How to deal with film on a long trip

Thanks in advance for your help.

I am embarking on a trip across Asia at the end of July. I will be

spending 2 weeks in Japan, 2 months in Vietnam/Cambodia/Thailand, and

about 8 months in India/Nepal/Sri Lanka/Bangladesh. I plan to bring

a 35mm SLR and a Mamiya 7II, for a combination of landscape,

documentary and travel photography. For such a long trip I expect

that I will expose at least 300-400 rolls of film, probably more. I

will shoot slide and b/w film in both formats.

Since dependable slide and 120/220 film may be hard to come by, I am

trying to determine:

1) Should I bring all of the film with me, or should I have it

shipped to me at different stops along the way via Fedex or DHL? Are

these delivery methods safe for the film?

2) I have heard that Vietnam has stringent rules about visitors

bringing film in and out of the country, and I'm sure the other

countries I am visiting may have similar regulations. If anyone can

share their experience dealing with these rules, it would be very

helpful.

3) Should I mail my exposed film home via Fedex or DHL along the

way? Are the costs completeley outrageous?

Any information that you can share about these specific countries or

your experiences with transporting film internationally would be

greatly appreciated.

Thanks again.

About the rules in Vietnam,

check <a href = "http://www.terragalleria.com/vietnam/info/vietnam-photography.html">

Photography in Vietnam</a> (more up-to-date than the photo.net

version). The bottom line is that if you don't

try to ship unexposed film out, you will be fine.

firstly, lucky you - its going to be incredible!! I went to vietnam in 2001 at the end of a 7 month trip. As a result I was carrying 50 rolls of undeveloped, exposed 35mm film and about 15-20 rolls of unused film. No-one batted an eyelid. If you're using pro slide, definitely either find reliable processors along the way or FEDEX etc home - its expensive but worthwhile. You'll need someone at home who knows which lab you want stuff sent to, with access to your funds to pay for them!

Pro slide is going to be difficult to keep fresh and I wouldn't rely on having supplies sent out.

I'd take maybe about a 2 - 4 month supply if its pro slide, should be fine for that long, beyond that I'd be taking stocks of long dated amateur slide. I've got the same dilemma coming up in a couple of eyars cos I intend to travel for 18-24 months and I'd dearly love to shoot velvia right the way round , but I just won't be able to get it / keep it fresh.

First let me state I have no first hand experience, however I am planning such a trip and have been doing some research, let me pass what I know on to you.

Recently I was in a Photo store talking with the a clerk about his 3 month trip to asia he told me he bought all his film in Bangkok apon arrival, with no ill effects when brought home and developed. I did not see any samples.

The other person that I corresponded through an email or two was Darrin James, he is a patron of Photo.net and has some amazing shots:

http://www.photo.net/shared/community-member?user_id=566650

He told me that he bought all his film (I think 80 rolls) and carried it with him with silica Packets. I believe he travelled for 8 months. If I am wrong I hope Darrin will correct me.

I hope that this *helps* solve the everylasting puzzle of film + travel.

Sounds like a fantastic trip Ezra! I'm sure you will have a wonderful time. My girlfriend and I did a similar trip last year for the same amount of time.

I purchased almost all my film (250 rolls) in Australia and then used Bangkok as a storage base. I was lucky enough to be able to store the film in a friends refrigerator there and only carried around 50 rolls with me at any one time. We were often passing through Bangkok and this turned out to be quite convenient. The longest period that I kept Velvia/Provia out of the fridge was in India and Nepal when we were on the road for 5 months. Surprisingly, the film showed no ill effects, despite the fact that it was often 40+ degrees for weeks at a time. I think the damage that people imagine when these films are unrefrigerated is over-rated. I always packed my films in snap lock bags and left them in their plastic containers. I tried to keep the bulk of the film deep inside my pack and wrapped it in a foil blanket (survival blanket) which was excellent at mitigating the effects of the extremes in outside temperature. I also tried to send it home reasonably soon after exposure (but some rolls stayed for up to 3 months post exposure under these conditions with no apparent ill effects).

1) If you know anybody anywhere in the regions that you are travelling, I would recommend imploring them to "lend" you some fridge space so that you can bring your film from home and keep some of it cool.

Alternatively, I can recommend Bangkok as a good place to purchase Provia and Velvia, provided you get it from a shop with a fridge (there are many). I purchased several rolls there and found them to be of excellent quality. They have both 35 and 120 film. I did have one batch of film shipped from home to a hotel in Bangkok via DHL and had no problem with the film itself.

However, despite the fact that the film was marked as a "gift", I was charged 2000bt (US50) duty on the package by customs. There seemed to be no way around this as my package had been "randomly" inspected at the airport and the thai customs had imposed the duty on DHL already and I was forced to re-imburse them. Apparently this is a chance you take when shipping things via courier to Thailand, so be prepared.

2) Definately DO NOT attempt to ship ANY film via courier from Vietnam. I am speaking from direct experience on this matter unfortunately http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=002DTI. Quang is partly correct that you shouldn't ship unexposed film, but its actually ANY UNDEVELOPED film that presents a problem. If you have the film developed there (definately NOT recommended), then you will have no problem. The best advise for Vietnam is to carry the film out of the country yourself. Thousands of tourists each year have no problem with this (despite the Vietnamese laws saying that the same rules apply to shipped film as to hand-carried film). I have also heard of someone posting the film with the postal system, but I wouldn't place much confidence in this myself. I shipped film from all the other countries you will be visiting, other than Sri Lanka and Bangladesh and had no problem.

3) As I've mentioned, I shipped all my exposed film home with DHL from various locations. I had good experiences shipping with DHL everywhere including Delhi, Udaipur, Kathmandu and Bangkok. However, the DHL in Vietnam were very unhelpful. They only told me they couldn't ship the film after I had left the country (rather than when they hand-packed the box and itemised the exposed film in front of me in their office).

The costs of shipping are relatively high 100-300 USD, (dependent on country and weight) but it gives you the opportunity to send some of the things you have purchased on the way home safely. My girlfriend bought lots of lovely handicrafts, wall-hangings, clothes and other things and we generally got a DHL "jumbo junior" and filled it with ten kilos of crap (including the heavy warm clothes and sleeping bags we had used in Nepal) and sent it home. What a relief to have a light pack again :-)

Lastly, I'm sure you have agonised about where to go at length already, but I wonder why you aren't going to Laos or Burma. Both are extremely photogenic and are amazing countries to visit. Provided you travel mindfully in Burma (using non-government transportation, hotels etc. and carefully consider how you spend your money), then I'm sure you will have an incredible time. We visited all the places you mention and along with India, the two countries I've just mentioned were definately the highlights.

I'll give a shameless plug to my Saffron Days presentation which was shot mainly in one monastery in Luang Prabang Laos.

http://www.photo.net/photodb/presentation.tcl?presentation_id=171676

Have a great time.

Please feel free to email me with further questions if you need to.

Kind regards,<div></div>