Re: Will I regret not taking my view camera to Big Bend NP?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Drew Wiley
...This fall I'll accompany a fellow even older than me into a back country area beyond cell phone access. His wife told him to either buy a satellite phone or don't go. So he bought one. The problem with less expensive satellite emergency beacons is that in some parts or the country, there might not be any response capability to them, while in others, these devices are so popular, and so many people "crying wolf" due to mere trail inconveniences, that response teams get overwhelmed. And in recent years, due to our huge fires and weather emergencies, there was a backlog of over 500 emergency requests, jamming the whole system. So one really needs to be somewhat self-sufficient too...
There's no problem with satellite emergency systems that's remotely close to being stranded in the middle of nowhere with no capability to request assistance. Self-sufficiency is a great goal, but I'd much rather be able to call for help and wait for a response than not be able to call at all. Basic logic. I'd not expect someone at Big Bend in April to encounter a system jammed with requests.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Drew Wiley
...I can't imagine going someplace like that without serious film camera gear, especially LF. But due to inevitable dust conditions, wrap things especially well in plastic bags etc. What is you end goal for all that effort? - serious darkroom printing, or just adding a few more to the millions of web digi images?
I stay in contact with the manufacturer of your 8x10, Dick Phillips. Dick has made many trips to Big Bend over the last decade or so since he retired from Michigan to Texas. Photography gear he uses no longer includes a view camera of any kind. All his photographic work is done with full-frame digital. He has made serious, beautiful inkjet prints, but no darkroom prints. We exchange prints and I've seen quite a few of them. None of Dick's work is on the Web. Looking down one's nose at non-large format, non-chemical photography is perilous. That attitude reflects negatively more on those who display it than on the digital photography they denigrate.
Re: Will I regret not taking my view camera to Big Bend NP?
The most important factor to decide is the chance of scans on the airport that can ruin your film, all the carrying for nothing. I had that recently having flown to Tenerife with my Hasselblad
Re: Will I regret not taking my view camera to Big Bend NP?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Ben Calwell
Thank you, Michael (and everyone) — I’m going to take my Wista DX and my Fuji digital camera for which I have a normal lens and an ultra-wide. The Fuji and the lenses are small and fit in the same backpack as my LF camera. I can carry it on the airplane. At Big Bend I’ll probably end up using the Fuji more (I have a separate waist pack for it), but at least I’ll have my LF camera in the rental car in case I see something that screams large format and it’s not too windy. I’m going to ship loaded film holders to our destination and ship them back home.
I hope TSA won’t mistake my Pentax spot meter for a pistol.
Thanks for all the great advice.
Enjoy!
Re: Will I regret not taking my view camera to Big Bend NP?
Re: Will I regret not taking my view camera to Big Bend NP?
Don't wear it as pistol
I had a friend selling SNAP-ON tools in a gas/repair station
He was wearing a SNAP-ON RED car timing light PISTOL in a SNAP-ON holster
Police arrived circa 1975
Quote:
Originally Posted by
BrianShaw
Enjoy!
Re: Will I regret not taking my view camera to Big Bend NP?
I dunno about Texas, where open carry is common. But I sure wouldn't wear a meter holster anywhere around here, or some gangbanger, or even the police, might take it wrong. I often have a thermos /water bottle holster on my belt, and carry my lighter Ries tripod rifle-style over my shoulder, when just carrying just a MF camera in a shoulder pack. I can always tell when someone new is in the daily afternoon patrol helicopter because they make a couple circles around me with their binoculars. After that, they are used to it, and ignore me. Crime is rare along the trails back in, or really, anywhere in our open spaces per se; but gang-related sniper rifle incidents have frequently occurred at Freeway overpasses not far from certain Park access roads.
Hillbillies are more likely to mistake your whole setup for something suspicious. I've been accused of being a Govt Spy, FBI agent, and was once held at gunpoint for an afternoon by a "squatter's rights" rancher and his helpers, who denied the authority of the BLM or Fed Govt, sorta like the infamous Bundy clan. I never pressed charges. Without those wackos and a few mean pasture bulls, developers would move in instead, and wreck everything, at least in that particular area. But I had a co-worker who had once been a UPS driver in rural Nevada, and was held hostage for three days for being a "spy", whom they suspected of working for a neighboring giant ranch they had a long-running bitter feud with.
Re: Will I regret not taking my view camera to Big Bend NP?
Entrapment is also used
He said, she said
I leave my broom at home and never fly
Re: Will I regret not taking my view camera to Big Bend NP?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
otto.f
The most important factor to decide is the chance of scans on the airport that can ruin your film, all the carrying for nothing. I had that recently having flown to Tenerife with my Hasselblad
It seems that I was lucky when going to Tenerif. No problems with airports scanners on my trip Belgium-Tenerif.
When going abroad I always take two MF camera’s with me Fuji GW645 for city and Fuji GW6x9III for landscapes.
The GW690 was a good choice for Tenerif.
Always take backup images with my iPhone.
Re: Will I regret not taking my view camera to Big Bend NP?
Well, in this case, it's not about going abroad into some civilized country and risks involved with airport XRay machines there, but into Texas, and the potential need for bullet proof film holders.
At my age, there are certain locations I love to own GW690's for (I have both a II and a III). But if I need to home in on distant details, or correct verticals in the scene, a lightwt 4x5 folder and roll film back make more sense as an ultralight option. Plus one can always take along a few full 4x5 holders for sake of images deserving bigger enlargements.
Re: Will I regret not taking my view camera to Big Bend NP?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
PatrickMarq
It seems that I was lucky when going to Tenerif. No problems with airports scanners on my trip Belgium-Tenerif.
When going abroad I always take two MF camera’s with me Fuji GW645 for city and Fuji GW6x9III for landscapes.
The GW690 was a good choice for Tenerif.
Always take backup images with my iPhone.
Good to hear, I leave the chance open that it could have been the film which was Cinestill 50D. Perhaps not the most reliable manufacturer thinkable at the moment.