backpackingGear

Day 4: Final impressions and gear Outdoor show Friedrichshafen 2017

I really enjoyed my time at the german trade show, got to meet a lot of nice people and talked with a lot of representatives from many different companies. The show is massive and I’m happy I took the 4 days to really see as much as I could… Even four days wasn’t enough.

I was impressed by the focus on the ecological processes and social responsibility that most companies made a drive towards. We can no longer state that it’s just patagonia thinking about these principals. They may have started the trend, but the others are catching on and pushing it forward. I also don’t think this trend is purely consumer driven, I get the impression that many of these companies are asking the important questions and getting ahead of the trend before the average consumer is there.

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The Haglöfs LIM Bield rain jacket and shorts are in my opinion absolutely brilliant. 165grams for the large jacket and 20000mm water resistance. Taped seams, breathable and stronger material than gore-tex. 

 

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Sea to summit showing off their new Spcialist solo and duo.. The solo weighs 445grams and the duo comes in at just 633grams. (these weighs are minus tent poles and pegs)

IMG_2065The nano puff getting lighter and lighter.

 

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The backside of the much anticipated Osprey Levity 45 and Levity 60. This pack will be available spring 2018 at an estimated price of $240.

IMG_4379The front and side of the Osprey Levity 60

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I liked the coleman booth – glamping at it’s finest!

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Ultralight hammock by Sea to summit – 155grams.

IMG_1506Nice looking packs from Haglöfs

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Me being sandwhiched between two of the four Gossamer gear gang. Nice chat and planning for the future. Grant on the left and Glen on the right. Amazing story Gossamer gear, started with Glen sewing his own gear and eventually expanding to meet demands. Inspiring stuff from a great group of guys!

Gearultralightultralight backpacking

Day 3: Outdoor show in Friedrichshafen

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The Wisp 1 in silnylon by Big sky products, weighing in at 500 grams. A great little tent that cost around $220. Easy to setup and big enough for most people.

 

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Tentipi.. a 3.5 kilo beast of a tent and the lightest one in their collection. Maybe large for one person, certainly not lightweight, but great for family Glamping.

 

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I found this little umbrella tucked away in the Evernew booth. Weighs just 90grams and big enough to cover my head and pack. Will be available in europe and the USA next year.

 

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A sherpa frame from Evernew, perfect for the Glampers!

 

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Roza Vetrov from russia makes these titanium cooking sets. I liked the handbuilt quality to them. Inside this is two casseroles, a water flask and a shot glass. 

 

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Otto from Onak canoes. The onak is a folding canoe, that you can see in the right side of the pic. Pretty cool

backpackingGear

Day 2: The outdoor show in Friedrichshafen

So much gear, so little time. It’s the ultimate orgy for gear lovers! Again, I did my best to walk around, be slightly social and take some shots of gear I thought was interesting and listened to a few keynote speakers.

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Western mountaineering throwing it’s hat into the quilt game. Unfortunately I have no info on the quilt as the reps had been busy all day. But if it’s western mountaineering than it will probably be light and excellent.

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The Osprey Levity 60. Won the outdoor award for best backpack. Light at 840 grams and rather functional. est. price $240 and release in april 2018. It’s nice to see even the big brands going lighter and lighter.

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Toaks had this little alcohol stove on display. At first I thought it was just a little titanium cup that you fill up with alcohol and burn. However when I looked closer I could see the small holes around the rim – Would love to test this out in the field!

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My wife thinks we need to invest more in our Glamping lifestyle.. she’s not too happy about sleeping on a tiny slippery mat and sharing a quilt with our son. I think this combination from Exped would work wonders. It’s a two man quilt and sleeping mat. Works wonders for family glampers or SUL hiking buddies.. you choose

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Sierra designs had the famous Skurka designed Flex capacitor backpack on display. An excellent looking pack I have to say, something I could certainly see the use in. From tightening down to 40L and if needed can be expanded to 60L.

Unfortunately they didn’t bring the High route tent so I can’t give my impression on it…

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Mont-Bell. Oh how I wish thee existed in Sweden. I’ve always been a big fan of Mont-bell and I don’t think it’s because I’ve only been an admirer from a distance. I’m certain they make good, lightweight gear and someday I plan on testing my theory.

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Bill from NWApline looking rather happy with himself, as he should. From what I can tell NWAlpine is making some excellent lightweight climbing gear. A cuben rain shirt and an impressive looking cuben tent. NWAlpine is a small cottage manufacturer based out of Oregon.

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My thoughts on cuben: while cuben will give any ultralight backpacker wet dreams, if we really are honest with ourselves, the minimal weight savings just isn’t worth the price. I don’t see how cuben will break into the mainstream, or even stick around for too many more years if they don’t look at the cost structure on it.

backpackingcampingGearultralightultralight backpacking

Day 1: Outdoor Show 2017 Friedrichshafen

It’s hard to put into words just how massive the Friedrichshafen event really is. It is quite simply the epicenter of outdoor gear and trade here in Europe connecting manufacturers with agents, distributors, pr and bloggs. If a company wants to break into the european market, this event is a must. I am happy that I gave myself the four days to go through it all.. It’s just massive. With that said I can imagine it’s fairly easy for a company to be drowned out, it was easy to see that many were. Also, it’s very difficult for a company to not only be seen in this kind of enviroment, but to stand out with products.

In general I’m not looking for this years next big thing, and writing about gear is not my biggest passion either, I can however say that some companies did have products that I liked and these I will post here.

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Carsten Jost from fastpacking.de looking rather happy at his time at the Outdoor blogger base. A well organised and put together station were all the bloggers of the world (well… atleast some of them?) meet up at network. I have to work on my networking skills 🙂

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There were a lot of very interesting tents at the show, many of them would give any ultralight blogger wet dreams, however these I was not allowed to take pictures of.. so, I instead took pictures of the Big Sky international wisp 1.5 cuben tent which I was allowed to take pictures of. The wisp 1.5 is a big brother to their Wisp. So far it’s the only cuben tent on display that I have seen, and the only one on sale in stores in Europe.

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Jetboil had some new products to show off. Or atleast the same products with new valve features that allows for much faster boils at around 1.30 minutes per boil. Impressive. Sadly no more Titanium SOL.

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This Nordisk tent is incredibly light for a double wall tent, weighing in at 500 or 600 grams (can’t remember now). Even won the award for most innovative product. Honestly though, not knocking the product, but I don’t see how a real live human could fit in this. The top of the loop didn’t even reach my knee caps, that’s how small this tent is.

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Hilleberg on the other hand had a product that stood out for me, the Mesh 1 and the Tarp 5 you see here. A real live human can easily fit in this with room to spare. Total weight 710 grams for the tarp and mesh inner, with a few impressive innovations that I would like to show off later. I am in the talks with them now, and hopefully I will be able to use this kit for one of my future outings this year.

marathonRunning

Lessons from my first marathon

I did it, it hurt, at times it sucked, and times it was glorious. It was a hell of a lot harder than I expected, and definitely more emotional than I thought possible. I ran and finished my first marathon on Saturday. I set a goal in early February that I wanted to run and complete the Stockholm marathon in June. This with no previous running training, or any training for that matter, certainly not cardio in at-least 15 years. I felt it was ambitious, but at the same time a challenge I needed to keep myself motivated.

I could write for days with regards to how the race went, and mental process needed to complete, how my body felt, or how about an old man getting a heart attack next to me while running. I could explain all of this but I won’t, I will let this experience be mine and mine alone. It was something deep and profound and something I need to hold on to a while longer. With that said, I will write about the lessons I learned and will bring with me on future runs and I hope will even help you on yours.

Lesson 1

Everyone has to take a shit at the same time on race day. Standing in line to the toilet will take a minimum of 45 minutes of standing and waiting patiently. A good choice is to just hold it at and lay down and relax, take a shit somewhere along the run where the toilets are always empty instead.

Lesson 2

Don’t shave. While waiting and eating some pre-run food, I noticed rows and rows of beautifully shaven men and women, glistening in the sunlight the baldness of their bodies. I also noticed how every single one of them spent an amazing amount of time greasing themselves up and down with vasoline in places I didn’t know could get chapped. My tactic was to do as usual and not shave my ass crack, chest or underarms and allow my hair to protect my body. Worked perfectly. No chaffing anywhere.

As a precaution for chapping between my thighs (no thigh gap here) I bought shorts with built in tights.

