APO Sironar S lenses in 300mm + in today's market

[neil poulsen]

. . . but Iceland is the windiest populated country in the world, . . .

Did you indicate that you tend to be near the vehicle? Either way, does it make sense to have wind breaks around your camera, to limit environmental influences?

[StuartR]

Absolutely. I often try to get behind the car, but at times it can be tricky to orient the car against the wind, depending on the position of the trail (I don't want to hurt the land at all, and the country trails are usually one car length wide, so I am usually stuck with the orientation of the road). In certain conditions, however, even the wind break of the car is not enough (a lot of wind can come under the car or around the sides and still cause vibration). And of course, most shots are better taken a short distance from the road. But I manage. If it gets really windy, then I tend to stick to my Mamiya 7II or digital. I have been in a lot of conditions where the wind would likely tear the bellows out of a LF camera...that is where the smaller formats show their merits.

[Vaughn]

Iceland-- got to get there one day...if only to see how it compares to Patagonia in its windy season (it was not as bad as I feared). A friend had an artist-in-residence (photo) a few years ago in Iceland...she mentioned the wind a few times. A van with a lifting back door makes for a good windbreak and sun/rain shade. Glad you equipped yourself well.

My Reis A100/250 is a great combo for 8x10 and 11x14. Just got back from some backpacking with the 4x5 and a tripod that was just too &!!#$% short (Bogan 3205). Made it work, but it was obnoxous as heck. Next time I will carry a few more pounds and go with a taller pod.

[Drew Wiley]

Vaughn - check out Bigwalls.net Escudo per "not so bad" Paine weather. All that damn climbing hardware was all over my house before they left. I got my nephew Chris a basic little Pentax MX to document the climb, and it survived many more extreme weather expeditions too. His climbing buddy accidentally left the flap of their porta-ledge open one day while they were anchoring ropes above, and they returned to find thick ice rime over everything inside, even the sleeping bags. It was a 20-day climb, so good thing they brought true arctic style gear.

[Vaughn]

I was only there for a month at the beginning of their windy season. Lots of rain...just like home use to be!

Ice -- I have had that happen in mellow Humboldt County, obviously not to that extent! About 4 years ago I spent a few days camping in the redwoods (same area as last week) one Thanksgiving. Dropped below freezing every night right after sun set. Due to the humidity, everything would instanteaously get covered with ice. After the excess water in the air dropped out and froze, I was good for the rest of the night (no tent). Even the sand and gravels were frozen during the day. The creek crossings (in sandals and shorts) were particularily cold on the toes.

[Helcio J Tagliolatto]

Papi, several centuries ago I noticed that Polaroid Copal shutters have somewhat longer tube lengths than jes' plain Copal shutters. Since I wanted to put some 210 mm cells of a plasmat type lens in a Polaroid Copal #1 I asked my friend Eric Beltrando (visit his site dioptrique.info) for his opinion. Eric has written a ray tracing program and used it to provide calculated curves, spot images etc. for lens prescriptions in his database.

Thanks for citing Eric's site, I didn't know about it. He did an impressive job.
A must-see website.

[StuartR]

I live in a sheltered area, surrounded by trees. I have a small weather station on my house, and the max wind last year was around 25m/s, which is 56mph. That is nothing for Iceland. On the road I take to get to Reykjavik just 10km or so closer to the ocean, the wind speed approached 60m/s more than once this past winter. That is 134mph. They close the roads before that, as that speed will blow vehicles with unfavorable wind profiles off the road...all the more so when it is also icy (the wind often coincides with the ice). Taking pictures in that is not advisable. It can come somewhat out of nowhere as well. In the summer of 2019, it was a beautiful summery day with a stiff but moderate breeze at my house, but the road was closed along the sea as it was gusting to 45m/s (100mph). It was still a sunny day...just a touch windy.

I find I can use the 8x10 in up to 10m/s or so, though I have to be careful. That is around 20mph. This is without wind breaks. Generally I just try to find shelter or wait for lulls in the wind. The heavy tripod helps. Nothing helps if the breeze is too stiff, however.