STRANDED IN THE PROVERBIAL DESERTED ISLAND

[borisdeswan]

I've been wondering what Camera lens film combination i'd choose if I were to be exiled to the mythical deserted island....AND YOU COULD ONLY USE/OWN A ONE CAMERA LENS FILM COMBO.I am very lucky and I happen to own a substantial ammount of M.F. cameras and lenses in 645 6x6 and 6x7. So It is a pretty daunting idea to just limit myself to a one camera one lens and one film combination.I'm sure that if the rule was 2 lenses instead of one this exercise would be infinitely easier. So I'm sticking to these confining limitations.
Anyway here I go: a PENTAX 6X7 A 75MM F4.5 AND FUJI ACROS 100 FILM (bthw film is not limited to 1 roll just, one type ).What would YOU take?....

 

[SuzanneR]

RZ67 with a 110mm lens, and Tri-x. Seems to me, know what you aren't planning to do is just as powerful a decision as knowing what you will do. Limiting your gear to one camera, one lens, and one film would be enormously freeing. No more fretting about the "what ifs... " and just making pictures.

 

[borisdeswan]

Thanks for such a delightful answer.

 

[elekm]

I think I'd be worried about food and survival first and taking pictures second. But I know what you mean.

I would take along my Zeiss Ikon Contax IIa with a 50mm f/1.5 Sonnar with some Agfapan APX 100.

By the way, I think you would be stranded "on" the island, rather than "in" it. Unless you were in a cave. In that case, I'd take the same camera but with some Kodak TMax 3200.

 

[elekm]

If it was medium format, I'd take a Zeiss Ikon Super Ikonta C (6x9) with the same Agfa film (outdoors) or TMax 3200 (in the cave).

 

[Sirius Glass]

This was covered by a thread started by 2F/2f. It was about giving up all your cameras, which would you keep. The thread ran its course and was pretty well beat to death. Search for it.

Steve

 

[Vaughn]

Simple -- my Rolleiflex 2.8F. One does not want more than one lens on a desert island, anyway -- changing lenses is just an opportunity the the Swedish Women Beach Volleyball Team to accidently kick sand into your camera.

(I assume one would not be exiled to the desert island all alone!LOL!)

Oh...and TMax100, unless I was contacting the negs using alt processes -- then I would go with Tech Pan. (or is it only the TMax sheet film that has the UV blocking layer?)

Vaughn

 

[Toffle]

Am I the only one who would pick Delta 100 in 4x5? I spent the summer contact printing cyanotypes in 4x5 and just loved those negatives. Now, for a camera, it would have to be one that I don't actually own right now. I do bravely cart my next-to-indestructable cc400 around in the field, but for a desert island I'd want something a little more portable.
Now, if I wanted to be found, it would be my Rolleiflex 3.5f. Every time I take it out of the case somebody comes up and tells me their uncle had one.

 

[narsuitus]

Any old camera in a working cell phone so I can call for transportation to get me off this stupid island.

 

[keithwms]

Suzanne's suggestion sounds good to me too. I guess I would go for the rb67 though, with a 127mm lens, assuming that power and batteries might be a concern on this hypothetical island. Oh, and I'd pack fp4+.

 

[phaedrus]

Leica MP, Summicron 35 asph, Tri-X and a hydrogen bomb to set it all back to normal

 

[Bill Burk]

Desert island camera: I once was stuck on Catalina with a Pentax Spotmatic IIa and there wasn't a 500 battery on the island.

Emergency cache: For a few years, I kept a Contax IIIg with Sonnar 50/1.5 in a stash at my cabin in case I got stuck there without a camera.

 

[hugopoon]

Zorki C, Jupiter 8, Tri-X.

 

[Wade D]

For medium format my Yashica D. For 35mm my Exakta VX. Both with Tri-X. Totally manual. No batteries required.

 

[JBrunner]

Hmmm. Master View and a Cooke triple, TriX320 and PMK, and a schlode of Polywarmtone, and a dime bag of glycin. Oh, and the Masterview 8x10 is medium format. (4x5 is the new 135).

 

[Jeff Kubach]

I also will go with the RB67 but with a 90mm lens. Maybe some Tmax 400.

Jeff

 

[Poisson Du Jour]

I'd take my trusty Zero Image pinhole, 20 rolls of film, my iPhone (for timing exposures!), Sekonic, airbed, sunnies, suncream, matches, KY lube, crayons, charcoal and canvas... not just cameras. I'd be there for quite a while I imagine, and would like to have variety creating art.

 

[2F/2F]

Hard choice.

I want to say exactly what Suzanne R. said...

I also want to say a Linhof Super Technika 2x3 with a normal lens, or maybe a Mamiya Press Super 23, with FP4, Plus-X, or T-Max 100...

It would be very hard to leave my beloved Nikon Fs and Canon F-1's and their fast fixed-length lenses and Delta 3200 or Fuji Press 800 behind...

A 6x6 TLR and Tri-X might be perfect...

A 6x6 SLR such as a Hassy or M645 Pro TL with Tri-X would make a lot of sense as well...

I also hate to be without a view camera and film holders loaded with FP4 at my disposal...

In the end, I think I would compromise on a Graflex RB 5x7 with a normal lens, and Tri-X 320.

For film developer, HC-110.

For printing paper, Oriental VCFBII, 11x14.

For paper developer, Ilford PQ.

Enlarger: Durst or DeVere 8x10. (I know I would not have 8x10 film, but I could proof two 5x7's at once this way.)

P.S. The thread that I started was not about choosing one camera to keep, but about how strange it is that our lovely film equipment would be close to worthless if liquidated these days.

 

[film_man]

GF670 and Portra 400. I don't actually own one, so this should be a desert island with a camera shop.

 

[johnnywalker]

RB67, 127mm lens, Pan F+ (I assume this is a tropical deserted island, not some temperate rain forest island)

 

[Steve Smith]

I think I'd be worried about food and survival first and taking pictures second. But I know what you mean.

My usual answer to this question is that I wouldn't have time for photography as I would be looking for a wooden boat which I could smash up to make a raft.


Steve.

 

[Poisson Du Jour]

RB67, 127mm lens, Pan F+ (I assume this is a tropical deserted island, not some temperate rain forest island)

No, no, no! I must have a warm temperate rainforest island. The variety of plant life to explore (and sustain life). The leeches to pick off. The freshwater to collect by distillation... so many ways to live and enjoy it all...

 

[jgjbowen]

I'm with Jason.....Ritter 8x10, Nikon 450M, TMY, Pyrocat HD, Azo/Lodima Amidol......instead of a deserted island, it may as well be heaven

 

[piu58]

Rolleiflex 3,5F and APX 100. I have big supply of thiis wonderful film, sold at last as Rollei Retro 100.

 

[mooseontheloose]

Deserted island -- no power (no iphone) and no batteries (no light meter) right? That would leave me with my Minolta Autocord TLR (can't afford a Rollei) and as much Fuji Acros as is humanly possible (although I love Tri-X as well).