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How do you guys travel your leicas?


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If I can I'll just take one camera with maximum 2-3 lenses in a little Billingham Digital or Crumpler 4 Million Dollar home, and one spare battery, SD card, cloth, and maybe filters if B&W.

I often have a Lowe-Pro pouch ()containing my Contax T3 clipped onto one end of the camera bag.

 

For a more substantial trip it's a larger bag with more of my equipment in it but one of the smaller bags (above) for day to day use when traveling.

 

I never travel with the lens pouches - bulky & impractical. However if I'm only taking two small lenses I may hang a small Lowe-Pro digital P&S pouch (30 AW with the centre padded divider cut out) for quick access to the second lens off my belt or backpack. I always have a carabiner clipped on as a back up for fold-over velcro belt attachment.

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Being all old camera the changes are the lightmeter needs a recalibration and if there is a difference in reading he can easily recalibrate with modern silver oxide or alkaline batteries.

 

Can you let the OP know how to recalibrate his CL meter to use the 1.5v V625 battery? Batteries and their availability are an aspect of travel in todays world. An adapter to convert a modern battery down to 1.35v starts to look especially cheap when the price of a camera technician comes into play. And of course the OP is going to Peru, so being able to use a standard hearing aid battery without involving a technician may be a sensible idea? Just a thought, thinking things through....

 

Steve

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Can you let the OP know how to recalibrate his CL meter to use the 1.5v V625 battery? Batteries and their availability are an aspect of travel in todays world. An adapter to convert a modern battery down to 1.35v starts to look especially cheap when the price of a camera technician comes into play. And of course the OP is going to Peru, so being able to use a standard hearing aid battery without involving a technician may be a sensible idea? Just a thought, thinking things through....

 

Steve

 

Dear Steve, I think your understanding of film cameras is pretty limited if you ask a question like this one: ANY old camera with an incorporated lightmeter needs sooner or later recalibration, especially if it uses CdS. ANY reputable tech has a machine to check the calibration, as I am not a camera tech I don't know how to use it what I know is that trusty man takes the camera, fix it in front of it, and looks inside (it's completely white inside and emits light), then check the reading against the instrumentation, takes three measurements (low Ev, medium Ev, high Ev) and then calibrate it.

 

If you need more details this my guy:

 

https://en-gb.facebook.com/330288763666683/photos/ms.c.eJxFzsENwDAIQ9GNKgwBzP6LtSUNvT59GSAwM3i5hVrZhQ3BBq4DCUZ54ofsIv0A8y2i~_EMXMUVRRUsUH6jsYp1C4V3IGth~;2IBGX~;Ea4IY8YHg2WORA9AbiBgsHL2Y~-.bps.a.1013331565362396.1073741847.330288763666683/1013331595362393/?type=1

 

Here when he was cleaning the prism of my F2AS, then checked the accuracy (and he replaced the batteries with new ones that last longer, or so he says, because the voltage DOES have an influence on the reading):

 

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=918509638205830&set=o.330288763666683&type=1&theater

 

Finally, I've many cameras that should work with the old mercury PX625: Canon FTBs, F-1 old school, Spotmatics F, etc...most of them have a lightmeter circuit independent by the voltage so it's safe to use 1.5Volts, see here for details on the SPF:

 

http://photo.net/classic-cameras-forum/00CI2E

 

With Canons I can also use 675 because they have a spring that keeps the battery safely in position.

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Dear Steve, I think your understanding of film cameras is pretty limited if you ask a question like this one: ANY old camera with an incorporated lightmeter needs sooner or later recalibration, especially if it uses CdS. ANY reputable tech has a machine to check the calibration, as I am not a camera tech

 

Maybe I know nothing, you could be correct. But it isn't that 1.5v is unsafe, it is that it gives a different light meter reading to a 1.3v cell.

 

So it may or may not be the case that all old camera meters need calibrating, but with a 1.5v cell the meter needs re-calibrating to a different standard. 'Fine' I hear you whine, 'what's wrong with that, it just means that a 1.5v cell gives a correct reading'. It just seems to me this is going down the same path taken by people that have their viewfinder calibrated to match an inaccurate lens, or visa versa. Another owner down the line and the body needs to go back to the techie to be calibrated properly. It's all work to keep the techie happy though. So I distrust this seemingly benign idea that you just do something and wham bang it's all solved. If a meter needs calibrating it should be calibrated to work with a 1.35v cell, and either a 1.35v cell should be used, or an adapter should be used to correct the voltage of a 1.5v cell. People who buy my second hand camera's aren't going to get one customised just for my use. In my experience I've not really had many bad meters, but I have owned camera's where the previous owner thinks the meter is bad, but I did find they were using the wrong battery.

