I would like some advice on what type of camera I should buy for a long photo trip?

[Scott Davis]

As someone who has traveled with bigger cameras, if your budget will allow, look at a Canham 8x10 (used if you can find one to save some cash). I've taken my Canham 5x7 to Mexico and Argentina, as well as multiple locations around the US. They're durable, dependable, lightweight, and they travel well. I'll second the recommendation of the Kodak 250mm Wide-Field Ektar - fantastic lens, with enough coverage for 11x14 so you're unlikely to run out of movements on it, but not so wide that you'll make odd looking environmental portraits. Snag yourself a 14" Commercial Ektar as a companion to it and you'll be all set. The challenge with the 8x10 is that everything else you need with it also gets bigger, so the transportation logistics are a major pain. I have a good Lowepro backpack I use to carry it, but if I were going to take it to Mexico with me on an upcoming trip, I'd get a Pelican case, put the camera, film holders and lenses in the backpack, put that in the Pelican case, and just eat the baggage fees. Tripod and head would go in my other checked bag with my clothes. Then I'd be able to carry the film on the plane with me, and get it hand-inspected. Going to Mexico, I've got friends there with darkrooms, so I would be able to build in a day or two at the end of the trip to process film, or if that didn't work out logistically, hand-carry it home again. I don't know about other Latin American countries, but going in and out of Mexico City I've not had a problem with asking for my film to be hand-inspected.

[r.e.]

I was able to play out my fantasies of being Paul Strand in Scotland or Richard Avedon in the mid-west.

Paul Strand had the sense to use a 5x7 camera, and Avedon had a full crew. He may have had one of his many assistants trip the shutter

As a fan of Paul Strand, I was in for a bit of a surprise when I spent several months in Sicily. As with The Godfather, there's quite a gap between Strand's Sicily and the actual country (or, if you prefer, "autonomous region")

[gypsydog]

For a lite carry camera I have relied on the 8x10 Century Universal cameras most of my life. They are not nearly as fragile as some may think, I've given them heavy professional use in some sketchy situations with no issues. They have an incredible range of movements and bellows extension in a compact package. The fact they are self casing is an important asset in protecting the camera (bellows) from damage. A good triple convertible lens or two of your chosen focal lengths and you are good to go. I put a body in an RPT case and slip it in a cotton grocery bag and its anonymous. Seriously, these cameras are crucial enough to my work that I maintain a small stable of them so I will never be without one should an accident happen, look into one.

[Mark Sampson]

I never knew that Paul Strand went to Sicily; his book "Un Paese" is about a village in the Po river valley, in north-central Italy. Which certainly will have changed somewhat since the late 1940s when he visited. In those days, he used an 8x10 Deardorff as well as a 5x7 Home Portrait Graflex, both very substantial cameras. (He altered the film gate of the Graflex to 5"x6" to achieve his proper image proportion). He printed by contact; I believe that on his later journeys to Egypt and Ghana he used a Rolleiflex, and enlarged those negatives. Understandable for anyone in their seventies, as he was by then.
Which brings me to Irving Penn, who used a Rollei when photographing for his famous "Worlds in a small Room" series.
It does seem to me (and I took my 4x5 from America to England once) that you can make any format work if you're committed to it.

[Jim Jones]

I returned to the continental United States in 1972 after a Navy career and three years overseas in the aerospace industry. Then large format equipment became practical. Many photographers were downsizing to 4x5, and dumping 5x7 equipment. 35mm and those 5x7 cameras, often with 4x5 backs, served me well until the digital age. Never wanting to print larger than 16x20 was an important factor in those decisions.

[r.e.]

I never knew that Paul Strand went to Sicily

Strand made this photograph in Ragusa, a town 30km (about 18mi) from where I was living. It's so removed from the reality of Ragusa that I think he just made up a version of the place that suited his politics and that he thought would go over well in the United States. I think that his Italian photographs raise some interesting questions about the role of an artist.

Coppola did the same thing in The Godfather, but The Godfather is fiction, not what Strand was allegedly doing. For people who are interested in Sicily, a good place to start is Giuseppe di Lampedusa's The Leopard. The novel, not the film

Wikipedia on Ragusa: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ragusa,_Sicily

Ragusa is part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site, called the Val di Noto, due to the extraordinary Baroque architecture that was created after an earthquake in 1693.

