Scary, really scary...

 Hexar AF bokeh at f 2.8

OK, it's not Jack the Ripper scary but the thought of going away for a few days and leaving my DSLR at home, taking just film cameras, has given me a couple of restless nights. I've been using digital gear - A Konica Minolta A2, followed by a Pentax K10D and now a Nikon D700 - for about seven years. They've followed me (not all at the same time!) on every holiday I've had since then. Digital is convenient and fast and you don't have to worry about things like airport xrays* fogging your pics. It also gives you a pretty good guarantee that you've actually got that once-in-a-lifetime shot you spotted on a Paris boulevard.

Since deciding to concentrate mainly on film cameras and real darkroom prints, I've landed myself with a holiday dilemma: what camera outfit should I now take with me? A few years ago, I lugged my Rolleiflex with me to Paris along with the Pentax K10D and never shot a single film exposure. Pretty sad. There wouldn't be much point in focusing on film and doing something similar when, as we're hoping, we manage to get a way for a few days in a week or two.

 Another Hexar bokeh shot - this time wide open at f2

I have to tell you - no doubt some of you will know already - that a DSLR is like a support blanket on holiday and it's really hard casting comfort like that aside. Nevertheless, that's what I'm going to do. So what are my alternatives? Sadly, far too many. Over the past few years, I've taken advantage of some screaming deals on film gear on Ebay. How can you pass up such lovely items as a recently serviced Olympus OM2n and 35mm f2.8 Zuiko for £35? Or a Contax 137MA body for £18? My main G.A.S**. expenditure, though has been on the Konica line. Until everyone started to realise how easily they could be used on many other digital cameras via a cheap adapter and their prices began to climb, I sometimes felt like the only person buying Hexanon lenses. I've now got a few bodies and lenses ranging from 21mm to 200mm. The glass is all top notch.

The handsome Hexar AF - a superb, fast lens and quick reflexes

However, I think I'm going to keep it as simple as possible. My Domke F803 satchel is just the right size for my Rollei 2.8F and a Hexar AF. OK, I wont have a range of focal lengths but that can be a strength as much as a weakness. It depends, I suppose, on where you're going. The Rollei/Hexar could be a bit limiting if you're wanting to shoot landscapes but for general travel and street pics, the 120/35mm combo will do just fine. The Rollei can handle the more contemplative-type shots while the Hexar, with its quick responses, grabs the off-the-cuff images.

Left: another Hexar shot

The next question to be answered is the film stock. I'm really keen just now on shallow depth of field - one of the reasons for the Rollei and Hexar as they both have nice bokeh and reasonably fast lenses. That suggests a slow film possibly in conjunction with a three-stop ND filter so that the cameras can be shot wide open on sunny days. On the other hand, a slow film isn't great for fast-moving street photography or low-light work. After some thought, it looks like I'll be stocking up on Adox CHS 25 Art and good-old Tri-X, in both 35mm and 120.

The idea is to always have a slow film in one camera and a fast one in the other, interchanging the stocks so that I can use both cameras for all pics. The Adox with the ND filter would give me around 1/250th at f2 in the sun. It would be developed, along with some Tri-X rated at 320 ISO, in the Barry Thornton high definition two-bath soup I use. For low light and night photography, I'll rate the Tri-X at 1260 ISO and develop it in Diafine.

There you have it, then. That's my "plan of attack" for our next break. I'll shoot less than with a DSLR outfit but I'll be happy to return with half a dozen cracking pics that can be printed up and added to a real world portfolio instead of several hundred that will just end up sitting on a hard drive, virtual photos in a virtual world.

* Opinion  seems divided on the damage that airport xrays can do to film. I'd love to hear from anyone with experience of this via the comments section.

** Gear Acquisition Syndrome (but you already knew that, didn't you!)