Do I really need it?

I've never had any problems with my cameras. Like most of you, I only had a backup while working.
Even though, when I worked as a photojournalist here in Rio, I only had my D300s. Of course it handles one million times more bumps than a RF, cause it did take some serious hits, plus heat + sweat.
The problem with a backup is that I'll need at least £300.
 
My advice is to leave your DSLR gear at home. If you are concerned with costs and you run out out film, enter the first Poundland store in the UK where you can buy 24exp Kodak Gold(Colorplus) for £1.
Moreover, film (processing, and pretty much everything) tends to be cheaper in most European countries, so you can check the photo stores on the continent. Another thing you can do is to buy film from an online EU shop and have it delivered at the address where you will stay in London.

My advice, if you like Portra 400, is to try Portra 160 which is even more fine grained and cheaper. On a sunny day ISO160 is more than enough, even for fast street shooting. If you want to do some low light shooting, you might want to push Portra 400, which is very good at that.
Also, I see no reason to process film in London, as it is very likely you can find a better deal at home.
 
bogdanb said:
My advice is to leave your DSLR gear at home. If you are concerned with costs and you run out out film, enter the first Poundland store in the UK where you can buy 24exp Kodak Gold(Colorplus) for £1.
Moreover, film (processing, and pretty much everything) tends to be cheaper in most European countries, so you can check the photo stores on the continent. Another thing you can do is to buy film from an online EU shop and have it delivered at the address where you will stay in London.

My advice, if you like Portra 400, is to try Portra 160 which is even more fine grained and cheaper. On a sunny day ISO160 is more than enough, even for fast street shooting. If you want to do some low light shooting, you might want to push Portra 400, which is very good at that.
Also, I see no reason to process film in London, as it is very likely you can find a better deal at home.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the tips. I might try Portra 160 as well!
I have a friend in London, thats why I focused everything there. I checked some french labs and the price was not that cheaper.

Is SnappySnaps any good? They look like a compact camera store that offers crappy processing.

My base price is metroimaging.co.uk. I might get like 5% discount by the amount of films the guy said.

Processing around here is freaking expensive, around £9, no contact.
 
bogdanb said:
My advice is to leave your DSLR gear at home. If you are concerned with costs and you run out out film, enter the first Poundland store in the UK where you can buy 24exp Kodak Gold(Colorplus) for £1.
Click to expand...

Or 36exp Agfa Vista (Superia 200) for the same price. I cleaned out two local stores a couple of weeks ago... (88 rolls)

Note: If buying the Agfa at Poundland, check the number of exposures. One of the shops I went to had rolls with two expiry dates, and the earlier ones were 24exp, while the later were 36. I bought all of the 36s and left the 24s.
 
I wouldn't worry about film and x-ray scanners. I have traveled with film for years and gone all over the world with no film problems at all. I hand carry it but I don't even bother to ask for hand checks anymore.

I typically carry a single camera and lens, usually my Super Isolette, but lately I have also been packing my Balda Baldalux. I find that my folders are very relaxing to travel with, and they are usually quite well received by others. Just about everyone, even security staff at airports, find them irresistable and I have been able to get a few shots that would not have happened with a modern digital.

These cameras are still fully capable of capturing some awesome images, and they are very easy to pack.
 
If you have a friend in London, your best option is probably to buy film online, as the savings will be substantial. My favorite store is macodirect.de. See whether they can deliver your order at your friend's address.

I usually hand process myself the film (very relaxing), and I don't live in the UK. I merely spent quite some time there recently, as an academic visitor, so I didn't get the chance to use SnappySnaps. Nevertheless, after scanning my options in the small university town where I was based & the nearby London, I decided to wait and process my films at home. In Bucharest, where I live, there are a couple of 1hr local labs that do a decent job for approx. 80p (c-41 development only). Top notch professional labs here were charging something like £3-4/ film last time I checked.

£9 for a C-41 film sounds way too much. The actual costs for developing a film are more like 40p in chemistry + labor & utilities. For instance, developing a film manually takes 30min and basically a few liters of water, that has to be heated at 38C. At some point, when I had a lot of film to process and very little time, I managed to strike a deal with a good consumer lab to develop my film for 60p/roll.
 
I've been checking other labs that people recommend over the web. Some have £2 processing, others £5. I'll try to lower the price on a good one telling the amount of film I would develop all together.
This macodirect.de site has really good prices!

Are there any cheapter M-Mount rangefinders? Second-hand Bessas are really pricey and don't have a good resale rate around here.
 
I for one cannot understand why everybody keeps yelling "film is for black & white, digital is for color". My D-Lux 4 produces excellent b&w images at ISO1600, without much need for pp. My film cameras produce lovely saturated color images with Fuji Superia 800.
 
