Vacation Camera Choices

Both Debbie and I are K-5 public school teachers, so a couple of months off during the summer is a cherished blessing for which we are very grateful. Now experienced empty nesters, we use this time for extended travel that usually involves visiting our daughters and also some amount of camping. We have just returned from a camping trip along the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina and Virginia that we enjoyed very much despite spending two of the three nights in a motel due to weather concerns. Tent camping and rain to not play well together.

Our next journey begins this Friday and will take us to the American southwest to visit both daughters, neither of whom actually live in that part of the country but instead are joining us for visits. Our youngest will be with us in Austin, Texas, while our oldest will join us in Taos, New Mexico. Because they actually live in Seattle and Denver, respectively, we do not get to see them very much, so we are very excited about this trip indeed. Sadly, Texas is seeing significant increases in COVID-19, so we are going to take all precautions as we go, just as we have been doing here at home in Chattanooga.

Because I have "too many cameras," choosing what cameras and film to take on a trip like this can be stressful. I try to involve most, if not all of my favorite cameras over time, and my interests in shooting them shifts constantly from one to another. Sometimes I am greatly influenced by what others are shooting through a blog post I have read or a podcast episode I have listened to. I can be very impressionable. However, this time I have made my choices - choices that I think will both be enjoyable and will work well for me. Let me give you some insight into how I arrived at my decision.

My Minolta XE-5 (L) and my Minolta X-700, about to go west.

I am taking two manual focus SLR's, and they are both Minoltas (no surprise there, of course). I am taking my beloved X-700 (with the Minolta Motor Drive 1) and my Minolta XE-5. The X-700 is an old favorite, being only the second (and last) film camera I ever purchased new in the box. It feels so good in my hand, and I am so familiar with the controls that I feel at one with the camera. I replaced the seals and the mirror bumper on this one last year, so it fires silky smooth. Even though the Motor Drive 1 adds weight, I love the grip and the two auxiliary shutter buttons. And speaking of the shutter buttons, this camera features the touch-sensitive buttons that turn on the meter when touched. The meter will go off again in a few second, saving battery power. All the batteries in the camera and motor drive are fresh and can be replaced easily on the road. In my experience, the X-700's meter is highly accurate, which is a factor because of the film I will be shooting in it (more on that later).

The XE-5 is a fairly new camera to me. I found mine in a local Facebook Marketplace ad for a very good price, considering that it came with a Minolta MC Rokkor-X f1.4 50mm lens, a lens I had always wanted. I have two Minolta f1.7 lenses already, and both of them are good. However, this f1.4 has a stellar reputation. I've had it cleaned, so it's ready to go. The XE-5 camera itself is one of several interesting results of the collaboration between Minolta and Leitz Camera of Germany, makers of the famous Leica rangefinder cameras. Much of the Minolta XE came from Leitz, especially the extremely smooth Leitz-Copal shutter. I can attest that it rivals my Nikon FE for the smoothest, vibration-less shutter. The design of the XE is very much like Minolta SRT-202 (Uncle Jonesy's, of course), so my fingers know where everything is on it. It's solid and dependable, and unlike the SRT-202 it takes the same batteries as my X-700 and are easily found. The meter on mine seems to be accurate as well. The only significant difference between the XE-5 and it's more expensive brother, the XE-7, is the lack of information in the viewfinder. You do not see your aperture selection, and you only see the suggested shutter speed (via a needle). I am not worried by this, as I tend to look at the dials anyway whether they can be seen in the viewfinder or not.

I should also point out that I originally bought the XE-5 to "rescue it" - that is to clean it up, test it out, and sell it to someone looking for a working film camera. I have only begun to test it, having taken it on our Blue Ridge Parkway trip last week. I have not yet seen the resulting photographs, so I suppose using it on this trip out west is some level of risk. Nevertheless, I want to see what it can do. Again, I'm not worried. These cameras have been found to be reliable.

Obviously, one of the main reasons for choosing two Minolta SLR's is so that I can use whatever lenses I bring on both camera bodies. Aside from the above-mentioned 50mm f1.4 lens, I will bring two more lenses:  my Minolta Celtic 28mm f2.8 and my Minolta Celtic 135mm f3.5. The 28mm f2.8 is one of my favorite lenses, even though it is a "Celtic" lens, which was Minolta's line of budget lenses. Despite its "budget" status, I have found mine to be a solid performer with good resolution and contrast. Sometimes I go out on a photowalk with this lens only and adapt my "vision" to its perspective. The 135mm f3.5, also a Celtic lens, is a lens I seldom use, because it's just too long for me. I got a good deal on it when I purchased it, but I really wished I had found an 85mm or a 100mm Minolta lens at such a good deal. Using a 135mm lens without a tripod is risky at best. Nevertheless, I am taking this lens with the intent of finding uses for it, and I will have a tripod with me as well.

Because I am taking two SLR bodies with me, my plan is to shoot black and white film in one (the XE-5) and color film in the other (the X-700). As for color film, I chose to shoot the newly re-introduced Kodak Ektachrome V100 slide film. My experience with this film since Kodak brought it back last year have been very positive, and I think it will be the perfect film on which to capture the colors of both Austin, Texas and the desert of Taos, New Mexico. Slide film requires accurate exposure, and I am confident that my X-700 will be up to the task. I won't be developing the Ektachrome, but instead I will be sending it to The Darkroom lab in San Clemente, California for development. I've had good experience with the rolls of Fuji Provia slide film I sent them recently.

As for black and white film. the XE-5 already has some Ultrafine Extreme 100 in it, and I have plenty more of that in the form of a bulk roll. However, there is a part of me that wants to shoot a lot of Kodak Tri-X 400 on this trip, and I have a lot of it as well. I also am intrigued by the idea of limiting oneself to a single black and white film for a trip or project. Tri-X 400 is a magical film to me, especially when it is developed in Kodak D-76 diluted 1:1 with distilled water. I love making darkroom prints from Tri-X negatives as well.

I will take more film than I probably will need for a very important reason:  I want to force myself to shoot a lot on this trip. I tend to be "thrifty' when it comes to shooting film, and I try to make every shot count. However, when I look at all the photographs I took while on a particular trip, more often than not I will ask myself, "Is this all the photographs I took of this trip? Why didn't I shoot more?" I am determined to come away with lots of photographic souvenirs and not have regrets over not shooting more.

Vacations for Debbie and me are all about experiences and memories, and they are the perfect opportunities to apply the craft of photography. Trips like this do not happen very often; we don't get to see our daughters and their mates often either. I want to experience all the good parts of such a trip and capture as much of it on film as I can. Stay tuned for updates from the road.

Kevin

UPDATE:  We've just learned that the governor of New Mexico has issued an executive order requiring all out-of-state visitors to self-quarantine for fourteen days, so we probably will not be going to New Mexico after all. Instead, we will visit our oldest daughter in Denver.