Take a roll of black gaffer tape. Fixes bellows leaks; stops film boxes opening when dropped; can be used to tape camera to tripod when head breaks; can be used to stick your mates to the nearest solid object to stop them wandering off while you take 15 minutes to take a shot..... A zillion and one uses!
Cheers,
If I may suggest a couple of things...
Bring an extra cable release. I lost one in the desert in the middle of a trip and that really screwed things up for me. Also, make sure you have plenty of water -- a camelback works great and is easy to stow. Remember that the altitude in the mountains can dehydrate you just like in the desert, especially if you're hauling a bunch of heavy camera gear around.
Have a fun trip.
Buy a lot of pot and keep all the other kids stoned all the time, so you can photograph.
With a big monorail like the Horseman, you may do better to not use a backpack and just throw the tripod over your shoulder, using a smaller bag for holders and stuff. The Horseman does not lend itself to backpacking, so why bother? Also, you may want to get a large case for the Horseman that holds the camera assembled and ready to go, held upside down by the monorail. Calumet, Lightware, and others make aluminum, fiber, and foam/cordura cases that do this.
IMHO, I'd save your money and not buy another lens, and perhaps sell or leave the longer lens at home. Buy another 16 used holders so you can load 50 sheets at a time - you might be able to go into a hotel bathroom and use towels as light blocks - much cleaner and more convenient than a changing bag. Just take the 150mm and work simple, smooth, and quick. If you want a wider view, shoot multiple images in a panorama.
When you get rich you can come back with a Linhof, a rack of lenses, and cruise the Southwest in your Lexus 4x4. But for now, just keep it simple!
40 shots a day, yikes! That's 10 times what I aim to shoot in one outing. I guess that's part of why I can afford ReadyLoads. And at that maybe one in ten is worth printing.
Ok, so one of the other kids going is a film major, one girl is a photography major too, and it's generally a kindof artsy crowd, so I think using the monorail camera will go over well, but I do understand that I should try to be polite about it certainly.
I'm also bringing a big bag of like 100 something rolls of 35mm black and white film, for me and for general consumption. I think everyone on the trip is going to have a camera of some kind, be it 35mm or MF or digital or what.
Interesting advice on not getting a wide lens. I have actually been trying to use mostly my 150 lately, just because it gives such an unobtrusive view. Photos shot with the 300 look like they were shot on a 300, and photos I have that were shot on a 65mm *definetly* look like they were shot on a 65. Ok, the 65 was kindof crazy. So, yeah, I'm trying to use the 150 more just because the lens choice shouldn't really be visible in the photograph, at least to me.
That said the 300 I have is an old, cheap repro-claron (that performs quite well) that's pretty small and light, so I figure I'll bring it just in case I need it. And also, I am really a wide angle addict, I know it's kindof cheezy but I love how it exaggerates perspective...
Also I'm thinking that the camera will never venture too far away from the car, so if we're going on a hike or something, i'll just leave it.
Thanks for all the help. This site is awesome, it's the first site I go to when I have homework and need to procrastinate.
-Tadge
PS, CXC-- if 10% of my negatives were worth printing, that would be unprecedented. I seem to get closer to 3%, but that percentage doesn't seem to change too much whether I shoot a lot, or a little. So I shoot a lot
If you have a sympathetic audience, and enough space, I think you should at least take the LF gear whether you use it or not. It would be better to have the gear if a moment came to use it than left at home. Take careful notes as to where you want to come back to at a future time if LF work is not working out for you at this time.
After backpacking with large format gear for a month in Cambodia and Laos in April, some things I found out:
-Heat did not appear to affect the film. There was no refrigeration and the backpack sometimes sat in the sun strapped on top of a truck for hours. It worried me but the film was OK.
-Quickloads are the way to go when living out of a backpack. Sounds like your budget can't take that hit, but if you are going by car you may have room for changing bag and regular holders.
-As mentioned before, spare ground glass! Two of them. I once broke one in Las Vegas and finding a replacement was difficult even in that size city. You will be in places far more remote, and broken ground glass is a show stopper. Spare loupe, second lens, spare shutter release, small toolkit, gaffer tape.
-Don't take a focal length lens that you have no experience with if you don't get immediate feedback (developed film) that shows you when you screwed up with lens shade, filter, bag bellows, etc. Not "if" you screw up, "when" you screw up. That said, maybe you are of a more organized mind then I, but your level of mistakes can go up when you are with other people, because they can break your concentration.
Good luck and have fun!
How would they x-ray a car at Hoover Dam?? Being in the business I happen to know that this would be nearly impossible if not impossible. Number one the passengers would have to exit the car, as a beam powerful enough to penetrate an auto adequately would be beyond illegal to expose a human being too, number to the detection device needed to image an auto would be.......well beyond the limits of present technology. If they had had their auto exposed they would have definitely known it and BEEN INFORMED. In all probability the film was inadvertently left some place where it got overheated.
Another good thing to have on hand in the Southwest is a couple of gallon size zip lock plastic bags (or some other substitute) and some string. When high winds come up (and they will), fill the bags with sand or dirt, tie the string to the corners and hang them from the center of the tripod. Stabilizes things and reduces the possibility of having to use that extra ground glass that was very wisely recommended. Heard an 11 X 14 (?) with polaroid back smash to the ground about four feet behind me at Tumacacori a month or two ago. Turned around and everyone was just staring in shock with their mouths open. Bent a little, but nothing broke. Could have been much worse. Those bags and the extra ground glass could really save a whole photo vacation.
Keep the camera padded when traveling in the car. I just had a screw vibrate out (three actually) and dropped it into the forest floor when I pulled the pin that was barely holding it in place. Luckily I was able to get the other two back in without losing them.
Check out: http://www.photocritique.net/digest/1999-11.html
http://www.photocritique.net/digest/2000-08.html
for some very helpful ideas.
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