Need advice for my LTM European vacation

[stunsworth]

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Admission to the Louve is free on the first Sunday of the month. However this is a very bad time to visit as the queues can be enormous and stretch from the pyramid entrance around the main courtyard into the back courtyard.

 

I used to live just around the corner at 150 rue St Honore. A wonderful part of my life. There was a cheap restaurant - Le Stado - on the ground floor. Salade de gesiers, confit de canard, and a desert for 15 Euros. Mmmm.

[Pangur Ban]

I think you'll be fine with a tripod - I've quite often seen people using tripods with a tiny little Lumix or Ixus mounted on them: often used by younger people, not only aged ones. They tend to carry them around permanently attached so they're easy to set up. It would be quite OK to wander around a touristy part of town in this fashion.

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[wda]

You seem to set on taking a tripod. Have you considered taking the excellent Leica table tripod and ball and socket head? Quite the best combo I have used while traveling light.

 

Or, one of the Gorillapods? Their advantage is that the legs can be twined around a railing or chair back, quite securely, or used conventionally atop a bollard etc. Just a thought!

[iShutterbug]

Wow, thanks again for the terrific advice. As you can see, we will be on a pretty tight schedule and your tips are saving us a lot of time and trouble and worry. BTW if anybody is coming over here I'll be glad to answer questions and help out in any way.

 

We already have our tickets or reservations for all transportation and hotels and museums we want to see, including the Vatican, as well as a couple of "hop on and off" city bus tours. I don't have any reservations for any of the car factories or museums however.

 

I spent most of today following the links you gave me, reading about one-bag traveling, photo.net, and pros and cons of tripods, etc. Have decided to bring my table-top tripod for discreet daily carry, but still taking the Benro "Travel Angel" just in case, both use the same smallish ball head. I think for sure I'll need it to shoot 'Old Roma', for instance. I know tripods are a giant hassle. This trip is so big and important for us I don't want to come home and be disappointed that many shots are just not sharp because of camera shake.

 

We will be ending up in Bellagio, on the shore of Lake Como for two nights. Joanie and I met 35 years ago on Como St. on an island off Tampa in the laundary room of the apartment complex we lived in. Now we are going to the place Como St. was named after. Not only that, a couple of years ago we stayed at the Paris casino in Las Vegas, right across the street/strip from the Bellagio casino. And now we're going there. We noticed it on a segment of one of the many travel videos we rented from the library to see where we might want to go on this trip. Lake Como seemed so mystical and picturesque I said I'd love to shoot it with the Leica so that's where we're going. Has anybody any experience there?

Edited August 11, 2009 by iShutterbug

[Pangur Ban]

The Italian lakes are stunningly beautiful with gorgeous light that will bring out the very best in your equipment. Some of the most lovely parts of the planet, in my opinion. Make sure you have a nice boat trip whilst you're there.

[iShutterbug]

The Italian lakes are stunningly beautiful with gorgeous light that will bring out the very best in your equipment. Some of the most lovely parts of the planet, in my opinion. Make sure you have a nice boat trip whilst you're there.

Thank you, Pangur. We're taking a lake tour and the hydrofoil to several locations so that I can shoot as much as I can. This is a location I can really utilize the tripod, the Elmarit, and spot meter for zone system, even bringing along Singh Ray ND filters, don't care if it rains or storms there want Ansel Adams clouds.

Edited August 13, 2009 by iShutterbug

[jpattison]

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iShutterbug,

 

There was some discussion about tripod use in Paris last year. read this thread...

Photography and French privacy laws - Large Format Photography Forum

the link to the gardens near the louvre (the tuileries) is interesting, they require a tripod permit.

(Page 18 is on p12 of the pdf, by the way)

 

Have a fabulous time!

 

John

[iShutterbug]

Thanks John and everybody, great links and I've learned a lot, you've given me much-needed information that has made me more confident and equipped for this adventure.

 

I really don't want or need to shoot works of art inside the museums (except classic race cars) as I figure they'll be really crowded and as I've learned they have restrictions. I know I have time--and energy!--probably for only the usual tourist attractions in the cities but that is enough for me, I'm sure in the course of it I'll get some good candid "Leica"-type shots so I'm staying open and ready as I can for what comes our way.

 

Re-reading my posts it might sound like I'm rich or something--the cars, the cameras, this trip--and that is definitely not the case. I'm retired, stay busy, hardly any income except social security, this trip coming directly out of a lifetime of savings which both of us earned by hard work. I figure I want to be the one to spend it on what we have always wanted--a trip to Europe--instead of the regime that has taken over our beloved country. (Photography helps me to not think of politics, but then I think that's selfish.)