Wikipedia on the earthquake, which killed about 60,000 people, and led to the Baroque reconstruction of the communities that were destroyed: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1693_Sicily_earthquake

[Andy F]

For a lite carry camera I have relied on the 8x10 Century Universal cameras most of my life. They are not nearly as fragile as some may think, I've given them heavy professional use in some sketchy situations with no issues. They have an incredible range of movements and bellows extension in a compact package. The fact they are self casing is an important asset in protecting the camera (bellows) from damage. A good triple convertible lens or two of your chosen focal lengths and you are good to go. I put a body in an RPT case and slip it in a cotton grocery bag and its anonymous. Seriously, these cameras are crucial enough to my work that I maintain a small stable of them so I will never be without one should an accident happen, look into one.

Hi Gypsydog. I will definitely look into the Century Universal cameras but my guess is that they are going to be relatively expensive and may not do the same thing a cheaper modern camera does (i.e. The Intrepid) .Do the Century Cameras have all the bellow movements you need? It is interesting to hear that they are more sturdy than they look. I always assumed that they were fragile because every time I saw a photograph of them on the web or on ebay they looked banged up to all hell and often falling apart.

Thanks for the heads up. I will definitely research that option. What lenses to you use on it?

[Andy F]

As someone who has traveled with bigger cameras, if your budget will allow, look at a Canham 8x10 (used if you can find one to save some cash). I've taken my Canham 5x7 to Mexico and Argentina, as well as multiple locations around the US. They're durable, dependable, lightweight, and they travel well. I'll second the recommendation of the Kodak 250mm Wide-Field Ektar - fantastic lens, with enough coverage for 11x14 so you're unlikely to run out of movements on it, but not so wide that you'll make odd looking environmental portraits. Snag yourself a 14" Commercial Ektar as a companion to it and you'll be all set. The challenge with the 8x10 is that everything else you need with it also gets bigger, so the transportation logistics are a major pain. I have a good Lowepro backpack I use to carry it, but if I were going to take it to Mexico with me on an upcoming trip, I'd get a Pelican case, put the camera, film holders and lenses in the backpack, put that in the Pelican case, and just eat the baggage fees. Tripod and head would go in my other checked bag with my clothes. Then I'd be able to carry the film on the plane with me, and get it hand-inspected. Going to Mexico, I've got friends there with darkrooms, so I would be able to build in a day or two at the end of the trip to process film, or if that didn't work out logistically, hand-carry it home again. I don't know about other Latin American countries, but going in and out of Mexico City I've not had a problem with asking for my film to be hand-inspected.

Hi Scott,

It looks like you spend a lot of time shooting in Mexico. Have you ever used a community darkroom down there? It would be interesting to find one. I do like the idea of developing the film before I come home. How much chemicals do you bring down. Is traveling with chemistry ever an issue?

[Tin Can]

I highly suggest https://intrepidcamera.co.uk/

Cheaper than almost any new or used 8X10

I have their latest 8X10, very sturdy and lightweight

Do not buy any Fresnel from anybody

That ship has sailed

I have a few...
I suggest a 35mm canister of Grit for a broken GG, glasse is everywhere

[gypsydog]

Hi Gypsydog. I will definitely look into the Century Universal cameras but my guess is that they are going to be relatively expensive and may not do the same thing a cheaper modern camera does (i.e. The Intrepid) .Do the Century Cameras have all the bellow movements you need? It is interesting to hear that they are more sturdy than they look. I always assumed that they were fragile because every time I saw a photograph of them on the web or on ebay they looked banged up to all hell and often falling apart.

Thanks for the heads up. I will definitely research that option. What lenses to you use on it?

Far more versatile than the intrepid in every way, not to mention 10+ inches more bellows. It will also handle extremely wide lenses, i have the original recessed board giving movements with basically zero extension. As far as condition, keep in mind the cameras were marketed for professional use in the field, also many were U.S. Military camera's and saw some abuse and some went virtually unused.

Yes its lite, but the really important factors are very long bellows, contortionist level camera movements and self casing.

And since you appreciate the work of Frederick Sommer, you may enjoy this photo of him with his Century Universal.

https://www.artic.edu/artworks/205224/frederick-sommer