The GetDPI Photography Forum

Great to see you here. Join our insightful photographic forum today and start tapping into a huge wealth of photographic knowledge. Completing our simple registration process will allow you to gain access to exclusive content, add your own topics and posts, share your work and connect with other members through your own private inbox! And don’t forget to say hi!

Film or Digital for travel to Greece /crete

A

apneaimages

Guest
I am traveling back home to Crete for 2 weeks and this time i have dessided to finaly shoot the places and people in my village and arount.

Most i shoot fashion but this time i like to use just available light.

My dilemma is follow. Should i use traditional B&W film, or shoot digital.

May people are hard working faces and a effect as in follow link would be great.

http://c2.api.ning.com/files/womlYr0-SGJE6Db1hNQzvRWV7wsm3VcS042tNXoW6xFagat7d3Lh3Dz3aG6OtdvbqExD0ZZF8Er18cMceixPFOmylDUMtrCg/oldTE.jpg

I have a hasse H1 with a phase one P30 & 2 extra 120 film magazines.

Just like to hear what u guys think...
 
A

apneaimages

Guest
Ohh i have not att all a problem to use MF in the streets. More i am more secure and steady with a big heavy camera. I think some rools off Ilford HP5 and pahse one will be a good combo.
 

Graham Mitchell

New member
The look you posted is easy enough to achieve in digital. And you have all the other advantages of digital to consider. Only downside is risk to the equipment while travelling and in the streets. I'd rather lose a film back than a digital back!
 

Don Libby

Well-known member
I'd go with just digital.

You'll be able to carry more with less stress and still be able to achieve the same look.

The downside to film is the various x-ray machines in the different airports that you'd be traveling through - some are film safe and some will just cook them - and yes you can always request a hand search but getting it is another matter.

While x-ray machines can and have cooked film they haven't destroyed a digital card (to my knowledge) just don't carry the card(s) with you as you enter the metal detector as it utilizes strong magnetic fields (that's why they caution folks with pace makers).

Yeah I kinda know what I'm talking about as this was part of my "other" life before I retired from the federal government (one of the first from DHS)

Don
 

ptomsu

Workshop Member
If I had the options of either digital or film, I would choose digital.

Unless you want to really stay kind of independent of any power adapter and computer, then just take a Leica MP (or similar) and enjoy B&W or color film.

But film is definitely much more work end-to-end from taking the picture to getting the final print. And you have to do it sometime anyway. So I prefer digital today - clearly. Even with MF. Main reason I decided to buy a MFDB and a digital MF system. Otherwise I could stay just with film and my Flextight X5.
 
A

apneaimages

Guest
is really still a problem to have films in flights? Hmm scary. better i get some there and develop them in place. I am from Crete so i visit my family. the think is that P30 is not that good in high isos so this will give me some space to shoot in places where light is not enough. Therefore i have think that Ilford HP5 400 will be a good choise especially that i can push it lite.
 

dougpeterson

Workshop Member
is really still a problem to have films in flights? Hmm scary. better i get some there and develop them in place. I am from Crete so i visit my family. the think is that P30 is not that good in high isos so this will give me some space to shoot in places where light is not enough. Therefore i have think that Ilford HP5 400 will be a good choice especially that i can push it lite.
Have you ever done the side-by-side comparison? I have not, but based on my experience with each my educated guess would be on the P30 at ISO400 and converted to black and white is *at least* on par with HP5.

Do you use Capture One 4 to process your P30 files? The differences in raw processors are highly magnified when shooting high ISO, long exposures, or mixed lighting environments.

You could consider upgrading your P30 to a P30+ or a P65+ which would give you more high-ISO flexibility. Or even rental; the rental market has been very slow lately, so if you talk to the right rental house or dealer (us for instance) you could probably get a stellar deal on a P30+ rental and if you like it we could credit the rental towards your upgrade.

