Shot with GoPro Hero camera mounted on a front deck of JKK Supernova kayak

Sunday morning, August 7, 2011. A loop around Boyd Lake – 9 miles in 2:15 hours in Sea Wind canoe.

It was my first paddling on the Boyd Lake this year. The lake is very full like many other reservoirs in Colorado. I launched the Sea Wind canoe at northern end of the park road – just a few steps across a bike trail at current water level on a sandy beach.

I paddled around the lake with a short stop for photography at the SE lake corner near the dam. There is a nice view of Loveland and Longs Peak from that spot. And, it seems that I am attracted to that concrete dam structure. A nice pattern of concrete elements. You can compare three pictures below with the pictures I shot at the same location 2 years ago, but from the shore.

Pictures were shot with my DSLR camera, Canon D5 M2 and EF 24-105 mm lens with a polarizer. Sea Wind canoe is a very stable platform for photography. So, for a easy paddling like today, I carry my Canon camera in Seattle Sport mini duffel. I don’t see that product in their catalog any more. I wouldn’t consider it waterproof, just splash proof. However, it offers an easy access to the camera even with a long lens attached. There is a room for an extra lens and/or flash or other accessories.

Related posts and resources:
Boyd Lake State Park
160 Lakes and Reservoirs of Colorado

I started my exploration of the lower St Vrain Creek in spring of 2004. I covered 7 miles of the river from highway 66 to the South Platte near Platteville. Most often, I launch at the Weld county road 19.5 just north of the Fort St. Vrain Power Station and a mile above the confluence. The best flow to paddle there is perhaps around 400 cfs, but there is still enough water to paddle at 100 cfs, especially, if you are just going downriver. You may encounter occasional log jam and one rocky and shallow spot near a high cliff before you reached the South Platte. There is a diversion dam with an easy portage about 1.5 mile above the county road 19.5.

Pictures in this post come from my recent early October paddling on the St Vrain Creek. I was testing my low water paddling rig: old Seda Cyclon whitewater kayak with an added fin and a heavy duty wildwater wing paddle. The kayak was tracking pretty well and I enjoyed upstream/downstream workout. I had enough room to pack a tripod and my Canon DSLR camera.

I finished my paddling at sunset and I was ready to shoot the nearby power station during evening blue hour. Evening Blue Hour refers to the period of twilight when there is neither full daylight nor complete darkness. It is the best time to photograph cityscape or industrial scenery with a lot of lights against the deep blue sky. The blue hour starts approximately 15 minutes after sunset and is lasting only 10 minutes, so it is really a short time window.

I see a few way to improve my picture of the power plant. Cold temperatures can add drama by making steam plumes from cooling towers visible. Some snow cover on the foreground wouldn’t hurt either. Finally, water reflections would be cool. The power plant is nicely visible from the diversion dam upstream (see a thumbnail of my 2004 picture). So, it looks like I have a plan for a winter night paddling …

I was looking for a new paddling camera satisfying the following requirements:
- More compact than my Canon DSLRs (D40 and 5D) and easier to carry on my racing boats including Thunderbolt-X kayak.
- Providing a better image quality than Pentax Optio W10 suitable for my stock photography. Pentax is great for paddling and shooting pictures for posting on web, but these pictures are usually too noisy for commercial applications.
- Recording RAW format, if possible, to allow me more flexibility in picture postprocessing.

I have been following the Canon PowerShot G line of cameras. Canon offers waterproof housing for them. I got spoiled by my Pentax Optio W30 and, now, would like to see intervalometer built in every camera. Some time ago I discussed PowerShot G10 as a candidate for a paddling camera.

Finally, I bought the recent G11 model. I am still learning and exploring the new camera and took it for some testing in winter conditions on the South Platte River.

All pictures in this post were shot during my two latest paddle workouts with Thunderbolt kayak. There were shot with G11 (set on ISO=100) on the same sandbar about 2 miles upstream of Kersey.

I always carry one of my waterproof Pentax Optiocameras attached to a life jacket to document my paddling trips and races. The image quality is fine to display pictures on-line, but it may be not sufficient for commercial applications. Pictures shot with compact digital cameras usually show a lot of digital noise when examining at 100% view.

In November 2007 I started to sell my pictures through microstock agencies. It forced me to carry a DSLR camera for paddling trips. It is a little bit tricky in the case of a low volume racing kayak like my Thunderbolt-X. Most often, I just pack a camera with a tripod and shoot from land. However, I am also trying to shoot from a kayak cockpit or from a decked mounted camera.

A mast for kayak photography and video combining the sticky pod suction cup camera mount with a telescoping 50′ monopod.

Panasonic is entering a market for compact waterproof cameras represented by popular Pentax Optio W and Olympus Stylus SW series.

April, 2005.
I had been thinking for a longer while about taking a camera for Texas Water Safari, 260 mile non stop race down the San Marcos and Guadelupe Rivers. My first digital camera, Canon PowerShot S40 in its waterproof case was just too heavy to carry it through all portages and logjams of the race. So, I bought Pentax Optio WP, the first waterproof compact digital camera, as soon as it was available.

I am quite happy to paddle and shoot with Pentax Optio “W” cameras as long as producing pictures to be displayed online. They are waterproof, compact, easily accessible in any conditions. The image quality is OK for a blog or website, but usually there is just too much of digital noise for some commercial applications. So, for my stock photography, I am carrying my DSLR camera, Canon EOS 40D. It may be a rather challenging task if I paddle a racing boat like my Thunderbolt-X kayak.

In the search for some alternative solutions I have been watching evolution of Canon PowerShot G series cameras. Canon offers waterproof cases for them.

Pentax Optio W60 is making a ratcheting type sound while taking videos …

Good news: Your camera is not broken! Bad News: It is normal, unfortunately. These little cameras are very good in recording noise from lens mechanism/motor when zooming or autofocusing.