Travelling with B&W

abruzzi · May 13, 2025

If you are travelling with a digital camera your primary question is which lenses should I bring (I've seen that question a thousand times on various digital forums.) If you're travelling with a film camera you also have to ask yourself which films to bring?

I'm leaving on a three week trip next week to Vienna, Budapest, Prague, and Romania. I'm seriously considering just bringing B&W film--T-Max 100, Tri-X, and Delta 3200. Maybe I'll bring a small digital if I really need a color shot, but has anyone else traveled with just B&W? Have you found it limiting or liberating or both?

If I bring color (since there isn't really time to order new film) it will be one or more of the three Portras and/or Fuji 400H because that is what I have in my freezer. I have a fair amount of other B&W I could bring, but the three above have been reliable and the idea is to limit choice to simplify TMX100 outdoors in sunlight, 400TX indoors or on cloudy days, and D3200 in the Vienna sewers.

(FYI, all the film above will be 120. I'll be shooting a Bronica ETRSi, and maybe a Fuji GA645Zi.)

thoughts?

Franswa · May 13, 2025

TX and Delta, or just push the TX. I’d also bring 400H cause it’s my favorite color negative

abruzzi · May 13, 2025

Franswa said:
TX and Delta, or just push the TX. I’d also bring 400H cause it’s my favorite color negative

I've never really tried pushing TX but I have shot D3200 in very dark environs, and found a recipie with Xtol that really turns out beautiful negatives. Plus a few rolls of D3200 in the film case gets me hand inspection when there are reluctant security guards.

ntenny · May 13, 2025

I travel quite a bit with only b&w, and I don’t find it limiting as a rule. There are places where I see more in colour, but I’ve taken b&w to Budapest, Vienna, and Prague at various times with good results. I’ve never been to Romania. I think Central Europe lends itself pretty well to b&w.

I’d take all three of the films you listed, on the theory that Delta 3200 looks more natural at 3200 than TX does.

-NT

GregY · May 13, 2025

abruzzi said:
If you are travelling with a digital camera your primary question is which lenses should I bring (I've seen that question a thousand times on various digital forums.) If you're travelling with a film camera you also have to ask yourself which films to bring?

I'm leaving on a three week trip next week to Vienna, Budapest, Prague, and Romania. I'm seriously considering just bringing B&W film--T-Max 100, Tri-X, and Delta 3200. Maybe I'll bring a small digital if I really need a color shot, but has anyone else traveled with just B&W? Have you found it limiting or liberating or both?

If I bring color (since there isn't really time to order new film) it will be one or more of the three Portras and/or Fuji 400H because that is what I have in my freezer. I have a fair amount of other B&W I could bring, but the three above have been reliable and the idea is to limit choice to simplify TMX100 outdoors in sunlight, 400TX indoors or on cloudy days, and D3200 in the Vienna sewers.

(FYI, all the film above will be 120. I'll be shooting a Bronica ETRSi, and maybe a Fuji GA645Zi.)

thoughts?

A, It's been decades since i shot a colour film. It never crosses my mind. Especially in urban areas monochrome works so well. Although i love 100 iso films for their smoothness...... Tri-X, Delta 400, TMY-2 are magic. With a 21/28/35mm lens the liberation is setting the hyperfocal distance and turning a Leica M (or similar) into a simple point & shoot. I typically don't enlarge 35mm beyond 11"x14".....so 400 iso films could be my one & only for travel...and since you mention MF.... it would be easy.

jeffreyg · May 13, 2025

I’ve traveled many years with only one film. Either Tri-x or Delta 400 I take two identical bodies. One with a wider lens and the other with a longer lens. No chance of a mixup and most often the same meter setting. I prefer to keep it simple and concentrate on the subject. I don’t have to fumble around for equipment and the few filters work with either. Since I use 2 1/4 I bring a good pocketable digital for when I leave the rest in the room. Another convenience is a cellphone. I take a shot from where I’m photographing so the gps records the location and I don’t have to make notes.

