Brisbane LF meetup thread.

[alexn]

im at work by 4:30am every day.. Good for me I suppose.. waking up at 3am on a sunday to shoot sunrise doesn't impact me too hard... Just feels normal..

I am keen for any kind of hiking. I might just bring the 617 point and shoot if its going to be a huge hike though.. My monorail 4x5 is good up to about 5 or 6kms at 10kms, I would arrive at the location unprepaired to shoot anything...

[Ian David]

im at work by 4:30am every day.. Good for me I suppose.. waking up at 3am on a sunday to shoot sunrise doesn't impact me too hard... Just feels normal..

I am keen for any kind of hiking. I might just bring the 617 point and shoot if its going to be a huge hike though.. My monorail 4x5 is good up to about 5 or 6kms at 10kms, I would arrive at the location unprepaired to shoot anything...

I think if we end up at the base of the falls, a decent tripod will be more important than the type of camera you have on it. Lugging a monorail for any real distance is no fun; that was the main reason I sold my Horseman monorail a couple of years ago and got a field camera (which has since since very little use due to job change, baby, etc...)

Ian

[Boinzo]

One advantage if we all take 4x5 is the ability to share the load around a bit. Like would we all need a light meter and a dark cloth or can we perhaps share? Do we need to carry 4 Lee filter holders or just 1? In fact I'd be happy for everyone to shoot off my Chamonix and then we can just carry film holders and so on. Just a thought....

Yes Ian. I mean walking up the river from the pool. I too have heard of the mystery track but have never located it! I wouldn't want to get it wrong. It's a long way down.

[alexn]

Yeah my new baby has definitely slowed my shooting habits somewhat! The monorail hasn't been do bad, I've lugged it a fair distance without much hassle.. Just anything that is considered any more strenious than a long walk becomes very hard. With the 617 its no different to carying a DSLR in weight.. Easier to shoot in a hurry too..

I might invest in a 4x5 P&S to go with my 617 P&S... That way I can take both with me.

[Boinzo]

Not a fan of sharing then Alex?

My Chamonix is around the same weight as my 7d with the 16-35 on it. It's all the other stuff I have to carry that's the problem! I always cart waaaay more film than I should for example. Paranoid about a busted or wrongly loaded holder or whatever....even the dark cloth is 500g...

[alexn]

One advantage if we all take 4x5 is the ability to share the load around a bit. Like would we all need a light meter and a dark cloth or can we perhaps share? Do we need to carry 4 Lee filter holders or just 1? In fact I'd be happy for everyone to shoot off my Chamonix and then we can just carry film holders and so on. Just a thought....

Yes Ian. I mean walking up the river from the pool. I too have heard of the mystery track but have never located it! I wouldn't want to get it wrong. It's a long way down.

now thats a good idea!!
It would be sweet if all i needed was my quickload holder aand a box of film!... i would take it upon myself to carry everyones water or some such in that case...

[alexn]

Lol... I love that your camera weighs what your DSLR + wide angle weighs... My Kardan with the 75 F/4.5 on it weighs about the same as my D3 + 300 F/2.8 (ie - No good for big long walks) and as it does not fit, assembled, in any bag I own, setup and tear down time kills me.

Makes me think I should have done more research before buying a 4x5... A Technika III went on here for $550 the other day... I should have waited for something like that rather than the monorail... Oh well.. you live and you spend another $1000... (and hopefully learn too)

[Ian David]

I too have heard of the mystery track but have never located it! I wouldn't want to get it wrong. It's a long way down.

I am confident I can find the start of the track from the information I have. It starts down a particular little spur that is easily identified on my Lamington topo map. My worry is that we would get halfway down and lose the track... There is only enough time in a single day for one attempt - if we choose the Mystery Track and can't follow it, there is not enough time to go back to Gwongoorool Pool and start again By the sound of it, I would also be pretty reluctant to attempt the track if there had been much rain in the previous week.

Time to get out the scales and weigh my bits of gear!

[alexn]

Would hate to waste the day following our noses through the forest only to not get where we were going... I would be planning this trip for a weekday if we can manage it (days off work etc) and/or a drizzley day... There is nothing worse than walking a lonnnng way into the forest to photograph a waterfall only to get there, scout the site, find your composition, set up the shot, get it all focused, metered and ready to shoot, wack in your film holder, grab the cable release, look at your scene and say "where did all these bloody tourists come from?. They were not here 40 minutes ago when I started unpacking my camera bag..."

I know this from personal experience. Milla Milla Falls...what a day that was...

[Boinzo]

Lol... I love that your camera weighs what your DSLR + wide angle weighs... My Kardan with the 75 F/4.5 on it weighs about the same as my D3 + 300 F/2.8 (ie - No good for big long walks) and as it does not fit, assembled, in any bag I own, setup and tear down time kills me.

Makes me think I should have done more research before buying a 4x5... A Technika III went on here for $550 the other day... I should have waited for something like that rather than the monorail... Oh well.. you live and you spend another $1000... (and hopefully learn too)

I think for the type of work we seem to like Alex - a field cam is a must. I spent a lot of time looking for the lightest model I could get that didn't completely compromise on movements. I find the Chamonix is a great little camera. Really well made and easy to use. The choice was between it and a Shen Hao PTB - which is lighter but really lacks the required movements in my view.

If there's one thing I have figured out about LF - every time you think gear it costs another $500... You'd probably sell the Karden pretty easily mate! :-p

I am confident I can find the start of the track from the information I have. It starts down a particular little spur that is easily identified on my Lamington topo map. My worry is that we would get halfway down and lose the track... There is only enough time in a single day for one attempt - if we choose the Mystery Track and can't follow it, there is not enough time to go back to Gwongoorool Pool and start again By the sound of it, I would also be pretty reluctant to attempt the track if there had been much rain in the previous week.

Time to get out the scales and weigh my bits of gear!

I agree we only get one shot at it!

My concern with the clambering down the spur comes from an experience at O'Reilly's. Clambering down a 30 degree slope with 16Kg of LF gear on the back is very dangerous. I slipped - hyper-extended my knee while trying to stop - the only thing that stopped me going over a 6m drop was a fortuitously placed sapling. I limped for 3 months! These sorts of descents are not safe with a big pack on - they really require letting down packs on rope.

My brother is very experienced in the area - I will speak to him. He may even be prepared to tag along as an experienced guide. I know he has been here before.

Would hate to waste the day following our noses through the forest only to not get where we were going... I would be planning this trip for a weekday if we can manage it (days off work etc) and/or a drizzley day... There is nothing worse than walking a lonnnng way into the forest to photograph a waterfall only to get there, scout the site, find your composition, set up the shot, get it all focused, metered and ready to shoot, wack in your film holder, grab the cable release, look at your scene and say "where did all these bloody tourists come from?. They were not here 40 minutes ago when I started unpacking my camera bag..."

I know this from personal experience. Milla Milla Falls...what a day that was...

I agree a weekday is best. Although I think the chance of there being tourists at the base of Coomera Falls is basically zero. This is a walk that bush-walking clubs do maybe once a year. There is no real "track". The tourists will be up on the viewing platform above us taking pictures and wondering how the hell we got down there ...

The other similar walk I was planning on doing this year is Running Creek Falls. And also up the Albert River Gorge to the base of Lightening Falls (may require an overnight camp though!).