Packing it all in

I’m away on my hollybobs. Special ones, too. But I might be taking more cameras than clothes. Let me explain.

I passed one of those milestone birthdays this year. The sort of birthday that your younger self couldn’t even imagine. I remember at school working out how old I would be in the year 2000, which seemed an impossible distance away. Anyway, to mark the event I’m doing something special – I am going diving in clear, warm water.

I have dived in clear water before, but never as an experienced diver. All my experience has been in British waters so I have never really seen what good visibility is like, or been able to dive without a duvet under my drysuit. But now I am off to parts abroad (after October, to be known as ‘parts foreign’). Clear water, warm, small or no tidal range, little or no currents. Filled with smiling fish and marvellous things. Huzzah! But what camera do I take?

I need to be able to switch between macro and normal, as I want to be able to show the environment as well as the residents. No-brainer then: take the digital plus housing. The camera itself is an old model of Canon. Perfectly adequate for the job but old enough that I got a second one off eBay for a fiver. That way, if I do get a flood, it’s a camera swap rather than a crisis. So that’s one housing in the main suitcase and a couple of small digital cameras in the carry-on. Plus their batteries, as airlines get nervous about Li-on cells where they can’t see them.

What about the Nikonos? If I take it, I will need to take the bracket and two flashguns. So that’s two suspicious-looking bits of electronics and a chunk of metal in the big bag and a heavy X-ray opaque camera and the flash batteries in the carry-on. Plus film.

What about shooting video? If I use the digital camera for that, I’ll need to take a video light. I have one and it can double-up with a grip as a dive torch. Sorted. Except that’s another battery for the carry-on.

Then, what do I use for my touristy shots on land? The spare Canon digital could do the job, plus the Nikonos is amphibious. Do I need anything else? But I would really like to take another ‘proper’ camera with settings so that I can do the arty-farty bit. But then I would need lenses. What about a point and shoot? My mobile phone has a very capable camera plus editing software, so I could just use that. What if I could find the 80mm lens for the Nikonos? No, that last one is daft. My sensible head tells me to use the spare Canon, as I am carrying it anyway.

So: Nikonos plus two flashes and bracket; housing plus two Canon digitals; video light. Rational choices, but the film freak in me still wants to take another film camera. And the Nikonos is heavy to carry around. So is it the tiny Olympus XA, accepting that it has the same 35mm lens as the Nikonos, or is it an old Pentax point and shoot that has a zoom lens but could die on me? But if it does die I just wind the film back and ditch the camera. And the built-in flash is far more capable than the one for the XA. OK, so add a Pentax to the pile, feeding from the same film stock as the Nikonos. And add a film retriever in case I do have to rewind a part-used film. That won’t look at all odd on the luggage x-ray. Not a bit.

Then add to the pile a bunch of rechargeable AA cells for the flashes. Plus chargers for them, the Canons and the video light. And for my phone. And some film – all in original boxes so the airport guards don’t get nervous. Sorted.

Unless I change my mind again.

Plus seven pairs of pants and tee shirts. I’ll let you know how I got on.

UPDATE-

And of course, I changed my mind again. The little demon of perversity sat on my shoulder during the drive to work and whispered in my ear. The Pentax point and shoot is as big as a housebrick, so why not take something smaller? The Balda folds up really small, and a couple of rolls of 120 film will take up no space at all. Plus it will fulfil my desire for something manual and awkward to fiddle with. And it delivers my real desire, which is to shoot black and white. So it’s Pentax out and Balda in.

Unless I change my mind again.

UPDATE

Guess what? I realised that the Nikonos was going to be hooked-up to its flashgun, and that I didn’t want to be undoing and re-doing the connection every day: too much risk of introducing a leak. Plus I weighed the bag and it was well under the limit. So I sneaked the Olympus XA in. So that’s one Nikon, two Canons, one Olympus and a Balda. Totally ridiculous, if it wasn’t for the need to take pictures underwater and on the surface, plus the desire to have enough resilience against breakage or problems.