Film to shoot for a trip to Australia

[snowboardmike15]

Ok so I'm going on a trip to Australia for 16 days soon and I'm

trying to decide on which kinda film I should take to shoot the trip

with. I'm in high school and it's a school trip but I also do some

photography work and shoot slides for my personal stuff. I'm afraid

if I bring all slide I'm going to waste a lot of slides on like

candid pictures that I want to have, but don't want to waste slides

on. So I think I've decided to buy like a 20 pack of pro print film

and take a couple rolls of slide as well. For the print film I was

looking at Superia X-tra 400, Press 400 and Superia 100. Which is

your suggesstion for print? And for slide I was going to get some

Provia 100. What's your opinions on this plan of attack? Any other

ideas? Thanks, Mike

[tobias]

Mike - where are you going in Oz? The only thing that I think is particularly relevant to your film selection is climate/light levels, and helpfully I am Australian (living in Caberra), so I can probably help...

 

Aside from climate/light, why wouldn't you just take the film you normally like to shoot with? It's Australia, not Mars :-)

[snowboardmike15]

haha true good point...well were going to (in order of our trip): Sydney, Coffs Harbour, Surfer's Paradise, Fraser Island, Brisbane, Auckland(NZ) and Rotorua(NZ). Leaving June 1st from Philadelphia(US EST) and landing in Sydney June 3rd (local time I guess)

[biotime_biotime]

I would consider some faster films for handheld unless all you are doing is fairly static stuff. If you care about scenery or object quality bring a tripod and some slow slide films and tripod everything that does not move to get all the depth of field and sharpness. Don't forget a cable release or some sort of self timer for the tripod shots. Don't blow those beautiful late afternoon street, animal or any other unprdictable shots that constantly come up when traveling because you film is too slow .Some of the new 800 neg films have really pretty mellow grain. And whats a bit of grain compared to no depth of field and/or motion blur.

[tobias]

I would definitely second the tripod + cable release, NZ has some breathtaking landscapes and Auckland city is pretty photogenic too. Weather will probably be shitty in NZ in June though. I guess you would want slide film for the landscapes and print film for the reportage/people shots? Dunnno if you would need 800 speed film, but it might just make things easier. On the other hand 400 speed is plenty fast enough for clear days, and it's true what they say - Australia is generally sunny even in winter. Personally I like Kodak 400UC for when you want the droolworthy color, or to give washed out winter scenes a bit of pop.

 

NB: Film is more expensive here, so bring it with you...

 

Hope you have a great time, you are going to love it down south of the equator... :-)

[mkphoto]

Keep your choices down to a minimum if you can- less decisions means less distractions.

 

I'm not sure what you mean by "waste slides"; are you concerned about exposure errors and such? Or are these slides for use by your school?

 

Superia 400 is Press 400 and it's a good balanced film, the colours I find on an overcast day were a bit muted but that can be rectified by your lab. Good latitude and very tollerant of mixed lighting. Great general-purpose for people/candids handheld. I overexpose it about 1/3-2/3 of a stop.

 

I've been using Sensia for slides because it's cheap(ish) and I like the muted colours for random street photography, I think Melbourne looks good in muted colours... it's kinda grunge (can't speak for Sydney). I like the little extra speed of 200 over 100 too.

 

If you're thinking about Superia 100 then perhaps consider Fuji Superia Reala in favour of it. It doesn't take underexposure all that well but when it's done right the colours are saturated but not overly so and it's very pleasing for skin tones. Seems to be the preferred print film for landscapes from what I've seen in magazines here.

 

Enjoy your stay in our country-- I personally think film is expensive for what it is here (AUD$10.50 for 36 Reala, AUD$15 for 36 Sensia, AUD$10.50 for 36 Ilford XP2) but that's all relative.

[matt hedgecoe]

I spent 3 weeks in Oz at the beginning of the year and came back with something in the region of 1000 photos. Virtually all of the colour prints were shot on Fuji Reala Superia 100/200. Slides were on Fuji Velvia 50. I was incredibly pleased with all the results. Even with a 100 ISO emulsion, the light was good enough to shoot hand-held most of the time. I only reverted to the faster film on the one or two overcast days or when using a long lens. Make sure you pack a polarizer in your kit bag! I found myself using one quite a lot and the results were fantastic. The Superia film handled the extra saturation admirably. Velvia, as always, produced some stunning results. At the end of the day, take a film you know and are comfortable with. There's no point in travelling half way round the World to experiment with new emulsions! And, as has already been pointed out - Take plenty with you. Film did seem quite expensive down under.

[scott_eaton]

Take Reala over trashy Superia. Finer grain...less contrast, etc.