Developing and air-travel?

[dikaiosune01]

I be away from my processing equipment for a month. I'll be taking my 4x5 and 35mm rangefinder with me. I'll be shooting fairly regularily, it is all part of my vacation plan. I will have about 100 sheets of film. (i always bring more than I need) I don't know if I should bring a processing tank with me so i can develop on the road.

Equipment I have: (check, will source after travel)
- hc110, stop, fixer (check)
- syringe (check)
- graduated cylinders (unsure)
- day light safe tank (will bring) - 4x5 tank that develops 6 sheets of film
- sleves (will bring)
- anything else? should i make any changes to this list?

concerns:
- differences in types of water?
- keep backups to develop after the trip?
- luggage space and travel weight limit. (adding tanks and other equipment adds a lot of bulk to my checked baggage)

I never done this before, and I've been shooting 4x5 for less than a year now. And I'm still learning. What are you recommendations?

[Scott Davis]

Where are you going? Does getting there involve air travel? Given that you'll be gone for a month, I'd be tempted to soup the film at your destination, unless you know you won't have access to someplace you can safely load and unload your film into the tank. I don't like carrying around that much exposed, unprocessed film, as it is very easy to scratch it while transporting it for that long.

[Brian Ellis]

Water source can have a big effect on your development times (one reason to use distilled water). And carrying chemicals, processing gear, etc. around with you and then having to set up a room that you know is dark, plus figuring out a way to adequately wash and dry the negatives on the road, all sounds like much too big a PITA to me. It could be done but to me it would just be a whole lot easier and safer to deal with processing in familiar surroundings when you get home.

I don't offhand know why the risk of scratching unprocessed film would increase with the length of time you're on the trip - just put the exposed negatives away and don't touch them until you get home, just as you'd probably do on a shorter trip. But maybe I'm missing something.

[Brian K]

I be away from my processing equipment for a month. I'll be taking my 4x5 and 35mm rangefinder with me. I'll be shooting fairly regularily, it is all part of my vacation plan. I will have about 100 sheets of film. (i always bring more than I need) I don't know if I should bring a processing tank with me so i can develop on the road.

Equipment I have: (check, will source after travel)
- hc110, stop, fixer (check)
- syringe (check)
- graduated cylinders (unsure)
- day light safe tank (will bring) - 4x5 tank that develops 6 sheets of film
- sleves (will bring)
- anything else? should i make any changes to this list?

concerns:
- differences in types of water?
- keep backups to develop after the trip?
- luggage space and travel weight limit. (adding tanks and other equipment adds a lot of bulk to my checked baggage)

I never done this before, and I've been shooting 4x5 for less than a year now. And I'm still learning. What are you recommendations?

Why would you consider taking processing gear along and processing on the road? There's pretty much nothing but downsides to that. Process your film when you get home. I go away for as along as 3 months at a time, shoot 125 rolls and wait until I get home.

[BetterSense]

I've done it; I put HC110 and rapid fix concentrate in 3oz toiletries containers in my carry-on. I used bottled water to mix the developer. If it makes you feel better to process on the road; it can be done, but as others have pointed out, it may be better to just bracket a bit more and develop when you get back.

[Jim Michael]

String and c47s, changing bag, thermometer (something you are unlikely to break like a Weston dial).