Going to Yosemite but can't take my 4x5 or 8x10. What to do?

[angusparker]

Consider getting a Fujifilm GF670 - it’s a light and magical MF camera (6x7). More compact than any LF setup.

[Greg Y]

Any MF film camera will do the trick....& leave you with negatives to print from

[mpaniagua18]

While I would normally suggest to get x camera (really like my Topcon 970. Use it when I cant take my 4x5), given that you are leaving in 2 months (no time for a CLA) and that your trip is important, I would suggest taking your Nikon.

Lots of great cameras on the used market that would fit the bill but it is risky to get an unknown camera on a trip (even the rented hassy). No use on risking your special moments. Use a camera you trust.


Regards

Marcelo

[Drew Wiley]

Getting into Yos Valley through the south entrance can be long ordeal from Oakhurst, or maybe impossible if snowfall is high - hard to say two months from now. I should know; I've been over that route countless times, as has John. Regardless of which entrance, snow chains might be required, especially now during heavy snowfalls. The Park Service is not as well equipped with snowplows asCaltrans, the agency in charge of clearing roads outside the Park boundaries.

But going to the trouble to get in there from out of State before the later crowds arrive and just bringing some DLSR ???? Pffftqizzzt. You'll probably regret it. If have have to juggle photographic opportunities with my wife along on vacation, I at least bring a Pentax 6X7 or Fuji 6X9 "Texas Leica" - nearly as fast to operate as a 35mm (compared to a view camera), and not at all annoying to her. I'll have bagged the shot in about the same time she took to bag something herself with her digital pocket camera. And that way, at least I've got a bit of serious real estate on the negative competent to darkroom print some real texture or grandeur to the scene.

[Vaughn]

I am just reminded of the old Ranger tale of a tourist asking a Ranger what to do in Yosemite Valley, as he only had a half-hour in the Park. The Ranger said, "I'd go down along the Merced and cry..."

Well...when all my camera gear got ripped off on my way to Yosemite, I did well with a borrowed MF camera...as I did when upon arriving in Yosemite Valley I realized I left all my 8x10 holders back home 450 miles away.

I find making images can teach me more about a place than scouting...or it is just easier to get myself in the right frame of mind.

A couple for 6cm x 8cm prints of Horsetail Falls....the new 'firefall'. A carbon print (reverses the image) and a pt/pd print...about 20 years ago.

[angusparker]

Getting into Yos Valley through the south entrance can be long ordeal from Oakhurst, or maybe impossible if snowfall is high - hard to say two months from now. I should know; I've been over that route countless times, as has John. Regardless of which entrance, snow chains might be required, especially now during heavy snowfalls. The Park Service is not as well equipped with snowplows asCaltrans, the agency in charge of clearing roads outside the Park boundaries.

But going to the trouble to get in there from out of State before the later crowds arrive and just bringing some DLSR ???? Pffftqizzzt. You'll probably regret it. If have have to juggle photographic opportunities with my wife along on vacation, I at least bring a Pentax 6X7 or Fuji 6X9 "Texas Leica" - nearly as fast to operate as a 35mm (compared to a view camera), and not at all annoying to her. I'll have bagged the shot in about the same time she took to bag something herself with her digital pocket camera. And that way, at least I've got a bit of serious real estate on the negative competent to darkroom print some real texture or grandeur to the scene.

+1 For the Fujifilm 6x9 cameras aka Texas Leica. You do need a light meter and the rangefinder sight is a little small but the negatives are amazing. That is one sharp lens.

[Drew Wiley]

For me, the "Texas Leica" is even easier to handhold if necessary than my Nikon. And if push comes to shove, even with 400 speed TMax in it, it will still deliver way more good enlargeable content than any 35mm or 645 camera. With film like TMX100 or Acros, it can mimic LF results up to a certain point - for me, up to a 16X20 black and white print. In color, using Ektar color neg film, I get very satisfactory prints up to 20X24-ish, but certainly wouldn't want to go bigger than that. And the seemingly slight difference between 6X7 and 6x9 often does make the difference. But it's a fixed lens normal-wide perspective camera, and not a system. So darn light, however, that I can easily carry both it and either a P67 kit or 4X5 folder in the same airline carryon, tripod etc included.

[Drew Wiley]

Vaughn - you inverted one neg. I knew something was backwards. One winter I actually hacked my way up a high ice cone formed under frozen Horsetail Falls, using an ice axe, and then chiseled the top off with it to get enough surface area to plant my 4x5 Sinar and tripod. Got a unique edge-on shot of the monolith face that way, in wonderful falling snow light. But it was an awfully risky spot, with all that sheet ice hanging overhead, which would occasionally break off and hydroplane through the air away from the face at least. But when a several ton flake of ice about sixty feet across landed only about ten yards away, it was time to get out of Dodge, which was a crazy misadventure in itself. My nephew was along, plotting his next summer route up the Dawn Wall.

[bmikiten]

Thanks for all the good ideas. I have a Nikon 850 that I'll probably take but was really wanting to shoot film. I'm considering getting a Fuji or Linhof 6x17 as that would give me film and the ability to print images later. I can probably just take a small carbon fiber tripod instead of my big one. Any issues shooting film in the cold other than letting the equipment come to temp? It looks like it is usually 30F - 50F.

Brian

[Joshua Dunn]

Brian,

I would look at renting a 6x17 or 6x9 outfit. I have never rented from them but Foto Care Rentals rents them. If you love film for landscapes you will always be disappointed in digital. I the words of the great philosopher Wayne Gretsky "You miss 100% of the shots you don't take." For a trip with that much potential, and if film is your passion, take a film camera.

Marc (munz6869) mentioned taking a smaller 4x5 kit. Is that possible? You could probably take a two or three lens kit, a folding camera, holders and a lightweight tripod in a backpack. I normally shoot Sinar 4x5 and 8x10 and usually don't mind hauling them around knowing it's mot the smallest option. However I keep an Zone VI around in case I need to have a smaller lightweight option.

-Joshua