Re: [Leica] Travel Photography Made Easy

["Anthony Atkielski" <anthony@atkielski.com>]

From: Bill Erfurth <m6rf@yahoo.com>
Sent: Wednesday, October 06, 1999 05:53
Subject: [Leica] Travel Photography Made Easy


> I will be leaving shortly for about three weeks in
> Europe.  Each year I try to take a little less
> equipment.  This is what I have it down to this year.
>
> M6
> 90f2,8
> 50f2
> Nikon F5
> 28-70f2,8
> 80-200f2,8
> 105f2,8 macro
> Metz 32 flash
> and UV filters since I will be on a sailing ship for
> about a week.  I am also taking circular polarizers
> for all of the lenses for haze and smog.

Wow!  And this is the _short list_??  I assume that you travel mainly for the
purpose of taking photographs, right?  Otherwise I'd suggest just the F5 and the
28-70 zoom.

Oh, and where's the tripod(s)?

> The 50mm lens is mounted on the M6 and the 28-70 is
> mounted on the F5 so I can always grab a body and
> start shooting.

That makes sense--but why _two_ bodies and _two_ lenses?

> I take 10 rolls of film for every day I will be on the
> ground in Europe.  For low light shooting I am taking
> FUJI MS100/1000.

Why don't you just buy the film as you go?

I've never understood this reluctance to buy film locally.  Yes, it's a bit more
expensive, but if you can afford to pay for a trip to Europe, you can afford to
pay a bit more for film.  It's interesting that most people don't try to bring
their own coffee to Europe (even though it's likely to be more expensive here),
but they'll go to all sorts of trouble to bring film with them.

Here in Paris you can get any kind of film you want.  Black and white runs about
$3.80 a roll, color slide film about $11 a roll.  Professional film is easy to
find and is kept refrigerated.  One-hour labs are _everywhere_, and there are
many professional labs as well.

I suppose you are carrying all the exposed film back with you undeveloped?  I've
never understood that, either.  Sure, you may not want to get one-hour prints,
but you can certainly have stuff developed at one-hour labs here.  They use the
same machines as the labs in the States, and they have the same standards--that
is, as a general rule, they can get your stuff developed without mangling or
damaging it.  It's a lot safer to carrying developed negatives or slides back
home than it is to carry exposed but undeveloped film.  In the latter case, one
good blast of x-rays, and your vacation is gone.  Is that risk really worth the
couple of dollars you'll save?

> I will install new lithium batteries in all of the
> equipment before I leave.  Oscar Barnack's first law
> of photography is: "Batteries tend to die at the least
> desireable moment".

You can buy batteries in Europe, too.  There's a place down the street from me
that can find you any battery made, and they can make custom batteries for you,
too (they do it for the networks all the time).

Europe is expensive, but it's not the third world, certainly not where
photography is concerned.

  -- Anthony