Traveling to Thailand

Everything Simon said is correct. Songkron is on the 17th of April. Water can be expected one week before and after. While for the most part throwing clean water is good fun haveing a bucket of nasty klong water dumped on your camera bag is something that happens and you need to be prepared for. Personaly I hate songkrom but it has more to do with the high amounts of accidents and death that occour during it. Kids having fun is great but drunk adults murdering children with cars and dumping 5 gallon buckets of water onto motercylist at full speed on highways and laughing as they crash at full speed is a type of ignorance that has nothing to do with the respectful pouring of water onto the hands of elders as the original holiday was intended.
 
Also having a fast lens helps as the night life at Potpong is a must stop....
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I wouldn't take expensive camera gear to Patpong at night myself - it's a haven for pickpockets, overt thieves, pimps, prostitutes, and all manner of lowlife scum (plus some nice people, of course). And if you are robbed there, the police aren't interested. (This opinion is not based on any personal calamity there, just on 20 years experience of Bangkok)
 
Gallery

Gallery

Feel free to visit my Thailand gallery on this forum.
It will give an impression what is waiting you!

Wim
 
wdenies said:
Feel free to visit my Thailand gallery on this forum.
It will give an impression what is waiting you!

Wim
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The shots of Thailand are gorgeous! Thanks for sharing. Now I'm really excited!

Thanks.
 
So I decided that my gear will be my M3 and D Lux-3. 3 lenses, 15mm, 28mm, 50mm collapsible. Traveling compact and I figure wider is better. I'll have to carry my light meter with me, but I always carry it anyway. What do you think?
 
Leica Geek said:
So I decided that my gear will be my M3 and D Lux-3. 3 lenses, 15mm, 28mm, 50mm collapsible. Traveling compact and I figure wider is better. I'll have to carry my light meter with me, but I always carry it anyway. What do you think?
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Sounds perfect. You may want to swap the M6 with the M3 and leave the hand held meter and aux 28mm finder (if you use one on the M3) behind. Have fun. March-April is HOT HOT HOT so stay hydrated and duck into air conditioning every once in a while.
 
My advice would be that wide isn't really good when shooting in the streets. There are a lot a bad elements that you don't want to appear in your shots like too much crowd, electric/telephone lines and the likes. Also I remember that when I want some soul to be in my shots, I had to take picture in the early morning when the streets aren't too crowded. That's why I would advice for at least a 90mm to isolate subjects. That is really better to have a long lens for the rapid shot when cruising on a boat inside Bangkok.
 
edodo said:
My advice would be that wide isn't really good when shooting in the streets. There are a lot a bad elements that you don't want to appear in your shots like too much crowd, electric/telephone lines and the likes. Also I remember that when I want some soul to be in my shots, I had to take picture in the early morning when the streets aren't too crowded. That's why I would advice for at least a 90mm to isolate subjects. That is really better to have a long lens for the rapid shot when cruising on a boat inside Bangkok.
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So you think the 15mm is too wide? I guess the M6 would make more sense, but I think I still need the 28mm finder. 28mm lines in the M6 are almost useless, because of my glasses. I have a 75mm I can take I suppose. I don't see the point of the 35mm lens if I take the 28mm and need to go wide for a temple shot or landscape. So do you think I can have all bases covered with 28, 50, 75? My 90mm Elmar is old and the focus is sticky.

Thanks.
 
I used a 28mm finder with my M6 too... but I was considering minimizing the possibility of losing things since you'd have to be swapping with the 15mm finder. I would definitely bring the 15mm, which is small to begin with, for accentuating foregrounds while touring temples, etc. You are going to be in a lot of cramped places that are crowded. A 75mm will increase your load considerably, no? Big lens.
 
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Yeah the 75mm is pretty big. I think the 50 is long enough and I think my Collapsible Summicron 2.0 will do the job. I agree, traveling lighter would be better. Plus I have the digi that has a 28 to 110mm on it if I really need a telephoto shot. How does this sound? M6 with 15mm/finder, 28, 50 with Leica M lens carrier and D-Lux 3. I think that's a pretty light load.

Any other suggestions?

Thanks.
 
For me the 50mm represents the greatest lens for rangefinder photography in Bangkok. Going longer changes the perspective in a negative way for street which is not portrait photography nor wildlife photography both of which I prefer a long lens and SLR type focusing. In general Bangkok is a very crowded place, my style has developed to where I include the wires and and the nastiness of the city so there is no need to try and isolate them from the framing. I like pictures that I call busy, frames that are pretty full of objects, shadows, people, action, definitions of the moment, interpretations of how I see my world. I see life from two open eyes, not through a long monocular. I try to interact with the subject matter so I want to be closer. The fifty cannot be discounted for these purposes. At the moment I carry two mechanical film bodies, A fifty and thirty five lenses in 2.0 and 1.7, with a hand held light meter so I don't have to point my camera at everything I'm trying to focus on.


