I'm going to be taking my first trip with my monorail in a few weeks and am at a bit of a loss. I'm heading down to the Southwest US (Nevada, S. CA, Arizona, an d New Mexico) for a rather quick tour with some friends. My questions have to do with my best options for carrying the camera as well as film. I have researched extensively but still have some remaining questions.
I have an Arca-Swiss Discovery and have already accepted the fact that the camer a will NOT be able to go on the plane with me but will have to be checked. I hav e a non-photo backpack that I use when traveling by car and am wondering if putt ing that into a Pelican case will work if all lenses, meter, groundglass, etc ar e wrapped in neoprene wraps? My concern is that by not using a genuine photo cas e/backpack where everything is well-padded, that something will get damaged; but on the other hand it seems to me that most of this stuff is fairly sturdy. I wo uld stuff the empty spaces between the hard case and the backpack with clothes o r foam. Am I just being paranoid? I do want to have a backpack once I get there so I can comfortably walk a bit so simply using a padded case is not an option.
My second question deals with film. How much? I know this is a highly subjective question, but I really don't know. With my 35mm I usually guess what I'm going to take (assume 2-3 rolls/day) and then increase by 50%. That method has worked well for me over the years. I have 10 film holders for my B&W and a Fuji Quicklo ad for my Provia. I was simply going to assume one full set of holders/day and t hen probably half as many sheets of Provia. I am admittedly film-happy and will be experimenting a lot with filters in B&W.
I suspect that I have answered my own questions in my post, but would really lik e some additional opinions.
Thanks!
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