Travelling for a year; so which LF camera?

[Ti29er]

I seem to have set the right tone as it's become a lively debate!

I would have considered cycling 'cept I tore my lat' quad muscle cycling in the summer and have sold 3 of my 5 bikes thus far, two more to go this week!

Weight & bulk is always going to be a consideration when travelling as I will be both trekking and backpacking in the traditional sense, meaning buses and the like.

I've done something similar in S E Asia & carried a 35mm set up but now want something to make my images more considered and to slow my whole photographic process down to a more deliberate pace and process. I also hope to write a few articles on route to accompany the images.

I have a budget of about $1k a month from rental properties so I should be okay for funds and I’d process some stuff on the way to make sure all’s working okay. My ‘Blad set up is at present 250, 80, 50mm lenses, although I might chop out the 250 for something smaller.

Again, I’m torn between selling this lot onwards and getting the field camera, or sticking with what I have.

Nice position to be in I know, and I appreciate your comments, some of whom have really put some considerable thought into my quandary, and for that I thank you.

Tim

[B.S.Kumar]

And it is yet another to let people who have never looked through a view camera before, do so! And as time marches on, these people will have not only seen their reflection in a mirror and seen images of themselves, they will want to take a photo looking thru the of the back of your 4x5 with their phones.

Curiously, I have this same experience here in Japan. Here people take photos with their phones, barely breaking their stride, and for them, I'm an object of wonder. They come up to me saying "sugoii na", take a look through the back, amazed that the image is upside down and take a photo of me and my camera. I've made their day!

Kumar

[Ken Lee]

If you can live without interchangeable lenses, one of these (along with a Nikon scanner at home) would save a lot of room.

I've often kept my folders in my pocket, and used a tiny tripod which folds to the size of a travel umbrella.

If, after a year, you don't want the camera, you can send it to me

[sanking]

If you can live without interchangeable lenses, one of these (along with a Nikon scanner at home) would save a lot of room.

I've often kept my folders in my pocket, and used a tiny tripod which folds to the size of a travel umbrella.

If, after a year, you don't want the camera, you can send it to me

Ken, the problem is that this camera costs a bundle. But if you can live with one lens, and the cost, it is very compact and makes great negatives, on a par with those from the Mamiya 7II. I think the Fuji 667/ Bessa III 667 (same camera, different name) for high quality B&W plus a small Micro four-thirds camera like the Panasonic GF-2 or Olymous EP-2 for color and diary work, would make a very compact and light traveling outfit with a lot of versatility.

Sandy King

[Vaughn]

Tim, good to hear that you have covered some ground in faraway places before. A lightweight and compact 4x5 system probably will not take up more space or weigh more than your present MF system.

In the six months I was on my trip, I exposed 75 sheets of 4x5 film, and several rolls of 35mm (with one of those little clam shell Olympus P&S). I worked slow and steady, doing a lot of editing before setting up the camera and before I'd put a film holder into the camera. I ended up with a 20 print portfolio. It would have been a bit stronger, but I lost quite a few negatives to high humidity static discharges (black dots on the film, rather than streaks), as they sat, exposed but not yet developed, in film boxes as I biked over gravel highways in the rain. If there is a time when I have nothing better to do, I'll scan them and see clean them up in PhotoShop.

There are many people who would use the same amount of film in the first week of a trip. If you go with 4x5, using it for awhile before the trip (as well as your past travel experience) will give you an idea of how much film you will go through. I took 100 sheets with me, and brought home the 25 unexposed. My guess that's towards the low end of the scale.

But to have to chose between the Blad and a 4x5! It would be nice if someone could loan you a 4x5, just to give it a go for a couple weeks.

Vaughn

[Frank Petronio]

Working with a Hasselblad (or better yet a Rolleiflex) has a nice pace, in between large and small formats obviously. But I dare say that both the Blad and Rollei are pretty sensitive to dust and grit messing with their shutters, neither is sealed very well.

A good old Graphic with a loose, bent metal, sloppy tolerance, American-made ACME or Supermatic 1950s shutter is probably the most reliable "bigger than 35mm" camera ever. You can literally roll them in the beach sand and they'll still work -- Ask the togs at Normandy.

[William McEwen]

Hi, Tim:

The question is this – do you share our disease? The LF disease? If not, you’re probably going to be kicking yourself during your trip and wonder why you brought that heavy camera. For me, having to change the film away from my darkroom day in and day out would drive me batty in a hurry.

Look how many of us (who have the LF disease and have had it most of our lives) are advising you against taking LF.

If I were you, I’d probably just take a Rolleiflex (my second favorite camera), a meter, and lots of film. And maybe a spare Rolleiflex just in case. That and a small digital camera, either point and shoot or DSLR.

When you return home from your trip, you will be armed with the knowledge of where you should return to with the LF, and you can plan to do that a year or two from now.

[ki6mf]

Lowest cost is a older Crown/Speed Graphic type of camera. Make sure it is in good working condition and the lens is acceptable to you. A wooden field camera is the other alternative if a portable solution is of interest. Shen Hao and Chamonix are the most popular, I use a Shen Hao myself. You will need to carry a Tripod, film holders, light meter and other lenses for this type of work.

[Ti29er]

Is "disease" accurate?

Besides, it's not a good idea to go back somewhere, always forge onwards so things are fresh and exciting. Going back is always a let down as places and people move onwards and it's never the same on any return visit, especially of a trip of this length - that's why it's got to right from the outset.

Those Fuji's look interesting but they seem to have fixed lenses except the 6x8 which also has dinky lenses.

Tim

[sanking]

Is "disease" accurate?

Besides, it's not a good idea to go back somewhere, always forge onwards so things are fresh and exciting. Going back is always a let down as places and people move onwards and it's never the same on any return visit, especially of a trip of this length - that's why it's got to right from the outset.

Tim

I agree with the idea that you should look ahead and plan to make your best images on this trip, not the next one. Indeed, not many of us will ever repeat a trip of a whole year abroad.

Although I have never made a trip of the duration of the one planned by the OP I have made some 50 or so trips abroad over the past fifteen years ranging in duration from two weeks to four months, and traveling with outfits as large as 12X20 at one extreme to a MF folder and Canon G9 at the other, with lots of 5X7 and Mamiya 7II sandwiched in between.

Personally I would strongly recommend against traveling with a new system as your main camera. You are most likely to do your best work with a system that you know and trust than with one that you adopt at the last minute. And that is especially true of 4X5 and larger film, especially if you have never used it before.

However, above all one must determine, 1) what they plan to photograph, 2) how large they want to print with optimum quality, and 3) whether printing will be done in B&W or color. Once you make those determinations the options become much more limited, and much clearer. In general I think that if I were planning to spend a lot of time photographing people, and in color, a good DSLR would be be my preference. But for high quality B&W work, and especially landscapes, IMO a high quality film MF camera would be required, at a minimum. But choice of camera is to some extent nearly always something of a compromise between would we like to achieve and what is practical to achieve under the circumstances. There is a sweet spot for everyone between image quality and practicality and I have found that the Mamiya 7II outfit is that spot for me for travel photography, but that does not mean it would be the spot for others.

Above all the logistics of travel may place severe restrictions on your camera equipment. For example, many battery operated cameras do not do well in very cold weather, and wearing thick gloves to protect your hands from the cold will make it very difficult to operate some cameras. Extreme heat will also impose restrictions that one needs to anticipate and plan for.

Sandy King