LF on a Cruise ship

[Jonathan Schneider]

Thanks for everyone's helpful insights. I will probably leave the large format home and shoot digital slr. The cruise ship always has engines going with lots of vibrations on deck. Also shooting LF is anti-social according to my wife and this cruise is supposed to be quality time for us.
JS

[GPS]

By the time you go there the new P&S 4x5 Fotoman will be your possible choice...

[Amund BLix Aaeng]

"By the time you go there the new P&S 4x5 Fotoman will be your possible choice..."

Yeah right! :-)

[John Kasaian]

This is what Speed Graphics are for ;-)

[Terence Spross]

Anybody know of a good shock absorbing (vibration absorbing) mount to go between the tripod and camera?
I've seen (in the background of someone's vacation video) a guy using what appeared to be a 5 x 7 handheld with a large gyro stabilizer like the ones used for handheld cinematography.

[tor kviljo]

Agree with John: if You allready have a view camera & selection of lenses + other equipment, why don't you just buy a $$ 150-250 chrown graphic, remount a few lenses for the trip, & shoot handheld on the boat? On the boat, you will have use for no other movement than rise, which can be easily accomplished without the need of tripod. Bringing a 90mm & a 150mm, f 11 - 16 and 1/125 sek will be within reach for a 100 asa color neg or f 11 with Velvia: You will be nort of 60 degrees = sun is very high up in the sky. The extreme details & very clear air of norwegian "fjordscapes" (yess, there IS a farm there on that platau about 2000 feet straight up from sea level, but you might not find it on a dslr image) is much more home on a piece of LF film than in the CF card. Bring a light tripod for the excursions. Good luck! I am from Norway, but from the south part, so I admires the fjords about as much as you probably will do when you travel them. If I were on a cruise, I would have brought my Walker XL as main camera. Espesially in the narrower fjords, you will very much miss front rise, as the mountains towers over you a way demanding either a lot of front rise or heavy up-tilted on "ordinary" cameras - the latter giving tragically distorted view . Anyway - have a splendid trip!!

From - at the moment - snowy, cold & wet southern norway Tor Kviljo

[Edwin Lachica]

Terence's idea using a stabilizer sounds like an interesting experiment. The price for gyro stabilizers would be quite expensive but there are counterweight stabilising systems available from Glidecam.

I had to shoot a video documentary sequence once while riding a small boat where tripod use was not feasible. We used one of the earlier versions of the Glidecam handheld series.

Of course it won't allow for long exposures with a view camera but it will definitely stabilize the camera for short exposures. The body pod accesory would free your arms for composing and focusing. It's basically handheld shooting with extra support. Tor's alternative is cheaper though as a glidecam 2000 pro with a body pod is around US$ 550.

[Gordon Moat]

You could try using a FigRig for hand held shots.

A better solution might be a video fluid head for your tripod. Get one made for heavy video cameras, or for motion film cameras. These tend to be good with smaller high frequency vibrations.

I would think that a mostly wooden camera might avoid some vibration intrusion. Any engineers want to tackle explaining that?

Ciao!

Gordon Moat

[Alex Ragen]

I used a hand-held Fuji 645Zi on a Norway fjord trip a few years ago and all the on-boat pics were blurred due to the vibrations from the boat's engines and the up-down-sideways motion of the boat as it moved through the water, which was far from absolutely calm. On a big cruise ship some of this movement will be reduced (I imagine). Also if your cabin has a small porch facing the right direction you may be able to set up the LF gear without fear of being trampled by the tourist hordes, as will happen if you try this on deck.
IMHO, if you absolutely insist on LF then you should use high ISO film, fast shutter speeds (which implies a wide-open lens and the attendant low DOF) and a hand-held camera that you can use on shore excursions. Or if you can't hand hold your LF, then restrict the LF to the shore excursions and use a MF camera while aboard ship.
One thing for sure - 35mm and DSLRs are completely inadequate to the stunning scenery, which includes innumerable spectacular waterfalls (a whole other problem-challenge).
Enjoy the trip.