Santorini

I am travelling to Greece for a wedding this September, and along with my 8 mg Canon Eos 30 D I will be

lugging along my one and only Medium Format film camera ---my Mamiya Press---

I want to shoot slides and from the pics I have seen of this awesomely beautiful island, I can see the

contrast is very high, with a lot of very bright whites and blues.

Any film reccs.? Also does anyone know of any place to rent a medium format camera so I dont have to

lug the brick along! or even a high megapixel digital?? And what color space should I use on my 30D

I will be making prints for the wedding party, and want some for the scenery. I will be bringing my laptop,

and perhaps an extra hard drive....travel size...any reccs??

I dont want to miss this maybe once in a lifetime opp to take the spectacular scenic shots I've seen, and

want the very best and biggest negatives, digital or otherwise, I can make. Will only have about a week so

I cant get too involved with equipment and there is the wedding to consider!

Thanks in advance...

Rose

I spent a week on Santorini a few years ago, in June. You can see a few of the photographs I made there on www/photography001.com.

I used Velvia for all my photography there, despite the high contrast. I also made extensive use of a polariser though I was careful not to fully polarise, for this is as much black sky territory as the SW USA. Basically I finished photography by 9am exch day and didn't start again till after 5- your timings in September will be different. In between you can eat grilled fish and drink wine or beer- no hardship really. I think if I went again I might choose Provia 100F for a little less contrast and a little more latitude, but Velvia is a distinct possibility if you're cofident that you can control exposure well.

When you get there you will soon conclude that medium format rental might not be really easy. I'd not rely on finding much 120 film there either.

Its not hard to run through the WB options on a Canon dslr and conclude whats best for which time of day.

I don't imagine you'll be using slide film for the wedding- unless you enjoy living on a knife-edge anyway. In fact you might find that a neg film will make it a little easier to cover very dark and very light tones in high sun than will your dslr.

Hi;

Can't really answer your question, but I have just recently come back from Greece and have to say that bar none, Santorini is the most beautiful place there (and maybe anywhere). Mykonos has more beaches and bigger party scene, but Santorini is just magical, stayed a few days, but would have stayed weeks, if not months. If you're taking the fast boat from Athens, leave early for the port on your way back, not many taxis on that island.

I had a digital slr with two 4 gig cards, filled them both up. It is BEAUTIFUL. Sunsets in IA, restaurants/shopping in Fira. Polarizer filter is your friend there though.

Here's a few pix of the trip in general, with a few Santorini in there too.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=35127&l=8ef25&id=840660460

"I can see the contrast is very high, with a lot of very bright whites and blues." Rose, I was in Santorini a couple months ago. I think it is the most photogenic island on the planet and yes, it is full of whites and blues, along with other colors.

But I don't recall seeing any camera equipment rental places there. If you were looking to rent equipment, I would check out the net for places in Athens but that will be pretty inconvenient for you. I would suggest taking the equipment you feel comfortable carrying.

Plan to do a lot of walking and half of it will be uphill. The towns in Santorini sit on a cliff. Personally I would have loved to have a larger format but knowing how much hiking uphill is required, I don't think I would want to carry it around very much. But that's just me.

Thanks so much for all your answers. Now I know what to expect! I have a bad ankle so I

plan to use the MF in a very limited way, probably from the balcony of the hotel and the

one where the wedding is to take place, (I will let my son carry it) so I will be lucky to get

me from place to place, with the 30D only ....with which I will be shooting the

wedding....and probably use for most the touring.

Any recomendations for hotels, with great views that are not at out of this world prices?

We will be wanting to stay in OIA? for several days as that is where the wedding is, and are

open to suggestions. I have researched on the internet and it seems like they have busses

that run everywhere. Any tips about safety from theft on camera equip. I will be bringing

my three major lenses for the Canon, but will probably leave behind the 50-400 because

of its size. I will be able to shoot anywhere from10mm to 85mm,3 lenses covering that

range. Do I need to be any closer? I still have time to get a telextender.

Thanks again, Rose

Rose, no recommendations for hotels but there are also many places for rent on a weekly basis. Maybe this will help you....

http://www.greeka.com/cyclades/santorini/santorini-villages/oia-santorini.htm

Oia is just beautiful but for the most part, you will be walking or maybe renting a scooter in that town. If you want to go down to Fira, which also has stunning views, then maybe you would want to take the bus.

As for safety, I never saw this as a concern as long as you use common sense. Definitely leave behind the long lens. You just won't need it there. This place is a wide lens paradise but if your longest lens is only 85mm, there may be times you come up short. I did have a number of shots at 200mm but never missed not having my 80-400.

If you want to get an idea of whether 85mm is long enough, you are welcome to check out my photos at....

You would want to see pages 6-9. Clicking on any photo will bring up a larger image and to the right, it says "More properties." Clicking on that will bring up all the photo data.

Sorry, this photo link is less confusing......

Been there in 1995. Jars have apparently not been moved although then they were sharper :-)