Camera carrying option – Rolleiflex TLR

[Rawhide .]

Looking for ideas to carry a Rolleiflex TLR film camera while hiking. (I’ll post a link below if you’re not familiar with the camera). It’s not a lightweight piece of equipment, but not too heavy either, 2 pounds 11 ounces (43oz total).

I’ll be hiking the length of Ireland next August, and love shooting with this camera. It’s like butter.

I’m leaning towards a chest carrier of some sort that would attach across the shoulder straps, but wondering what other methods you have used? My friend Grizz used a chest setup for his Nikon DSLR on his PCT thru in 2011, and it worked well.

My pack is going to be the GG Kumo.

Thanks!

Rawhide

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rolleiflex

[Dale Wambaugh]

The current Kumo has a couple reflective bands on the shoulder straps. If they are open and strong enough, you could rig straps with clips to those points to take the bulk of the weight, saving your neck. A 4 point rig would help to keep it from bouncing into your belly all day.

So, a length of 5/8″ webbing or whatever fits the strap mounts on the sides of the camera and a snap for the top end. You could add a side-release buckle in the middle of each strap to make it easier to remove. If you can sew bar tacks in the webbing and create the mounting loops for the hardware and eliminate using ladder slides.

If not a clip at the top to that reflective strip, you would need to make loops around the shoulder straps like a sternum strap.

Carrying like this will expose the camera to more dust and vibration, neither of what is good. Given the slower operation of a TLR, I would lean to some sort of container stashed in the top of your pack. A food storage box with a silicone seal in the lid and snap locks would keep dust and water out.

I used a TLR camera for landscapes. With a light meter and tripod, it was just slightly less hassle than a view camera. Stunning negatives though :)

[Ben H.]

I would think you would want something like the classic everready case in more modern materials mounted in a position to shoot pictures…. four point hitch like you suggested but I would think lower than chest level.  I would guess some of the cottage guys could sew up something pretty nice.  Perhaps add a bit of foam for protection.

[Franco Darioli]

Take a look at this type :

It has a built in rain cover.

Lowe Pro makes a chest harness for it but you can probably just adapt it to the pack straps.

The smaller version (AW 45 ) will also fit your camera but does not have the bottom rings to attach it to the straps.

https://www.lowepro.com/global/toploader-zoom-50-aw-ii-black-lp36702-0ww/

[David Thomas]

I’ve had a Yashica Mat 124 TLR for 40 years now.  It takes great wide-angle shots and the negatives are so big at 2-1/4″ square, that big enlargements (or zooming in on a small portion for regular prints) works well.

I’ve never considered it for backpacking – more for weddings and family portraits or documenting family reunions because I’ve lost some digital prints from each digital technology I’ve used, but I still have all the negatives and prints my family has taken for over 100 years now.

OTOH, I caved with a guy who had inherited a medium-format Hasselblad TLR (prices keep going up, but a new Hasselblad has always cost as much as a very nice car) and figured he might as well use it.  He’d bring it into caves in some padding in a dry bag.  Caving is FAR tougher on equipment than backpacking is (water, yes, but also mud, belly crawls, banging around, etc).

A backpacking friend who’s long brought full-sized SLRs on trips would rig up a piece of visqueen poly sheeting cut to be like a poncho over his camera.  The neck/shoulder straps laced through the sheeting and the sheeting draped over the camera so it wasn’t completely enclosed but shed rain from most any angle while being very quickly accessible but just flipping the sheeting back and raising the camera up.

[Franco Darioli]

A little know factoid is that the G in your camera stands for Gold.

It has gold plated contacts for the battery.

It has a “standard” lens (same angle of view as a 50mm on the 35mm format )  so not sure how you get great wide angle shots.

[Rawhide .]

I am appreciative of these responses! Thank you guys!

I think the 4 point harness is a good idea, and the baby camera poncho is a good idea as well. I’ve found some roll top dry bags for DSLR’s on B&H, and also some non-waterproof options. I’ll be carrying a Go-Lite poncho tarp (7oz) which I’ll use in wet weather & will help keep the camera dry.

[Rawhide .]

Franco,

My camera doesn’t have a “G” in it, nor does it have any batteries. It’s a vintage film camera that is wound manually, is focused manually, shot manually, and the light meter is light activated, not battery operated.

And while medium format cameras aren’t generally “full frame” panorama monsters, they can shoot beautiful landscape shots. The detail clarity, especially if using the proper film, can be sharper than any modern digital SLR.

 

[Franco Darioli]

I was commenting on David’s post.

(I sold cameras for 30 years , so yes I am familiar with yours and David’s…)

BTW, wide angle and landscape are not synonyms.

You can take a landscape with almost any lens , wide , standard or tele.

[David Thomas]

My mistake.  It seemed slightly wide-angle to me since I usually had more telephoto lenses on my SLRs in the 1970s and 1980s.  And because of its fixed lens, zooming in involved walking closer to the subject (or enlarging it from that large negative later), versus just putting a longer lens on the Nikon SLR.

I should bring it to the next few extended family events so there are a few analog photographs around in case the “cloud” crashes.   A little web surfing and I see someone comparing the resolution of the 6 cm x 6 cm negative to a 30-megapixel digital camera.

Franco: any thoughts on where to get 120 film developed and printed nowadays?

[Franco Darioli]

I am in Australia…

[David Thomas]

Ah, okay.  I wouldn’t want all my photos to come back upside down.

[David Thomas]

And, since you know vintage cameras, it’ll be no surprise that my go-to backpacking camera was an Olympus XA (not XA1 through XA4).  Fabulous light meter – I could set it on a rock and it would stay open for 10-20-40 seconds until it had gotten enough light.
I’d usually leave the flash unit at home for backpacking.

