National Geographic Used Bessa R2 in Africa

The battery comment is interesting. I work a lot with digital gear (not my choice most of the time). I have 7 batteries for one of the cameras. Once they are drained, I'm looking for a place to charge them. Also, I carry a number of big CF cards. At some point the files need to be moved to other media. If i use a laptop, burning a DVD will drain the laptop battery quickly. So, mains power is necessary for this too. And for charging laptop batteries. The bottom line is, many things were easier with film, when working away from reliable AC power. I never gave this a thought in the film days. If I went through all the AA batteries for my MD4s, I simply ran the cameras without the motors. A lack of mains power never kept me from working.
 
Freakscene said:
Each day of the week or more that I was in the Okavango Delta in 2009 I used a solar cell roll to charge my laptop, sat phone, several people's iPods, phones etc. All in a 12 hour day period. Technology has advanced to a point where you can charge a battery literally anywhere.

The differences between film and digital are about fundamental differences in how they record light, not battery dependence.

Marty
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Were you in one place for 12 hours, or on the move? How long did it take to charge a Camera cell vs. a laptop Cell? Tnx, pkr
 
fdigital said:
You can get solar chargers for all DLSR chargers...
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I've seen most on the market. But they do require a good amount of sunlight for 100% output. In cloudy conditions the output will drop seriously. Also, they must be kept pointed to the sun. This is fine if you have time to babysit the operation. I usually do my charging at days end, after the sun is down.
 
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PKR said:
Were you in one place for 12 hours, or on the move? How long did it take to charge a Camera cell vs. a laptop Cell? Tnx, pkr
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I charged my batteries both on the move and stationary, but it works better when you can point the solar cells at the sun.

I had two of these: http://tinyurl.com/brunton26wattroll , a mini charger with a car fitting and the chargers for the devices. When stationary I could set up both rolls facing the sun - this charged devices as quickly as I would at home with mains power - 2-3 hours for a laptop battery or two Leica M8 batteries. When on the move I would arrange part of one roll on my backpack. This way the charge time varied a lot, mostly depending on whether the roll was facing the sun or not. But not much happens at noon in Africa and it's too hot even in winter to do much. A couple of hours was enough to get me going again for the night. A 9am-4pm stint was enough to make me extremely popular.

Marty
 
Freakscene said:
I charged my batteries both on the move and stationary, but it works better when you can point the solar cells at the sun.

I had two of these: http://tinyurl.com/brunton26wattroll , a mini charger with a car fitting and the chargers for the devices. When stationary I could set up both rolls facing the sun - this charged devices as quickly as I would at home with mains power - 2-3 hours for a laptop battery or two Leica M8 batteries. When on the move I would arrange part of one roll on my backpack. This way the charge time varied a lot, mostly depending on whether the roll was facing the sun or not. But not much happens at noon in Africa and it's too hot even in winter to do much. A couple of hours was enough to get me going again for the night. A 9am-4pm stint was enough to make me extremely popular.

Marty
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That's really good. I've seen the roll-up panels. I have a 2 x2 that is okay, but not anywhere near as good as what you have. I'll check those out.. thanks !

pkr
 
If you're on the move, you end up carrying a lot of extras -- chargers, cables, computers, extra hard drives, etc. Some things can be charged through the USB connection on a laptop, and multiplug USB cables help to cut down on the number of extra cables.

I'll agree, however, that an old rangefinder without a meter is much simpler. Although running out of film is no joy, either.
 
ZeissFan said:
I'll agree, however, that an old rangefinder without a meter is much simpler. Although running out of film is no joy, either.
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True, but CF cards don't last to infinity and beyond.
Locating film to buy in some locations would worry me however :p

I imagine Nat Geo photographers have a little more freedom in how they work too.
 
Does no-one see the irony in worrying about battery-dependence for film cameras? I mean, by design, these things require you to carry something or many somethings (i.e., film rolls) and load them into the camera every 36 shots (at best). I am not trying to make an argument against film cameras (love them and use them more than digital these days). It's just the whole battery thing that I don't get and, for some reason, can't help chiming in on...
 
This is an interesting discussion since it went from the original post referring to a Bessa camera to a comment of film vs. digital and then mild rants about batteries, yet no one mentioned anything about the images or how the subject of the photo might have dictated the choice of equipment and focal length and medium.

Doesn't anyone care about the image anymore. It's all about equipment now days.

David Burnett, NG photographer, often uses a Holga or an old press camera for much of his photography. No batteries needed. See: http://www.davidburnett.com/
 
I think the R2 shot was the worst in my opinion. The flare/backlighting kills it.
The carcass is too hard to distinguish (at the viewing size on the site) but the trail of camels is nice.
 
Freakscene said:
I charged my batteries both on the move and stationary, but it works better when you can point the solar cells at the sun.

I had two of these: http://tinyurl.com/brunton26wattroll , a mini charger with a car fitting and the chargers for the devices. When stationary I could set up both rolls facing the sun - this charged devices as quickly as I would at home with mains power - 2-3 hours for a laptop battery or two Leica M8 batteries. When on the move I would arrange part of one roll on my backpack. This way the charge time varied a lot, mostly depending on whether the roll was facing the sun or not. But not much happens at noon in Africa and it's too hot even in winter to do much. A couple of hours was enough to get me going again for the night. A 9am-4pm stint was enough to make me extremely popular.

Marty
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Almost 400 USD for 26 Watts?

That is expensive. But I guess it'll last forever without any moving parts.
 
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