Running with cameras

The great Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami wrote a book titled What I Talk About When I Talk About Running. Let’s talk about running and photography. I am a passionate photographer who loves to run. For a long time, these were separate activities for me. Yet again and again on my runs, I passed subjects that would make interesting photographs. I would go trail running in the Norwegian mountains or explore foreign cities in my running shoes and say to myself “If only I had my camera with me.”

The idea of combining running and photography finally dawned upon me last year on a work trip to Tbilisi, Georgia’s fascinating capital. I only had limited time to do sightseeing, so I had to choose between photography and running. Or did I? In a rare moment of decisiveness, I strapped by beloved Leica M5 (you know, the neglected but superior Leica) with a 28mm lens to my hand and hit the trails in the hills overlooking the city. The M5 was a bit heavy to be sure, well too heavy actually, but running the trails and streets instead of walking, I could cover more distance and more subjects. I came away with photographs I truly enjoy, and which would have been out of reach had I been walking.

Ever since my Georgian revelation, I have been searching for smaller, but capable 35mm film cameras that will fit in running shorts or vests. So far, this search has led me to gems such as the fully automatic Olympus Mju2, the luxurious old school Rollei 35, and my current favourite, the Olympus XA, a tiny thing with aperture priority, a light meter and a rangefinder. My latest acquisition is a dorky looking Pentax Espio 120SW, which has no manual controls, but gives me a zoom lens with nice 28-120mm range.

Of course, for many people, the phone is perfectly adequate as a compact camera. I however, like to print in the darkroom, so compact film cameras it is.

My quest for compact film cameras suitable for running has led me to some findings as to what makes a good camera set-up for running.

• The camera should have a light meter. You don’t want to fiddle with an external meter when on the go.
• Scale focus is fine for landscapes and cityscapes.
• Some control over exposure and aperture is preferable. I have got a full roll of blurry images from my fully automatic Pentax Espio 120SW, since I had no idea that the shutter speeds were too slow on a dull day with a slow lens.
• I normally use ISO 400 film to ensure sharp images. Running raises your pulse, making it harder to hold the camera perfectly still.
• Keep the camera in a pouch that protects it from the elements – and your sweat.
• Carry the camera on you and not in your backpack, so that it is ready to shoot. I carry the camera in the front pocket of a running vest or in the flexible mesh pockets of my shorts. The Fujitrail series of garments from Asics include shorts with large and flexible mesh pockets along the waist. Perfect to carry compact cameras!

My current go-to camera is the Olympus XA, due to its low weight, perfect form, aperture priority mode, exposure compensation for backlit scenes, and a reasonably sharp 35mm f/2.8 lens. It is close to perfect, though I sometimes wish for a lens with more reach. I therefore also carry the digital Sony RX100 III, which has a similar size and form to the Olympus XA, but with a sharp 24-70mm zoom lens. The RAW files produced by the venerable 1” sensor on the RX100 III is vastly superior to anything that comes out of the camera on my phone.

Admittedly, the idea of running with a camera may sound silly to most photographers. And perhaps it is. Yet if you are a runner, and a photographer, keep in mind the old saying: The best camera is the one you have with you.

Thanks for reading!

You can find me on Instagram or my website.

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