Lesson 3

Run more on roads if training for a marathon. I ran a lot leading up to my first marathon. But the trails had been mixed between street and dirt paths. The difference in pressure on feet and knees is astounding when tacking on heavy kilometers. While the first 25 kilometers my body held up well, the last 10 hurt really bad as my left foot had given out completely.

Lesson 4

What is the difference between the marathon racer that runs in 3 hours and the one that runs in 5 hours? The runner running in 5 hours probably had a hell of a lot tougher time as she was standing and pounding her knees, feet and body for two hours longer – not including the aforementioned 45 minute wait before the race to take a shit.

So the lesson here – train speed, get the marathon done as quickly as possible, it only gets worse as the hours pile on.

Lesson 5

Energy gels mixed with Coca Cola, bananas, pickles, clif bars and energy drinks is an absolutely revolting mixture of puke inducing running fuel. I was told to eat everything I could along the run, and from my experience of running longer runs my bodies energy usually crashed at around 20k if I didn’t eat. So I took this advice to heart and ate everything I could. Energy gels must be the single most disgusting edible product on earth, it doesn’t get better with pickles.

Lesson 6

Find your reason why. If you don’t have a strong enough reason to complete the race, your not going to, it’s as simple as that. My reason started with Scott Jureks saying ”sometimes we just do things”, but I found that wasn’t strong enough, it wasn’t strong enough because it wasn’t my reason. It is Scotts. I found after 30kilometers I had to find my why, my reason behind it all and I did.

I started my running and vegan lifestyle after a visit to the doctors office pretty much ended with the doctor saying take pills or die young. I believe firmly in the ability for the body to heal itself, especially if given the proper nutrition. So I changed to a plant based whole food diet and the results so far have been astounding. My energy levels have increased majorly, I don’t get sick anymore, I’ve lost a lot of weight and all in all I just feel amazing.

However my reason for doing all of this, the running, eating and for the purpose of this article, running the marathon was one thing. To live to be an old man for my young boy. I didn’t want to be couch ridden, or bad heart and can’t play with him. So my mantra for completing the race fitted me perfectly and gave me the boost I needed to complete ”Old man for you”.

campingkidsultralight backpackingultralight kids

Gear suggestions for kids

I’m not a really big fan of owning a lot of gear. For the most part I try to keep my backpacking life simplistic for many reasons, though for the most part it’s because I want to spend more time in the outdoors knowing exactly what I own and how to use what I own, than spending hours in a gear shop or gear closet.

With that said I also love going on little mini adventures with my son who is soon to be four years old. In these adventures we usually look for trolls living in trees or rocks. (My bedtime stories usually involve a dad and son on a camping trip and a big friendly troll that lives in a tree… a story for another day). In any case these small bedtime stories prime my sons sense of adventure and every time I mention sleeping in a tent he’s racing out to the car with his backpack on. Like father, like son!


Me and Eric bring our kids out for a lovely evening by the lake. Right side of the pic my son and our yellow gear. Left side of the pic Eric, Klara and his Double rainbow and green hammock

But as I stated in the beginning, I don’t like having a lot of gear, and I certainly don’t like carrying a lot of gear. Kids gear to say the least is, shit. It’s heavy, expensive and rather useless. So I choose to build my sons kit around my own needs. For example, I own only two quilts and two sleeping mats. One quilt is a down quilt rated at -6 Celsius and weighs 630 grams, and the other quilt is a synthetic -2 degree bag that weighs 720 grams. I bought the synthetic quilt as a winter complement to my down quilt. This quilt combination brings me down to -20 in the winter. In the summer it’s a great bag for my son.


Is this big rock where the troll lives??

My two sleeping mats are a thermarest xl xTherm and an Xlite small. The xtherm is excellent for my winter adventures and the xlite is a great torso pad that weighs 200 grams for 3 season use. It’s also a perfect kids sleeping pad.


Our entire kit for the night. The duomid, two quilts, sleeping pads and more

The tent I use is the Mountain Laurel Designs duomid with no inner tent and two trekking poles setup in an apex at the top opening up the center completely. A great two man tent that weighs 700 grams with the perimeter netting.

