Author Topic: Trip and film advice - Vegas and LA  (Read 1577 times)

Ordinal

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Trip and film advice - Vegas and LA
« on: September 13, 2012, 12:59:25 AM »
I am going to visit the beautiful cities of Las Vegas and Los Angeles, for a short period of time, in the near future. Given that I am a London-based troglodyte in the main, I was wondering whether anyone had any advice as to what in the way of film would be best to take. I'm not used to hot cities with lots of light in them.

I plan to do some street photography in both, so will have a good old fashioned SLR with 50mm lens with me; I might also take the GS645S for some medium format, but only if there's a point to that, which I'm not sure about. (Also as backup, an Olympus XA.) I'd thought I'd take a mix of slide film and 400 B&W. I'm going for a wedding, and who these days can say their wedding is on _slides_? Like, real slides? But I'm really open to any suggestions or advice or anecdotes. By all means just talk about being in Las Vegas or Los Angeles, I don't mind.
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moominsean

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Re: Trip and film advice - Vegas and LA
« Reply #1 on: September 13, 2012, 05:40:42 AM »
i live in phoenix and i pretty much always shoot 100 speed in the southwest. ektar and acros. if it is sunny, around 250 and 16 to 22. That's if you are wandering around and shooting. If it is the wedding you are shooting, no idea!
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Re: Trip and film advice - Vegas and LA
« Reply #2 on: September 13, 2012, 08:59:40 AM »
Having recently returned from a trip to Marrakesh, outdoors and in good sunlght, I used Kodak Portra 160 exclusively. I also had my Lee ND filter if I needed it.

However, following advice from a fellow FW (sorry, can't recall who just now...) I opted for Ilford XP2 when shooting indoors and in the markets / souqs.

In hot countries there tends to be, by necessity, a lot of shady places from which to escape the heat of the direct sun. Slow film (100-200 ISO) might be okay but 400 ISO worked fine for me.

Incidentally, I shot weddings on film in the early 1980s and of all the wedding togs I met, I never knew anyone who used slide film other than in very even light. Stylistically, it might make for an interesting look - especially if you use Velvia  :o. However, exposure is critical and latitude is limited. If you're shooting in mixed sunlight and shade, you'll have to choose between getting the highlights or the shadow detail right as slide film just can't cope to the same extent as print film. Portra 160 and 400 are perfect for detail, neutral colour and great skin tones. Just my two penneth.......
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calbisu

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Re: Trip and film advice - Vegas and LA
« Reply #3 on: September 13, 2012, 02:14:02 PM »
I have been shooting for almost one year in Sunny Sudan, and I have been doing it with Kodak Tmax 400, Too fast film I would say, most of the time I shot at 1/500s and f11 or f16. In my next life I would shoot 100 ISO or may be 200 ISO film. But I know I will keep shooting with ISO 400 film...  :-X

Andrea.

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Re: Trip and film advice - Vegas and LA
« Reply #4 on: September 13, 2012, 08:02:00 PM »
Well, I've just back from a little trip down the island - work related. If it's anything like this use HP5 pushed to about 3200 !

Ordinal

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Trip and film advice - Vegas and LA
« Reply #5 on: September 14, 2012, 09:25:23 AM »
Sorry, yes, I might have given the impression that I was actually shooting the wedding in more than a spectator roll - I won't be, I'm just a guest, but it would be nice to have some distinctive photos. Fair point about the range though. I have a lot of 35mm Elite Chrome 100 around of which I've still yet to get a test roll back, though it should be coming today... if I do take the MF camera I will be using Velvia but likely won't have that at the wedding!

Interesting to hear that people are using 400 in the bright sun with success. I'm used to using various B&W 400 films generally so that's good to hear. I can always use filters as well I suppose (might need to have a yellow on in any case).
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gary m

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Re: Trip and film advice - Vegas and LA
« Reply #6 on: September 15, 2012, 02:40:21 PM »
Takes lots of film, Vegas has so many photo ops. I used Kodak 400 iso the whole trip in my Holga. No problems at all. If you will be there in Oct. the Neon Boneyard is a must visit. http://www.neonmuseum.org/ Here are some examples I shot there http://cgmoyer.blogspot.com/search/label/boneyard

Tim

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Re: Trip and film advice - Vegas and LA
« Reply #7 on: September 15, 2012, 11:14:51 PM »
Las Vegas is not beautiful. Not at all.

But you could start your trip to Zion Canyon from there.

Ordinal

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Trip and film advice - Vegas and LA
« Reply #8 on: September 19, 2012, 08:53:29 PM »
Takes lots of film, Vegas has so many photo ops. I used Kodak 400 iso the whole trip in my Holga. No problems at all. If you will be there in Oct. the Neon Boneyard is a must visit. http://www.neonmuseum.org/ Here are some examples I shot there http://cgmoyer.blogspot.com/search/label/boneyard
I was really excited about that but then I discovered that they are not taking bookings for the fall as they are under construction :(
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Ordinal

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Re: Trip and film advice - Vegas and LA
« Reply #9 on: October 06, 2012, 07:27:52 PM »
Just as a follow-up on this, in the end I took one SLR (a Ricoh XR-X, plus 28, 50 and 70-200 lenses) and an Olympus XA, plus a bag of random film - the ones I used were Fujicolor Pro 400H, Lucky 100, hand-loaded HP5+, and Elite Chrome 100 (eta: also a roll of T-Max). I've only developed some of the HP5+ so far, but that seems to have come out rather nicely, though the scenery shots are underwhelming so far. I'll admit to being a bit of an HP5+ fan anyway.

If I were to do it again I think I'd take something in MF and a compact 35mm for snaps and street (either the XA or maybe a Trip). The XR-X is a good camera, but apart from entertaining myself with the long lens taking pictures of other cars and roadside scenery during the drive from LA to Vegas, I rarely switched from the 50mm prime. MF would have been much better for taking pictures of urban landscapes.

The old town in Vegas seems much more interesting than the newer parts of the strip, particularly if you like signs, which I do. I wish I'd spent more time there. I also wish I'd spent more time scouting around at night with fast film for street shots in Vegas - there's not a lot going on in the day on the strip apart from badly dressed folk wandering around drinking beer. The Belagio fountains seemed a good place, though, as you can hang around in the shade under the trees and watch people. A tripod and MF would have been great for nice night shots of neon, too.
« Last Edit: October 06, 2012, 07:58:47 PM by Ordinal »
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Bastian S.

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Re: Trip and film advice - Vegas and LA
« Reply #10 on: October 06, 2012, 07:46:20 PM »
The variety of films to choose from isn't that big anymore. And almost any film is good. For sunny places I would recommend something in the 50-200ASA range. You should just buy some film to try it out. Ektar 100 and Portra 160 are both extremly good films, but you might prefer one over the other, just because your taste and how you would like your pictures to look.
The best thing would be to just buy some film and try it out.
With B/W its the same. My personal favourites are Acros 100 and Tri-X, sometimes Tmax 400. But I also like the Adox CHS 50 and Fomapan 100. The 50ASA films are great in bright weather conditions, because you don't have to stop down so much.