Doug Peterson (e-mail Me)
__________________
Head of Technical Services, Capture Integration
Phase One, Canon, Apple, Profoto, Eizo & More
National: 877.217.9870 | Cell: 740.707.2183
Newsletter: Read Latest or Sign Up
 

Lars

Active member
is really still a problem to have films in flights? Hmm scary. better i get some there and develop them in place. I am from Crete so i visit my family. the think is that P30 is not that good in high isos so this will give me some space to shoot in places where light is not enough. Therefore i have think that Ilford HP5 400 will be a good choise especially that i can push it lite.
There is a problem with film when flying, but not so much from x-ray machines. At high altitude there is much more cosmic radiation than at sea level. Keeping the film in lead bags will help, and of course using slow films.

Regardless, I would prefer using digital when traveling (all else being equal) just for being able to verify capture on site.
 
S

stevenkania

Guest
My lead covered bag always attracts attention at X-Ray check points, and results in loss of time. When travelling, I use digital.
 

Jack

Sr. Administrator
Staff member
Why not take both? Assuming your lens selection won't differ for either choice, then already schlepping the camera and lenses is the major item size/weight, and adding a pair of film backs and film or the digi back is hardly anything. Depending on where you stay, you can leave one or the other in the room if you don't think you'll be shooting both that day...

Oh, and my advice on the film is to ship it ahead of time via FedEx (USPS x-rays all packages) to wherever you are staying the first night to avoid the travel hassles.

Just a thought,
 

LJL

New member
Lambis,
First off, you have some very interesting and nice shots posted....creative and even a bit surreal....very nice.

Now, my thoughts on this are a bit divided, but that is not unusual. If you primarily shoot digital for your other work, that should also be your primary tool for the kinds of things you plan to shoot on your trip to Crete. You will not really be gaining much, if anything, with respect to lowered light/higher ISO, than you might if you shot film. If you max out at ISO 400, they should be about equal performers, but if you plan to shoot higher for available light, then you may get a bit more with good B/W film pushed to what you need. But overall, I think you would get all that you need from the digital back, and do not bother with the film and backs, unless you just want to bring them along or do something special. The processing and post processing capabilities with digital far exceed what you may be able to do with film, plus digital will be so much easier to work with there and whenever you get back. Just an opinion.

Now, for the split thought on this....I always wonder why we tend to agonize over what gear to take or use. If this is a once in a lifetime planned and purposeful trip to capture the things you really imagined, why not take all the gear you could use to fulfill your objectives. As photographers, we tend to collect lots of gear, yet we also struggle to always pare it down to the barest minimum when we plan to travel. Personally, if the purpose of the trip is photography, bring the gear that will get you the results, and if that means both film backs and digital, so be it. If one makes the decision to only shoot digital, why keep all those film accessories? (Yes, I understand that a film back and a few rolls of film are are very effective backup if the digital back goes down and your camera can utilize both backs, but seriously, how may times do any of us really resort to that?)

So, if you are looking to achieve a very specific kind of look that you believe you can only get from B/W film, then take the film and backs, otherwise just shoot the digital back you are most familiar with for shooting and processing and spend your energies being creative with just that kit. You will not be giving up much of anything, except the extra gear, the worries about the film (temps, x-rays, etc.). If you really are not as concerned about the extra gear and weight, I would rather pack a portable flash and reflector to help out for the lighting you are looking for beyond the studio.

Again, just my thinking on this as I too constantly wrestle with these sorts of choices.

LJ
 
A

apneaimages

Guest
thanks a lot for all input. I am not a landscape photographer and really i lack on this. My idea was to shoot all the places where i have grow up and many off those still are inside with candellights and dark. Maybe the best i could do is just to send some films down with regulary post and take a tripod with me. with mirroe up and long times i think i get anything to my digital back. For me this is something new but i am as i am and i like it to be perfect. maybe is the last time i have the chance to shoot those old buldings and those places so is very sentimental for me all this project and i feel really i have not the experience for this. Give me fashion, beauty underwater and i nail it give me landscape and architectur and i.... you get the point. But yes a reflector and a Metz will travel with me. Sometimes when i see what you guys shoot and how somephotos goodlike they are i ask me always.. what the heck i do shooting models day in day out.
Thanks again for all help!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
Top