Film Choices for Backpacking

[Robert Oliver]

Not the way I backpack... I usually get up and shoot before dawn. Make breakfast, pack up camp then get on the trail to my next destination. Don't shoot much through the day unless something gets really good, but make sure I'm somewhere cool to shoot to capture the evening magic light. Hopefully I arrive in time to get camp setup before the light gets good... then eat after I'm done shooting. I would guess if everything is right, I easily shoot 10-20 shots a day at that pace depending on weather/scenery... (2 shots for each setup) I think I would be comfortable with minimum 5 holders, 10 would be ideal but heavy.

I'm comfortable with 10 mile days, and still have plenty of time to shoot and even sneak in a nice lunch time nap on a rock somewhere. I usually plan to stay two nights in an especially scenic area... My external frame pack is usually around 50 pounds... assuming it will go up a bit with film holders. Haven't actually tested my sleeping back for darkness, but the hefty garbage bag sounds like it would work. I carry a Chamonix 45-n1, 3 lenses (90, 180, 300) inside of a MountainSmith Kit Cube Traveller. My dark cloth is my rain jacket. ( http://mountainsmith.com/index.php/c...-traveler.html ) Looking for an ultralight daypack that will fit it and my film holders.

still haven't done a trip using film holders, the last trip I took I only took a 6x17 roll film back.

Hopefully I'll get a trip in this summer so I can work out a reloading workflow.

When you are trekking, everytime you set up and make a photograph, you use time. So its not possible to cover large distances and make many exposures. To expose 20 sheets of film in a day is a major accomplishment, say 1 sheet per km on average. I did that once and it took from dawn to dusk on a winter day with some considerable walking in the dark either side. So if you are moving a short distance more holders may be required (more time to see), a long distance or a very difficult hike would require fewer holders (less time to see), alone you will see more than in company too. For a multi day trip I would go with 4 holders max. I just looked at Jim Brandenburg's book where he made 1 exposure a day from the autumn solstice to the winter solstice and published the result. Accept you will miss many good photographs and enjoy the trip instead, what you do bring home will be full of the joy you experienced in seeing.

[TGR Laguna]

It's clear you all must be younger and stronger as a 60 pound pack is out of the question; however, to say it cannot be done for less is not quite accurate. Excluding food and water, my core backpacking setup for the Sierras in the summer weighs 20.7 pounds including a bear vault (and my Kindle). And it's very comfortable. Of course, this is not a 4-season setup and I rarely camp above tree line, but it's is staunch enough to handle most anything one might encounter in 3-seasons. With water and food for 4 days, I generally leave the trailhead at about 27 pounds. Before anyone raises serious concerns about my sanity, I will share I was a rated leader with the Sierra Club back when they still sponsored hikes into the back country. My snow and ice checkoff involved camping at Baldy Bowl in January in a 40mph blizzard. I own the Big Agnes Fly Creek, but I echo the sentiment already expressed in saying I doubt it would stand up in anything over 25mph. I do not normally carry it.

Photo equipment is added to this setup. I use a Chamonix 45-N1, 3 lenses (90, 150, 240), a Blackjacket dark cloth, a Gitzo carbon tripod, and a spot meter. If I were to add a Harrison changing tent, four holders and film, the gear would weigh about 13 pounds, so I'm all in at 40 pounds.

BTW, not sure about the size of the MountainSmith setup, but the Osprey Hornet 25 is the one I use as a summit pack and it weighs 19 ounces.

[Drew Wiley]

I'm sure my little Fly Creek has handled winds over 40MPH without issue, but it was well staked out. It's becoming a popular tent for Sierra summer backpackers, or
early fall. I'm fine with it if I'm around timberline or otherwise semi-sheltered (by a big rock, for instance). Not something for out in the open atop a pass. I also use
a Goretex-covered sleeping bag, which won't take rain itself, but is resistant to condensation or frost - dries off really fast if I camp in the open and wake up with
the bag covered with frost (quite common in the mtns). I kinda have a target of packing 60lbs by the time I hit my 70's; last year I was still packing 75 lbs for a two weeker. I always carry a little extra gear for the possiblity of getting trapped awhile by a storm or other kind of emergency behind some remote pass, or in case someone else in the party, or a stranger, forgets something essential. Sometimes I get a long way from any established trail. In autumn I often carry a spare jacket even on dayhikes, because I've encountered naive people wandering the trails who just don't realize how fast the weather can change. But don't get me
daydreaming ... I'm still trying to make up my mind where to go this September... thinking about the Rubies in Nevada... there's sure some beautiful rock there....

[Drew Bedo]

I have been wishing that someone would re-engineer the Mido concept into a workable product.

In these days of 3-D printing additive manufacturing, I would think that a plastic Grafmatic would be a winner too.

I am waiting and wanting a Wanderlust TravelWide . . .light weight to carry. They will come in a 90mm and a 65mm model. and no bellows to blow out in a high wind.

[Otto Seaman]

You could always hire Drew to carry a small RV up to your campsite.

As for the Grafmatics, I was a big fan until I had two well-maintained ones come apart on me on same shooting session. Sometimes the glue that holds the felt inside comes off and things just go to Hades in a hand basket. They get old and glue dries up, metal gets worn. These were nice clean ones with parrafinned slides and I'm an experienced user. Or I was, I won't have them anymore.

I'd opt for the trash bag at night changing tent if I were going ultra light... you really don't have to be 101% light tight, just 98%.

The Harrison Pup Tent is wonderful but you could carry a lot of loaded holders instead of it, at least ten or more....

[Bill Burk]

I had engineered plans for a lightweight changing bag made of black 1.1 Silnylon, but abandoned the concept when I set the fabric on the densitometer (compared to the black rubberized nylon fabric of the changing bag).

Instead, my concept turned into an apron with six pockets which I lay inside the changing bag. The apron holds my boxes of fresh and exposed films. So as I do the changing out of Grafmatics, the shots get sorted by N-number.

Otto, I've had the opposite experience with Grafmatics... I bring a few spare septums because they occasionally jam. But otherwise I find them reliable.