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dh003i
17-Jul-2011, 13:29
I was previously a little concerned about flying to Rome with my Gitzo G5561SGT, but it was fine inside of a poly-plastic-like suitcase with shirts wrapped around the head and legs, as well as other cushioning, while being checked. I used the allen-wrenches / hex keys to take out the center plate in it and put that in my carry-on bag to deter theft -- e.g., it would probably appear and be useless to anyone who stole it (unless they took the time to order a replacement). I thought about disassembling one of the legs too and carrying it on-board with me (they have the same sized hex-screws as does the base-plate), but the legs seemed to be screwed in really tight, and I didn't want to risk it in-case there was some kind of lock-tight glue also securing the screws for some reason.

There was no issue with me using the tripod in Rome in any outdoor place that wasn't crowded. Mind you, I usually slept during the day and walked around at night, taking my Polaroid Alpenhaus 4x5 and Olympus E-3 with me. It was 90 fahrenheit and very humid ever day. Even carrying the G5561SGT and my camera-bag with the Alpenhaus 4x5, Olympus E-3, film-holders, and other relevant gear was pretty heavy. I got blisters on my left foot and walking was painful after the 2nd night.

My tripod was forbidden inside he Colosseum, although a small one that you could fit in a backpack probably would be fine. The issue seems to be whether or not it is a tripping hazard. I just used the ground, my Olympus' lens-hood, and various nooks inside the Colosseum as braces. In the Colosseum, I only took the Olympus E-3 as it was daytime and hot. None-the-less, using various things for bracing, I took pano + HDR shots, which I think will align well.

I only took a few shots with my 4x5 Polaroid Alpenhaus, as I was mostly shooting at night and Kodak doesn't publish reciprocity failure specs on E100VS beyond 10s, and the E100VS I have is the last I'll ever have. I think I remember doing a 90-second macro shot inside my house with no reciprocity failure noticed on the film, but not sure. I added +1 stop to my night-shot, will see how that turns out, hopefully ok.

eddie
18-Jul-2011, 04:29
cool. thanks for the update.

so how did you end up packing all teh stuff? how many bags? what did you carry on? etc etc.

eddie

captivelight
18-Jul-2011, 18:35
Be careful when traveling to Rome. The bag tossers rummaged my bag and of all the things to steal, they took an expensive shirt and tie. Thank God I had my camera as a carry-on. But hey, at least the tossers have good taste in clothing.

Will you be sharing some of the images?

dh003i
18-Jul-2011, 19:54
eddie,

Except for my tripod, all of my stuff was carry-one. One mini-suitcase (which had to be put in the underbelly for plane-side pickup on small planes) and a backpack (which could be put in the overhead. I carried on the tripod mounting plate (so it would be useless to would-be thieves), the Arca-Swiss Z2 head, Alpenhaus 4x5 Polaroid with 135/3.5, Olympus E-3 with 14-54mm and 50/2 lenses, film, dark-slides, film-changing bag, and I believe the dark-cloth.

captivelight,

I'll definitely share the images once I have them scanned in and processed. Some of the night shots came out great.

First data on Kodak E100VS reciprocity failure: if metering says 100s, doubling exposure to 200s works good.