What do you do to help yourself in the field?

[drew.saunders]

Finally- and this is my favorite- all of my lenses gets a chart on the board with bellows corrections in 1/3 stop increments out as far as my bellows will extend. I just have to choose the closest correction or interpolate between them for chromes.

I do the same thing, but I focus each lens at infinity (conveniently there's a fairly tall office building that's far enough away from my apartment to qualify), then I measure the distance between the front of the front standard and rear of the rear standard, and make the chart based on that. Much easier than trying to figure out the film plane and lens nodal point. I also have a Calumet shutter tester, so I have the shutter corrections on the lensboard too.

[Chuck P.]

Finally- and this is my favorite- all of my lenses gets a chart on the board with bellows corrections in 1/3 stop increments out as far as my bellows will extend. I just have to choose the closest correction or interpolate between them for chromes.

I have the same bellows extension info on cards, but the more I look at the idea of putting it on the lens board, the more I like it----it's a good idea for those of us that care about such things.

[Jody_S]

To make life easier in the field? I keep a couple cans of beer in my camera case, and I always make sure to stop near a rock or log that is the right height to sit on.

[Heroique]

One might learn a practical lesson during one field trip – but forget it during the next field trip.

That’s why I write down “lessons learned” – and when I’m back home, I’ll add them to an ever-growing journal. During idle moments, I’ll page through it and astonish myself at what I’ve already forgotten.

Say, I have it right here near my screen. Let’s see, I’ll page back to some very early entries. Ah, here’s one from my early days that makes me chuckle at my former self:

“As you prepare the shot, don’t leave footprints where they’ll appear in the foreground of your composition.”

Avoiding that kind of mistake is second nature now, but I do recall making it a few too many times before I forced myself to write it down. Haven’t left footprints since!

[C. D. Keth]

I do the same thing, but I focus each lens at infinity (conveniently there's a fairly tall office building that's far enough away from my apartment to qualify), then I measure the distance between the front of the front standard and rear of the rear standard, and make the chart based on that. Much easier than trying to figure out the film plane and lens nodal point. I also have a Calumet shutter tester, so I have the shutter corrections on the lensboard too.

I just measure from the front of the lensboard to the front of the pocket where film holders sit. It's close enough. I guess if I ever get a telephoto design lens, I'll figure it out like you do for that lens.

[Vaughn]

I try to put everything away in the same spot in my pack each time.

[Ken Lee]

I listen to fine music or observe silence.

[cosmicexplosion]

So far I have two bags for dark slides. One for exposed one unexposed
I'm not yet sure how to develop for different exposures so writing down exposure time seems silly as I dev all the same, but I often mix up the dd especially in public when I'm talking.
I am thinking of getting bright coloured dot stickers from news agency to just pop on and go. Save taking two bags
I tried tape and writing but if your moving fast its hard to stop and write

[David R Munson]

The problem I have is that my mind skips around from thing to thing really quickly, so even when I'm relaxed and focused, I'll sometimes forget what I'm doing, skip a step, etc. Usually it doesn't matter much if at all, but sometimes it'll be something like forgetting to factor in my filter correctly or forgetting to meter, which can really screw things up. So, I've started using a checklist that's sort of a workflow model just so I don't miss any of the obvious steps. I'm also getting back to keeping detailed notes at the exposure stage. The point of note-taking for me is largely in the writing. I pretty much never refer to them later, but by writing things down, it's easier to internalize how I'm doing what I'm doing, why, and what effect that's having on the finished product.

[Peter Gomena]

I keep a small loose-leaf notebook, about 3x5", that has reciprocity charts for film, shutter speeds for various lenses, filter factors, etc. in it, along with blank pages for notes. Very handy. A small level and tiny tape measure for bellows extension, an old kitchen towel and a folded kitchen-sized garbage bag round out the exotic tools.

Peter Gomena