Paul Howell · May 13, 2025

I travel with Tmax 400 as my primary film and Tmax 100 as secondary film. Last time I was in Paris I shot 20 rolls of Tmax 400, it was overcast most days, building shadows, I push 10 rolls at 800 and 10 at 400, then a few rolls of Tmax 100 when I was able to use a tripod. I developed all in DDX, very similair to Tmax Developer and work great with T grain film. For color I would use Porta 400. But, I would not travel with film, the risk of issues with airport scanners, although a small risk I just dont want to take the risk.

abruzzi · May 13, 2025

Thanks for the comments. I appreciate the encouragement and experiences you've had. At home I am more Large Format, and that is 99% B&W (have you seen the prices of 8x10 color film? Yikes!) So I feel like B&W is more natural for me (I'm also red/green color blind so I have some messed up color sensitivity.)

Looking in my freezer, I have 3 unopened propacks of Tri-X, and 3 of TMX100. I have 5 rolls of Delta 3200. I think those would more than cover 3 weeks. (two years ago, 3 weeks in Spain, and I shot 21 rolls of 6x6, including some color--21x12=252 shots. 35x15=525 shots of 6x4.5) As I mentioned I have other films--these counts are guesses, but ~15 rolls of Ferrania P30, 10 rolls of Ferrania Orto, 8 rolls of Foma Ortho 400, 25 rolls of Bergger Pancro, and maybe 20 rolls of Acros (evenly split between Acros and Acros II.) Of the non-kodak rolls, only Acros seems like a general purpose film. The rest are films that I like but are more limited. If anything I may throw in a few rolls of one of the ortho films for a small change.

GregY · May 13, 2025

Paul Howell said:
I travel with Tmax 400 as my primary film and Tmax 100 as secondary film. Last time I was in Paris I shot 20 rolls of Tmax 400, it was overcast most days, building shadows, I push 10 rolls at 800 and 10 at 400, then a few rolls of Tmax 100 when I was able to use a tripod. I developed all in DDX, very similair to Tmax Developer and work great with T grain film. For color I would use Porta 400. But, I would not travel with film, the risk of issues with airport scanners, although a small risk I just dont want to take the risk.

Paul, in Paris Atelier Publimod is a top-level pro lab. Last time in Paris was summer of 2022 just post-covid and i had my film processed there before flying home. Things have improved in the meantime. between CT scanners becoming more widespread and Lina Bessanova's great test results being spread around.... i have fewer concerns. Last summer i had no problems having my films hand-checked in both Frankfurt & Munich. I'm not switching to digital for anyone for any reason. Have the film processed in country, or ship it home. Everyone is making adjustments.

koraks · May 14, 2025

I generally bring two films, one b&w and ine color, both in 35mm, and two camera bodies of the same system (Canon EOS). I find that covers my needs very well, although I'd certainly consider bringing it down to one option only - just color, just b&w or even more sensibly, just digital.

Presently we're enjoying a brief vacation and in my bag is Vision3 50D for color and HP5+ for b&w. I find I mostly shoot color though. The color:b&w ratio is around 1:8 or so, so I might have left the b&w at home. On the other hand, last time I did this, I was more pleased with my b&w prints than with the color prints.

I don't really see the point of bringing several different color or b&w films, personally. Doesn't do much for consistency and in the end it's generally quite well possible to strike a decent compromise. A good quality 400 speed film pretty much covers all bases.

snusmumriken · May 14, 2025

Given that it will be the height of summer, I would take a 100/125 speed film for the daytime and Tri- X for everything else. I have a feeling Delta 3200 might prove less robust if your films get x-rayed, but I don’t actually have any factual basis for this slur.

Be prepared for gazillions of other tourists! Wishing you a happy trip.

loccdor · May 14, 2025

Totally down to personal preference, I bring about half and half. In past years I've moved from color negative to almost exclusively using positive with a cache of old Fuji slide that still works well.

Classic architecture tends to work great in black and white. It also helps some of the ugliness of modern life look less hard on the eyes. But color is great for images where people are wearing colorful clothes, colorful paint on buildings, near-sunset conditions, etc, which just won't be communicated in a black and white image.

Color carries the advantage that you can convert it. You can't do the reverse. When you convert it, you can also mix the colors to get contrast filter effects without the corresponding f-stop decrease. Color negative has more exposure latitude and tolerance for error, but it's harder to digitize or wet print than black and white.

grain elevator · May 14, 2025

I'd only take one type if film per camera body at most, with an exception for a special purpose like something planned in really dark environments. I'd try to avoid any possibility of not having a film loaded that's not useable in a random situation. So 400 ISO b&w film it is for me, usually.