I even bring along a tenkara fly rod and flies to do some fishing with total weighing in at 103 grams. A hammock for him to play in, a DD super light hammock that weighs 270 grams, food, and flashlights to go look for trolls with.


Depending on how where feeling we´ll even bring a MLD Trailstar.. Though it’s less accessible than the Duomid. It’s much larger floor space means no fast in and outs

Everything I need for me and him with extra clothes, food and gear fits in my HMG windrider with room leftover and weighs less that 6-7 kilos for all gear and food for an overnight trip. If we want to be out several nights we just pack more food. Simple as that. No shit gear, no wasted money, just great gear for all seasons and reasons.


Everything fits nice and snug in my HMG windrider. Well, minus my sons toys which he gets to carry in his own backpack.

 

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My gear list when going out with the little one:

Item Ounces Grams
Packing
Hmg Sidewinder 4400 34.2 970
Red 2l Pack Bag 0.7 21
Red 4l Pack Bag 0.9 25
Green Pack Sack 4l 1.1 30
Thermarest Pillow Sheet 1.9 54
Shelter
Ti Tent Pegs 3.5 98
Mld Duomid Complete 26.7 756
Sleep
Thermarest Pump 2.6 73
Enlightened Equipment Quilt 22.9 650
Synthetic Sleeping Bag 24.7 700
Xtherm 20.5 580
Xlite Small 7.1 200
Eye Mask 0.5 15
Cooking
Sea To Summit Long Spoon Ti 0.4 12
Ti Tri Fusion 3.2 90
Snowpeak Ti 900 W/lid 4 114
Sawyer Mini Filter 1.4 41
Zefa Water Bottle 3.5 98
Marches 0.4 11
Clothing
Mld Waterproof Gloves 1.6 46
Wp 200g Pants 6.1 174
Haglofs Green Wind Jacket 2.3 65
Haglifs Lim Puffy Jacket 6.7 191
Ula Silnylon Rain Skirt 2.8 78
Patagonia Alpine Rain Shell 6.4 181
Other
Fallkniven F1 6.9 196
Ul Teeth Care 3.1 89
Murla Knife 0.7 20
Bd Headlamp 3.6 101
Iphone 6s Plus Ink Case 9.9 282
Thermarest Repair Kit 0.5 14
First Aid Kit 3.1 89
Usb Cables 0.8 24
Tenkara Sawtooth Fly Rod 3.4 95
Worn
Consumables
Coffee 3.5 100
Toilet Papper 5.3 150
Food For A Day 26.5 750
Alcohol 5 Days 14.1 400
218.1 6183
essentialsGear reviewstrekking poles

Gear review: Fizan compact trekking poles

A few weeks ago I was contacted by a representative from Massdrop on writing a review for one of their upcoming massdrops. For those of you not familiar with massdrop it’s a community or social shopping network that sets up different products for ridiculously cheap prices. For example right now they have an 800 down Enlightened Equipment high quality quilt on sale for 189usd. So the prices are fantastic and the products on offer are often of the highest quality.

Being the kind of guy I am, I have no problems exchanging my time for products and doing a review as long as I can fit it into my schedule. Also it’s not unusual for me to get request to do reviews for products and companies in the USA as a lot of my visitors to this site come from the USA. (Not so strange considering I write in English and come from the USA myself).

With that said, I have known about Fizan as a company for some time as they make trekking poles that are known throughout Europe as a high quality brand. I’m not sure if the products exist in the USA, but in Italy and Europe they have been around since the 1950’s and still being made in Italy.

The timing for Debbie over at Massdrop couldn’t have been better as I was in the market for a new pair of trekking poles as I’m not completely happy with the ones I have. I was in the market for highly adjustable, lightweight, aluminum poles. (I keep breaking my Carbon fiber poles). Feeling I would be more than happy to sacrifice some weight for the added strength of Aluminum.

Weight:

Anyway, I got my Fizan compact trekking poles in the mail a few days ago and I was immediately surprised by the writing on the poles ”worlds lightest trekking poles 158grams”. I thought – bull… But to be honest they are the lightest adjustable poles on the market which is pretty awesome. (Correct me if I’m wrong here). My current carbon fibre adjustable poles weigh in at 184 grams each. These with the straps and baskets weigh 175grams. Take off the straps and baskets (which I normally do) and were down to 158grams each. Light.

