Camera Around the World?

[janice_mackay]

Hi all,

 

Haven't heard anything new on this for a while - since before Mike

got the camera I think. Is it still going ahead? Did I miss

something?

 

Thanks

 

Janice M. (NZ)

[mike_elek]

I have the camera. Just ordered half of the film (a 100-foot spool) + 30 cartridges. Figure that should get things off to a good start.<p>

 

<a href=http://pages.prodigy.net/mm-elek target=_new>Web page here</a>

[ejstark]

As to the film, I consider it's a bad idea to send the film with camera (as I understood Mike correctly). As I know the packages are hardly X-Rayed in the postal office, thus the film can (and definetely will) be damaged. BTW, as I know the US postal rules denied the sending of the undeveloped film in the international packages.

I think the suitable way is to shoot your own film and develop it before sending it to Mike.

[mike_elek]

I'll keep that in mind. Maybe I can send to people in Canada without much difficulty. I guess the Continent could pose problems. Not sure about Australia and New Zealand.

[bennybee]

My original understanding was that the camera would be loaded with one roll and that everyone got to shoot 1 - 2 pictures on that same roll before passing the camera along. The one who gets the camera with a full roll then simply puts in a fresh roll and sends the full roll to the appointed 'project supervisor' OR develops it. That way we obtain one roll with pictures from around the world - sort of an unmanned world traveller... But perhaps that is an idea for a future project?

[mike_elek]

No, I figured I'd try to give everyone a roll of 24. They can shoot as few or as many (as 24) as they want.

[ejstark]

Mike, why you've chosen such difficult way: to send the film along with the camera? I really can't understand it! Does "Ilford FP4" you've bought in US differ from the same "Ilford FP4", which another guy will buy in his own city? I could understand if we're going to use the special film (e.g. infrared) or film, which production was stopped 40 years ago and you was lucky to find the undeveloped roll of it...

As to the Benny's idea I can say that if everyone will take 2-3 shots and send the camera to another participant, the film inside the camera will be X-Rayed up to 10 times, so I'm sure that the last guy will spend his money for nothing, because the film emulsion will be already damaged.

Also I think that another friends will support me in this: I'd not like to see this project as some kind of lottery. I want to get the results of my shooting immediately and want to choose the best photos I made to send them to Mike.

[bennybee]

Mike, I understood the current project is 1 roll of film per user. It was just an idea for a slightly different future project.

Eric, AFAIK only high speed films (ISO800 or more) are very sensitive to high power X-ray machines. An airport official in Dallas told me just last year that everyday 'consumer films' up to ISO400 were much less or not damaged at all by several passages through the latest X-ray machines (but he could be wrong of course). BTW, if every user shoots say 5 frames the damage is limited. Also, within a single continent the camera + film probably travels by surface mail from one user to the next. For additional security he last user could make sure that the camera is empty before sending it to Asia or the U.S.

Well, it was just a romatic kind of idea of course to post the film strips 'as is' on a website and clicking on the individual frames to enlarge the pics. Sort of a found film from a world traveller, ya know. Anyway, forget I wrote this ;-)

[mskovacs]

You have no worries sending to Canada. I buy nearly all my film from the USA and ship with USPS whenever possible.

[ejstark]

Benny, don't confuse the airpost X-Ray machines (where you check the handheld luggage) with postal X-Ray machines. The power of radiation in the postal X-Ray machines is several times higher! I know it, because when I tried to order the SX-70 Polaroid film from US, they said that they cannot guarantee the safety of the film, because of X-rays. I also asked our postal authorities about the possibility of sending the undeveloped film and got the answer that "it's not recommend to send the sensitive materials by post".

The main reason that I'm speaking against your idea (and idea of Mike)of sending film, is that we can spend a lot of time and money and as a result - get nothing!

[Julio Fernandez]

Let me suggest that participants provide and develop their own film. This would allow each one to select her/his favorite combination for the type of subjects chosen and would remove noise from the project.

 

Do we agree on one single roll, 24 frames each participant? Is it to be B/W, color, or whatever participants choose? (I would vote for B/W).

 

I also propose that we send the negatives to Mike after developing, scanning and posting here.

 

I believe we should avoid shipping undeveloped film, since we are not sure about what kind of treatment and intensity of X-ray is used in every post office involved (this is "small packages" as I understand, not necessarily the same procedure and machines as in airports)

[Sandeha Lynch]

Hey Mike, I'm not expecting you to ship me film, just getting the camera around is enough!

[nancy_bueler]

I agree that we should provide our own film, one roll, and that we should use either colour or B&W, whichever we prefer, and that we have the film processed ourselves. We should then ship our favourite pics or scans to Mike, but I do not agree that we send him the negatives. I always keep my negs. What does everyone else think?

 

Nancy

[ole_tjugen]

I would normally never part with my negatives, but will make an exception for this. whether we agree on undeveloped film, developed film, proof prints, fine prints or negative scans; I'm in.

[janice_mackay]

Hi Mike, what type of film were you planning to use? I'm also happy to provide my own, to avoid the difficulties & risks of sending film to the other side of the world, but will go with whatever is decided. I have never tried sending unprocessed film overseas via our postal system, so have no idea of the costs or X-ray risks involved. *Within* New Zealand there's no problem with sending film by courier / mail order as far as I know - I regularly place an order with a photo store at the other end of the country (well almost).

 

I do my own B&W processing, and usually scan prints as I don't have a film scanner - but I'm sure I could find someone to scan the negs for me in this case. :-) I also would prefer to keep the negs, so I have something to show for the experience!, but again will go with whatever is decided.

 

Looking forward to updates as the 'around-the-world' plan is finalised, and seeing the camera start on it's way. :-)

 

By the way, would love to hear the history of the camera, which you (Mike) hinted at in a previous thread. Thanks!

 

Janice M. (NZ)