Travel with Film or Digital

<p>Film or Digital?</p>

<p>I worked on several off-shore engineering projects prior to 2000, mainly in Puerto Rico. Photography was a side issue to document progress, and I couldn't deal with bulky camera equipment. An Epson Stylus with a fixed 38mm lens served me well. Going from air-conditioned to humid field conditions, I could keep the camera warm in a shirt pocket to prevent condensation. Today, under the same conditions, I would use a point-and-shoot digital camera.</p>

<p>More recently, I have traveled with musical groups to document their tours photographically, once with film and subsequently with digital, shooting 5-10 rolls a day (or the equivalent). Each time I carried two pro bodies and 3-5 lenses, including large, f/2.8 Nikon zooms, and accessories. That's pretty much how I travel for recreation, throwing a couple of Hasselblad bodies and a clutch of lenses into the mix (I travel to shoot).</p>

<p>Shooting a lot of film while on the road presents challenges I wouldn't repeat. A couple hundred rolls of film is bulky and heavy, and always an hassle in airports. You have to carry it on board, which usually means other gear must be packed with luggage. Documentation is important when you are being paid, and it is nearly impossible to keep track of times and locations with film - any markings on the cans are lost in processing. I mostly used NPH400, because you can't use anything slower without a flash and tripod exept in full sunlight, and Reala or Velvia for exceptions. Even with two bodies, you change a lot of rolls on when walking, and never seem to have the right film at the right time. Finally, you don't know exactly how you did until it is too late to repeat the shots.</p>

<p>Digital solves several problems. It's a lot easier to carry half a dozen 4G CF cards than 200 rolls of film, and they can't be hurt by X-Rays in carryon (or checked baggage). A laptop, external hard drive and a box of DVDs weighs less than film, and can be used to document and communicate with the home base. I backup to HD and DVDs each night, and recharge the batteries*. Every image has a time/date stamp, along with exposure data, and most important, a unique frame number. It's easy to correlate frame numbers with names and places in a small journal.</p>

<p>How does the quality compare? Well, that's another reason I'm not shooting 35mm film. YMMV.</p>

<p>Incidently, I've had two memory cards go through the laundry and dryer without a glitch. I don't recommend that with film. If you actually drop film in a lake, you'd better keep it wet and process it within a few hours ;-)</p>

<p>* F100's and F5's go through a lot of batteries too - 8 at a time in an F5, sometimes twice a day with early rechargeables.</p>

<p>I always like to take my tiny Canon Ixus with me regardless of whether I take a film or digital SLR. I would not want to carry the d/slr with me all the time but the ixus is small enough to fit in a trouser pocket or a shirt pocket with no problem. I don't shoot it at max resolution and the 1 gig card rarely gets full. It is really ideal to take to resturant and most tiny P&S cameras can even do video clips. When we vacationed in Crete I took a DSLR and the Ixus, a couple of years before I took a small Olympus C220 and an EOS1. I would not want to be without a small digital compact. I used to think my Canonet was small at one time but my Ixus 70 is tiny be comparison.</p><div></div>

<p><br /><br /> Some good points have already been made.<br /><br /> Maybe it depends how much your planning to shoot also. I want around India with an OM10, for me it was not a problem. But then I took about 5 rolls of film, and never shoot much. The nice thing about the OM10 is the weight and the fact that you can leave the thing on (me being lazy this often happens) and it will switch itself off automatically, so the batteries last ages. I have not held an xd11 but I have had an XG series, I assume it's similar? If so it seems a nice size and weight. <br /><br /> Looking back I wonder if i'd have got better shots with digital, but i used to shot most everything at f16 so my shots where never that sharp. But now (15 odd years later) things are different so i would probably go with my om10 or maybe a Leica screw mount (similar price to g10 /11) with a lens, but it's a bit of a lump. I can't see a problem buying film anywhere you go, if you land in a city. <br /><br /> What do you like best? I think its a toss up in convenience and it will depend on how you regard shooting, I tend to just want to take the odd shot and forget about the camera, dump it in my bag. My current digital is a D40, though i would never take it. <br /><br /> It's very heavy and bulky for me, the battery would keep dying because I often like to explore away from where i'm going to have power, So I would have to take extra, No way for me. But I can understand how others think nothing of a full set up. For ME, price vs quality land with film, But only if you know how to shoot good with what you have, and will pay for a good service. <br /><br /> All these shots of eyes (:</p>

