Would you travel/tour with M9 or M4?


artspraken

artspraken

New Member
Next week i'm going 2 week tour of Eastern Europe (ie prague, vienna, munich etc). Travelling with wife, mother in law and 1 niece (13 yr old)...... Jialat. .....

I cannot decide whether to:

. Bring M4
. Bring M9 ; or
. Bring both

What do you think? I am abit scared carrying film will be a hassle coz must handcarry. Somemore hor..... developing / scanning will be a pain when i return. But m9 - i no longer enjoy shooting M9 nowadays....i need my camera to have advance lever to play with.

Lens i decided liao. Will bring 21mm biogon, 50mm lux asph and 35mm cron liao. If i bring M4 i will bring VC meter ii - this so small good for travelling better than sekonic sibeh tua kee how to lug around.

My wife hates black & white and manual cameras. She bringing LX3 and my niece bringing GRD3 or GXR.

I thinking they can take the digital, i go 100% analogue dun bring m9 liao
 

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I'd suggest both if you can afford....u can have best of both worlds...digital and film....
 

My fren lawrence hor, he say dun bring both film and digital, coz machiam sure end up using only one but not the other. So humji....

I scared wait later film habes....i wonder if eastern europe got sell Tri-x anot
 

bringing both doesn't really add much to the weight I suppose...the only issue if you worry any mishap may happen(touch wood)....if bringing film only, then make sure u bring adequate amount of film rolls lah...hahahaha
 

From your entourage, I think M9 will do fine...


artspraken said:
Next week i'm going 2 week tour of Eastern Europe (ie prague, vienna, munich etc). Travelling with wife, mother in law and 1 niece (13 yr old)...... Jialat. .....

I cannot decide whether to:

. Bring M4
. Bring M9 ; or
. Bring both

What do you think? I am abit scared carrying film will be a hassle coz must handcarry. Somemore hor..... developing / scanning will be a pain when i return. But m9 - i no longer enjoy shooting M9 nowadays....i need my camera to have advance lever to play with.

Lens i decided liao. Will bring 21mm biogon, 50mm lux asph and 35mm cron liao. If i bring M4 i will bring VC meter ii - this so small good for travelling better than sekonic sibeh tua kee how to lug around.

My wife hates black & white and manual cameras. She bringing LX3 and my niece bringing GRD3 or GXR.

I thinking they can take the digital, i go 100% analogue dun bring m9 liao
Click to expand...
 

I guess i badly want to bring my M4 + truckload of Tri-X lei. but i scared wait my wife beh song i bring so much barang barang....M9 easy solution but aiyah M9 not as fun to shoot as film
 

i would actually suggest that if you're going to bring 3 lenses, bring both bodies along, 35cron (non asph, i assume) on the M4 and the other 2 can go with the M9, whichever is needed. i personally find the contrast of the 50lux asph and the zm too strong for b&w, but that's just a personal preference. and while you can adjust for it somewhat during developing, it would be tough if you mix it together with shots taken by the 35.

btw, just a pitch, film does not nec mean b&w only. there are some excellent colour films for travel.
 

i would travel with both.. i find changing lenses on the go a hassle, and prefer having each lens stuck on one body..

tri-x/cron 35 on the M4 & color/Lux on the M9 would be a great combo.. pop the 21mm on either when you need the greater coverage..
 

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Traveling is already tough enough as it is to watch over your belongings. I suggest bringing just one body - film M4 since digital is already well covered by your wife and niece (btw, excellent choice of PnS - LX3 and GRD3!!!)

Bring both TriX and colors negatives like Agfa or Superia. Some slides like velvia or elitechrome if you planning to shoot in daylight without tricky lightings.

Show your wife some books by HCB, Salgado, Winogrand etc... What's wrong with B&W? Tell her these are classic and will last you a last time of memory and that of your children.

If you're concern about backup, bring a spare film body and keep in your luggage. I will suggest try shooting with just 35mm and see how it goes

Buy those film constainers from Daiso to store your films neatly. Having limited amount of films and one set of equipment may actually help to give you some discipline to your shootings. Leave the machine-gun shots on the PnS.

Btw, I envy you. Has not travel since my daughter born and has not step into the cinema since.
 

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ZoomP said:
Traveling is already tough enough as it is to watch over your belongings. I suggest bringing just one body - film M4 since digital is already well covered by your wife and niece (btw, excellent choice of PnS - LX3 and GRD3!!!)

Bring both TriX and colors negatives like Agfa or Superia. Some slides like velvia or elitechrome if you planning to shoot in daylight without tricky lightings.

Show your wife some books by HCB, Salgado, Winogrand etc... What's wrong with B&W? Tell her these are classic and will last you a last time of memory and that of your children.

If you're concern about backup, bring a spare film body and keep in your luggage. I will suggest try shooting with just 35mm and see how it goes

Buy those film constainers from Daiso to store your films neatly. Having limited amount of films and one set of equipment may actually help to give you some discipline to your shootings. Leave the machine-gun shots on the PnS.
Click to expand...

I agree with Zoomp. Digital space well covered by the LX3 and GRD3 already. Go with what makes you happy. And the advantage of going with film is that you don't have to worry about carrying a charger, out of battery juice, batteries etc. Film is very happy to go anywhere and won't bug you for an electrical outlet.