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175 grams with the basket and strap on. Hard to find Carbon fiber adjustable poles at this weight.

Quality

As I stated I haven’t had a whole lot of time to test these out, I have been out a few nights and walked a total of about 65 kilometers with varying weight on my backpack and with two different tents. (The MLD Duomid and the MLD Trailstar). The poles have held up well (holding the tents up) even in some really heavy wind and rain on one of my nights out.

The Fizan compacts use a three part proprietary interlocking system, that they have been using for years in their compact system without problems. I find no reason to doubt this interlocking system.

To be honest, I have no real issues with the quality here, as I said before, Fizan is a well known brand and I have had their poles once upon a time a few years back, they never let me down. I don’t feel like this will be issue with these poles either.

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Looks and feel

I think these poles look good, as good as trekking poles can look that is. They are still old people sticks (joke from my book), but do what they are suppose to do. I have seen much uglier poles. They do however feel fantastic. Weight and balance and even the tiniest of attention to details really stand out. I like the feel of the straps and how small the poles pack down to due to the three part adjustable system.

The color on the Massdrop sale for these pole swill be blue and not the red that is seen in these pictures.

Size

My Fizan compacts are adjustable from 58 centimeters (23 inches) to about 132 centimeters (52 inches) maxed out. In other words perfect from any toddler sized human to about my size 190cm (6’3”).

 

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The Fizan sticks holding up an MLD Duomid + Innertent

Specs:

Weight with straps and basket: 178grams each

Height: 58cm (23 inches) – 132 centimenters (52 inches)

Material: 7001 Lightweight Aluminum

Locking: Proprietary Flexy internal locking system

Grips: Ergonomic EVA foam grip with rounded plastic top

3 sets of removable baskets: 35, 50, and 95 mm

Suggested price: $59.99

Massdrop start date: Monday, June 5 at 6 a.m. PST.

Address for the massdrop site and sticks:

https://www.massdrop.com/buy/massdrop-fizan-compact?utm_source=Iterable&iterableCampaignId=122529&iterableTemplateId=178324&utm_campaign=massdrop_x_fizan_compact_trekking_poles&mode=guest_open&referer=C9BLKJ&utm_medium=email

 

PROS:

Lightweight adjustable poles

Aluminum

Extra baskets

Cheap (to be honest, I’m surprised by the price on these.. This is cheap)

Great brand

Made in Italy

 

CONS:

Aluminum (You can get lighter with non-adjustable carbon fiber)

The tips on these are wider than standard trekking poles which means the pole extender on the MLD Duomid won’t work. That’s why in the picture above I use PVC piping instead of the carbon fiber pole extender.

Perhaps shouldn’t be used as ski poles…. . .


The Fizan compact poles are an excellent compliment to the MLD Trailstar as they are highly adjustable.

 

TO read more about these poles check out this excellent, detailed review:

https://www.massdrop.com/talk/1797/upcoming-massdrop-x-fizan-collaboration?utm_placement=3&referer=PYEQYA&mode=guest_open&utm_campaign=Automated%20Daily%20Promotional%202017-05-26&utm_source=SparkPost&utm_medium=email&utm_term=Daily%20Promotional&utm_content=1495797900732.028910651407058611965059

 

Running

Faster, stronger, less fatass…

My running progression is coming along good enough. I’m not completely happy with my results so far but I am in a lot better condition and position than I was at the beginning of my running career in January. Running has now become fun, which in the beginning it most definitely was not. My new found whole food plant based diet keeps me well fueled and ready to run at a drop of a hat, and my once painful 1 hour 6 minute 10 k, has now become an easy 50 minute 10k. I hope this time next year I will be able to be in the 40 minute mark.

Some problems I am having though is proper fuel for my longer runs, and considering I have a marathon in 5 days, this is something to worry about. I feel I start crashing after 15 k, and I usually have to stop 5 minutes, eat an energy bar, drink coconut water and then I can continue. Then When I get up at 20 k my body is completely depleted and I hit sometimes (not all the time) the provibial wall where my body simply can’t move. I’m guessing that I have to be better at eating at every 30 minute intervals, which is something I haven’t been very good at.

