There were several facets of planning to consider:
1. What are we going to be doing?
2. What kind of clothing and exposure wear will we need?
3. What about camera equipment? What if it gets wet in the snow? What if it freezes in the arctic cold??
1. Activities: The list of activities sounded amazing! Snowshoeing, dog sled mushing, hot springs, trains, planes and automobiles, arctic circle, oh, and the Aurora Borealis! What an adventure this turned out to be! I'll get into that more in a bit.
2. Clothing: Well, I'm a pretty good shopper, and I love a good deal, so the first place I went looking for necessities was my very own closet. There's not much use for arctic gear in Tennessee and even less use in California, so I came up almost empty handed. I took inventory and wrote down what else I might need ... Ski bibs, parka, lots of fleece, wool base layer, lots of smart wool socks, alpaca hat and mittens, waterproof outer layer mittens, and at least two pairs of warm waterproof boots. I even sprang for a pair of ski goggles!
3. Well ... I have several dSLRs, several point and shoot cameras, several for underwater, and my smartphone. My phone is waterproof, but I knew the extreme cold would probably zap the battery quickly, so I started looking at potential cameras suitable for extreme conditions. I have a few Olympus cameras for all the applications I mentioned above, and I'm comfortable using them, so it seemed like a perfect place to begin my search. Low and behold, there it was ... My new addition to my photographic lineup! The Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark II Mirrorless Micro Four Thirds camera!
Having already been comfortable with Olympus cameras, I put this in my hands and the controls were almost all second nature within minutes. It's a perfect size for my hand and the grip is comfortable. I didn't experience any fatigue from holding the camera for extreme periods of time, nor was it too heavy.
Okay, enough about details ... Let's see what this camera can do in extreme conditions!
Our "point of entry' in Alaska was Anchorage. We were only here for less than a day as our starting place. We went up to the Crow's Nest to check out the view.
The arrangement of bottles at the bar was lovely!
Our first stop on our first full day in Alaska was the Iditarod Trail Race Headquarters in Wasilla. We watched a very informative video about the Iditarod and learned about current teams as well as epic teams of days gone by.
There were displays of grand champion dogs as well as paintings, photos and other memorabilia of winning teams. We were on our way to Dallas Seavey's training facility, so it was neat learning about his achievements.
Our next stop was for lunch at the Sheep Creek Lodge.
Even the local bulldog was pleased with her choice to hang out for a while.
Our next stop .. Dallas Seavey's Training Facility!
Talkeetna. We stayed at the Roadhouse after dog sled mushing.
Snowshoeing!
We snowshoed over to the frozen river to get out of the lights of the town. It was lightly snowing, so the chances were next to none. Our guide told us about how sometimes the train comes though and throws awesome light beams across the trestle. A few minutes later we heard the train's whistle ... We got lucky!
The next morning we had a delicious breakfast of sourdough pancakes, eggs, bacon, biscuits ... Just about anything you might want. The sourdough starter is well over 100 years old! That, topped with Birch Syrup ... Can't be beat!
My first time on a train and what a great experience it was!
The train wasn't very crowded, so we were able to spread out.
And, here are some of the amazingly scenic vistas along the way ...
I decided some looked pretty amazing in black and white as well as in color.
The next leg of the adventure was flying into the arctic circle on a 10 passenger plain.
Our pilot, Luke, was Swiss. Nice guy!
We did it! What a great experience!
We had some free time in the morning of our next to last day.
We had NO IDEA the Yukon Quest Race finish line was just a block away from our hotel! I lucked into a great place near the finish line to catch the winner, Brett Sass as he and his team brought it home for the win!
Later in the day we were off to Cheno Hot Springs!
I don't have any photos of the actual springs, but it was pretty darned amazing!
Chino Hot Springs Ice Museum. Many of their ice sculptures are well over 15 years old.
Appletinis in ice glasses are available at the ice bar inside the museum.
I very seldom drink, but I totally had to try one .. or two!
One more shot at capturing the Aurora Borealis, but it just wasn't meant to be.
Snow every single night! We did get to spend the evening in a beautiful authentic
Mongolian Yurt! This is some of the hand painted supports.
And, finally, the very last day. Time to go home ... For now.
