Roll films and their journey to/from New Zealand

[Grumium]

Hi all

I am preparing a 5 week trip to New Zealand's South Island for end of this year. As I am quite new to LF photography (using a Linhof 617 + 72 XL mainly), this forum and the tremendous amounts of roll film to be carried with (I am generally used to CF cards in combination with somewhat poorer picture quality ^^), I wonder if you could advise in different questions. I intend to take about 300 - 400 roll films with me, half of them being Velvia where the other half is BW (Tri-X and PanF).

Velvia's development will be commissioned to a professional lab (E6) where I will develop the BW films myself after returning to Switzerland.

We (2) will fly from Zurich, Switzerland to Christchurch with Singapore Airlines. You are limited to 7 kg of carry-on luggage per person with Singapore Airlines. In our case, one of us would take all the camera gear and the other one all the films - while still exceeding the weight limits (280 roll films without carton will roughly equal 7 kg).

I am wondering if you would recommend a different approach like to purchase (part of) the roll films in NZ. This would save those films from high and long lasting altitude radiation, helps us save time and energy at the security gates with the drawback of being much more expensive. Has anybody ever sent films to New Zealand in advance of such a trip? Are such shipments also x-rayed and are there any issues to be expected with customs?

I am also considering the development of the Velvias to be performed somewhere in NZ. What do you think? Do you have any suggestions, companies - preferably around Christchurch - etc.?

Thank you very much in advance for your highly appreciated recommendations and opinions. Kindly excuse my mediocre English skills.

Cheers
Glenn

[Sevo]

We (2) will fly from Zurich, Switzerland to Christchurch with Singapore Airlines. You are limited to 7 kg of carry-on luggage per person with Singapore Airlines.

That is your FREE limit. You can pay or negotiate for more carry-on luggage - high profile airlines like Singapore will often allow to carry-on expensive or easily damaged items to the amount you'd otherwise have in free check-in luggage, and even greedy cheapskates like Ryanair will let you carry on anything you pay for (provided it is not considered a illegal weapon)...

I have travelled with plenty of bulky items in the carry-on, the biggest and heaviest (far in excess of any camera kit I've ever moved) being musical instruments and crates of vinyl records - in some cases that was unpleasantly expensive, but I rather doubt that 400 films and a 617 will be anywhere near the size of a touring band rig (in the worst case I had to book a extra three seat row for our instruments).

[GPS]

Hi all

I am preparing a 5 week trip to New Zealand's South Island for end of this year. As I am quite new to LF photography (using a Linhof 617 + 72 XL mainly), ...
Glenn

Just highly curious and perhaps slightly off topic but - were you using the format with this 72mm lens in Switzerland? If so where? I wonder because with this combination you must be quite close to the object of interest to make an impact with the pictures. Quite a difficult combination for general landscape I would say.

[mdm]

Thats probably more films than could be bought by emptying the shelves in every city. E6 processing will cost NZD 20 per roll but C41 can be done for NZD 6 to 7 per roll at photoespresso.co.nz or wps.net.nz or imagelab.co.nz, maybe photo.co.nz in christchurch but not certain. Maybe you can get a bulk discount for processing. I buy my film and have it sent to me from B&H or Badger in the USA. To be totally honest there are not that many really good photos to be made, unless you were to spend a long time here photographing full time, going where the light is. Why dont you consider using less film and enjoy the country and its people more, you will make better photographs too, I bet. There is a private guy in Dunedin who can supply Fuji Acros ofr about NZD7 per roll if I remember correctly, and will process it for you too for NZD 6.50 per roll, I can give you his email if you like, he trades on trademe.co.nz, give him a lot of warning if you want a mountain of film. fotofirst.co.nz in Palmerston North does E6.

[r.e.]

According to the Singapore Airlines web site, your travel time will be 36 hours and include a 14 hour layover in Singapore. Personally, I would have no interest whatever in the amount of carry-on baggage that you are talking about.

I suggest that you get a quote from a New Zealand photo shop on the Velvia, Tri-X and Pan-F, and quotes, including shipping to Christchurch, from U.S. dealers in New York (e.g. B&H) and Los Angeles. If the U.S. quotes are attractive, I would then find out from the New Zealand Government whether you have to pay duty and/or sales tax if you (a) carry film to New Zealand for personal use during your trip (I doubt it) or (b) send film in advance of your arrival. The New Zealand participants in this forum may be helpful on these questions.

If I could make an observation, as someone who has spent time in New Zealand, I think that if I had spent my time there shooting about 10 rolls of film per day, as you are proposing to do, I would have missed most of the experience of being in the country.

[r.e.]

Hey mdm, I posted without seeing yours. I could not agree more with:

"Why dont you consider using less film and enjoy the country and its people more, you will make better photographs too, I bet".

[mdm]

You pay GST and customs fees on anything over NZD400 including shipping.

[r.e.]

You pay GST and customs fees on anything over NZD400 including shipping.

As a New Zealand resident. It may not be the same for a tourist who is visiting. As a Canadian, I'm pretty sure that I could bring film worth over NZD$400/US$318 into the country without paying GST (aka VAT) or duty. I suspect that the only question is whether I could send it in advance of my arrival without paying GST/duty. In principal, it should be possible, although depending on the shipper (Canada Post/UPS/FedEx), I might have to pay customs brokerage fees ranging from reasonable to crazy.

[mdm]

Dont think the post people know who you are, they probably make you pay anyway, though I have no doubt you could claim the GST back when you leave the country.

[Lachlan 717]

As a New Zealand resident. It may not be the same for a tourist who is visiting. As a Canadian, I'm pretty sure that I could bring film worth over NZD$400/US$318 into the country without paying GST (aka VAT) or duty. I suspect that the only question is whether I could send it in advance of my arrival without paying GST/duty. In principal, it should be possible, although depending on the shipper (Canada Post/UPS/FedEx), I might have to pay customs brokerage fees ranging from reasonable to crazy.

You'll get charged duty.

I saw a show about NZ Customs ("Boarder Security") where a Pro Shooter brought in much less than this and got stung. The Customs people declared it as being a commercial quantity and charged Import Duty at point of entry.

As for the quantity, add me as another who cannot see how you'll shoot that much film in that time, even with bracketing exposure.