So my strategy and goal for the Stockholm marathon is to run in 4 hours 30 minutes. My strategy to do this is to run at a cool but easy pace and eat at every station regardless of my hunger or lack there of. I’m not too concerned about my endurance, just my fuel. Keeping my body well fed I think will be the key for me.

On a side note, a combination of my diet change and my running I have now lost around 20 pounds of fat and body fat down to around 21%. Still high, but I’m not trying to diet, I am making lifestyle changes that I plan to keep throughout my life time. I don’t really care about the get fit quick, though I do think that with a little more discipline around sugar and fats, that I should be able to move my progress considerably faster. I don’t really have any goal in site, just to be at optimal running weight which I believe is about 77 kilos for me and 12% body fat. This should lower the pressure on my back, shoulders and knees. Right now I am somewhere between 86-88 kilos depending on the day…

My plans for after the Stockholm marathon include a couple of half marathons and if I’m feeling courageous perhaps another marathon before the year is done. As I’ve said before, I am literally starting from scratch so my goals are more for building a base and a love for running, than going all out and risking burning myself out. But as with all things I need to compete inorder to stay interested, I need the competition in order to get myself out the door everyday. At-least this is how I feel right now.

 

GearPhoto reviewsPhotography

My favorite backpacking cameras

Through the years I have used many cameras on the trail, and several of them I have written reviews on. I thought for fun I would include a few pictures and a few of my favorites here. I know what your thinking, it’s not the gear that makes the photographer, and it’s absolutely correct, but it sure does help to have quality gear that inspires. You will notice I don’t put any importance on year the camera was made, I do this because I don’t really care. I love the Sony rx100, is it as good as the rx100 m4? probably not, but I wouldn’t know as I haven’t owned the m4. I have owned the m3 and I thought it too was an excellent backpacking camera. Anyway, here are my personal favorites:

 

Fujifilm X-T1

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

It’s hard not to love this camera. It takes amazing pictures, the XF lenses are the best lenses on the market, and to top it off because of the release of the X-T2, the X-T1’s are relatively cheap now. The fujifilm with the 18-55 kit lens is a fantastic backpacking combination that weighs around 800 grams total.  16mp sensor.

 

Fujifilm X100s

$_32

Super crisp pictures and a set focal length of 35mm. What’s not to like. Missing the classic chrome film simulation mode and not really the best for video. However, an excellent backpacking camera. weighs 430 grams and 16mp sensor.

 

Sony RX100

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Small, light and excellent sensor. I used the sony RX 100 on my solo trip in Iceland and don’t regret a thing. Perhaps not the best quality when compared to Fuji, but still an excellent all around compact camera. 245 grams and 28-100mm lens and 20mp sensor. These can now be purchased relatively cheap on the classifieds.

 

Sony RX100 m3

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Everything I love about the sony RX100 the M3 does better. The lens is criper, the files are cleaner, the sensor is better and the Sony RX 100 M3 even has a built in viewfinder and HD video. Only negative? 24-70mm lens is perhaps less flexible than the 28-100 on the Rx 100.

 

Ricoh GR

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Small, light, excellent pictures and sensor… what’s not to like? Some people don’t like single focal length cameras, personally they are my favorite. I hate having to think about what lens might work best for a certain situation. Why bother? The 28mm lens on the Ricoh GR is one of the best on the market. Excellent for both backpacking and street photography. The Ricoh GR weighs 245 grams with battery and has a 16mp sensor.

 

Fujifilm X-T2

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The Fufilm X-T2 is no simple upgrade. It’s basically a completely new camera as compared to the X-T2. Sensor upgrade to a new Xtrans 24megapixel, two memory cards, autobracket for HDR and 4K video to name just a few of the upgrades. The downside of course being that a X-T2 will cost you twice as much as the X-T1 at the moment. But like all the Fujifilm cameras, the X-T2 is probably the best mirrorless camera on the market and easily competes with most full frames. The weight is similar to the X-T1 at 450 grams with battery.

 

Runner up:
Sony A7R

Small body, clunky lenses and massive files that takes days to transfer to computer.. Excellent picture quality but a bore to use. Some of my best pictures have been taken with the A7R, but I can’t recommend the camera as for every one excellent picture 10 are bad. Why? because the shutter causes vibrations in the photo making sharp pictures handheld very difficult.