paddling with a camera

Pentax Optio W60

Pentax Optio W10 offers an interval shooting mode. In this mode, a set number of pictures can be taken automatically at a set interval from a set time. The camera turns off between shots. You can control the following settings in this mode:

• interval: 10 seconds to 99 minutes; the interval cannot be shorter than 10 seconds
• number of shots: from 2 to 1000, so, in practice, it is limited by a memory card capacity
• start time: 0 to 24 hours; it is setup in minutes.

In both cases I used the same setup for the interval mode: 30 pictures, every 10 seconds, starting in 1 minute (so, I had time to jump into a kayak and start paddling). I made several runs with a different camera position. Only first 10-15 frames were useful from each run. Subsequent frames usually suffered from some water drops on a camera lens.

Pentax Optio W30

It was nearly impossible to keep the horizon horizontal in these pictures. Almost each picture needed to be rotated and then somewhat cropped. So, it is important to save pictures at the highest available resolution and quality.

I think that the main limitation of the interval mode shooting in Optio W10 as applied to paddling is that the interval between frames cannot be shorter than 10 seconds. This is not so flexible option as provided by a programmable timer, TC-80N3, which I used in my Canon SLR camera for Solo paddler, solo photographer sessions. At that time I photographed myself paddling different boats from the camera mounted on a tripod and left on a shore

It was quite tricky to stay within the camera angle of view. I was more successful in catching myself within the frame when using a shorter interval between frames: 1-3 seconds. Of course, I cannot mount my Canon SLR together with the programmable timer on a bow of the Sisson kayak.

If you need a higher frequency of shots, e.g., to analyze your paddling technique, the 640x480 video is a good alternative to the interval mode. The frames extracted from the video are quite suitable for posting on-line, however, there is much less room for rotating and cropping.

I think that I have posted enough pictures of that old paddler, so, I will be shifting my focus now to more abstract shots as the one in the last frame above.

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