stevemaller

I'd like to share a cautionary tale with a happy ending:

 

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About a year or so ago I was shooting at my childrens' school and was

changing lenses and balancing my beefy 28-70L on my lap. Without warning, it

rolled off (in super-slow motion!) onto the concrete sidewalk, lens mount first.

 

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When my heart started beating again, I picked it up (the lens, not my heart)

and noted that one of the three flanges (?) on the steel bayonet mount was

bent from the impact such that I couldn't remount the lens. I took out my little

needle-nose pliers and attempted to bend the flange back into place, and a

1/4 inch section snapped off in the pliers.

 

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Again, after applying CPR to myself, I looked at it carefully and said "what the

heck" (paraphrasing) and went ahead and fastened the lens back onto my

EOS 5.

 

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Unbelievably, it went right on, and worked fine.

 

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I took the lens into a local Canon authorized service center and they said it'd

cost almost $400 to repair. But the tech leaned over the counter and said,

"does it still work?". To which I replied, "uhh, yeah." He said, "I wouldn't fix it

then.

 

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And I haven't. This was well over a year ago, and since then the lens has

endured a two week photo safari to southern Africa and most recently a one

week vacation into the rain forests of Costa Rica. And the image quality is

every bit as stunning as before The Accident.

 

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I guess you really do get what you pay for!

I'm travelling to Africa this summer for the second time, and am taking about

75% <b>Provia 100F</b> slide film and 25% <b>Fuji NHG II</b> (800) print

film. The Provia will push one or two stops, and the NHG maybe one stop.

Both films have characteristics much to my liking, and I've grown accustomed

to them. I can't stress this enough; <b>your friend should take films with which

they're familiar</b>, and which they understand their peculiarities.<p>They

are both considered "pro" films, so they're quite a bit more expensive, but their

performance is well worth it. How many times can one go to Africa? I feel like I

want to make it count!

I'm going to South Africa and Botswana in just a week (I am SO excited!) and I'm taking predominantly Velvia (slide film), but I'm also taking Kodak Royal Gold 100 and 400. I really like the color balance and grain of both of them, and the faster speed film will probably work out better in the early morning and late evening hours.