How much gear to lug on my (hopefully) upcoming vacation

[perkeleellinen]

I enjoy threads like this as I always imagine what I would do, mentally planning the trip myself. Here are some thoughts:

Seriously consider buying your film in Poland or mailorder it and have it posted to your friend in advance. Find a lab to dev it all or mail it back to yourself. I would not trust airport security one bit.

If this holiday is about friendship first and foremost then take an auto camera you can put in your pocket only. If your friend is into photography, take all the gear you can!

For 5-6 days, meeting a dear friend overseas, I would consider either a P&S with ten rolls of the same film or an Instax / Polaroid camera where you can give half of your shots away to your friend.

 

[Pieter12]

There's no rule that says I can't.

Given that you’ve stated the end result will be digital files, taking just a single digital camera would seem the best strategy.

 

[Helge]

Given that you’ve stated the end result will be digital files, taking just a single digital camera would seem the best strategy.

He could just bring his IPhone.

 

[TheGreatGasMaskMan]

I enjoy threads like this as I always imagine what I would do, mentally planning the trip myself. Here are some thoughts:

Seriously consider buying your film in Poland or mailorder it and have it posted to your friend in advance. Find a lab to dev it all or mail it back to yourself. I would not trust airport security one bit.

If this holiday is about friendship first and foremost then take an auto camera you can put in your pocket only. If your friend is into photography, take all the gear you can!

For 5-6 days, meeting a dear friend overseas, I would consider either a P&S with ten rolls of the same film or an Instax / Polaroid camera where you can give half of your shots away to your friend.

this does give me an idea though... I could also bring a ps camera and some "short" (I'll explain below) rolls for him to use.
[by short roll I mean some 35mm rolls that I took three bracket shots at the beginning to see how they'd cross in e6, but only had that first exposed section developed, having the rest of the roll sent back to me].
Also, I had film survive domestic flights to Arizona. TSA was more concerned about the cameras than the actual film- like I had a disc camera fail an explosives test, but the screener let me take out the film to have the camera run through the scanner.

Given that you’ve stated the end result will be digital files, taking just a single digital camera would seem the best strategy.

we're living in a digital world. as much as I want to do my own bw printing (just don't have adequate space to setup a darkroom) sharing stuff online is now the best way to get it out in the world. Also... there's also archivability. besides, film just looks better to me, and my friend might be genuinely fascinated with my Mamiya c220.

He could just bring his IPhone.

My phone is just going to be for sending immediate stuff to my online friends and parents so they know I'm not going to get murdered.

 

[Craig]

Find a lab to dev it all or mail it back to yourself. I would not trust airport security one bit.

Mail gets X rayed too, there is no guarantee that it's any less damaging than airport security.

 

[Pieter12]

My phone is just going to be for sending immediate stuff to my online friends and parents so they know I'm not going to get murdered.

You must be traveling in the U.S., then?

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

Mail gets X rayed too, there is no guarantee that it's any less damaging than airport security.

Does mail get x-rayed domestically in the usa?

 

[Helge]

My phone is just going to be for sending immediate stuff to my online friends and parents so they know I'm not going to get murdered.

Didn’t really mean that.
“Bring digital” to someone interested in film is like saying “just eat cake”, when what you want is a big juicy steak.

 

[TheGreatGasMaskMan]

Does mail get x-rayed domestically in the usa?

domestically, they just scan mail, but internationally, it gets x-rayed.

You must be traveling in the U.S., then?

well, I've still got to find out if my provider has international coverage.

 

[Craig]

Does mail get x-rayed domestically in the usa?

I don't know, but the OP was talking about international airmail and that will be X-rayed. I would expect that US customs would also X-ray incoming mail.

 

[Sirius Glass]

Didn’t really mean that.
“Bring digital” to someone interested in film is like saying “just eat cake”, when what you want is a big juicy steak.