About my Camera Equipment for Mountain Photography

The photographic gear I take during a mountain trip is always a trade-off between weight, flexibility and image quality. I basically have three standard sets I choose from depending on the difficulty of the trip.

Very challenging and long climb close to my limits

In the case of a climb that is very demanding for me, I choose to be light and I lose a lot of flexibility, without suffering too much on image quality.

My set-up for these type of climbs was a Sigma DP1x with one space battery. Now I use the new Ricoh GR III. I carry this camera in a small chalk bag on my waist with several space batteries. The Ricoh weights below 300 g and produces stunning images at a fixed focal length of 28 mm (in 35 mm format). Sometimes I also take a very small tripod with me.

Challenging and long trip but not at my limits

This type of trips / climbs is the normal type of tours I generally do. In this case, I am not climbing at my limits and a bit of more weight is not a serious issue.

My set-up for these type of climbs is the Ricoh GR III including the wide angle adapter. The wide angle adapter is of great quality and produces very sharp images. I have a small camera bag, that is big enough for the camera and the lenses plus a very small tripod. I always carry this bag on my waist, in order to be able to take photos at any time.

Easy trips or trips with focus on photography

In the case of easy trips that are way below my climbing limits and to not require to be fast or trips where I need more flexibility with respect to photography, I usually take the Fuji XT-2 including several lenses, a tripod, space batteries, and sometimes even the Ricoh as spare camera.