B. Douglas Jensen wrote: > > Any similar stories out there? "
> In the list of things one should have in their camera bags is a second camera just > for situations like yours. Last December I went west for my annual I'm-going-to-Wyoming-in-the-middle-of-the-winter-and-I'm-nuts trip. When I arrived in Cheyenne, Wyoming, I had three E-6 rolls that I had shot in the KC area and Nebraska processed at Rainbow Photo. When I got them back a couple of hours later, I immediately noticed that the two from the F4 that I brought were deeply scratched, all the way across the entire roll. I quick test in the motel room running a test roll of film through the camera and opening the back confirmed that the camera was gouging the film. I tried EVERYTHING, (I even had a can of air with me), and I could locate the spot on the camera back rollers that seemed to be causing the scratch (I was really hoping that it was just dirt), but I could not fix the scratching problem. That body got bad-ordered and went back into the camera bag. Had I not had a second camera with me, that would have been the end of my shooting on that trip (unless I bought another camera out of town!). I was also glad to discover the problem before using the bad camera for the rest of the trip out west. I usually shoot with two cameras with two different lenses on them, so this did cut down on the quantity of my shooting, but at least I got most of what I wanted, and got to think back to when I only had one body and I had to pick just that one shot that I wanted. BTW, I usually only shoot with one camera and lens at a time, but while chasing trains up and down a busy RR, I don't always have time to change lenses, so I keep the two that I most likely think I will use on the cameras, and I grab the one that is the best suited for the shot and work with it from there (usually an 80-200 on one). Sometimes I use three bodies for this (I bought an FM once just for a third body on a trip to the Southwest), and it paid off (Seligman shot on the SPORRS site, others - FMs are great backup and extra cameras, and with MD-12 motors on them, they make very nice general railfan use cameras if you are careful with loading them, and you don't need a HighEyepoint viewfinder). Even a cheap old used F or F2 makes a great backup camera, but their motors are junk today (and you need to check their shutter speeds for accuracy). You can always use a non motorized body like this for roster and night shots (to me, taking your eye away from the finder and jarring the camera by advancing a lever breaks up the concentrated process of recording moving subjects on film at the right moment). I was able to use some of the scratched shots from that trip on the web, but the actual film is ruined for projection or other publication (without some digital repair work). The BNSF 4705 shot on the SPORRS Bulletin Board Page, and the BN MACS at Lenexa shot on the Home Page were two shots from the scratched rolls. Another is my IC shot, which is also currently on the SPORRS Pixel Page where I describe how I fixed these scratches and provide examples. A backup or extra camera body is more important and more useful (and cheaper) than many people may think. -> SPORRS: 'Serious Photographers Of Railroad Related Subjects' -> Web Site: http://www.anet-stl.com/acphotog/sporrs/ -> Message © 1998 SPORRS® - All Rights Reserved
