Best Vehicle & Camper for photo field work?

[robert amsden]

A 13 ft scamp is about 1000 lbs. Lighter than most if not all popups. A casita is far heaver than a scamp.

[robert amsden]

I use a pop up for family camping and I'd discourage you from going that direction. The advantages of a pop up are cost/sq ft and towing weight. We have a small one and originally towed it with a Honda Accord (not in the mountains!) and did not have much money to spend so it way good for our growing family. The disadvantage is that they take a fairly long time to set up and take down....especially in the rain. That is not too big a deal if you are staying a week at a location, but would get pretty old if you were moving every couple of days. They are also not incredibly durable. We have a Coleman/Fleetwood and they were the best built we could find at the time and it still is low-grade mobile home quality.
One other direction worth considering is a small fiberglass hard shell trailer. Scamper and Casita are the two I've seen. They are a bit heavier than a pop up, but you don't need to pop it up. For one or two people, it looks like a good alternative.
One thing other thing to consider with the self contained (Eurovan) or a tow behind: the trailer can stay on the site while you go out in the morning or evening to photograph. Bad security-wise, good because you don't need to put everything away and also good if you are traveling with any non-photographers.

[robert amsden]

A 13 ft scamp weighs 1000 lbs. It is lighter than most if not all popups. A casita is far heaver than a scamp. And it does not need to be set up, very handy when you need a bathroom fast.

[al olson]

I am going the way of Jim Quinn and Mark Fisher's recommendations. I purchased a new, deluxe (has all the amenities), 13-foot Scamp to go with my 10-year-old 4Runner. By itself the 4Runner gives me 4-wheel mobility and better gas mileage. The Scamp is light enough so that it does not decrease the mpg much more a pickup camper would and I can park it and drive the 4-wheel roads without a heavy camper bouncing me around and reducing my gas mileage.

I recently entered my eighth decade and I, too, am tired of sleeping on the ground [except for a 6-day Green River canoe trip in early May and some Boundary Waters canoeing this fall] and tenting in the dust of the Four Corners area. There are many government campgrounds and parks that are free or nearly free in this area and they are much closer to my photographic interests than the hour or more drive if I were staying in a motel.

As an aging Colorado resident I qualify for the Aspen Pass that gets me into state parks for free and qualifies me for half price camping discounts from Sunday through Thursday in those thirty-some parks (out of the 44) that have campsites and many also have full hook-ups. I plan to visit as many as I can this summer.

For those of you planning to attend Foto 3, there is a nice county park, Horsetooth Reservoir, near Ft. Collins that has full hookups at a reasonable fee. I've made my reservations.

[Kuzano]

The Honda Element gets good mileage and has seats that fold flat to make a bed. I noticed recently that Dodge is selling a european-style delivery commercial panel van (possibly a rebadged Mercedes truck) it looked like an excellent LF roaming car.

There is a Mercedes deisel equipped van based on the Dodge (Sprinter??) These are the new tall vans you see being used by UPS and other commercial. They are also being outfitted as small RV's. I have a friend who is looking seriously after hearing some bad stories on the Eurovans, again ???. But, the base on just the SWB van is $30,000. The RV equipped are $50 to 80K.

[Nathan Potter]

I've used a Casita fiberglass trailer with my 99 4 runner for several years. Absolutely ideal situation for photo trips with the wife. She will sometimes stay in the Casita watching TV or what ever while I go off into into the backcountry with the 4 runner for photography. The Casita is nominally 1600 lbs and pulling it gets me down to 13 MPG. The 4 runner is unsurpassed for backroad clearance and reliability. Just 200,000 mi on it now with never a failure of any kind. It has successfully surmounted the jeeptrail up Blanca Peak (s. Colorado) to the alpine lake and even a good part of the way over the trail to the Grasshopper Glacier north of Cooke City in the Bitterroot MTS. in Montana. I used to hike these but age requires a mobile strategy nowadays.

Nate Potter

[Dave Wooten]

4 x 4 diesel Excursion-16 ft Wilderness travel trailer (800.00 used). The Excursion itself--is plenty large to sleep in with twin mattress and all my gear. The milage isnt that bad 16-19.8 and lots of power (if I I don t get on the turbo or cop an attitude). I also have an old jeep cherokee which does pretty well, but out here I don t trust it in extreme heat. I ve had them boil and blow. Never a problem with that with the diesel -it can run or idle all day with the air on- I have done some pretty challenging riverbeds (dry) and back roads with this car-Nevada and Mojave County Arizona areas Disadvantage of course for a true off roader or climber is the long wheel base and the width. I am not much of a hiker. I like big coolers and fine beverages and some nice shade to set up the tripod.

[Ben Chase]

Most of the time, I just sleep in my truck if I am not backpacking somewhere. It's cheap, easy, and pretty darn weatherproof

[jeffoto]

This is my first post here. I've recently become interested in 4x5, but have not bought one, yet.

At any rate, I've been a professional photographer for 25+ years (newspapers) and am moving toward doing more nature.

I use a 4Runner with a roof top tent as someone previously mentioned similar to the autohomeus.com. Roof top tents are common in Australia and Africa, just catching on here in the states. Convenient, comfortable, etc ...

If you require going into rough terrain, and need 4wd to get there for the photos (responsible 4-wheeling is totally compatible with environmental goals as long as you stay on the trails and follow tread lightly principles). A rooftop tent ( http://www.autohomeus.com/ ), or a 4wheel Popup Camper ( http://www.fourwheelcampers.com/ )or a Adventure Trailer ( http://www.adventuretrailers.com/ ) are great ways to go for spending time in remote locations.

If you don't need real 4wd capabilities, I know of a few people that have Honda Elements that work tremendously well for their needs.

[Jeffrey Sipress]

I have found my perfect photo-wagon: