Traveling: Film vs Digital

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jky

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I've been rethinking the idea I used to have that traveling with digital is simpler than traveling with film. Looking back to when I had an M8 vs when I had my M6 a 2 week trip consisted of the following:

M8 + 2 lenses
-laptop (13" or netbook) + power cord
-SD cards
-charger + power cord
-3 batteries
-external HD + usb cord

M6 + 2 lenses
-3 ziplocks of film
-permanent pen to label used canisters

I've been spoiled by the immediacy of digital, but it's definitely something I now feel on my back when traveling.
 
When I had one of these evil DSLR (Nikon D1x) and was traveling, I only took the camera, spare battery, spare memory card, charger. Why is it that so many seem to have the urge for bringing along their note-(net-)book when traveling ?
 
My reason is the repetitive blaring in my head of the words "backup, backup, backup". A laptop serves this purpose directly or indirectly through off-site services.

For some reason, I don't have this paranoia (of losing images) when shooting with film.
 
jky said:
For some reason, I don't have this paranoia (of losing images) when shooting with film.
Click to expand...

.... that's the point I was wondering about. 🙂 Usually I shoot about 20 rolls in a one week trip, carrying the film for the complete time of the travel. 20 rolls (135) don't fit easily into any pocket so I have to keep them in a bag, chances are high that the film gets damaged (heat, rain, x-rays) or stolen or lost.... and no chances to back-up.
 
jky said:
My reason is the repetitive blaring in my head of the words "backup, backup, backup".
Click to expand...

Ditto.
Even with a couple of large capacity cards I would want to back up to a second form of storage.
Laptop is an expensive and weighty option however.
Any other large capacity back-up options?
 
2Gb cards are so cheap these days. Just carry a handful of them and buy more if needed, that's what I'll be doing on my trip to Japan (if I even take a stinking DSLR).

a few weeks ago, when i didn't have one, it was simple - M3 a 21 and a 50. done. but now, the thought of which to take (or both) is giving my mild anxiety, dammit. maybe i'll just take an XA and my fiance (then wife) will carry an LX3 and I'll forget all about it.
 
I hate the idea of batteries, more so when traveling.

But, I think the look of your images is more important than the gear. Shoot digital if you want digital looking images, or shoot film for the alternate.

Actually, I think your back is more important than anything else. Drop the laptop! 😀
 
I travel with a DSLR now and do not take a laptop with me. A DSLR and two small zooms, charger and spare battery all fit into a Domke F6 with room to spare. You can be as paranoid about digital as you like and back everything up but you can loose film also by either misplacing a roll or having the processor or yourself screw up the developing. Nothing was ever 100% safe.

Bob
 
On my last travels, I had digital and film, I was equally paranoid about both. SD cards are so easy to lose, and a power spike could wipe the whole thing. Film on the other hand has to endure x-ray, and couldn't be backed up even if I wanted to.

Agree 100% with Nikon Bob, nothing is 100% safe, there is always something that can go wrong regardless of film or digital.
 
I simply find that I enjoy my holiday more with film: shoot a scene once then move along with my kid and partner. She said the other day how nice it was not to have to wait for me all the time, looking at the screen on the back of the camera and 'just giving it one more shot'.

YMMV of course.
 
don't be silly,
in these days of highly automated wonders,
(computerized electronic voice) " absolutely nothing can go wrong... go wrong...go wrong ...gowrng... gorg..."

storage chips are tiny, I carry a few.
film - kept isolated after exposed.
 
Digital everytime. Panny GF-1, 3 x 8gb SD cards, 3 x Contax Zeiss G lenses and an Epson P-7000 (160gb) for backup. The lot fits very easily in my photogs vest and weighs nothing.
 
Why is it that so many seem to have the urge for bringing along their note-(net-)book when traveling ?
__________________


Spoke like a man that is yet to discover the joy of it.

Get a decent speaker first and you can play TV or Films. Take along your entire music collection. Backup all your photos via the built in SD card reader that you made sure it would have. Or double backup via the build in DVDRW. Connect to work for email. Use a word processor, book flights, print out booking forms and boarding cards. Surf the web and even answer dumb questions on forums ;-)

I rest my case.

Buy one of these .....they are amazing

http://www.amazon.co.uk/XMI-X-mini-...1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1282136803&sr=8-1
 
That sounds like WAY too much gear to be toting around. We just came back from a week in N.O. (the old town never looked, tasted, or sounded better) and all we brought were a couple of little digital P&S cameras and my Bessa RF folder. Between 2 days on the train and a week in N.O. I never saw one person using a film camera other than me. The little P&S's were great for quick snaps, but I came back w/ a shot of the St. Louis Cathedral and my hero General Andrew Jackson from the RF that is plenty good enough to enlarge and frame, so I learned a lesson on the trip. As nice and convenient as the digitals definitely are, if there's a chance to get a shot to remember, you better have a good film camera just in case. The folder was perfect for traveling because it, well, folds up. Nice, small package w/ a 6x9 neg. Yes!
 
Last edited:
Gadge said:
Spoke like a man that is yet to discover the joy of it.

Get a decent speaker first and you can play TV or Films. Take along your entire music collection. Backup all your photos via the built in SD card reader that you made sure it would have. Or double backup via the build in DVDRW. Connect to work for email. Use a word processor, book flights, print out booking forms and boarding cards. Surf the web and even answer dumb questions on forums...
Click to expand...

what an elegant summary of what my travels programmatically spurn 😎
 
On my last big trip, which was to South America for three weeks, I faced the same choice. I even fully tested an Olympus DSLR and lens set because it offered the smallest and lightest combo (this was just before M4/3 was available).
When I considered the expense of spare batteries (no guarantee of having access to electricity for charging), backup (I'm not going to trust "cheap" memory cards so I'm springing for SanDisk) and just the overall shooting experience, I ditched the idea and went with film.
Boy was I happy! The amount of film I brought didn't take up an extraordinary amount of space in my bag, the folks at the airports had no problems hand checking it, and while most other travelers were stressing out about charging batteries and spending anxious hours trying to back up their images, I was enjoying a cocktail at the bar after simply rewinding my last roll and loading the next!
Best of all I came home with slides, beautiful slides!
 
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