From: geoff@pmafire.inel.gov (Geoff Allen)
Date: Fri, 24 Jul 92 19:38:20 GMT
Organization: Computer Nerd (is that redundant?), WINCO, INEL, Idaho
Subject: Re: Novice 4x5 field gear questions
Summary: 
Followup-To: 
Organization: Computer Nerd (is that redundant?), WINCO, INEL, Idaho
Keywords: 

sparks@col.hp.com (John Sparks) answers franz@cs.washington.edu 
(Franz G. Amador) in part thusly:

>>I need some sort of changing bag.
>
>I can't help with the changing bag.  I've never used one.

Hey.  You haven't paid your *dues* until you've loaded film holders in
the back of your van (with the tail gate up, of course) in a parking lot
in Yellowstone National Park!

(Now I wait for someone to tell me that *I* haven't lived until I've
loaded film holders while backpacking in Death Valley in August at 
2 p.m. with the wind blowing 30 mph. ;^) )

>>Do you just carry an old empty film box to put your exposed sheets
>>into, or is there some slicker system?

There seems to be a definite consensus on this one.

And like donl said, use a rubber band to keep the box closed.

>>I'm hoping to make a lightweight focusing cloth by sewing together two
>>pieces of coated nylon ripstop fabric, one white (for the outside;
>>cooler in the sun) and one black.  Seems like it'd be adequately
>>lighttight, and I could drape it over the camera if it started
>>raining.  Has anyone tried anything like this?

You might want to sew complementary strips of Velcro (TM, of course) to
the darkcloth in such a location that you can snug the cloth around the
back of your camera, freeing you to do more important things than hold
onto the darkcloth so it doesn't slide off/blow away in the wind/etc.

>>Lens protection: are those "lens wraps" good enough to protect lenses
>>put in a stuff sack in a backpack, or is there a better option?

I use the foam insert that came in the box with my Nikkor 210mm lens.  I
cut a little extra space in it for the lensboard and both it and my 90mm
fit in it nicely.  (I live dangerously and keep the other lens on the
camera, BTW.

>I put my lenses in "lens wraps" into rubbermaid containers (my three
>lenses all fit in one medium sized container).  I figure that the
>rubbermaid is really waterproof and provides some crush protection that
>the stuff sack would not for not too much weight or bulk. 

I like this idea!  I think a trip to the market may be in order!

Barry can tell you how great the Mido holders are.  You might want to
consider them instead of conventional holders.  (I'm considering them as
well.  And if Santa's nice to me, maybe I can have some by Christmas.
;^) )

As for packing the stuff, which others have mentioned, I recently bought
a ``ski'' pack, similar to what John Sparks describes in another post on
this subject.  I can't remember if mine is Mountainsmith or Gregory, but
I think it's Mountainsmith.  I haven't had a chance to try it in actual
use/abuse yet (this ``real life'' stuff keeps interfering with my
photography, but vacation is coming in a couple of weeks!), but I expect
it to perform nicely.  It's got places to supposedly put your ski poles,
which we all know are *really* for your tripod.  The cost was under
$100, compared to something like $400 for a LowePro Super Trekker, which
I examined in a store and didn't like as well. 

One thing I felt was a requirement in a pack was one large compartment
with a zippered cover that opened all (or most) of the way down the back
of the pack.  After watching donl flip his pack every which way to get
at all the little compartments while we were in Yellowstone together, I
decided that I wanted something that would allow easy access -- just lay
it down and open it up.

Geoff

-- 
Geoff Allen          \ The main difference between me and the student
uunet!pmafire!geoff   \  is that I have simply made more mistakes.
geoff@pmafire.inel.gov \    --George Drennan on teaching photo workshops.