my Czech tale of woe (rather lengthy)

[Tom Deering <tdeering@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

In Reader's Digest condensed form, this is the photographic details of my
trip to the Czech Republic.

To set the stage, you have to understand that I was amazingly busy at work.
Bug-eyed, freaked-out busy.  I didn't pack for the trip, or make any
preparations, until 45 minutes before we left.  So I simply threw a bunch
of camera stuff in a bag and went.  Thankfully, I bought several dozen
rolls of 120 film a month ago.

I brought three cameras, all iffy.  I didn't want to shoot all that film
with one camera just to find out it was borken.  This is exactly what
happened when I first took out the Siamesed Lubitel.  Every one of my
photos of the New York marathon were worthless. Six rolls wasted.

So I took the Siamesed Lubys, unrepaired.  I packed some ground glass and
screwdrivers so I could refocus them on the road.  Just in case, I packed a
Stereo Realist.  It may be a *heavy* weapon, but they have a reputation for
reliability.  And to further hedge my bet, I brought along a single
Ricohflex.  If all else failed, I would have some nice non-stereo photos.

I didn't take stock until I was in my first hotel room in some tiny town in
the Czech Republic.

First problem.  I forgot my new Manfrotto tripod.  Damn, it's rock solid.
I ended up buying another aluminum junk one for $60 in some tiny town south
of Prague.  Now I have five junky tripods, but I sure can't hand hold for
1/15, either.

Bigger problem.  the focus was a little weird on the Ricohflex, so I took
it apart.  Turns out, the top lens wasn't actually focussing, it was just
spinning in the mount.  Nothing on earth could budge it.  Trying to explain
what I needed to the Czech lad at the photo shop was useless, so I
reassembled it like it was.  I figured I could just focus using the
distance scale.  Then I found out I was missing one of the film rollers.
No way to keep from scratching the film.  After three hours work and a trip
to a Czech hardware store, that camera went in the suitcase and never came
back out.

Thanks to the time difference, I was up at 4:00 am.  Turns out I needed all
the time I could get.

I dissassembled the Siamesed Lubys, and aligned it all as best as I could.
There was an excellent red and white smokestack in the distance that worked
perfectly for this.  But refocussing these cameras had disappointed me
before, and I wouldn't be able to see my developed film until *after* I
returned to the USA.

About a month ago, I found two problems with the Siamesed Lubitels, and
fixed them both.  They had to do with the synched shutters.  I had not
tested the repair.

So I had an untested iffy home-made MF camera, and that crappy miniature
format Realist.

Thank god I took my photo vest.  This had all the little things that I
would have just forgotten.  Lens paper and synch cords and such.  Turns out
it was the only practical way of carting around all that hardware.

On day eight, I checked the Realist.  I had already taken over a hundred
photos with it.  I assumed that these would be the only photos I could
count on if the Lubitels were funky.  When I held it up to the light, I
noticed one shutter was open.  A couple clicks later I cnofirmed I had a
broken shutter.  No way to know when it broke, or how many of the photos
were ruined.  (Later, I discovered they were all bad, together with a roll
from Chinese New Year.)

I immediately went down and started camera shopping in a panic.  I wanted a
Sputnik, but had found nothing.  They had a surprising number of *really*
old wooden stereo cameras, but nothing I wanted to own.  (Unless I wanted
to shoot View-Master.  No!)  While shopping, I stumbled on some old
Lubitels.  They were cheap, and I figured I could take a couple rolls with
different cameras.  It seemed like I could guarantee at least some useful
photos that way,  but I had no way of knowing til I got home.  (In all I
bought six Lubitels.  I can always use the parts.)

By the end of the trip, I shot every roll of film I brought with me, plus
seven rolls of slide, print and black & white I bought in Prague.  In all,
over fifty rolls.  A big gamble, considering I had never seen a good photo
from any of my cameras.  It was a panic move, but I had been planning this
trip for a year, and I didn't want to come home empty-handed.

I was pretty nervous when I went to my photo lab.  First, I was
unaccustomed to bringing in so much film. I had notes for each roll, and I
didn't want to mix them up.

And of course, I wanted to know if I got any images at all.

Phew!  The Lubitels didn't let me down.  In the end, I had no camera
failures with any of them.  The mono cameras both worked perfectly.  And
the Siamesed Lubitels, which had let me down before, work flawlessly.  I
cried real tears as I went through all those slides on the light table.  I
think I shot two double exposures, and maybe three skipped exposures, but
that's operator error.  The focus was perfect.  The apertures were exactly
the same.  And the shutter synch was spot on.  Just perfect.

I can't wait to sell that damned Realist.

Cheers,

Tom