Time Savers in the Field

[Brian Ellis]

I do most of yours. In addition, like Eric I use a viewing card and find it invaluable in selecting the lens I want quickly. The one I use is the "Visualizer" sold by Adorama and probably other places. It has focal lengths for 4x5 and 8x10 marked on a tape. A few other tips:

(1) Store lenses with shutters open to the widest aperture. That way I never get behind the camera and find that I forgot to open up the shutter to compose and focus or had it stopped down.

(2) I also don't use lens wraps. My bag has soft compartments for each lens and the edge of each compartment is marked with the focal length lens that goes in it. So all I have to do is pull out the lens and put it on the camera. With it already open to the widest aperture I'm ready to go from there.

(3) I keep the spot meter in a pouch on my belt with the cap off. Between the glass on the Pentax being recessed quite a bit, and with the meter in a soft pouch, I don't think the cap is necessary to protect the meter's glass and by leaving it off I don't have to worry about removing it and putting it into my pocket before using the meter. This one probably saves a half second. : - )

Doesn't it just kill you to miss the light by a couple seconds? I'll never forget taking probably 15 or 20 minutes to get what I thought was going to be a great dune and background photograph set up and composed perfectly while photographing iduring a John Sexton workshop. The sun and mountains were behind me and the sun was so bright that I wasn't paying attention to what it was doing. Just as I was ready to finally trip the shutter the sun abruptly disappeared behind the mountain and I lost the photograph. That was about eight years ago and out of the hundreds, maybe thousands, of photographs I've made since then that one that I lost has stayed with me.

[Kirk Gittings]

Brian, Good ideas.

Yes, I to am haunted by images missed. They are never the ones you planned for or made the trip for. They just happen in the course of the day, you see everything coming together, the clouds, the shadows etc. and you run to catch it. We know from experience it will never be repeated, it may be better again but we may not be there to see it.

[Eric Leppanen]

A lot of great ideas here, I don't have much to add. My 4x5 non-folder is my quick set-up LF camera. Here is my procedure:

1) Keep the camera loaded with a normal or moderately-wide lens at all times, when possible pre-focused at infinity. When traveling by car, keep camera in back seat with darkcloth attached.
2) Keep tripod legs extended as much as transport permits, so that if needed the tripod can be set up without further fiddling with the legs.
3) Keep focusing loupe hanging from neck at all times.
4) When focal length is in question, use 4x5" viewing frame with retractable tape measure to determined required lens focal length.
5) Attach camera to tripod head via quick-release clamp. Replace lens if lens change is necessary (all my lens have dedicated cable releases, and have their own padded niches in my camera backpack. I have to keep all my lens shutters closed so that I can test fire the shutter before pulling the dark slide; I find this precaution necessary to avoid stupidly exposing the film with the shutter open).
6) Focus on primary subject, then determine smallest aperture that conditions will permit (no time for camera movements).
7) Incident meter when possible and add one stop (for evenly lit scene) or two stops (where deep shadows are present). Stop lens down, close shutter and cock the shutter release.
8) Load camera with color print film. I print digitally so if B&W output is desired I can channel mix rather than fiddle with B&W filters, saves time.
9) Take photograph.

[Kirk Gittings]

Keep focusing loupe hanging from neck at all times.

I actually keep mine teathered to the camera and never take it off.

[Graham Patterson]

Have a system for keeping your used holders separate form the unexposed ones. The holder is the last thing you reach for before making the exposure. I dump my exposed holders slide-down in the protective bag so if I don't feel the slides I don't use that holder. When I am using more than one emulsion, I separate the batches clearly.

Where possible I set up in the same layout so I do not turn the wrong way if I need something from the bag. It isn't so much about speed as smoothness and confidence.

[Capocheny]

Kirk,

Great ideas... I also use a Gnass case with the lenses opened at the largest aperture.

A photog's vest is also great for holding a light meter, lens caps after mounting the lens onto the camera, filters, cable releases... and chocolate bars!

Alternatively, for the light meter... it sometimes sits in a padded case on my belt as well.

Interesting post... everybody has their own system for maximizing efficiency!

Cheers

[Kirk Gittings]

I love the idea about putting the lens away with the aperture wide open. I never thought of that one. When things are really hoping, I do as many people have expressed here, leave the camera set up at infintiy focus in the back seat with the darkcloth thrown over it.

