Film or Digital for Big Trip this Fall

[Mikep996]

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I said in an earlier post iPhone(!) might be enough but I'll add...

 I wouldn't take a film camera UNLESS the point of a trip/excursion is film photography.  Since it is not,  I'd probably toss my Q2 in the tank bag and call it done.  OR, I might consider taking my M10R and two lenses - 28 f2.8 and 50mm f1.4.  But the M6 and med format camera would stay home.

[250swb]

This isn't just a motorcycle ride but a classic 'road trip' and I think if you want the full vibe and inspiration that comes from an epic adventure only film will do. But I'd also take a small P&S such as an Olympus Tough for those wet or dusty days not to forget logging GPS data, temperature, height above sea level, etc. I know iPhones can do this but it's not the same as a camera, and nowadays phones are a lifeline with so much other information on them and my instinct would be to hide it away most of the time. I'm also thinking if you don't find your camera gear working for you you could always ship it home and replace it with something else.

 

[wak]

I traveled for 10 months last year through Europe. It wasn't on a motorbike, though. I would need an ambulance follow me or learn how to ride one properly...

I had decided on my Rolleiflex (with BW film) as my main camera. The big question for me was which camera to take as a backup. I wanted the backup camera to add complementary value to the Rolleiflex. After a long detour I ended up with a Leica D-Lux 7, modified to be a monochrome only camera. The added value for me was its wide angle lens, and that certainly worked out very well. During the trip, however, it turned out that the much bigger benefit of having the D-Lux with me was its high ISO capability. On several occasions I found myself in need of MUCH higher ISO than the film I had currently loaded in the Rolleiflex, and the D-Lux handled those situations perfectly.

Having a digital camera (the Ricoh GR3 or the iphone) as a higher ISO option without the need to change film in the M4 might be something to consider for you.

Whatever you decide - it sounds like a fabulous trip!

[Smudgerer]

On 6/15/2023 at 2:53 AM, ktmrider2 said:

OK, I am 70 years old and figure if I don't do this trip soon it will not happen.  I plan on riding a motorcycle from Alaska to Panama, perhaps flying the bike over the Darien Gap to Columbia and then continuing to Tierra del Fuego.  If not TDF, then I will ride back to the US before Xmas so I can be back in Anchorage before the holidays.  Then, ride the bike back next summer.  The Panama Canal is about 2500 miles from the US/Mexico border while Anchorage is 4400 miles from the Rio Grande.  Now photography is not the primary purpose of the trip but I would like to be able to document the trip and maybe I will get lucky enough to get a few good or even great photos along the way.  It will be at least two months from the border to the Canal and perhaps longer if I stop in Guatemala and work on my Spanish.  

I have recently reduced both my digital and film camera inventory so the question is what to take.  In film cameras, I am pretty much down to a mint anniversary M4 with a slew of M mount lenses.  My usual M travel kit is 35mm and 90mm lenses and an incident meter.  My digital inventory includes a Fuji XT4 with primes for 16, 35, 50, 90 field of view or a Ricoh GR3.  And of course my iPhone!

Space on a motorcycle is limited but it is not like I am travel thru the wilderness for months on end.  I am leaning toward the M4 with 35/90 or perhaps 35/135 and my iPhone.  As small as the GR3 is, I don't see much advantage over the iPhone.  On my last foreign trip, I spent a month in Vietnam with the M4 and iPhone and took less than a roll of film primarily due to monsoons and terrible lighting.  I know it will be my decision but input is always interesting.  And I don't have to worry about film and X-rays at airports for this travel.  Thanks!

Certainly not in my 70's at the time but way back in the late 60's I traveled the "Hippy Trail" driving an old Landrover from London to Nepal and returning by another route to the UK after a year on the road. It was tough back then and most of the roads from Turkey onwards were gravel at best flattening two sets of leaf springs and buggering up my back for ever with the LR's unforgiving ride as a memento for the whole experience, but it was a trip that became all but impossible to do with any safety or fun all too soon afterwards.