Saganich · May 14, 2025

I feel good with an M, 35mm Summicron, and TriX for travel. Not too much to carry, not too heavy to keep it cross body all day, and good in most indoor and outdoor situations. If I were going it would be either triX or Double X at 1000 or 640 respectively, pack an ND4, attend to the shadows, and develop it all in Diafine.

Sirius Glass · May 14, 2025

Take Rollei 400 IR film with a R23, R25, R27, R29 or R270 filter or two.

images39 · May 14, 2025

I think a relevant question in your situation is how much will you be shooting handheld vs. on a tripod. If you are shooting all hand held, I would heavily bias your film selection to 400 speed. Especially since you're shooting all medium format. If you're shooting MF hand held with a 100 speed film, you will likely run into problems with shutter speed too low and/or not enough depth of field.

On the other hand, if you're shooting mostly on a tripod, you can load up with ISO 100 film all day (and night) long. Enjoy your trip!

Dale

cliveh · May 14, 2025

FP4 and a 80mm lens for those cameras is all you need. Keep it simple, as it's not about camera, lens, film and equipment, just what you see before you.

koraks · May 14, 2025

cliveh said:
80mm lens

I'm carrying a 24, 35, 50 and 100 presently. The ratio in which they are used is something like 10:88:2. It's all very personal.

Having said that, the combination of a fairly slow film and a fairly long lens is about the most unfortunate I could imagine.

Prest_400 · May 14, 2025

I did a 5 week travel to Philippines through HK last autumn, a photographic bucket list of sorts to do it in medium format. GW690 + Super Ikonta.
As the 6x9 eats through rolls easily if pacing it up, I brought more than 70 rolls. Insanity in some ways it is. Digital was handled by a 1" sensor compact which was liberating for that, and then I avoided what I often see posted around of bringing both 35mm and 120 format cameras; choose one format to stick to and keep a film pool -- but you have that figured out right.

Anyhow, it was a ratio 3 color 1 BW. The Color I had stocked up during a year (thankful for 2022-23 prices!) including some Fuji Provia in it. A lot of color given the tropical nature expected, and B&W for the grittier city scenes. Multiple tiers of stock (Delta, HP5, K400; Portra, Gold) were brought due to what I just had bought during the period.
Inconsistent look? Oh well

Generally I would recommend ISO 400 film in both B&W and Color. Medium format f4 standard lenses do lose that couple stops against the usual higher speed primes in 35mm, so 100-160 films were used under broad daylight. I'd recommend reducing the choice because I found myself some times of day and lighting thinking in the lines of: "should I load Portra 160 now, but then will need 400 or might be good to shoot some Provia because of sunset".
Even in B&W I not just found situations where I thought if I should load color or B&W, but also which B&W. For city, street and less careful shoots I had Kentmere. Then D400 for landscape and scenery where I wanted the higher tech finer grain.

Which brings me towards that multiple backs with the Bronica might be great for this. GA645Zi appears as another great idea for travel, but at 16 exposures you might find having loaded the "wrong film".

T-Max 100, Tri-X, and Delta 3200 is a great combination. As it's europe, check for stores in which you will be able to stock up. Gold 200 is good to have and you will be able to find it around.

And I actually am having a couple week northern roadtrips planned next month in which color will be the remainder of the above (some P160, Provia) refilled with Gold and then mixed B&W with a majority of ISO 400.

Paul Howell · May 14, 2025

GregY said:
Paul, in Paris Atelier Publimod is a top-level pro lab. Last time in Paris was summer of 2022 just post-covid and i had my film processed there before flying home. Things have improved in the meantime. between CT scanners becoming more widespread and Lina Bessanova's great test results being spread around.... i have fewer concerns. Last summer i had no problems having my films hand-checked in both Frankfurt & Munich. I'm not switching to digital for anyone for any reason. Have the film processed in country, or ship it home. Everyone is making adjustments.

Good to know, maybe I will resume film next trip, no plans this summer, just a few road trips.

abruzzi · May 14, 2025

Prest_400 said:
Which brings me towards that multiple backs with the Bronica might be great for this. GA645Zi appears as another great idea for travel, but at 16 exposures you might find having loaded the "wrong film".

