It might help to also consider what your plans are and how long you’ll be staying. LF gear may be fine if you’re going purely for photography and traveling alone or with a few others with similar intent because you’ll have the time to wait out the wind in many places. But if you’re mainly on vacation with family members, traveling around to see the sights, faster-to-use MF gear may be the better answer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rt_e1d7ZBAk
If you want to fight wind for sheet film photography in Iceland a good quality golf umbrella is the best instrument to shelter the camera during exposure.
Whoa, a response from someone who lives there, thanks for the link! Glad you mentioned an umbrella. That's exactly what I was thinking but my better half wasn't sure how it might hold up in wind given the whole open a car door with two hands thing. I guess the important two words are "good quality"Originally Posted by Gudmundur Ingolfsson
Since you are local, are there any film labs I'd be able to drop my sheet film off at? I was going to mail my film there and back. Back being directly to a lab for color and my house for BW. If I could drop the color off and dev it there, that would save a step and even if it had to get mailed back to me, less risk in already developed film going through the post.
Really enjoyed the film. Thanks for sharing.
There are no labs in Iceland any more. Only old crows like me shoot film and I process my own b&w but ship color neg abroad, recently to Praus Produtions in Rochester NY.
What carrier do you use for shipping to the US?
Courier services cost much more from Iceland than to Iceland, probably because the traffic ist much lower from the country than to it. I ship by airmail and mark the box as containing FILMS FOR PROCESSING DO NOT XRAY !
That's good to know. I had hoped I could stop by an Iceland post office on our last day to mail it out or some such. The price isn't as much of a question (within reason anyway) given the cost to go there, plus the film, plus the lenses I might buy, etc. Speed also isn't too much a factor (if Ilford would ever give us PANF in sheets I'd be more worried about latent image degradation but they won't so moot point =) ).
Trying to avoid the evil X-rays though would be ideal. Lina B's latest video didn't provide info I didn't already know but it was still notable how much damage even a single x-ray can do. It's not much but it's not zero.
As much as I enjoy taking pictures with LF cameras and appreciate what the format offers, for a trip like that (assuming that I was seriously interested in bringing back at least some decent pictures) I would probably bring with me a hybrid MF setup:
- a Hasselblad H (H1 through H5, whichever is priced reasonably and supports film backs) or
- a Contax 645,
- with both film and digital backs
- a wide-angle lens(35mm or wider) and
- a mid-range zoom (HC 50-110 or C 45-90).
And a small CF tripod; something like this one https://benrousa.com/mefoto-globetro...-kit-in-black/. Would make a great all round setup (IQ, speed\convenience of use, flexibility, versatility and compactness).
The H setup is much cheaper than the C one. If anything, I would buy it specifically for the trip and then sell it after.
Regarding the 10-sheet Kodak boxes, If I had to bring them then I would repackage the sealed 10-sheet envelopes into 50 or 100 sheet film boxes.
I was in Iceland twice, 2004 and 2005 for 10 days each trip, with my Linhof, 90 mm, 135 mm, 200 mm, and 300 mm. I was glad I had the 300 mm. I took 200 sheets of T400 on each trip, and exposed just about every sheet. I repacked the sheets into larger boxes to cut down on space. We camped or went to hostels when the weather got too bad. Now there are probably more hotels, but camping allowed me to get out in the wee hours for the soft light.
To counter wind ,I suspended a gallon bottle of water off the center post and touching the ground: also, I suggest you spread the tripod legs further than you normally would. I also had something that I could put under the bellows to stop it from being a sail. One exposure I did was at 4 am in a gale, and I was able to park our SUV to help block the wind; with the weight, bellows support, and spread of the legs, the camera was rock solid. And never ever walk away from your camera!
Lastly, I had a 5x7 BTSZ dark hood that I could just extend over the camera quickly to protect against rain. Carry some wash cloths to quickly dry off the lens before each shot. The dark hood and a lens hood allowed me to take pictures in a light rain.
Which ever camera you take, these are good tips to make your photography enjoyable.
Mike
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