 

It's a real bonus for me to see car people on this forum as we can incorporate that interest in our posts. I remember all the Road & Tracks and Sports Car Illustrateds from the 1950s that I poured over and collected--the pictures by Bernard Cahier (sp) did he use a Leica?. Anyway I grew up wanting to be the first American World Champion and drive factory Ferrari, but Phil Hill beat me to it, then I adjusted and wanted to be the second ... But I've always owned sports cars or European cars.

 

As I've said elsewhere when I was in high school I got to use my dad's IIIf, Summarit, and Hektor. To make a long story mercifully short I turned that into a photofinishing plant that dad quit his job and became a family business. When I went off to college, since it was I who did all the work, the business floundered and he sold it and our route to our erstwhile competitor but still my cut gave me enough to buy a used Ferrari and go racing, small time local SCCA, but I had my shot.

 

So I grew up with a love of cars and cameras and now I have the time to go back in time and buy the Leicas I never could afford previously. I've had a lot of fun in eBay buying LTM bodies and lenses and accessories, and once they're CLAd they're essentially as good as new. But then you all already knew that--

[Doc Henry]

Hi ,

For people and museums please see photos in following links:

I do not have problem to photograph in museums (Louvre and Orsay) and people in the underground.

http://www.l-camera-forum.com/leica-forum/landscape-travel/86995-paris-travel-national-library.html

http://www.l-camera-forum.com/leica-forum/architecture/85479-versailles-b-w.html

http://www.l-camera-forum.com/leica-forum/people/82177-sunday-place-vosges.html

http://www.l-camera-forum.com/leica-forum/people/79243-artist-montmartre.html

http://www.l-camera-forum.com/leica-forum/people/77236-louvre-movement-2-a.html

http://www.l-camera-forum.com/leica-forum/people/77027-louvre-movement.html

http://www.l-camera-forum.com/leica-forum/landscape-travel/76546-louvre-pont-des-arts-night.html

http://www.l-camera-forum.com/leica-forum/landscape-travel/76289-stuart-under-rain-2-a.html

http://www.l-camera-forum.com/leica-forum/people/74744-subway.html

Regards

Henry

[Philippe D.]

Hi,

If you're in Nice, have a visit to the Théâtre de la photographie et de l'image.

It's a photo museum (free entrance) in an old beautiful private theater.

 

have a visit

If you stay for a few days in Nice-Monaco area, ask for my phone by PM.

Edited August 13, 2009 by Philippe D.

[iShutterbug]

Henri and Philippe--

 

I want you to know you've put unfair pressure on me to come up to the standards of your photos -- but I will try!

 

I have to drag myself away from the computer for a while today and believe it or not do some things for the trip. We leave Monday. In the meantime here is the itinerary:

 

Tampa-London August 17

London August 18-19-20

Paris August 21-22

Nice August 23-24 (Monaco, Cote d'Azur)

Rome August 25-26-27

Florence August 28 (Tuscany)

Maranello August 29 (Modena, Bologna, Milano)

Bellagio August 30-31-September 1 (Lake Como)

Zurich September 2

Zurich-Tampa September 3

 

I don't know how I'm going to stuff all that stuff in one carryon...

Edited August 13, 2009 by iShutterbug

[Doc Henry]

I sent you a MP.

We will be able to see each other during your stay in Paris 21 (Friday)

or 22 (Saturday).

Regards

Henry

[iShutterbug]

Yes, yes, we'd love to meet Forum members at every stop--that would be very memorable on top of an already memorable trip.

 

I don't know how we'd do it but I think it would have to be brief because we have a lot to see and in some places we have tours arranged and all that but I'm sure we could work it out. Perhaps we could meet in our hotel or someplace else, maybe lunch, we'll see.

 

Please PM me and we can talk about it.

 

Best Regards,

Don & Joanie

[Doc Henry]

Hi Don and Joanie,

I sent you a second MP

Regards

Henry

[Doc Henry]

Hi,

If you're in Nice, have a visit to the Théâtre de la photographie et de l'image.

It's a photo museum (free entrance) in an old beautiful private theater.

 

have a visit

If you stay for a few days in Nice-Monaco area, ask for my phone by MP

 

Hi Don and Philippe,

I will have the chance to meet Don and Joan in Paris. I will try to make them visit Paris.They stay only 2 days but will be at Monaco and Nice on 22 in the afternoon.

I do not know if they will have the time to meet another friend of LUF as Philippe on the coast.

...Don has to decide and to contact Philippe

Henry

[iShutterbug]

Bonsoir, Henry,

 

Thank you for giving us a warm welcome to Paris. Philippe has kindly given us his number. We are busy making last minute preparations for this whirlwind tour. Thank you all again for your help and advice.

 

Don & Joan