FILMISNOTDEAD

WHATS IN MY BAG?
PHOTOGRAPHY BY JONATHAN CANLAS

B
THEBAG

WHETHER SHOOTING A TRAVEL WEDDING, LOCAL EVENT,

OR PORTRAITS AT YOUR MOM'S HOUSE -- I BRING THE SAME GEAR.
EVERYTHING LISTED FITS INTO A THINKTANK AIRPORT
SECURITY BAG EXCEPT FOR THE HAIR DRYER AND TRIPOD.
(WHAT THE WHAT HAIR DRYER!? I'LL EXPLAIN IN A BIT.)

FILM IS NOT DEAD

WHATS IN MY BAG

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MAINCAMERABODY(X2)ACCESSORIES

CONTAX 645 WITH 80MM F/2 LENS, BACK WITH 120/220 INSERT, METERED PRISM, AND BATTERY GRIP.
ONE CONTAX IS LOADED WITH COLOR FILM, THE OTHER WITH BLACK & WHITE FILM.
How do I tell them apart, you ask? The color body has a neck
strap, the b&w body has a wrist strap. Always, always, always.
Weddings and shoots are too fast-paced and important to
waste any time wondering which body holds which film, and
straps are the easiest way I've found to keep it consistent.
Oh, and the battery grip allows me to ditch CR5 batteries and
shoot with plain ol' AA batteries. Rechargeable, longerlasting, not-$20-a-pop CR5 batteries.
12 INSERTS PRE-LOADED WITH 220/120 FILM
35MM F/3.5 LENS (USED FOR SUPER-WIDE SHOTS + LONG
EXPOSURES AT NIGHT)

FILM IS NOT DEAD

WHATS IN MY BAG

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OTHERGEAR

POLAROID 600SE WITH 5 PACKS OF FUJI FP-3000B + HAIR DRYER The hair dryer is used to dry the goop side (instant negs)
during the reception. The prints are given to the bride and groom I keep the negs for blogging later.
When you pull the images, the negs are wet and cannot be stacked, touched, overlapped, etc...or the emulsion is ruined. Bad
emulsion = bad neg = no blogging instant film goodness for you. Thus, the need for a blow dryer.
HOLGA from Randy Smith over at holgamods.com modified to have two working f-stops and to focus at a minimum of 2 feet
instead of 3 feet.
What's that, your Holga already has two f/stops? Wrong, my friend...if you click between 'sunny' and 'cloudy,' nothing changes.
It's the same f/stop. Randy will take care of your newfound Holga envy.
SEKONIC L-508 LIGHT METER is around my neck at ALL times. I dont ever use the meter in my cameras and hand hold meter
everything with this guy.
NIKON SB80DX flash unit mounted right onto the Holga for night-lighting

FILM IS NOT DEAD

WHATS IN MY BAG

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THE BALL HEAD IS FASTER AND SUPER EASY

TO USE IN COMPARISON TO LAME-SAUCE TRIPODS
THAT HAVE THREE LEVERS YOU HAVE TO
GO THROUGH TO NAIL YOUR CAMERA ANGLE.

PROMASTER LED42 DAYLIGHT-BALANCED LED LIGHT This

continuous light source is great for capturing cake-cutting,
dancing, and details at night.
MANFROTTO TRIPOD WITH A BALL HEAD (MODEL 322RC2)
used for long exposures. The ball head is faster and super
easy to use in comparison to lame-sauce tripods that have
three levers you have to go through to nail your camera angle.
(No offense to lame-sauce tripods, of course.)
HOYA PLUS FILTERS These are macro filters that come in a
set of 3: +1/+2/+4. They're basically a magnifying glass that
mounts to the front of your lens without causing any
degradation in the images and allow you to focus a lot closer
than your lens permits. In my case, they are 72mm and screw
right onto the 80mm f/2 lens for the Contax, which I use for
95% of any given wedding day.
Plus Filters are great for up close portraits, macro ring shots -- or
anything macro for that matter. The set costs $65 -- way more
economical and LIGHTER than a five-pound macro lens that
costs more than $1,000.

