Point-and-Shoot Landscape Photography

It's December, and I'm on vacation, and I've spent a good part of the month (and I do mean the good part) in the woods taking pictures – nothing very grand, mostly just postcard-and-calendar shots. I think of it as therapy.

In the bad old days (that is, in the 70's) I used a Toyo Field View 4x5 for landscape work, except when I treated myself to a walk unencumbered by anything but my twin-lens Rollei. These days I generally use a Canon 20D, but when what I really want is exercise and, well, walking in the woods, I travel light, much lighter than I did in the heyday of the Rollei. I carry a point-and-shoot and a reasonably light tripod. Till a little over a year ago the P&S was a Canon S50; then it was a Fuji E550; now it's a Canon S80. The tripod hasn't changed (since I can't afford the graphite model I'd like): it's a Manfrotto (no model number visible) with the 3262QR ball head. The camera looks comical on a tripod, even this little one, but I'm taking photos, not posing for them. Generally I leave the camera mounted and locked into the head. I know the tripod makes a fine lever arm for smashing the S80 if I fall and swing it against a rock or a tree, but the camera's not expensive, so I bought two. My wife wouldn't mind if I borrowed hers till a replacement arrived.

The S50 was a five-megapixel P&S; the Fuji used the odd but satisfactory "Super CCD" chip, which was six megapixels or, with interpolation (which I always used), twelve. The S80 has moved up to eight megapixels. The sensor itself is still the usual minuscule thing, and I don't know how Canon gets away with so little noise, but it's not bad. My standard setup is ISO 50 (hence the tripod) and f/5.6. I generally dial down the exposure comp, since I prefer a dark image.

The S80's two big shortcomings are lack of a RAW mode and poor coverage at its shortest focal length (28mm equivalent), but it's quite usable in most circs and can still deliver Canon's slick look.

I'm certainly not preaching the P&S gospel to landscape photographers, but thought it might amuse you to know what I use and why.