As per' all my life since I was a working photographer back then and I took a Leica M2 with a 35 bolted on and nothing else other than a bunch of Kodachrome. I shot maybe 6 rolls in the whole time away and those slides have disappeared with much of life's other detritus in my rather nomadic life since but the images burned into my memory still remain. Your trip sounds one to promise a great experience, one's age has little to do with it, I take my hat off to you.

Camera choice? Even now with all the options available I would just take your M4 and at most two lenses, even one will probably work out just fine, and as others have pointed out here an iPhone will easily fill the gaps and make the Ricoh a superfluous baggage. Shoot your film and whenever you can post the undeveloped exposed rolls home, a safer option than trying to process en-route.

Goodluck and Godspeed

[Steve Ricoh]

I’d take a low value, 2nd-hand u4/3 with the minimum of lenses. Not too much heartache if one or more items gets damaged or stolen. Some have v-good weather and dust protection, ideal for the trip.

[wattsy]

The M4 without question IMO. The proposed trip (which sounds fantastic) is just the kind of thing these cameras were designed for.

"Heat damage", "difficulty processing", etc. 😂 Reading some of the answers in the thread you'd think that nobody was ever able to travel the world and take film photos along the way.

[trisberg]

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I'd say the M4 with a 35 is a must, add the iPhone and then everything else is optional. Keep it simple.

-Thomas

 

[ktmrider2]

I still don't know which camera or even which motorcycle (five choices from a small 300cc GS BMW to a Harley Road King).  I am thinking smaller and lighter is better which would mean a Ricoh GR3 and BMW GS310.  Can't and won't take the kitchen sink if a smaller bike.

[johnwolf]

Sounds wonderful. I assume you’ve seen the documentary “Long Way Up,” in which Ewan Mc Gregor and a buddy ride from TDF to L.A. on electric Harleys. 
I’d take the GR for its size, nimbleness, and one-handed capability. But I’d probably miss the M4. And no charging would be very nice. Really, whatever you most enjoy shooting with makes the best sense. 
 

[dsj]

Definitely the M4 with 35 and 90 plus a newish iPhone for me. I wouldn’t want to do this trip with any other kit. 
prefocused and with knowing the light you can easily shoot one handed from the bike and hp5 or Tri-X will be forgiving exposure wise with sunny 16. 

Godspeed!

[Eclectic Man]

I don't know about the bikes (I had no idea BMW made one as small as 300cc) but I'd suggest that you take the one that is most comfortable to drive on bumpy roads and least likely to break down.

Whatever, it sounds like you'll have an awesome trip.

[madNbad]

My wife and I just returned from a twenty five day 6500 mile round trip from Oregon to Pennsylvania and back. It was mostly a dash in each direction and even though I brought the M4-2 and plenty of film, I took surprisingly few photos. It was a family visit and that was the focus. We took our time on the way east, spending a few days in Great Falls,Montana and a few more in Bemidji, Minnesota. Had a chat with a couple of guys on BMW RS 1250’s at the geographical center of North America in Riley, North Dakota, they were on the Key West, Florida to Alaska and back trip. I talked to a woman in Chamberlain, South Dakota who was on the final leg of a three month journey from New Jersey, through the south and Midwest. It was a “chatting with strangers across America” tour.

Took a few pictures with my phone but it’s the memories of the trip I cherish the most.

[Lux50]

Dare I say it on the Leica Forum, but if in addition to digital, you want to take a compact/light/reliable/excellent optics film camera that you can set the shutter speed and f stop on, may I suggest a Rollei 35 or 35S? I have had my black one for 50 years and additionally a chrome one for about 6-7 years. Just took the chrome one on a photo trip last month and shot 3 rolls of Rollei RPX 100 & 400. Still very pleased with the images I get from this excellent camera!