The interesting thing is I bought the GA645Zi specifically to simplify travel shooting--zoom lens covers a wide and standard prime, auto exposure simplifies the process. But I haven't really used it as a travel camera because I've really found the MF SLR interchangable backs hard to give up. I keep thinking I'll want to change film. Admittedly I also don't entirely trust the camera. The LCD does work, though it flickers if I open the back too far, so I know its dying, but when the back is close it fine. The issue I have with it is when loading the film there is a dial you turn to advance the film--each click rolls forward about a centimeter. But the rotary encoder on the camera is a bit flaky and on occasion I move it forward a single click and it advances way too far and way overshoots the start arrow. I'm thinking of bringing the Fuji and leaving it in the hotel most of the time, but picking a day or two, and leave the Bronica in the hotel and only go out with the Fuji and see how it does.

On the other hand, I've seen discussions from people on the MF forum here say that the changable backs on MF SLR isn't really worthwhile unless you're shooting wedding, but to me that one of the greatest conveniences of MF (I know Rollie made some 35mm cameras with interchangeable backs but they are a bit pricey. Even the 135N back for the Bronica has gotten expensive, but nowhere near the cost of a 135W back.)

Sirius Glass · May 14, 2025

For 35mm I use a 28mm to 300mm AF zoom lens and a 20mm to 28mm AF zoom lens.
For medium format 6x6 in 120 film I travel with the Hasselblad 903 SWC 38mm lens, 50mm lens, and the 80mm lens.

koraks · May 15, 2025

abruzzi said:
Admittedly I also don't entirely trust the camera.

Then I don't see how it would be sensible to bring it while traveling. In the best case scenario, you're left worrying about when it might give up the ghost. Worst case, that's what it does. Bring something you can rely on - don't worry, be happy.

Prest_400 · May 15, 2025

abruzzi said:
The interesting thing is I bought the GA645Zi specifically to simplify travel shooting--zoom lens covers a wide and standard prime, auto exposure simplifies the process. But I haven't really used it as a travel camera because I've really found the MF SLR interchangable backs hard to give up. I keep thinking I'll want to change film. Admittedly I also don't entirely trust the camera. The LCD does work, though it flickers if I open the back too far, so I know its dying, but when the back is close it fine. The issue I have with it is when loading the film there is a dial you turn to advance the film--each click rolls forward about a centimeter. But the rotary encoder on the camera is a bit flaky and on occasion I move it forward a single click and it advances way too far and way overshoots the start arrow. I'm thinking of bringing the Fuji and leaving it in the hotel most of the time, but picking a day or two, and leave the Bronica in the hotel and only go out with the Fuji and see how it does.

On the other hand, I've seen discussions from people on the MF forum here say that the changable backs on MF SLR isn't really worthwhile unless you're shooting wedding, but to me that one of the greatest conveniences of MF (I know Rollie made some 35mm cameras with interchangeable backs but they are a bit pricey. Even the 135N back for the Bronica has gotten expensive, but nowhere near the cost of a 135W back.)

As a MF RF user, there aren't interchangeable backs so I never got to rely on that feature. If you just shoot B&W mainly I think it will be simple enough without changing film. For me it was mostly the color or B&W choice as well as which Color (neg vs slide).
Down to the capacity of bringing, the limit IMO is the 8kg carry on allowance which is easy to hit with multiple cameras and film onboard. I had gotten the Super Ikonta as a Backup, and it got used as a B&W camera on the trip, but I also decided to leave it behind with my luggage during a 10 day secondary trip.

If you want to service the Fuji, check out Fototech who have been able to fix specifics, as you could send it there when you end the Europe visit.

Koraks has an important point about trust and reliability. Heck, I didn't know it but my digital compact became usable some weeks after my trip. We did find ourselves shooting under some heavy rain and even my friend's sealed mirrorless had a temporary fault due to humidity. YMMV as those cities don't have such extreme environment.

I have been to both Vienna and Budapest, just winter weekend trips, and then did only take the Super Ikonta and B&W (HP5 or Kentmere 400) which proved fine. Actually I wasn't that shooting oriented, so while I got some nice pictures, it was good to bring the light camera. Seeing the perspective of folk from other continents makes me appreciate that I can travel europe in a more local relaxed way.

Andrew O'Neill · May 15, 2025

I brought a bunch of rolls of 120 Rollei IR, and five rolls of Phoenix. I also brought the DSLR as I can't make my wife wait all the time... No issues with hand inspecting the film at YVR, or the domestic flights here. I'll develop the EULA when I get home sometime next month.

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