 

There is an option, if the 1.5v cell causes the meter to over read or under read, or if the meter is just inaccurate anyway, the ISO can be adjusted to compensate. But this isn't convenient when moving between cameras because it is entirely possible to end up with each needing it's own different ISO compensation if it turns out all your meters need calibrating, which is pretty bad luck by any standards.

 

P.S. Adjusting a CL meter (for instance) to work with a 1.5v battery is a complicated and expensive job compared with £25 for an adapter that can then be used in all old equipment that previously took a 625 mercury cell (shop around, there are bargains).

 

Steve

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My daily carry (all over London) is a well worn black Billingham Hadley Pro. Earlier this month I took it to Ecuador and it comfortably swallowed the MP + 21 Super Elmar + finder, M240 + 50 Summilux, Hasselblad Xpan + 45f4 and Ricoh GR Digital ... with a 90 Elmarit stuffed into the pocket - waterproof and discrete bag - well worth the money!

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My daily carry (all over London) is a well worn black Billingham Hadley Pro. Earlier this month I took it to Ecuador and it comfortably swallowed the MP + 21 Super Elmar + finder, M240 + 50 Summilux, Hasselblad Xpan + 45f4 and Ricoh GR Digital ... with a 90 Elmarit stuffed into the pocket - waterproof and discrete bag - well worth the money!

 

Sounds like you need a backpack. Carrying all that stuff around all day in a Hadley Pro must have hurt your neck!

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Use any non-descript bag.  Attached to the strap carry a climbing carabiner.  The carabiner is oval in shape and has 5000lb test strength.  When not using the camera attach the strap to anything immobile using the carabiner.  You can even use the carabiner to attach the bag to your belt. 

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I travel with a small or large  Hadley bag and a big insurance policy. Without any problems in cities of Europe, Middle East and Japan. I do not see the point of having a bag which has to look like a cheap one. Every teenager is walking with Louis Vutton ( imitations) or Dolce and Gabbana. Why should I stand out in the crowd with a " cheap " bag. It might attract robbers.  ;)

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I carry a backpack and carry my gear everywhere I go.  No place safe to leave it so I'm married to it. Leica and lightness do not go together.

I do the same, but 2 bodies and 4 lenses still weigh a lot less than dSLR equivalents. I just use a 'standard' small backpack/rucksack - nondescript and as carried by many with no sign that it has anything of any real value inside. The cameras are always in their neoprene cases which are great in a backpack. And FWIW, any single shoulder slung bag can cause back problems in the long term - I used to carry a stuffed Billingham 550 years ago but I've learnt my lesson and will only use a backpack for carrying gear now.

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  • 2 weeks later...

For single camera use, I have a small bag sewn out of soft material to keep the camera scratch free and safe from bumping into stuff. I just drop it into whatever bag I'm having with me:

8MIcRLP.jpg


If I need to take more, I use a cheap universal padded insert like this one and put it in a small bag. The insert can hold my M3 with 50 + my X100 or the X100 + 50mm converter + flash + cable or even X100 + Minolta Hi-Matic with ISO 100 film + Minolta Hi-Matic with ISO 400 film.

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If all I'm taking is my Leica MP with just one lens, or up to 3 additional lenses and a few rolls of film, or just my Fuji X100T, then it's any combination of 1 to 4 of these CCS pouches.  I've had them for years and they still cannot be beaten, imo.

 

It was a sad day when CCS ceased trading.

 

 

 

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

The OP traveling to Peru.

It is a well known thief and pickpocket area.

Thief as in bandits..

Have insuruance.

I carry my better gear in open..better is relative!

My M3 has vulcanite missing, chrome worn to brass in many places..

I would abandon the CL, substitute a small digital.

I use Point and Shoot Canons, The 1200 or whatever..

works with AA cells. rechargeable or alkaline.

I would carry my 135mm Tele-Elmar, the Goggles 35mm Summaron.

The M3 always with 50mm Collapsible Summicron.

Easily slipped under a jacket or under a shirt.

All in a dirty, well worn back pack.

A magical place by all accounts..

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