One of the complications we deal with on the forum because it is a camera forum is over thinking our gear. Currently it is hotter than hell and double sweaty throughout Thailand, extra gear is a extreme burden in such circumstance. In Cambodia or Laos I would be concerned about having a extra camera body at all times. In Bangkok it is not a worry, If you were to be robbed of everything you could have another camera and lens within a hour and there is always the disposable camera option for dire emergency until you get more gear.


Anyone coming to Bangkok or Thailand try to drop a PM with a phone number, If either me or Simon are around we both enjoy cool drinks and practicing our English, of course Simon's English is much better than mine.
 
Bryan Lee said:
For me the 50mm represents the greatest lens for rangefinder photography in Bangkok. Going longer changes the perspective in a negative way for street which is not portrait photography nor wildlife photography both of which I prefer a long lens and SLR type focusing. In general Bangkok is a very crowded place, my style has developed to where I include the wires and and the nastiness of the city so there is no need to try and isolate them from the framing. I like pictures that I call busy, frames that are pretty full of objects, shadows, people, action, definitions of the moment, interpretations of how I see my world. I see life from two open eyes, not through a long monocular. I try to interact with the subject matter so I want to be closer. The fifty cannot be discounted for these purposes. At the moment I carry two mechanical film bodies, A fifty and thirty five lenses in 2.0 and 1.7, with a hand held light meter so I don't have to point my camera at everything I'm trying to focus on.


One of the complications we deal with on the forum because it is a camera forum is over thinking our gear. Currently it is hotter than hell and double sweaty throughout Thailand, extra gear is a extreme burden in such circumstance. In Cambodia or Laos I would be concerned about having a extra camera body at all times. In Bangkok it is not a worry, If you were to be robbed of everything you could have another camera and lens within a hour and there is always the disposable camera option for dire emergency until you get more gear.


Anyone coming to Bangkok or Thailand try to drop a PM with a phone number, If either me or Simon are around we both enjoy cool drinks and practicing our English, of course Simon's English is much better than mine.
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I agree with what you said about photography in general. I don't edit my photos to make it pretty, I like to capture the moment and capture the natural design of the environment as well. If that means wires and kaos, so be it. A hand held meter still sounds like a good idea to me, I trust it more. I really don't want to take my M6, not because I think it's not the best camera for the job but I would hate for it to get stolen. I'm not as attached to my M3 so that's why I want to take it. Whatever camera I decide to take with me, I'll more than likely still take my incident meter. I'm only trying to get opinions here, which I welcome and appreciate. I want to travel light.

I'm not just staying in Bangkok. My buddy and I are going to island hop a bit.

I'll let you know when I'll be there if you want to get a drink and practice your English, which by your writing I would have never guessed you needed the practice.

Cheers.
 
>I don't see the point of the 35mm lens if I take the 28mm and need to go wide for a temple shot or landscape

There's a big FOV difference between a 35 and and a 28 lens - the way i see things and the same between the 50 and 35. I would bring bring the fastest glass you have - it might be bright outside but a lot of interior work i do requires 1.4 (sometimes at 800)

and i'd agree with Bryan: a 50mm works very well here in Bangkok.

FWIW I'd tend to avoid IQ Lab as they scratched a load of negs a few years ago. Photo Hobby in the Silom Complex (Third Floor) process and contact films and have been very good so far. There's also Surat who processes all film by hand i don't have his number but Bryan may have. He did have profile page on the Lightstalker's website a while back.
 
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We joke around over here about practicing English since I go for days without speaking it. I'm American raised in the south so I speak a southern English to Simon's proper UK English so thats what was referenced by me saying he speaks better English than myself.


I never go anywhere without my little Digisix light meter. I could carry a studio meter but it gets the job done on the street. Many times I use it to pre set my camera very casually as people stand around and then at the last possible moment pull up my camera and snap with no fiddling. Other times I use the TTL meter on the camera, I like having the option but I learned by having a Rollie with a broken meter.



I wouldn't get to worried about getting the M6 camera stolen. I would get insurance in your home town before you come over and make sure its covered during your flights and trip overseas. In 5 years I have never had a camera stolen and the one time I did have something come up missing it was because I left a bag with some notes in a motorcycle basket and they thought it had money inside, It was very silly on my part but was not a financial loss.
 
Bryan Lee said:
We joke around over here about practicing English since I go for days without speaking it. I'm American raised in the south so I speak a southern English to Simon's proper UK English so thats what was referenced by me saying he speaks better English than myself.
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LOL Bryan :D i don't think i speak that proper as i tend to use the "F" word a lot.....
 
Simon Larby said:
LOL Bryan :D i don't think i speak that proper as i tend to use the "F" word a lot.....
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Yea, I tend to use the MF version, For the kids, MF stands for manual focus.:D​
 
Having shared a few drinks with Simon in steamy Bangkok, I can confirm his English is anything but "proper". He he he. I'll be e-mailing soon, Simon, and hope to see you in BKK in June!
 
So now that I know what gear to take on my trip, what film would you suggest? I'm not much of a slide shooter so any neg film that you'd suggest would be great.

Thanks.
 
Buy most of your color negative film there. Less hassle with hand inspection, etc. I'd recommend finding a large Fuji one hour lab which sells them. Probably cheaper than the states too...
 
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