[Frank Petronio]

Storing lens wide open and on "T" is the way I've heard it from the repairfolks. Not only is the lens open and ready to go, but there is less lubricant to migrate onto the blades in the heat of the car (and T relaxes the spring).

I started to use cheap reading glasses to focus with. I don't need a loupe anymore except for critical, fussy moves. It is much faster.

[David A. Goldfarb]

Many good suggestions above.

I like to scope out the scene with the Linhof Zoom Finder before setting up the camera, though I usually know what lens I'm going to use.

I find my Crumpler bag quickest to work out of. I always store my lenses in more or less the same way, but if I find I'm using one or two a lot for a particular location, I'll move them to the most accessible position.

Linhof drop-in filters speed things up.

While I'm out working with my Technika, I usually leave the camera set up, and while I'm walking around between shots, I just carry the camera over my shoulder on a strap.

Arca-Swiss style QR plates are handy.

If you tend to use the tripod at eye level, at least initially, and have a 3 or 4 section legset, leave the bottom section of legs pulled out part way between shots, so you can pull the middle section full length and have the tripod at a convenient height.

With a large flatbed camera that can't take a quick release (at least not one that I have), I turn the tripod head up vertically so I can get the screw in the hole without much fumbling.

[Brian K]

I do many of the things already suggested and then add some:

1) I have cable releases on all of my lenses
2) I keep a linhof Multi focus viewfinder in my vest pocket to use for both composing a scene and choosing the lens.
3) My tripod is fully extended and is stored in the back of my SUV in one of those 8" diameter tubes used for pouring concrete footings, it just slides right out.
4) I keep my Sinar on it's rail and keep the sinar rail clamp on the tripod for use as a quick release.
5) I keep my most often used lens on the camera
6) Keep 2 loaded Sinar zoom RFH ready to go but the film is not advanced to avoid causing creases in the film and film bulging
7) the polaroid back is always loaded
8) I use an over size compendium hood attached to the camera standard so that I do not need to attach a lens shade to the lens. The compendium being large enough to allow lens attaching/removing without having to remove or re-adjust the compendium. Filters are also easy to add/remove without altering the compendium.
9) while driving, the camera, a monorail sits in monorail case ready to go with out any field camera type readjusting or assembling
10) all lenses are adapted to take the same filter size, I replace filters that have slow threading due to cross threading
11) Readyload back kept loaded
12) all lenses easily accessible in compartmental type cases, no need to unwrap lens wraps
13) roll film stripped of wrapping and placed back into propack box
14) wear a photo vest which holds the loupe, meter, multi focus viewfinder, B&W visualizing filter, compass and pda with astronomical software, film, spare car keys
15) use good binoculars or laser rangefinder monoculars to pre scout a spot before I get out and hike
16) I use a car GPS, a computer GPS and a hand held GPS and use good gps software. Knowing where you are going and being able to make a sudden change of direction and take some small road while chasing the light requires a good mapping GPS. When light is fleeting you don't want to head down the wrong road. While in the motel I use Google mapping, Delorme Topo USA, mapsource gps maps, etc, to scout locations before I hit the road. Using topo maps properly can enable you to get a sense of the best views long before you arrive at a location.
17) carry portable weather station instrumentation to aid in predicting local weather, also carry a weather band radio
18) Night vision, helps to check out a place before you hike in the pre dawn hours
19) red filtered LED headlamp, and red filtered LED flashlights so as not to lose night vision while hiking and having to wait for eyes to readjust prior to setting up
20) I carry 3 sand bags in the back which are used to stabilize the camera in the wind, although I always use an SUV with a lift gate type hatch which also acts as a rain shield. I will also check wind direction when stopping at a spot so that I can choose to park the vehicle in such a way as to block the wind/rain/snow.
21) learned to determine exposure without the use of a meter in order to save time in very fleeting light. By using RFH I can also bracket a scene and quickly expose multiple frames of a scene.
22) I keep aware of the wind direction and the movement of clouds in order to predict changes in light.
23) wardrobe is also important, I wear clothes with many pockets, in possibly wet weather I wear jackets and pants that are all water repellent. In buggy territory I wear "buzz off" insect repellent clothes.
24) I keep a small but highly wind resistant umbrella in my back pack, and a large and very highly wind resistant umbrella easily accessible in the back of the vehicle.

There's a lot of other things I do, but mostly it's all about giving thought to how you work and making the effort to increase your efficiency.