FILM IS NOT DEAD

WHATS IN MY BAG

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ODDSANDENDS
16 ENERGIZER RECHARGABLE BATTERIES. The Contax eats
2CR5 batteries like Cookie Monster downs chocolate-chip
cookies, so I recommend the battery grip with rechargable
AA's. (We're talking the ability to shoot 8 rolls with 2CR5
batteries versus 37 rolls with AA batteries.)
The Nikon SB80DX flash unit and the ProMaster LED42
also take AA batteries.
BUSINESS CARDS. I don't make any overt attempts to pass
them out but if someone asks, they get one.
$5.00 IN QUARTERS for random parking meters and vending
machines. These are in their own zipper compartment.
ZIPLOCK BAGS for holding the dried goop negs and keeping
high speed film accessable and ready to hand to TSA for hand
checks.
GUM. Bad breath is always...bad.

FILM IS NOT DEAD

WHATS IN MY BAG

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FILM

40-60 ROLLS OF FILM

I LIKE TO ERR ON THE SIDE OF HAVING TOO MUCH FILM.

Ah, but what film? The majority of what I shoot during the day is the new Kodak Portra 400 in 220 format.
What's the difference between 220 and 120 film? 32 exposures in the 220 roll, versus 16 exposures in the 120 roll. So, shooting 120 film means changing your roll
twice as often, packing twice the amount of film, and hiring an assistant who loads 120 for you during events as you rip through 16 exposures at lightning speed.
Otherwise, they're identical.
As it gets later in a wedding day, I'll break out the Kodak Portra 800.
For the Holga (which only takes 120 format), I bring 10 rolls of Kodak E100VS 120 slide film. I cross-process this for all shots taken during the day in the
harshest of light (read: rad vignettes and crazy color). Using this at night with a flash results in whack colors that are super-unpredictable.
When using the Holga with flash, I shoot 5-ish rolls of Ilford XP2 120 a color negative (C-41) black and white film. If I feel like mixing it up, I throw some
Kodak Portra 800 120 color film into the Holga and fire away.
As light completely disappears in the evening, I shoot 10-ish rolls of Ilford Delta 3200. This is a high speed black and white film in 120 format (16 exposures, remember?).
Do you really shoot 60-ish rolls of film at a wedding? Nope, but I like to err on the side of having too much film. Uncle Bob might be a nice dude, but he's not going
to be equipped with a few extra rolls of Portra 400 that I can borrow. It's on me to be prepared. I also shoot tons of personal work outside of the wedding or
event, so those 'leftover' rolls are often used up before I head home.

FILM IS NOT DEAD

WHATS IN MY BAG

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How do you get all of your film through airport security? Any film
rated above ISO 800 (like the Ilford Delta 3200) and all
instant film (Fuji FP3000B) have to be hand-checked at
security. I keep them in a separate bag that the nice security
people inspect box by box and roll by roll. Again, films of
ISO 1600 or 3200 and instant films simply can't be checked
in luggage or go through the x-rays at security.
So, everything that's stuffed into my ThinkTank bag in the
pocket that's used for compact flash cards hello, film:
FUJI FP3000B X 5
KODAK PORTRA 400 220 X 30
KODAK PORTRA 800 120 X 10

FILM IS NOT DEAD

KODAK E100VS 120 X 10

ILFORD XP2 120 X 5
ILFORD DELTA 3200 X 10

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GOTQUESTIONS?
I bet I've already answered your question more than once in my Formspring account. For real. I bet I've already answered
it. If not, hit me with it! And thanks for reading.
http://formspring.me/jonathancanlas
You can also find/follow/contact/interact with me here:
http://twitter.com/jonathancanlas
http://canlasphotography.blogspot.com/
http://filmisnotdead.blogspot.com/
And if you're all, Oooh ooh, can I learn more about film in person? The answer is, Most definitely.
http://jonathancanlasphotography.com/workshop/

FILM IS NOT DEAD

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