Am I crazy to take a Nikon D800 Backpacking

[SeanBK]

Well, I did take my D800e on a trip though India. On last day, as bell hop (yes, same chap from Grand Budapest Hotel) came over to pick up the luggage to take me to airport for a flight back home, I reached down to hand him the bag, the camera slipped off the shoulder & fell @ 3ft on to the pristine marble floor of Umaid Bhavan palace Hotel, Jodhpur. Of course it hit at the thinnest edge where battery compartment door & frame met. It cracked, I couldn't get the fully charged battery out, I could've but didn't try hard enough. Upon arriving back in US of A, went straight to camera dealer (who I did not buy the camera from, in fact it was a gray mkt, purchased in Mumbai, hence no RRS plate. he fixed it as good as new in may be 30 secs. He said that bottom plate can be replaced but it don't need be. He also said that's the first time he saw it broke, I must've hit it at the perfect angle, but it did kept on working, I traded it in after 18 more months of perfect usage & more travel. Extremely rugged camera.

[HSakols]

This week our crew had the week off from work so we decided to get started even though the biggest storm of the year was heading our way.  We pretty much bush whacked our way in and slogged through snow on our way out, with a few novice Nature Bridge instructors.  What was most helpful was to discuss realistically how much we could carry and to think about what light food we could eat. I learned that I must have the Nikon D800 as well as my Olympus EPL5 with a 17mm lens.  Unfortunately, toward the end of the trip, I slipped into a creek with my Olympus briefly soaking it.  I still haven't powered it up.  I have attached some some photos.

[glocke12]

I took my D800E and 24-70 f2.8 backpacking on the black forest trail in PA last year...While hiking it spent most of its time in a bag I had lashed to my backpack and really only came out when I had camp setup and went out to do some exploring, or had stopped to take in a view.

Just be careful, don't take any chances or do anything stupid and you should be fine.  Also, make sure to get it insured.  I have all my gear insured through Farmers insurance.

All that said, I am really looking to go a smaller camera for those trips and am thinking of the Nikon 1/J5 mirrorless.  This isn't because I am afraid of damaging the better camera I have (which is now a D810), it's because of the weight of the larger camera and lens.

[BernardLanguillier]

All that said, I am really looking to go a smaller camera for those trips and am thinking of the Nikon 1/J5 mirrorless.  This isn't because I am afraid of damaging the better camera I have (which is now a D810), it's because of the weight of the larger camera and lens.

The J5 appears to be a major advance for the Nikon 1 series. This being said, even though the new sensor seems to deliver much cleaner images at low ISO, I still doubt it could come close to the Sony a5100 from am image quality standpoint, without being that much smaller.

Btw, I used the 1 series for some time and I used to own pretty much the full lenses set and several bodies. To me the system still has the best AF short of high end DSLRs. The 32mm is a truly excellent lens with a great look and the 18mm is also very good, I was less excited by the rest of the range.

I am also looking for a credible super light landscape set up, and my intent is to try some of the Leica M lenses with an adapter for the a5100.

Cheers,
Bernard

[bwana]

Just keep the lens detached from the body. Even well packed and padded, the D800 is known to be fragile and many of these have developed cracks in the magnesium frame causing nikon to say that the camera is totaled. I slipped and fell onto my butt. The backpack never hit the ground. My 70-200 snapped right off the camera mount from the sudden deceleration and torque.

[BAB]

Here is the bottom line.
You take the M4/3 and a long lens, the nikon and a wide lens.
You shoot 90% landscape ( I doubt 500 images a day)
When you get home you will see you didn't use your long lenses much and the pix with long lenses aren't the ones you like the most.
Ex went to the central Artic to shoot the caribou migration of the Beverly Herd I had two systems cannon with 500 m f4, normal and wide and carried film Rollie with three lenses, filters and etc 45lbs incl tripod!
Imagine the images I took and which one were printed, a close up of a caribou is not that interesting but a wide angle picture of colorful bogs with a stream of clear fresh water bordered by wild flowers might be.

Have a great trip,

[HSakols]

After hours of planning, we are finally ready to take some photographs!!  Here is our blog written by my wife.  yosemiteoffthetrail.wordpress.com

[Gilgamesh]

D800 and two lenses 24-70 and 70-200, one SB flash with remote triggers. Cracking good night shots possible. Also use your head torches to good effect, (just remember to check the histogram as what looks good and well exposed at midnight is likely -1.5 stops in reality).
CF tripod.
Shutter release cable for long exposures.
Consider a ND filter(s) too?

I carry a Lumix LX5 in my waterproof jacket too & I do this sort of thing all the time.

[douglasboyd]

I would take A7II or A7rII and the kit 28-70mm lens.  The total weight of this is 2.07 pounds, about 2 pounds less than D800 with 28-300mm lens (4.1 pounds).  You would be giving up the 70-300mm range, but would get sharper pictures.  In my case 80% of the pictures I would take while hiking can be done with the Sony kit lens.  What's missing is a fast medium telephoto for portraits, and a wider lens for certain landscapes. You could take one extra lens in a pocket, for the wide shots or telephoto and still be less than the Nikon weight.  I find 2 pounds can go on my neck during hiking, but 4 pounds is uncomfortable. If you plan to take pictures of people in sunlight you will also need to bring a HSS flash, and some ND filters.

==Doug

[Bo Dez]

If this is a once in a life time then take to D800. Pain is temporary, the pictures are forever.

[RobertJ]

Some people hike with 8x10 studio monorails.  The D800 is a toy by comparison.  I guess it depends who you are.