<p>OK. I lied a bit, my D40 seems smaller, and maybe lighter than a quartz OM10 (with my own set up and no metering). Though i'm not going to dump it in my bag like the £30 OM, It's a toss up between power and film with the small amount I shoot.<br /><br /><br /> I still like film colour better so that would override any other concern. I think if i liked digital colour more I would conider how i'd get power. If your going out in the sticks for a long time batteries are a consideration. <br /><br /> If cost is a conern i'd rather put it in a few good rolls of film than a digital camera. For the size these compact digitalis are very good, but I also just don't like using them. You really need to try them, you may really like them, I did for a time.</p><div></div>

<p>If I were going to South America for 3 months, I would bring 300-500 rolls of Kodachrome if in this year, 200-400 rolls of black and white for my Blad next year. In 1981, William Albert Allard got chewed out by National Geographic for shooting 1,500 rolls of Kodachrome in 3 months on a story in Peru. Allard just fell in love with the place, went nuts in a good way.<br>

I am off to Paris for just over two weeks at the end of April, I am bringing 150 rolls of Kodachrome in 1 gallon bags of 25, will put in 16 hour days of shooting. If I were to do your South America trip in digital, I would bring an M9, 28, 35, 50 & 90, 6 x 16GB cards and some form of backup.<br>

But...that's just me..:-) </p>

<p>I thought the whole point of working for National Geographic was so you could do things like go to Peru and shoot 1500 rolls of Kodachrome.</p>

<p>To your original post I would add a fast 50mm for night & indoors. Use the 50mm as a mini portrait lens. If you are taking film take some 1600 for indoor night. I see that you have the 135mm covered. I used that lens considerably out of doors in rural areas that can not or I do not want to traverse by foot. As far as cameras (camera bags being stolen) two suggestions: 1. bag should have both a zipper and locking flap and 2. always when not walking with bag (bag strap across shoulder not over it) attach the bag to an immovable object, i.e. solid table or yourself. If strap is not detachable buy a climbing carabiner to attach to the table or yourself. More than likely unless the camera is digital with the emblazoned name Nikon or Canon you will get little recognition except from other photographers.</p>

<p>As noted above, Xray machines. The effects of Xray are cumulative, the more times your film goes through, the greater the chance that it will be damaged, especially since Xray machines are not always consistently powered.<br>

Film is bulky and reacts to climatic conditions.<br>

I suggest an inexpensive digital camera with basic kit, like the Canon XS or T1i, plus a point and shoot and multiple cards as others have suggested.<br>

The only difference I have with others is that if you are making good exposures with film, you can adjust your skills in a day of practice with digital. Just pay attention to the highlight control, so you don't lose images to burnout. If necessary shoot with exposure bracketing.<br>

When I travel I always carry the lightest slr I have, its charger and three or four lenses. I add my G9 and its charger because the one time I didn't, a short trip to the Caribbean, my slr broke and I had to buy a point and shoot for the rest of the trip. I also now have a netbook, spare pocket hard drive and the charger. Add a tripod/monopod, flash and batteries and SafePac DaySafe 200 backpack, medications and a change of clothes, plus electric voltage adapter and that adds up to a 45 pound backpack.<br>

I don't recommend that for everyone, however.</p>

<p>the last big trip i went on was to Israel where we spent seven days, not including travel. I shot ten rolls of the the 15rolls of film i brought. Of the ten rolls i shot, nine were kodachrome and one was Velvia 50. Of those 360frames i had 335some usable frames. I never had to worry about my battery going dead, and its fairly easy to bring three or four rolls along incase you see something spectacular. There was only one instance where i was caught without enough film, but i happened to have my dSLR along with me too so i pulled that out and got the shot i needed. I shot 380digital frames. I ended up using about 50 of them. Now, i've gone on other shoots before where i didnt just blast away like i apparently did there but the point that some make about being more critical with film is probably true. I also happen to like the images i shot on film more, due to the way it depicts the light and colors of the scene. But thats just me...</p>

<p>If you're worried about carrying around a lot of film, you could always ship your exposed film home.</p>

<p>....or you could just bring a Pentax 67 with kodak portra 160 NC and get pictures that will blow any digital camera to pieces.<br />I would never comprimise image quality by bringing a digital camera just yet, maybee in a few years when digital has fixed the horrible highlight rendering. With negative film you can relax and only remember three different exposures. Sunny, shade and cloudy. Simple and beautiful.´<br>

And if you cant afford a Pentax 67 and dont like the weight, I would recommend one or two cheap m42-mount cameras with takumar lenses. Old pentax-lenses have the most beautiful bokeh I´ve ever seen. My favourite is the Auto-Takumar 55mm/1.8 Wide open its sharper then my nikon lenses and have much softer and more beautiful bokeh.</p>

<p>Bring your film camera and 35mm slide film. The slides from the reversal film will have better color and depth of field. If you want to put them on a computer you can always scan them. Plus the slide images will last a long time. Pick a 50 to 100 ISO reversal film for best results.</p>