First of all, I know very little about photography. I just point and click. If  I had to use a light meter, and set apertures and exposure times - then forget it - I wouldn’t know what to do.

Over 20 years ago there was very little in the way of cheap water-proof cameras, and when you are bringing up 4 children - everything needs to be cheap. My first camera was a Minolta ‘Weathermatic’ - using 110 film. It was certainly water-proof, and floated - but of course didn’t take great photos.

The only photo from this camera on my website is of the landing stage and haulage way at Maatsuyker Island, taken in 1978.

The only other real alternative was the very expensive, very heavy, non-floating Nikonos mark 3 which was really a diver's camera. This is what most other canoeists were using - the ones who took any photos that is.

My Weathermatic is now somewhere on Mt Rugby, in Tasmania’s southwest wilderness - dropped while scrambling down the side during a trip in 1983. I did use it all round Japan in 1982, but any photos in Japan (and Fiji and Greece) on this site are from Cec’s slides - using her Nikonos .

Apart from the Port Davey trip photos (by Jeff Jennings), nearly all the photos of Tasmania on this website are taken using a Olympus AF1 Twin (not SLR), which I purchased in the mid 80’s. Not the best camera for canoeing - but just adequate. It IS water-proof - the handbook recommends washing it in a basin of water to get sand and mud off it. But it will not stand up to the pressure of a tap, or be used at any depth. I bought it because of its size - it slips into a pocket on my buoyancy vest very easily, and can be used with one hand, fortunately. The Twin can be switched from 30mm to 70 mm with the push of a button, and takes excellent photos. I also have a non waterproof Minolta 5000I which Cec and I use on our travels round Australia - we can not tell the difference between the photos from either camera. Both are totally automatic, although the 5000I (SLR) can be switched to manual if so desired.

I scan the Photos into my old 586 computer (still using Windows 3.1) with an old HP Scanjet 11CX. They are at the lowest resolution I can achieve, while still being good enough to let you see what Tasmania is like. I’m more interested in fast access time than superb pictures that take forever to download. If you would like better photos the best idea would be to get over here and take your own. I consider 50Kb to be a big file, and try to get under that size with all photos. The small thumnail size ones I try to get down to about 5Kb.

I guess the whole aim of the website is to let people know what gear we have been successfully using for many many years, and some idea of the trips we do - not to put on the world’s best photography exhibition.

Of course, in this day of instant communication, I very occasionally could use a digital camera - when people request information about a particular aspect of a sail, or footrest, etc. It would be handy right now to put updates of the house building on the website, but because it takes about 3 months to run a film off - these pictures are 3 months behind all the time. I've been pondering this for a while, but certainly could not justify the hundreds or thousands of dollars for a digital camera. Then it suddenly came to me. I already have a digital camera - it's called a scanner. If I had instant photos then I can scan them in and send them instantly. The solution? - a polaroid camera of course. I bought a brand new Polaroid 'Joycam' for $34, and the first picture using this is the latest on the house.

The best camera I have seen recently for canoeing is the Minolta Vectis Weathermatic - Zoom. This is a proper waterproof camera, fairly small, and uses the new APS (Advantix) film - takes EXCELLENT photos.

Update: (April 2002) My Olympus AF1 Twin eventually packed it in, and I was forced to seek a camera to replace it. I bought a second hand Minolta Weathermatic 35DL for $50. It is an underwater camera, using 35mm film. Takes reasonable photos, night or day.

Dec 2007: Pentax give amazing service.

In February 2004 during yet another Flinders Island trip my Minolta Weathermatic 35DL packed it in, and later that year I purchased a Pentax 43WR - a waterproof digital camera.

So everything since 2004 has been taken with this camera. One of the things I like is the optical view finder - most LCD screens cannot be seen in bright sunlight. BUT, in December 2007 this brilliant little camera started taking photos like this.

Disaster. I immediately went online to look for another one, only to find they are practically unobtainable, having been superseded by several later versions. Unfortunately all the later models, although waterproof - lacked the optical viewfinder. Things were looking pretty desperate for a while till I started to look for service - thinking that even if it was expensive this was the camera I wanted. Low and behold I found a webpage on the Pentax website showing a photo exactly like this, and the page went on to say they has a small number of these cameras that were fitted with faulty parts - and even if the camera was out of warranty to send it back because they'd like to look at it.

Fortunately this happened a week or two before one of my visits to the USA, so the day after I arrived in New Hampshire (about the 4th Dec) the camera was on its way to Pentax. About a week before Christmas it was back with this statement:

The following repairs have been completed on your product. Thank you for using PENTAX SERVICE.

We have repaired your product under terms of our new product or service warranty. Malfunctioning areas have been repaired, adjusted and cleaned including the following.
* Repair or replacement of shutter mechanism. Alignment and calibration of focus and exposure timing for proper operation.
* Replacement of printed circuit boards and/or image sensor. Adjust and calibrate all circuits for proper function.
* Update the prescribed firmware to the latest version. For you convenience, future updates may be obtained from our website.

All this at no charge, and a very fast turn around time. My Christmas was complete.