Camino de Santiago de Compostela

[ward4e]

Hey everyone,

I'm not a pro photographer looking for a " chorus of angels miracle shot" if it happens it happens but inorder for it to happen I need to buy film along the way. I'm worried about weight, packing space in a bag and the fact I really don't want to have to carry 50 or so rolls of film along my journey. Maybe at the end I can put up with having a dozzen cans of exposed film in a bag in my pack but I'm not giving away my gear to carry more film.

I will be running a 35mm panoramic camera on the walk and the unfortunate thing is out of a standard 36 shot film you only get a maximum of 20 shots... Has anyone had problems getting Black & white film and 35mm colour film along the trek? and what prices do you remember paying?

cheers... I know this fear is pretty unfounded most large town should have somewhere i can get film but its a nagging concern.

[falcon269]

Film? What is that? Is it USB, or iPad, or Kindle?

[Abbeydore]

Good Luck Ward4e, if you don't get sensible answers, may I suggest you send some to strategic places/Albergues along the way so you can pick-up latter.

Good Luck

[falcon269]

send some to strategic places/Albergues along the way

There are baggage services that can transport your film from albergue to albergue each night, or you could consider pulling a cart, or even hiring a donkey to carry everything.

[dutchpilgrim]

I really don't want to have to carry 50 or so rolls of film...
Has anyone had problems getting Black & white film and 35mm colour film...

Wow, did this message roll out of a Time-Machine?
Yep, I think you might be in trouble if you want to buy 35 mm film in Spain. So if you want to use your panoramic camera, take along sufficient film. (Or contemplate on buying a modern camera with ultra light-weight memory cards).

Ultreya,
Carli Di Bortolo

[ward4e]

I really don't want to have to carry 50 or so rolls of film...
Has anyone had problems getting Black & white film and 35mm colour film...

Wow, did this message roll out of a Time-Machine?

a pun and a jibe!!! nice work. No i'm only 30 and i've been getting better results with film and scanning over the last year than i have "stitchng" multiple images together in photoshop & panorama makers.

also i'm a traditionalist when it comes to media I'm analogue as much as I can be and last time i checked i'm not digital. Just a collection of chemical processes and faith!! Anyway as i said before i will be taking a digital camera as well. I may just have to pre pack film carefully for the trip and hope that the airports don't think its a cluster bomb!

ok people have to go to the markets and buy fruit & veg catch you all soon!

[Abbeydore]

I really don't want to have to carry 50 or so rolls of film...
Has anyone had problems getting Black & white film and 35mm colour film...

Wow, did this message roll out of a Time-Machine?

a pun and a jibe!!! nice work. No i'm only 30 and i've been getting better results with film and scanning over the last year than i have "stitchng" multiple images together in photoshop & panorama makers.

also i'm a traditionalist when it comes to media I'm analogue as much as I can be and last time i checked i'm not digital. Just a collection of chemical processes and faith!! Anyway as i said before i will be taking a digital camera as well. I may just have to pre pack film carefully for the trip and hope that the airports don't think its a cluster bomb!

ok people have to go to the markets and buy fruit & veg catch you all soon!

well said Wardy, & well done for not getting upset; personally I love photography, however this time I'm taking an old sketch book & just doing doddles, or one line sketches.

Looking forward to your panoramas & others

[JALAN JAUH]

ward4e,

Just as a matter of interest where can I have prints made from my 2 1/4" square black and white negatives in Brisbane and what would the cost be per postcard size print. I can post the square negatives and square slides to them from Christchurch as there are no photostudios printing the square negatives here. I do not have a problem with the 35mm negatives as my slide scanner can handle these archived stuff which came out of my 72 year old Time Machine. The negatives and slides were taken before you were born and showing signs of its age. I can then photoshop and picasa enhance, crop, retouch, and remove red-eye from the prints after scanning to my hearts content

BTW films do not keep well in a hot and humid climate; and after exposure the films should be processed as soon as possible; xraying my 800ASA film through customs destroyed a huge amount of valuable pictures. I had lead sleeves and dessicators to keep the films in good order but extemely onerous and took a lot of pleasure out off my hobby. I still ponder what a film camera, I own a few top of the range heavy film camera, can do which a digital camera cannot now do on a Camino, the Camino pictures available on this forum and blogs are stupendous and shows the character, spirit, and essence of the Walk. There may not be the absolute technical clarity to make a two meter wide studio print done for an exhibition with a cheap 8MP mid-range digital camera, but the content and story of a captured picture is just, if not more, important.

[ward4e]

ward4e,

Just as a matter of interest where can I have prints made from my 2 1/4" square black and white negatives in Brisbane and what would the cost be per postcard size print. I can post the square negatives and square slides to them from Christchurch as there are no photostudios printing the square negatives here.

woah too much info and a large problem as my world generally revolves around 35mm. But mmn 2.25 inch x 25.4mm = 57mm square negative? that could easily be scanned in a simple 25% grey card jig on a flat bed scanner... you basically print or purchase a 25% grey card and with a scalpel cut out the exact border of the image from the card.

You then place the negative on the scanner, place the card over the negative (you can see the negative and align the card over) and scan. You now trim in Photoshop and you now have a negative with a reference gradient that can be used calibrate contrast when you invert the image. Now you can print your image or take it to be printed and watch them wince!!!

See university wasn't all architecture, alcohol and girls...