Griffin said:
I for one cannot understand why everybody keeps yelling "film is for black & white, digital is for color". My D-Lux 4 produces excellent b&w images at ISO1600, without much need for pp. My film cameras produce lovely saturated color images with Fuji Superia 800.
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Yelling? No, more sort of murmuring. 'Excellent' and 'lovely'? Matters of opinion. Especially if you want to print, instead of relying on a computer screen.

Cheers,

R.
 
mfogiel said:
If you shoot colour and own a good digital camera, shooting film is pointless. On the other hand, if you wanted to shoot B&W, using the digital camera would be pointless.
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I think using a film camera, because of the constraints on number of exposures (amount of film to carry around) is a superlative tool to teach a photographer a measured, thoughtful approach to his images. Notice I said thoughtful, not slow. I don't think a big trip is the place to learn this. For now might as well go digital, tape the button down and chimp it later, like everyone else does. But neither is useless; horses for courses.

If you're strictly color then you make a valid point. 🙂

s-a
 
£6.50 for a roll of Portra 400? I'm pretty sure that's almost twice what it costs in Hong Kong. Just saying. Film must be REALLY cheap here if those're the prices others are paying around the world.

I'm not exaggerating: it's insane to go without a backup camera of some kind. In Europe, 2 years ago, my Mamiya 645 Pro TL literally started falling apart on me — a camera I'd only bought a few months prior to the trip in almost-new condition. Things happen and there really is no predicting when.

I'd go with the R2M —*I enjoy using rangefinders more. It's also less bulky than the 5D. Film is heavy but I hope you aren't going to be carrying your entire supply with you all day (keep it in the safe in your hotel room or something).

I find it hard to shoot more than 30-40 photos in a day on vacation. I plan for 1-2 rolls a day (regardless of format, as I use different formats for different purposes).

Regarding a potential backup camera:
"This lens mount has also been used by Minolta on the Minolta CLE rangefinder camera, by Konica on the Hexar RF, by Voigtländer (Cosina) on the late models of the Bessa range, by Rollei on the Rollei 35RF and very recently by Zeiss Ikon on the latest Zeiss Ikon rangefinder camera and by Ricoh in the GXR system." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leica_M_mount)
 
Ive travelled all over the philippines and europe with a spotmatic, zeiss lenses and plenty of Portra 400. were talking to the tops of mountains, in caves, through crowded cities, on and off planes and through airport security. at no point have I ever thought “this is too heavy, this is too much, this is a hassle, this is expensive.”

the problem with asking others opinions on what you should do, is that other peoples opinions are biased, and not always from personal experience. the simple truth is that you won’t know whats best for you until you personally try it. if you want to shoot film for your trip, and there isn’t an obvious cost issue for you, then really nothing else matters. you will, because you enjoy it. period. if you don’t take the Bessa and stick to digital, you will have done it because you just didn’t want to shoot film that much. I don’t think anyone would argue against the digital being easier and likely cheaper, even if a 5D and L glass zooms are ridiculously large and heavy. but what does any of that matter compared to what you want?

all you need to ask yourself is what you really want. if your not sure, then take both. if you can’t, well you will at least have learned by the end of the trip what you want to use in the future for traveling. basically, the only way to find out is to just go.

just for reference this is what I typically carry when traveling:

Me
Pentax Spotmatic
Zeiss Planar 50 1.4 ZS
Zeiss Jena Flektogon 20 2.8
Rollei 35

Girlfriend
Fuji instax 50s
Fuji X10

4 week or longer trip 20-25 rolls
-4 week trip 5-10 rolls
10 instax cartridges


I have no idea what it weighs, but it doesn’t matter. we always get the photos we want, and we use the cameras we love using. in short we enjoy the experience and the photos equally. and thats what matters most.
 
Personally I prefer to travel with film, assuming you can leave the bulk of the unshot film wherever your staying at the time so your not carrying everything everywhere, the Bessa is a lot less to manage than the 5d and zoom lens.

As has already been said, if it goes wrong you could pick up a cheap film camera, not so easy to pick up a cheap digital, although the chances of either going wrong is probably slim.

Don't photograph your lunches and therefore take fewer rolls of film, maybe you could make sketches instead.

Has anyone ever lost a film to X-ray fogging in the last ten years?
 
I was thinking of a Leica III (IIIa, b, whatever) with a 50mm Jupiter 8. Is the cheapest option I've seen, and I don't have a problem with the lack of meter. "The Classic Camera" has some really nice ones.

séamuis, thanks for the tip. I'll do a small trip this month around here to really "compare" both ways of shooting.
 
semi-ambivalent said:
I think using a film camera, because of the constraints on number of exposures (amount of film to carry around) is a superlative tool to teach a photographer a measured, thoughtful approach to his images.
Click to expand...

Or a low capacity memory card. I think I have some older ones that will hold maybe 5 12MP RAW files.

😀
 
What you guys think about this:
"I was thinking of a Leica III (IIIa, b, whatever) with a 50mm Jupiter 8. Is the cheapest option I've seen, and I don't have a problem with the lack of meter. "The Classic Camera" has some really nice ones."
 
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