I took my usual weighty kit:
2 PZ-1p bodies F17-28 f3.5-4.5 FA 20-35 f4.0 Tokina AT-X Pro 28-80 f2.8 Sigma 70-200 f2.8 FA* 24 f2.0 FA 31 f1.8 Limited FA 50 f1.7
I also took a monopod (which got used) and a tripod (which this time went unused, mainly because the trip was really rather hectic).
I was experimenting with some new films, so I took Provia 100F, Provia 400F, E100G, Velvia 100, Agfa Ultra 100, Agfa Vista 400 (mostly for my wife), Fuji Reala 100, and NPZ 800. While there I also bought some Konica Centura 800 and 1600 for shooting inside museums.
As I get older this outfit is getting hard to carry, but I used every lens enough to justify having them along. Usually I use the fast primes indoors. On this trip, though, I used them outdoors a lot. Even on sunny days, using ISO 100 film and a polarizer, too often I was getting readings of f2.8. So off came the Tokina 28-80 f2.8 and on went one of the primes. I am very satisfied with the lens assortment I took.
If you get to Oslo, be sure to visit the Norwegian Folk Museum, which is several hectares of traditional vernacular architecture transported here. It is a photographers paradise. Nearby are Viking ships, and various museums with ships, polar expeditions, and the like. One of my favorites was the Gjoa, the ship in which Amundsen found the Northwest Passage. I grew up with this ship, which for decades sat in San Francisco at the west end of Golden Gate Park. Finding it in Oslo was like finding an old friend.
I was in Europe mainly for a conference, including two presentations that I had to give. So I didn't shoot as much as I would have liked - only 23 rolls. Since I cannot travel with any more gear (like a notebook pc), I don't think this amount of shooting would have been possible with a digital SLR. How many expensive memory cards would I have needed? Probably enough to equal the cost of a second dSLR.
I looked for the starkistdee in airport shops but didn't see it.
Can anyone recommend a different way to carry all this gear other than a shoulder bag?
It's nice to be back reading the list. I missed all of you.
Joe
