Am I mad to take a film camera to Southeast Asia?

Update. Greetings and hello from Indonesia.

My travel kit is entirely analogue. A pair of Contax G1s with Zeiss 'G' 28, 45 and 90, hoods, UVs, 50 rolls of film (25 B&W, 25 color neg) and a backup Gossen meter - the latter I'm not sure why, if my two G1s fail, they and the Gossen will become expensive paperweights.

I have three photo projects to revisit in Indonesia. Then I will move on, to Singapore for a few days, then other destinations, less consumer-oriented and offering the lure of traditional cultures and lifestyles are more of interest.

Many thanks to all who have commented in this thread. I've enjoyed the good advice given and some things posters have said have evolved some entirely new ideas in my mind.
 
Highway 61 said:
Real film cameras are those which don't use batteries, especially when traveling.
Click to expand...

Yes. And real photographers think nothing of blowing their exposures, time and again.

Respectfully (= no offence meant or I hope taken), but you did leave yourself open to that one...

Or is that why the universe in its infinite wisdom saw fit to give us the Weston Master?

:angel:
 
Ya, I don't quite get the fetish about no meters. I enjoy lots of film cameras like the M2, Nikon F or 500CM and I can get by with "sunny 16" outside after years and years of doing so. But the human eye is notorious for not being able to measure light so inside or with difficult lighting, give me a meter. Using one is NOT a weakness nor does it say anything about your mastery of the craft. In fact, not using one may say a whole lot more.

So, a film camera without a meter is fine (but when I started in 1966 most cameras had a built in meter). However, 99% of the time there is a meter in the kit, preferably incident. I packed up a house in July and a lot of photo gear is in storage so I have had to down load a photo app for the phone since my light meters are in some box and I am not even sure which.

Yes, a few of the great photographers of the past did not use a meter (possibly before they were commonly available). HCB is one of this boards heroes and I have read his exposures SUCKED and only a master darkroom technician could make some of his images printable. I think I would rather have an easily printed negative but that is just me.
 
ozmoose said:
Update time again.

Greetings and hello from Indonesia.

My travel kit is entirely analogue. A pair of Contax G1s with the standard Zeiss 'G' kit (28, 45 and 90), hoods and UV filters, 50 rolls of film (25 B&W, 25 color neg) and a backup Gossen exposure meter, the latter I'm not sure why, if my G1s give up the ghost, they and the meter will only be good as paperweights...
Click to expand...
Sounds perfect. Those G1s are something I'd have chosen!
There's a number of good labs in Thailand and Vietnam where you could get your film developed for extremely reasonable prices. I did this and then sent the negatives home via EMS while travelling. Helped cut down on weight.

A few years ago I backpacked SE Asia for 9 months shooting only film. Absolutely no regrets.

I had a Fuji Natura S for wide angle and low light and a GA645 for anything else. Bought and killed a few waterproof p&s along the way (Canon WP-1, Fuji Work Record 28). Having cameras with built in meters and automatic shooting modes was a godsend. I don't think I used anything other than aperture priority in the GA645 and all my other cameras were fully auto.

YDZgDjy.jpg
 
I shot film in Vietnam earlier in 2018 and it was easy (and super cheap) to get it developed at CropLab in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. I shot with a Leica film camera and a compact Ricoh GR1 film camera. Since the labs sent me the photos on Google Drive pretty quickly (within a day, sometimes in hours), I was able to review my photos in the evenings. It allowed me to focus on simply shooting.

Vietnam is great and I intend to visit again in the future.
 
But then a big minus is I'll be shooting film and not digital, so no more instant gratification of being able to check on the spot and verify if my results are okay or not.
Click to expand...
As for myself I see this as a plus: during all the time between tripping the shutter and seeing the contact sheet, I can fantasize how good my picture is (should be).

Similar to opinion by Pyeh in post #11 above.
 
I would be a little bit wary of bringing 40 rolls of film to Southeast Asia these days because many airports have upgraded their scanners and they don't give a **** about hand checking them. The new carry on scanners WILL destroy your film.

Here in Bangkok, I'm still lucky that they allow me to hand check but I've had problems in countries like Vietnam. Also, in South Korea (not SE Asia, I know but it's an example) they REFUSE to hand check film in transit unless you have a diplomatic letter from an embassy.
 
My wife and I recently made a trip to Egypt.

I brought one DSLR camera, one 50 and one 15 lens. I shouldn’t even brought it as I used my iPhone 6s for the majority of photographs I made. The iPhone makes wonderful panos!

Zero film.

Even hotels we stayed at they scanned our stuff each time we entered, just like at the airport, One airport, Frankfurt Germany, our stuff was scanned two different times. While visiting Egypt, I hadn’t seen this many carrying machine guns since military.

Some places we visited, no cameras. iPhone was OK. I surmise camera bags, switching lenses, flashes, clumsyness, spending too much time fooling around with the gear, had something to do with it.
 
You have a great kit prepared so take it! I have never used a Contax G1/2 but came close a few times. My understanding is that the 45 is a legendary lens. My favorite lens at the moment is a 35f2.8 C Biogon and if the rendering is similar, then WOW!

May head from Manila to Vietnam for a few weeks in February. Have fun.
 
A quick update.

The G1s are working well. A few quirks - the two cameras expose about half a stop under from each other and there is a further (small) variation between the pair and my Gossen meter. Frustrating to say the least. A little overexposure is best with 'aged' film, so I've had to do some fast mental calculations (based on light conditions) to ensure my exposures are sufficient to provide good shadow detail without burning the highlights. This Asian light... not so different from Australian bush sunlight, but it has to be taken into consideration.

I've shot 27 rolls so far, 22 B&W and 5 color neg.

My most oft-used lens is the 28 Biogon as a general walkabout, followed by the legendary 45 Planar for detail shots, and now and then the 90 Sonnar. All are functioning just fine. I've not had focusing problems with the 90 which according to many is notorious for missing focus. So far so good- until I check my images after processing, anyway.

Surabaya has some interesting colonial (Dutch) architecture from the period 1910-1950. Very little older. One building is said to date to 1745 but according to my notes, it was bombed almost to rubble in 1944 and rebuilt after the war. So not very original.

An old cemetery, dating to 1840, has provided many interesting shots. When I first saw this in the early '90s it was a forlorn and neglected area of broken graves and cracked tombstones, but it has now been cleaned and cleared and local photographers use it for model shoots with baby dolls or wedding setups. So not quite as original as it was, tho still fertile ground for much detail photography.

All that said, I've made the decision to return to Australia because of the bush fires and I'll fly out of Bali tomorrow. The cameras and kit and films will stay in Surabaya as I intend to come back when the fire danger in Oz has passed.

Fortunately our home property in the country (or "bush") is not in danger (yet) but my place is most definitely there. So go back I must.

To be continued.
 
Thanks for this update, it always interesting to know how things develop after decisions are made! It seems you made the right choices. Wish you all the best.
 
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