How often do you need more than ISO 400 when travelling?

Whether I think I will need it or not, here is what I carry when I travel with film:

ISO 200 film (50% of film carried)

ISO 100 or lower film (25% of film carried)

ISO 400 or higher film (25% of film carried)
 
I have a hard time going over ISO 50 on clear days. As for Tri-X in diafine I've gotten usable results rating it from 800 to 1600 on the same roll. A third body dedicated to to those speeds couldn't hurt, just pack an ND filter and your set for brighter situations.

Standardizing film gives you one less thing to worry about, and a good 400 speed film sounds like the most versatile.
 
FWIW I think the traditional term is "cartridge", for the light-tight module housing the 35mm film pre-rolled onto a spool that you physically load into the camera. Cartridges are usually packaged with a protective storage canister with a lid.
 
fixbones said:
I am going backpacking around Egypt for close to 3 weeks around Nov/Dec.
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fixbones said:
(BTW i hope to develop my FIRST film in a few weeks time!!!
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You have gotten much sensible advice, but I wonder how many of these good people realize that you have never developed film before (if I'm reading you right)?

Everyone has their own learning pace. But if you are a beginner and you intend to develop these rolls yourself, you may be better off standardizing on a developer and a basic process and choosing a daylight and a nighttime film for that process, rather than standardizing on a film and relying on processing techniques you have not yet mastered to adjust the density and contrast of a film shot at various EI's.

Filters, as mentioned, are yet another option that doesn't rely on processing techniques.

If you intend to have these rolls processed by a competent lab, or if you will treat these rolls as learning experiments, or if you intend to accumulate sufficient skills and calibrate your development before you tackle these rolls, that's another story.

Don't let me put you off getting into darkroom work, though. It is fun, scary, and enormously satisfying.
 
Allthumbs: I hope to start developing before i leave for the trip. Am shooting a few test rolls of trix at the moment but haven't decided on the developer yet.
It'll definitely be much better for me (as a beginner) if i can standardize the film, ISO and also developer and i do intend to do that.
 
Urban alchemist: Nice to have input from someone who lives in the region!! I think i am lucky in the sense that i'd rather a bigger DOF than not - greater insurance policy when scale focusing or hyperfocusing.

All my lenses take 39mm filter. So will look into getting some ND4 or 8 before i go.
 
Roger Hicks said:
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I completely agree about standardizing on ISO 400 for daylight shooting rather than also taking 100/125 for bright sun, because of the far greater flexibility. <snip>
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I agree with Roger. In fact, I always shoot iso 400 b&w film. Back in the days when I tried to shoot different films, I always seemed to have the wrong one loaded in the camera in my hand. And, I sometimes move from the street to inside a dimly lit building for a few shots then right back out of the street.

I did shoot 10 rolls a Neopan Acros last month. Nice prints. But not substantially better enough than Neopan 400 for me to give up that quick low light capability.

When is iso 400 not fast enough? Very seldom if you understand how to meter / expose and know how your film really works. Most times you can just read the built in meter and let the film latitude bail you out. Sometimes, you have to think to get everything available from your film / development.

Below are two photos shot with iso 400 film, one shot close to midnight, one shot close to high noon. Both were processed almost identically (normal processing). Obviously not from the same roll but they could have been. (sorry, I know you have seen these before but they are here only to make the point)

Ground-Zero-Clarksdale.jpg


Shrimper-James-Ford.jpg
 
When is iso 400 not fast enough? Very seldom if you understand how to meter / expose and know how your film really works. Most times you can just read the built in meter and let the film latitude bail you out. Sometimes, you have to think to get everything available from your film / development.
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Good to know!!

Bob, may i ask what was the aperture used for the 'club' shot?? 1.2? 1.4?
 
urban_alchemist said:
As someone who lives in Tel-Aviv (although I've been relocated temporarily to horrible, horrible, horrible Geneva) - if you're taking two cameras to the middle east, make a day/night distinction. The light is VERY bright (even in winter) - I don't shoot more than 160ISO during the day unless I'm happy with endless dof - and even then, I make sure it's NOT contrasty film. Tends to be: Fuji 160S/Kodak Portra 160NC if colour or Delta 100 for b+w.