[Franco Darioli]

I had that combo (same A16 flash) . It is now somewhere at the bottom of the Tasman sea.

(we capsized in a storm. Lost a few things like masts and rigging…)

I met and spoken with Mr Maitani, the designer of that camera.

[Rawhide .]

I’ve used the Findlab in Utah) and The Darkroom (Los Angeles). Both are quality, great service. I prefer The Darkroom, but there’s others you might want to try as well. 👍🏼

[David Thomas]

Cool – meeting Mr. Maitani.

I used one of my XAs to document my toxic waste sites.  I was leaning over the access hatch of an underground storage tank and, oops, it fell in.  Thankfully, I have another.

A Luddite co-worker was on a Victoria-Maui run on a large sailboat, researched the bathyspheric data, and threw his cell phone overboard at the deepest point on the route.

Thanks for the suggestions, Rawhide.

[Nick Gatel]

I bought my first new camera in the ‘60s, a Yashica D, to replace my 4 x 5 Speed Graflex I had bought used (wish I’d kept that one!). So I guess my Yashica might be older than David and is older than my Svea 123 :-)

Never used it for backpacking — too heavy for me, meaning I never took a camera backpacking until after YK2000. In the ‘80s I bought a Pentax K1000 and still have it (I also have all my tax returns and receipts since 1972, being a pack rat).

The D was a step below David’s 124. The 124 has a crank to advance the film, the D has a knob. No light meter — I had to use a handheld meter — which helped me learn about focal lengths, aperature, etc. When I bought the camera, they had an extra case they gave me for free, which worked out as the old one wore out in a few decades. So the case in the pictures is “brand new.” I paid around $50 for the whole kit. Used to have my own darkroom to develop film and paper.

 

 

“Sports action viewfinder”

 

 

 

[Rawhide .]

Your Yashica is in beautiful shape! I’ve never taken my Rollei backpacking, but this isn’t a 2,650 mile hike, and there’ll be so much I’d kick myself for missing if I didn’t lug it. (I rationalize it by saying my baseweight is so light 😂)

I have a 4×5 Graflex Reflex, and a 4×5 Linhoff. I’d LOVE to lug those, + all the film & gear!  Well, maybe not, but I’d love to bring home the photos.

[Nick Gatel]

I understand why you want to take the Rollie. Sounds like you’re a serious photographer.

Thanks for the compliment on the camera. I bought the Yashica because I couldn’t afford a Rollie. I took extra good care of it since I spent the good part of a summer selling magazines door-to-door to earn the money.

 

[Rawhide .]

I think it’s pretty cool that you wanted your Yashica so badly that you took a summer job. That’s dedication. And I think there’s an extra level of wanting to really take care of your equipment, since you sacrificed for it. It makes me appreciate someone’s photography more, beyond the composition & technical/eye. I look at that person’s photos and it’s appreciation, and respect.

[Nick Gatel]

Thanks, Rawhide.

I used to develop my own film and paper. There is even greater enjoyment when one can spend time with their hands, chemicals, timing, and paper choice to create a final product. When I was in grade school I had a hand-me-down Kodak box camera and did my developing in my bedroom closet. I shared the bedroom with my brother, so I had to empty the closet for every developing session. I built my first enlarger wth a folding bellows camera I bought at a swap meet for something like 25 cents. Nowadays there are so many things people no longer can do themselves. My photography is all digital these days and and my darkroom has been replaced by PhotoShop and Lightroom… but I’m just an amatuer picture taker.

To mis-quote Colonel Kilgore, “I love the smell of developer, stop bath, and fixer.”

[Dale Wambaugh]

Buhdda is everywhere, but if he is in the stop bath, he’s not smiling.

I went to photography school and spent thousands of hours in the darkroom. The old color chemicals were really toxic and then there were the beautiful but now outlawed toners like selenium.

I miss the magic, but digital is so cheap and prolific. At at one time Nokia surpassed all the previous camera manufacturers for all time in the number of cameras produced. Now everyone has a powerful imaging device in their pocket and even more amazing, a motion picture device.

[David Thomas]

“Now everyone has a powerful imaging device in their pocket and even more amazing, a motion picture device.”

And every teenager has a (potential) porn-production studio in their phone.  The times they are a changin’.

[Rawhide .]

It’s so true, what we have in our pocket is an amazing device. I have an iPhone 8 Something-or-other, and I have a blast taking shots throughout the day. I usually have my everyday go-to camera, a Fujifilm X100F, but there’s times I don’t want to carry that extra 16 ounces. Like last night, I took a hike & snapped a few with my iPhone. In and out of the pocket! *WHAMMY!* :)

I do so much with my iPhone I went ahead and purchased a couple lenses from Moment. Top notch stuff. Recommend highly.

[Jay D]

I really enjoy medium format B&W film and that large, square negative. I also have a (heavy) 4×5 large format camera. There is something magical about film and developing it yourself. It’s still pretty magical if you shoot color and ship it off for development and printing.

My concern on using it during a trip like this is not the risk to the camera, but the risk of not having your shots turn out and not knowing until you’re home and get the negs and prints back. Digital gives you instant feedback and the ability to retake a shot if the scene fooled the meter (and you) and you need to adjust the exposure.

As far as your question, I think hooking to your shoulder straps would work fine and makes the most sense; the camera would be accessible as needed without having to dig through your pack, while still being easy to cover in inclement weather (not uncommon in Ireland, from what I understand). I’d consider something more protective than a camera poncho in the event of a serious or extended downpour, though. A dry bag is a good idea, for sure, and have it accessible so you don’t need to stop too long if a shower starts.

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