As for enlarging well god now your going back into old memories. I'm pretty confident once you remove the tray from most enlargers you can change the tray to accept up to a 6x6 and if you have a handy fiend with a scalpel & duct tape you can make a simple black card clamp / insert for the slide on the colour head... its been years since i opened that box down stairs.
er... wardies macgyver photo lab!

Hang on massive side track. Talk to a university or institute of photography they will have a short course that you can pay low money for and have complete wholesale access to all the gear you need. They will also refresh you or teach you the basics... Or explain your situation they will help as most of us film buffs do er apart from the Mr the Professional-don't-talk-to-me-i'm-better-than-you--photo-nazi...

er... wardies macgyver photo lab!

[ward4e]

BTW films do not keep well in a hot and humid climate; and after exposure the films should be processed as soon as possible; xraying my 800ASA film through customs destroyed a huge amount of valuable pictures.

er done.. Thank you for that major bombshell. Zip lock bags, sealed cans and I will be air freighting my undeveloped negatives back to AU at each major post office.

[ward4e]

well said Wardy, & well done for not getting upset; personally I love photography, however this time I'm taking an old sketch book & just doing doddles, or one line sketches.

Looking forward to your panoramas & others

HA! i have my molesking in leather bind... I am thinking of doing a table top photo journal style book of the French Way. Not a novel idea I know (shoot me now they only get worse) but definatley a pressable idea.

Its also a major excuse to do the way at least 3 more times!

[JALAN JAUH]

ward4e wrote:

square negative? that could easily be scanned in a simple 25% grey card jig on a flat bed scanner... you basically print or purchase a 25% grey card

Thank you for this excellent piece of technical advice, I shall try this out as have a scanner and will search for a 25% grey card from the stationary shops. Any particular reason for the 25% grey and will the fibres in the card not be captured by the scanner?

The two and a quarter inch square negatives were from the 120 film size by the best Leica and Rolleiflex high end square box single lens reflex cameras during our time, these cameras are now collectors items. However I took a lot of pictures with them, unfortunately a lot of the negatives have been attacked by mould and fungus, the colour of the slides are beginning to fade and even with photoshop they cannot be rejuvenated. Keep this in mind with the 50 rolls of films you intend to take with you.

[dutchpilgrim]

xraying my 800ASA film through customs destroyed a huge amount of valuable pictures.

... Zip lock bags, sealed cans and I will be air freighting my undeveloped negatives back to AU at each major post office.

Might not be the best idea.
I don't know what type of X-ray machines are used for air-freight, and I read somewhere that composed films are more sensitive for X-rays than uncomposed.
When I made analogue photo's, I used a lead film-bag for air-based transport.
Or consider having your films developed in Santiago?

Ultreya,
Carli Di Bortolo

[Tia Valeria]

Scanning photo slides/negatives:-
Our scanner has a special central section to take these, depending on the size. Good to read this alternative.
Many of our old slides were scanned because of degeneration/mould etc. We were able to clean them up with our computer programme. Now stored on a CD, main computer and external hard drive. We have also scanned many old photographs too so that we can see them on computer.

These days we just use digital as finding film to buy is very difficult, apart from the cheap single use disposable cameras. We take several small cards on the Camino so that if one/the camera is lost we haven't lost everything. We also pass the camera through the basket check not the main scanner. No problems so far.

[ward4e]

well research is coming up with good results...

I can buy kodak tmax 400 & Ilford HP5 400 in bulk lots of 10 pretty well anytime to australia. Prices range from $45 aud to $75 aud delivered so not really the worst!. So what I am going to do is buy the film depackage 10 rolls a piece to save space in my pack and then double zip lock a film bag within another zip lock bag containing 1 carton of each type to identify. I will carry extra zip lock bags for exposed film. I've used tmax alot for my nightime stuff but hp5 is apparently has a really "warm" gradient tone, as crazy as that sounds in black and white! I will purchase 5 or 6 more colour rolls along the route... I can't personaly process these so i'm a little errr about colour film.

All up carrying 20 rolls of film will allow me to take a maximum of 440 wide format pictures. (22x20=440) so Damn happy with that many shots! to put that in perspective SJPdP to SDC is aprox 800km 800/440 = 1.8km... one shot every 2km.... oh thats a great idea! a pain in the arse to do but still!

As for films and xray machines i've done a bit of research and to total effect depends on who you reference but its not always a nightmare... and as listed on;

http://www.kodak.com/global/en/service/ ... 5201.shtml
also
http://zonezero.com/magazine/dcorner/xrays/texto13.html

they recommend that you should alway carry on your film and you could possibly have your film scanned up to 5 times with out major adverse effects. To avoid scanning you could nominate to the baggage inspector that you are carrying film and have an inspector visually certify your film as being tamper free.

The other alternative is a film bag. I've heard of these before and apart from teh added wright i think they may be a worth while purchase;

http://www.amazon.com/Domke-711-15B-Lar ... =de_a_smtd

http://www.amazon.com/Hakuba-X-Ray-Safe ... 251&sr=8-2

Looks the beans, so professional...

So anyway, the whole reason i'm doing all of this in mostly black and white is I am addicted to doing the developing processing and pre scanning / printing of film. The whole thing is scary and fun but rewarding from a "I did this with my hands, and it is mine" way that is hard to replace with digital. I often feel that digital processing cheapens the moment. its so easy to click away like a deranged clock when life is nearly unlimited in an sd card. Wade through a miasma of shots looking for the one gem in a sea of superfluous snaps. not my idea of fun...