What's in my bag today

My camera bag changes regularly depending on my mood, what film I have, where I am going and all that. Recently (as some will have noticed from Flickr) I have been having a bit of an ES/ESII phase.




Pentax ES fitted with a SMC Takumar 55/1.8 lens and a Pentax hood (although a K series era one), loaded with B&W film.

Pentax ES II fitted with a S-M-C Takumar 28mm f/3.5 lens and colour film.

S-M-C Takumar 135mm f/3.5 and hood, S-M-C Takumar 200mm f/4 and hood.

Various filters, mainly Pentax and a close-up lens.

Cheers, Kris.

Nice bagful of kit there Kris,

I still think proper cameras are nicer to use, must get my S1a out again.

John.

Great looking kit!

Bjørn

Hats off to you, Kris, I could never go back there - I don't have the patience any more.

Patience, or time?

I used to love being in the darkroom, but finding the time was difficult. Of course, if you have a dedicated darkroom in your house, it's a bit easier. But even then...

G

Both, but mostly patience. I never developed or printed my own pictures, and the gap between the exposure and the print meant that it was difficult to learn from the mistakes.

Whereas with digital, I see the dross straight away and can therefore often fix it, and I don't need chemicals and actual dark, for the darkroom work.

That's all my gear from 35 years ago

I wish I had the darkroom to go with the cameras but I don't and so "The Darkroom UK" get a slice of my pay packet on a regular basis...

Not sure why, but I just don't get the same pleasure out of using my K20D as I do out of using my film gear. Over the last couple of years I've been using more film with a variety of different cameras.

K.

Perhaps it's because there is more of a ritual attached to using film. There's a box to unwrap, the process of loading the film, the necessity to change the ISO, and the knowledge that you only have a limited amount of exposures and you have to make them count.

It's akin to smoking a pipe. There's much more to do than with a cigarette.

G

In many ways, using film is easier than digital, depending on the camera used. No need to worry about batteries dying, either use a mechanical camera or carry spare batteries (that may last for months). No trouble having to backup the images (OK my slides and negs aren't organised - but I know where they all are).

Having recently 'gone digital' with a K-5, which is an amazing camera, I find myself having to work out how to backup GBs of photos (currently using the SD card they were captured on, as I think they're more reliable than a hard disc or DVD-RW).

I sometimes wonder how I managed with film, just 36 exposures (OK maybe 39 if you pushed it), not knowing what you'd got until days later and no 'happy feeling' that you at least have something and haven't screwed-up the basics.

I got an S1a a few weeks ago (still don't know if it works properly), having loaded a 36exp film into it, I'm still only on number 21. I guess I just can't justify shooting it until I'm completely happy with everything, a far cry from digital. Once I'm happy it works with the Super-Takumar 55/1.8 it came with, I'll be trying my Optomax 35/2.8...

Great bag of kit Kris, providing the front pocket of your bag, is used to carry a hot pasty.

Take care.

In a secure firesafe, clearly, if you think that's safe

I'm sure that historically, we all failed to do much with our negs other than put them in a cupboard, but it doesn't change the fact that in the event of a fire, we'd have lost the whole lot.


Even if this is true for one SD card, which I doubt, it certainly isn't true as the number of SD cards increases.

The fact is that if you value your images, you need to get yourself a proper storage and backup strategy - the sheer volume of data will make anything else a game of russian roulette, and sooner or later, you will lose valuable data.

The strategy should involve off-site backup, as well as local redundancy.

I now have a SMC 50/1.4, S-M-C 135/2.5 (v.1) and a S-M-C 150/4 to add to my bag. I think I need a bigger bag. And a sherpa.

K.

Great outfit Kris but unfortunately at my age, when I go on a hike, I carry only one SLR and a short zoom lens, with each km, it gets heavier.

There will also be a compact digital in my pocket, usually my RZ10.

I do use my SLRs by rotation, at least one coloured and one B & W a month, the coloured is done by our local shop but I develop and print myself the B & W at our local club premises, there's still quite a lot of us doing B & W here.

If I use my ESII, it is with a short Tamaron zoom because the original Tak zoom is too bulky.

Oso

Re-post of the image.



Pentax ES, ESII and SMC Takumar lenses par Kris Lockyear, on ipernity

Best wishes, Kris.