If you really must cover all bases, then bring another film PnS to accompany you. One body load with B&W, the other with colour film. I found that to be an excellent combination during my recent travels.

Btw, I envy you. Has not travel since my daughter born and has not step into the cinema since.
Click to expand...

Mate, I can offer babysitting service. While you are watching movie, I will use your Noct to take photos of your girl so that you won't miss a thing :bsmilie:
 

Thank you all fellow brother for your opinion. I will deeply consider this.

ya now my wife is chionging europe before she do her national service...
 

Bravia said:
Mate, I can offer babysitting service. While you are watching movie, I will use your Noct to take photos of your girl so that you won't miss a thing :bsmilie:
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Bro... I dont have a Noct... can jaga one more baby boy to try baby shoots while I try to watch movies too? :bsmilie:
 

I agree with Bravia and ZoomP. If you want to shoot film, then go with that and leave the M9 at home. You only live once, and you should do what makes you happy. If you run out of film, you can always use the LX3 and GRD3 :) As for convincing the wife, just commit to carrying whatever you want to bring (in addition to whatever she had intended for you to help her carry!). If you are the one carrying it, she got nothing to say right?

Actually, I don't think shooting film necessarily means more barang. You don't need to worry about chargers, power socket adapters, spare batteries, etc. When I visited Beijing on my own last year for a week (I travelled alone, and my main intention was to take photos, so you would probably shoot less if you are with family?), I shot about 16 rolls. That's about 2 rolls (70+ shots) a day on average. With film, you'll be surprised how little you shoot, and how many more keepers you get.

So if I were you, I'd just bring as much film as I can comfortably get away with (or that the wife will allow) in the handcarry (maybe 20-30 rolls in a large ziplock packed flat and lined with a black plastic bag, if flat, it doesn't take up that much space). If the film runs out and you can't buy more, just make do with the P&S, or your iPhone, if you have one. With the right application, e.g. Hipstamatic, an iPhone also makes a wonderful travel camera.
 

dacteo said:
Bro... I dont have a Noct... can jaga one more baby boy to try baby shoots while I try to watch movies too? :bsmilie:
Click to expand...

Sure. I will write a IOU so that I can claim my reward when you get yours :)
 

Bring both, if the photos turn out bad, there’s nothing to feel regretful about, but only ourselves.

And if you meet any robbers, remember heavier weight means harder swing, think of it this way, it’s not a bad thing after all. Enjoy your trip, pls share your photos when back.
 

If i was in your shoes i'd just bring the film M, only b&w film and 1 lens (for me it would be the 35mm). So far whenever I travel with film, I just stick to b&w as its my personal preference. I find that if i was to bring color film as well, it would be another distraction. You add in another variable, should you use color today or b&w for where you are going? If you want something in color use your phone or ask your wife to take the photo with her digi cam. That's what I do. :) Same thing with the lens. Traveling with 1 lens simplifies things alot. No, hmm maybe i should switch to the wider lens here. Waste time only. I have travelled with 2 M bodies before but that was more for backup (due to harsh environments) as well as having to take some portraits of people for work so needed a portrait lens and did not want to have to change lenses while moving around. Also the 2 bodies allow me to have 400 ISO film in 1 camera and 1600 ISO film in the other which was helpful. I recently relooked and updated my Tibet photos from a few years ago on my website (www.derrickchoo.com) and I mainly used 1 camera and 1 lens for 80-90% of the shots. I have zero regrets not bringing any color film for that trip.

Traveling with with film is not too much a problem. Like plato says, just pack the whole lot in a large zip lock back and bring it on your carry on. Then when you go out, just bring how much you think you will use that day. I used to get the airport to hand check the film which was a hassle when I carried 80-90 rolls of film packed in transparent tupperware containers. Nowadays I don't bother and just pass them through the x-ray machine. No problems with Trix pushed to 1600. For me keeping it simple increases the photography enjoyment.
 

bro, this would be my setup

1) two film bodies, one for b&w film and the other for colour/slides (velvia).
2) 35mm lens and 50mm lens one for each.
3) 10 rolls b&w, 10 rolls velvia -(for 1 week travel)
4) light meter

That's it, it's not that heavy to carry arround.... no battery, charger, power socket to worry about.
Then it's just a matter of whether you want to shoot colour or b&w for a certain scene.

Eastern Europe is so rich in history, architecture and culture...you definitely want to shoot some colour.
I have ever just shoot b&w and regret that i did not shoot colour for certain shots that only does justice in colour.

Cheers and the important thing is to remember to have fun.
 

i'll only bring the M4 and tons of film and the lens will be 21mm and the 50mm :P
I think that the IQ of GRD and LX3 should be good enough because if you bring M9 and the M4, I think you will use the M9 more than the M4 or just use the M9 as a backup? hahaha
 

when I travel:

M2 + 50mm F1.5 - only used at night when speed is needed.
M3 + 21mm F2.8 - All morning till early evening shooter.
GRD3 - Just in case everything else screws up.

Depending on how many days, for e.g. Kathmandu that I'm going in Nov, 14days, 40rolls of B&W 400asa is coming with me...

heehee, sorry no color. iPhone & GRD3 can take care of that ;)
 

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