Olympus E-M1 Mark II Specs
Imaging
Exposure Control
Video
Focus
Viewfinder and Monitor
Flash
Interface
Environmental
Physical
Packaging Info
Imaging
| Lens Mount | Micro Four Thirds |
| Camera Format | Micro Four Thirds (2x Crop Factor) |
| Pixels | Actual: 21.8 Megapixel Effective: 20.4 Megapixel |
| Maximum Resolution | 5184 x 3888 |
| Aspect Ratio | 4:3 |
| Sensor Type | MOS |
| Sensor Size | 17.4 x 13 mm |
| Image File Format | JPEG, Raw |
| Bit Depth | 12-Bit |
| Image Stabilization | Sensor-Shift, 5-Axis |
| ISO Sensitivity | Auto, 200 to 6400 (Extended: 64 to 25600) |
| Shutter Speed | Mechanical Shutter 1/8000 to 60 Seconds Electronic Shutter 1/32000 to 60 Seconds 1 to 30 Minutes in Bulb Mode |
| Metering Method | Center-Weighted Average, Multi-Zone, Spot |
| Exposure Modes | Aperture Priority, Auto, Manual, Program, Shutter Priority |
| Exposure Compensation | -5 to +5 EV (1/3, 1/2, 1 EV Steps) |
| Metering Range | -2 to 20 EV |
| White Balance | Auto, Cloudy, Custom, Fluorescent, Incandescent, Shade, Sunlight, Underwater |
| Continuous Shooting | Up to 15 fps at 20.4 MP Up to 10 fps at 20.4 MP Up to 8.5 fps at 20.4 MP Up to 60 fps at 20.4 MP Up to 18 fps at 20.4 MP |
| Interval Recording | Yes |
| Self-Timer | 2/12-Second Delay |
| Recording Modes | AVI/M-JPEG DCI 4K (4096 x 2160) at 24.00p [237 Mb/s] UHD 4K (3840 x 2160) at 23.976p/25p/29.97p [102 Mb/s] Full HD (1920 x 1080) at 23.976p/25p/29.97p/50p/59.94p HD (1280 x 720) at 23.976p/25p/29.97p/50p/59.94p MOV/H.264 DCI 4K (4096 x 2160) at 24.00p [237 Mb/s] UHD 4K (3840 x 2160) at 23.976p/25p/29.97p [102 Mb/s] Full HD (1920 x 1080) at 23.976p/25p/29.97p/50p/59.94p HD (1280 x 720) at 23.976p/25p/29.97p/50p/59.94p |
| Recording Limit | Up to 29 Minutes |
| Video Encoding | NTSC/PAL |
| Audio Recording | Built-In Microphone (Stereo) External Microphone Input |
| Audio File Format | Linear PCM (Stereo), WAV |
| Focus Type | Auto and Manual Focus |
| Focus Mode | Continuous-Servo AF (C), Manual Focus (M), Single-Servo AF (S) |
| Autofocus Points | Phase Detection: 121 (121 Cross-Type) Contrast Detection: 121 |
| Viewfinder Type | Electronic |
| Viewfinder Resolution | 2,360,000 Dot |
| Viewfinder Eye Point | 21 mm |
| Viewfinder Coverage | 100% |
| Viewfinder Magnification | Approx. 1.3x |
| Diopter Adjustment | -4 to +2 |
| Monitor Size | 3" |
| Monitor Resolution | 1,037,000 Dot |
| Monitor Type | Articulating Touchscreen LCD |
| Built-In Flash | No |
| Flash Modes | Fill Flash, Manual, Off, Red-Eye Reduction, Second-Curtain Sync, Slow Sync, Slow Sync/Red-Eye Reduction |
| Maximum Sync Speed | 1/250 Second |
| Flash Compensation | -3 to +3 EV (1/3, 1/2, 1 EV Steps) |
| Dedicated Flash System | TTL |
| External Flash Connection | Hot Shoe, PC Terminal |
| Memory Card Slot | Slot 1: SD/SDHC/SDXC (UHS-II) Slot 2: SD/SDHC/SDXC (UHS-I) |
| Connectivity | 3.5mm Headphone, 3.5mm Microphone, 2.5mm Sub-Mini, HDMI D (Micro), PC Sync Socket, USB Type-C (USB 2.0) |
| Wireless | Wi-Fi |
| GPS | No |
| Operating Temperature | 14 to 104°F / -10 to 40°C |
| Operating Humidity | 30 to 90% |
| Battery | 1 x BLH-1 Rechargeable Lithium-Ion |
| Dimensions (W x H x D) | 5.3 x 3.6 x 2.7" / 134.1 x 90.9 x 68.9 mm |
| Weight | 1.26 lb / 574 g (Body with Battery and Memory) |
| Package Weight | 3.1 lb |
| Box Dimensions (LxWxH) | 7.9 x 6.6 x 4.7" |
