still takes great pictures. Unfortunately it only has 3x optical zoom, but I love the portability of it.

We are going to be in the market for a new digital camera. We will definitely need something with at least 6x optical zoom. The other requirement is going to be an underwater housing for scuba diving (I currently use a 35mm diving camera with strobe). This new camera will not replace our current digital camera but will be a nice supplement. Unfortunately, the underwater housing for all of the digital SLR cameras are way too expensive for what I want to spend. Hopefully I can find a good "standard" digital camera with 7x + optical zoom and an underwater housing to match.

Lowracer - thank you also. I've heard great things about the Canon EOS line