[ktmrider2]

My trip is still over six weeks away and I will probably change my mind dozens of times between now and departure.  At present I am thinking my M4 with a 35f2.8 C Biogon and my phone.  I have a Apple iPhone 11 and may have to upgrade for better photo performance.  Honestly I don't know how much better the iPhone 14 would be.  I am tempted to throw my GR3 into the bag but discipline requires a small kit and the GR3 and phone are too similar.

[madNbad]

1 hour ago, ktmrider2 said:

My trip is still over six weeks away and I will probably change my mind dozens of times between now and departure.  At present I am thinking my M4 with a 35f2.8 C Biogon and my phone.  I have an Apple iPhone 11 and may have to upgrade for better photo performance.  Honestly I don't know how much better the iPhone 14 would be.  I am tempted to throw my GR3 into the bag but discipline requires a small kit and the GR3 and phone are too similar.

Buy the new phone, take the M4 with the Biogon. On our trip back east, I had the 35 1.4 Nokton Classic and a 50 2.5 Color Skopar, the 35 stayed on the M4-2 the entire trip. Taking a small digital camera is redundant with the much improved cell phone camera, but nothing beats a good B&W negative.

[kivis]

Just finished a mini trip (compared to you). Flew into White Plains, NY and drove leisurely up the Hudson River and beyond to Montreal. Took my Leica M-A and CV 35mm f1.4 and a bunch of Tri-X. Oh yeah, I took a few shots with my iPhone.

[rtai]

On my motorcycle trip from NY to CA I barely had space for essentials. And I wouldn’t want to subject a rangefinder to the vibration. An SLR would be too big. I would just bring a P&S something like a Ricoh GR whether digital or film but that would depend on how often you will stop for photography. Will this be a photography journey where you would detour and plan to be somewhere for the light or a bike ride with some photography? The amount of film needed would be my deciding factor.

[ktmrider2]

I have traveled thousands of miles over the last 22 years with film cameras on motorcycles and have yet to have one suffer damage from vibration.  The camera is usually in the  waterproof clothing bag surrounded with clothing, thus insulated from vibration and protected by lots of padding in the form of jeans and underwear.  Photography is not the purpose of the trip but important none the less and though I own a variety of cameras, my favorite is a film M so why not use it?

As someone has commented earlier, it is amazing that ANY photographs were ever taken before the event of digital.  I started college in 1970 and since then my film cameras have accompanied me on various spelunking and mountaineering trips, down the Grand Canyon in a kayak in 1984, a 400 mile canoe trip north of the Arctic Circle, and to numerous foreign destinations as well as living in my go bag as a pilot for USMC and CBP (have some interesting slides of blue whales off Maui and great photos of the Grand Canyon from the cockpit of my CH46).  And with more than 6000 hours in helicopters, I am here to tell you they VIBRATE!

And as for not having room for gear, may I suggest anyone interested google "Itchy Boots" on YouTube.  She is traveling the world solo while producing two or three videos per week of her travels.  She does not have a crew and is using a very small Honda 300cc dual sport.  I think this is her seventh season.  Since I don't plan on hauling camping gear (very cheap prices on hotels south of the border), I have room for a few items not directly related to motorcycling.  And a friend of mine even flies a drone while riding a motorcycle (Alex Chacon at Modern Motorcycle Diaries) and he is a pretty good photographer as well.

And I should mention I have been down the digital Leica route and not my cup of tea.  I find them too heavy and expensive for what you get.  If digital, than a Fuji X100 or XP or even my GR3 but I prefer film as something I started processing in 1966 (God, how did I get so old?  But it is better than the alternative!).

Edited July 13, 2023 by ktmrider2

[rtai]

I carried a tent, sleeping bag, cooking gear, dry food, water, rain gear, clothing, etc on saddle bags, rear seat and tank bags. Bike was a 350mm two-stroke. My next bike ride will be on something more comfortable with a built in sofa and it will be a credit card trip. Seems like you have it figured out. Enjoy journey. Very envious!

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Hallo,

Look here: Leica M

[malligator]

Film. I’m having a blast working with the 22 rolls I took on my three week trip to Indonesia. I barely touched the Q2.