25 Years, 4 Overseas Trips, and Still Undecided

R

ruben

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This post has nothing to do with "which gear for a trip". It deals with what may work best for me, and perhaps for you: MF, SLR, RF

Because basically, if I exclude my Olympic SLR times as a free lancer photojournalist, overseas trips have meant for me "lots of time to photograph" - which I don't have at home. Concentrated lots of time.

Be said as well, that like the fully packed US marine, during my photojournalist times I used to carry around 6 kg gear, some of the time engaged in street fighting. So I cannot say I was photographically born under the influence of the "one lens - one camera" curious talk & trend I have read about at RFF.

My first photo accounted overseas trip was to Argentina, to visit my family and the country. I decided this was the time to test my Mamiya TLRs SYSTEM. Most of the time there I have been cursing the time I was born. However back at home when scanning and seeing the results of MF - I got another slap in the opposite direction: the pictures I managed not to miss due to the unflexibility of MF were a delight to my eyes.

The following overseas trip I let my Mamys to rest, and took instead my war-gear for the West Bank and Gaza, minus some components, and immersed myself within Buenos Aires for several weeks - This was the most succesfull crop of my life. Compact OM slrs, winders, several lenses - worked, as if I was in a war zone.

You can say that there is no wonder since I was very much used to this gear, but street photography is not war photography at all.

At my third overseas attempt into Prague, I went absolutely sloppy due to some hamer blow I may have got several days before, and decided to go OM slr, but "compact". Here I lost the picture of my life due to that "compactness".

A following visit to Istambul, where I took my Kievs with all lenses, is not to be accounted here since I suffered from two external mighty obstacles: lack of experience with the Kievs (never before I used any so intensively), and my wife, who went crazy while I was hardly changing lens, metering light etc - time after time. Divorce was there on the horizon. But some good pics were cropped.

Now, I have went back from Turkey again. To this trip I took two Canonets and a third Oly SP. I could have taken three Kievs but by now I do not have a third Kiev ready for war. So this imposed a different course.

This last time founded me with a good edge to take into account too: Due to my RFF years I became a more experienced street photographer. Am I sorry or happy for going there with RF instead of SLRs? Great interesting question I ask myself.

Ceirtainly with the experiene came the illness, I am used to absolute silent shutter and once you get used to this weakness - you are almost doomed.

Ceirtainly the lack of zooming was felt in a foreign land. But on the other hand the pair of Canonets and my experience went into a not so bad a dance.

Therefore, I think two more trips are required for a final personal answer. One with a clever OM gear selection. The other with my current Kiev gear I am very used to. Meanwhile - undecided.

Yet the options have narrowed quite nicely.

Cheers,
Ruben
 
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Ruben:

You have got me laughing, especially about the hammer blow 'you may have got', the threatened divorce when you were 'hardly changing lenses' in Istanbul, and the one lens one camera 'curious talk and trend' quip.

You are the Mr Bean of RFF, and often make my day.

When I am undecided and have only one camera I take the OM and the 28-48 wide zoom.

But it depends where you're off to next: the Grand Canyon is slightly different from Casablanca.
 
Ruben, I think your story would be even better if you had some pictures from your trips posted there as well.
 
My kit for intensive travel shooting (and I wear glasses like you do):
-R4A for the 28mm lens ( can be substituted with Minolta CLE)
-M7 0.85 for the 50mm lens (can be substituted with a ZI, which can become a single body+35mm lens when extreme light weight is needed)
- FM3A+100/2 MP for longer reach (can be substituted by other SLR's with a similar FL)
- Tri-X shot at 400 ISO (if i need to crank up the iso, I develop in Diafine with shots on the same roll ranging from 400-1600 iso)
No changing lenses, no waisting time on fiddling with other options...
 
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ClaremontPhoto said:
Ruben:

You have got me laughing, especially about the hammer blow 'you may have got', the threatened divorce when you were 'hardly changing lenses' in Istanbul, and the one lens one camera 'curious talk and trend' quip.

You are the Mr Bean of RFF, and often make my day.

When I am undecided and have only one camera I take the OM and the 28-48 wide zoom.

But it depends where you're off to next: the Grand Canyon is slightly different from Casablanca.
Click to expand...


Hi Jon,

The hidden story is how often I "make the day" for the mods.

Cheers,
Ruben
 
mfogiel said:
My kit for intensive travel shooting (and I wear glasses like you do):
-R4A for the 28mm lens ( can be substituted with Minolta CLE)
-M7 0.85 for the 50mm lens (can be substituted with a ZI, which can become a single body+35mm lens when extreme light weight is needed)
- FM3A+100/2 MP for longer reach (can be substituted by other SLR's with a similar FL)
- Tri-X shot at 400 ISO (if i need to crank up the iso, I develop in Diafine with shots on the same roll ranging from 400-1600 iso)
No changing lenses, no waisting time on fiddling with other options...
Click to expand...

Hi mfogiel,

First, your Diafine crank up technique requires some detailing, in case you are telling me that, ocasionally, in the same roll you shoot at ISO 200 and 1600.

However, you are talking about three bodies and three lenses and this is very close to my basic OM/Kiev approach, although my labour distribution is different.

In your squeme, each lens gets a specific body. No lens exchange.

In my squeme each body gets a different ISO film and lens do exchange between the bodies.

Now, for the one minded "one lens one body" fellows, I must detail that only two bodies at a time will be on my shoulders when street photographing. News, war, in-between photojournalists, vary their squeme in their own like. From 7 Leicas in their jacket up to a single half meter super bazooka (I can vouch with references for both extremes).

Cheers,
Ruben
 
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I have an experience somewhat the opposite of yours. ALthough no 25 years are invloved :) maybe a fifth of that.

But whatever i took with me i was always happy and satisfied,or the "worst" pleasantly surprised. This includes trips with Leica m2+Hexar AF, trips with Rolleiflex TLR+hexar AF, trips with Fuji GW690ii+Canonet ql17, and even trips with a simple yashica GSN.
 
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