Backpacking with a TLR?

[BrianShaw]

?? I'm a lot closer to 70 than I am to sixty, and I still routinely backpack with full view camera gear. I've never been anywhere with something as light as a TLR in my entire life!

You should try it. It's very liberating... like going from briefs to boxers.

 

[Pioneer]

You should try it. It's very liberating... like going from briefs to boxers.

Go for it Drew!

I am talking about the briefs to boxers thing,,,not the camera.

 

[DREW WILEY]

Very liberating??? Pfffttt ! Not in the darkroom. Besides, I enjoy my exercise. No need to be running on a treadmill in some stinky gym like
a rat to keep in shape. Give me a steep hill and a heavy pack anytime!

 

[Ian Grant]

?? I'm a lot closer to 70 than I am to sixty, and I still routinely backpack with full view camera gear. I've never been anywhere with something as light as a TLR in my entire life!

I agree about TLRs being light, I backpack with a full view camera kit and take a TLR along as well, I'm a lot closer though to the 60 not seventy

Ian

 

[georg16nik]

...TLRs being light, ...backpack with full view camera gear?
I forgot MF/LF photographers don't sweat...

 

[TheFlyingCamera]

As another traveler with a TLR, I can't recommend them enough. I've done two major trips in the last several years with a Rolleiflex as a primary camera - 9 days in France and 12 days in Italy. I've shot with them in the sun, the rain, at night, hand-held and on a tripod. The only thing I'd worry about with the TLR is bringing enough film - on my recent Italian adventure I shot 79 rolls. My only regret is that I didn't discover my Rolleiflex affinity sooner - there are several other trips I've taken that with the clarity of 20/20 hindsight I really wish I had taken with the Rollei instead of my Hasselblad or my Contax G2.

 

[DREW WILEY]

I'll admit that I'm more of a mountain backpacker, though in my younger days I did quite a bit of hot weather travel with packs often approaching 100 lbs. And I'll confess to just returning from a short trip with a couple of Pentax 6x7's in the pack, though that was so my
wife wouldn't get impatient with me fiddling with a view camera. If it were my preference, I'd have the 8x10; but I normally just use that for dayhikes. The potential problem with roll film in humid tropical situations is that you have to be conscious not to leave a roll of film in the same for so long that it swells and jams something. I've never had that personally happen, but have heard stories from others. My logic is simple. If I'm going to all the trouble to get somewhere special, I want the highest quality shots that are realistic under those circumstances. I am multi-format, so know the pros and cons of the various options.