OP
OP
TheFlyingCamera
Membership Council
Home now...
I'm back home now. It was a wonderful trip. I didn't have the same problems you did with finding things, but A, I wasn't there as long, and B, I do have a pretty good grasp of the language (it was my academic double-major in college... ahh, to be able to write/speak the way I did then... perfect grammar and pronunciation...). I did make it over to Colonia for the day. I took the slow ferry over and back. Colonia is very pretty, and it makes for a great break from the air pollution in BsAs. I've got to start processing my b/w negs from the trip. I got all my 35mm color stuff done over there, and was mostly satisfied with the processing, which was quite inexpensive. However, the lab dorked up one roll of my film, and then tried to blame it on my camera (small problem - the roll in question was not the last roll I shot, and nothing I shot before or after experienced the same issue). I would have pressed them on the issue, but it was my very last day, and the last hours of that day for that matter, and the best I could have hoped for was for them to refund the processing on that roll anyway.
Another tip for travelling with Large Format - bring along some extra black plastic film bags to double-bag your film. This will prevent or at least delay long enough any over-zealous and under-intelligent inspectors from getting to your exposed but undeveloped sheet film. I had some numb-brain security inspector for United start opening my box where I had downloaded all my exposed film. Fortunately I was able to stop her in time, but I had taken a separate bag from my Ilford 8x10 film and put the 5x7 bag inside it, so I was doubly shielded. If you are planning to travel with anything bigger than 5x7, I would recommend including an extra day or maybe two in your trip for processing your film in the field- It just gives you an extra layer of safety to prevent your film from being wrecked by someone else's stupidity. Pack dry chemistry, in original manufacturer packaging, and buy distilled water to mix when you arrive. If you want to hit the road with anything bigger than 8x10, good luck and god bless, but then you already know what you're getting into having used it at home.
If I didn't say this before, get used to having to take out the camera for each and every customs/security/immigration inspector you encounter. 90%+ of this will be out of pure curiosity on their part. Most can't believe the camera still works, and they'll take a few seconds to wrap their heads around the lenses on lensboards bit too.
I'm back home now. It was a wonderful trip. I didn't have the same problems you did with finding things, but A, I wasn't there as long, and B, I do have a pretty good grasp of the language (it was my academic double-major in college... ahh, to be able to write/speak the way I did then... perfect grammar and pronunciation...). I did make it over to Colonia for the day. I took the slow ferry over and back. Colonia is very pretty, and it makes for a great break from the air pollution in BsAs. I've got to start processing my b/w negs from the trip. I got all my 35mm color stuff done over there, and was mostly satisfied with the processing, which was quite inexpensive. However, the lab dorked up one roll of my film, and then tried to blame it on my camera (small problem - the roll in question was not the last roll I shot, and nothing I shot before or after experienced the same issue). I would have pressed them on the issue, but it was my very last day, and the last hours of that day for that matter, and the best I could have hoped for was for them to refund the processing on that roll anyway.
Another tip for travelling with Large Format - bring along some extra black plastic film bags to double-bag your film. This will prevent or at least delay long enough any over-zealous and under-intelligent inspectors from getting to your exposed but undeveloped sheet film. I had some numb-brain security inspector for United start opening my box where I had downloaded all my exposed film. Fortunately I was able to stop her in time, but I had taken a separate bag from my Ilford 8x10 film and put the 5x7 bag inside it, so I was doubly shielded. If you are planning to travel with anything bigger than 5x7, I would recommend including an extra day or maybe two in your trip for processing your film in the field- It just gives you an extra layer of safety to prevent your film from being wrecked by someone else's stupidity. Pack dry chemistry, in original manufacturer packaging, and buy distilled water to mix when you arrive. If you want to hit the road with anything bigger than 8x10, good luck and god bless, but then you already know what you're getting into having used it at home.
If I didn't say this before, get used to having to take out the camera for each and every customs/security/immigration inspector you encounter. 90%+ of this will be out of pure curiosity on their part. Most can't believe the camera still works, and they'll take a few seconds to wrap their heads around the lenses on lensboards bit too.