For night, well, your choices are open (darkness is darkness anywhere in the world!) - Neopan 1600 and a fast lense should do you well...
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This is very true. I have been to Israel/Egypt and just now came back from Turkey. Very bright sun during the day (most days) but for all the night stuff - there were many outdoor places to see/visit or inside buildings, etc - fast film was a good idea. I foolishly didnt bring much of a fast film with me, so the only thing that saved me in most situations was my superfast Hex 50/1.2. Also, I dont know about other places, but it was hard to find any film over ISO 200 there. I expect its the same most places if you dont know where to look. So, with your selection of lenses I'd bring some faster film too.
 
I live here in New Orleans, and I almost always load my camera with ISO 400, unless I know I'm going to shoot multiple rolls in bright light, like at Jazz Fest (Efke 25/50 in those cases). With 400 I can shoot during the day, with a filter if I like, or shoot a little at night (1.5 @ 1/15th, iso 400 gets enough shots at night that I don't bother with pushing much anymore, though I used to do tri-x@3200 or 6400 at shows).

Edit: when travelling and shooting b&w, I mostly pack all 400 speed film, specifically Tri-X, and maybe a few rolls of Acros or something else slow. It's simpler having less choices and not having to think about if you should 'save' the roll for later in case there's something it'll be better for, or thinking about what film will look best for what, or even having to dig through to find the proper speed. I just reach, load, then in same cases write on the canister with sharpie the speed the tri-x was shot at (in cases of low light). Much simpler than when I'm at home wondering 'hrm maybe I'll try this delta 400 I've had forever.. I could probably get away with 100 speed.. maybe i'll shoot this color stuff'
 
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fixbones said:
Good to know!!

Bob, may i ask what was the aperture used for the 'club' shot?? 1.2? 1.4?
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It was shot f2, a ContaxG 45mm Planar wide open. I metered the stage with an incident meter, did the mental math, and realized it said I needed iso 1000 to shoot f2 1/30th. But, I knew I could simply underexpose by 1 1/3 stops (iso 400) and the lost shadow detail would help set the mood while the films latitude would pull out the skin tones even with the young black man.
 
This is often why I will travel with 35/50 Summicrons and a 90 TE. They all take 39mm filters which simplifies the film selection in addition to being a small light kit though not the fastest. It's nice that the CV 25/4 is a 39 as well as it's so small that I forget it's in the bag at times.

I prefer 35/75, but it gets into multiple filter sizes and the 60mm filters for the Summilux are costly enough that I haven't been able to duplicate everything needed as yet.:(
 
fixbones said:
Bob: Thanks for the info/tip!!! Learn something new today ;)
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I believe that equipment centric sites like this will lead you to believe that you will frequently need some uber lens, exotic film and/or developer to do some fairly common things. In reality, all you need is to really learn how to use the pedestrian equipment / film / developer / processes that you already have. Of course that is not near as much fun as buying something new.
 
Roger Hicks said:
Ah, sorry. But if I misunderstood, someone else probably did, too, so it's as well the misunderstanding is removed.

Every now and then, Frances will ask me a question I can't answer because I can't recognize it: she'll use a word which is perfectly correct, but which it would never occur to me to use to describe the object/subject under discussion. A couple of days ago, she doubled it by adding an adjective which was, once again, perfectly appropriate, but which it would never have occurred to me to use. I forget what the example was, but we were both mightily confused.

Cheers,

R.
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Mr. Hicks, I certainly can understand your plight, but perhaps for different reasons. My wife is Korean. She still seems to think in Korean even when speaking in English. Korean is an inflected language. It can get interesting.
 
ASA 400 film only? Shakes his head in disbelief.

100 is my base. Plus-X and Ektar 100 and a chrome of some flavor.

25 & 50 when I can.

400 & 800 when I must.

Same rules for all 3 formats. Substituting Arista-EDU Ultra for Plus-X in 4x5.
 
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