Well Aunty Kate, what did you do today?

[pyoor_excuse]

Well, I e-mailed Tessa Jowell to try and get someone a bit 'higher up' to look at the Bristol Swimming Pool Closures.

Well... I've got to try!

Other things - Kara! KKKKKAAAARRRAAAAA?!

Hey, what kind of speed film would you recommend bringing to Alasaka? And how much is film over there (price in dollars for a roll of 35mm 36 exposure film of average, but not branded) quality... If you know... Don't worry if you don't. Just want to know whether it's more sensible for me to buy a pile of film and take it or buy a teeny wee bit, and buy it while I'm over there....

Comments

[emilydm.livejournal.com]

I don't know about Alaska, but here in Victoria, BC, Canada, a five-pack of store-brand 24 exposure ISO 200 film costs me $12 Canadian. That works out to about $2 US (£1) per roll. You can usually get things more cheaply in the US than Canada, but it's Alaska so that would balance it out. I'd recommend buying 24's instead of 36's - here, they work out much more cheaply per print. If you do your own developing that may skew the numbers a bit though.

The days in Alaska are rapidly becoming shorter, being after the autumn equinox. I'm not sure when you're going there, but in wintertime there's a lot more twilight and darkness than daylight. Depending on what you're shooting pictures of, high-speed film, a tripod and/or a powerful flash would be in order.

For what this is all worth... Personally, I'd be antsy about sending large quantities of undeveloped film through airport security - x-rays and all. I'd buy what's needed in Alaska and bring it back. Hope this helps.

[howlsthunder.livejournal.com]

I use 200 and 400 speed film year round. 400 would probably be better for general stuffs but the light is gorgeous at all times during the day if its sunny so 200 is really good for that. emilydm is right about the lack of daylight; it's much more severe than where she is at, but this isn't Barrow, and you won't be here at Solstice, so you might get down to as little as 5 hours of daylight, but it's good light all day. Which is why I use 200 speed - for better color, but if you're wanting to take nighttime shots, well... you kind of have to plan ahead of time to be using high speed film. The Northern Lights don't really act on a schedule, heh, but you wouldn't want to be using 200 speed film for that of course... nor would you want to be using 800+ speed in the day. .. :\

I generally buy four-packs of Fujichrome, and that's about $8, so $2 per roll. Store brand is like $5 for a four-pack. Buy your film here. Not just for price but also because of airport security. Now, if your film is 200 speed, x-rays won't have an effect on it at all, so no worries there - it's only the high speed film that gets damaged by the x-rays; they just don't bother explaining this to everyoen because it just creates more questions, so they just say "film" in general.

t

[pyoor_excuse]

Thanks guys, I was kinda thinking that unless it was dramatically cheaper here (unlikely) that I'd want to get it over there. I normally shoot on 200ASA - a problem, as it happens, because I do stuff inside where at least 400 would probably be better, but 'cos my camera's quite old, it's fastest shutter speed is 1/1000th sec, which means that 400 - outside - remotely sunny - over-exposed.

I guess I'll probably buy a pack (4, I think, or 5) rolls of 'Kwick photo' stuff, and bring a roll or two of that out with me (200ASA) - and get the rest over there. If it's cheaper I guess I could get it developed there too :-)

Next Kara question. Does your DVD drive read DVD+Rs and DVD+RWs? 'cos my drive has a marked preference for them...

[howlsthunder.livejournal.com]

yes; unless they're in some weird format, it should read them fine.

[pyoor_excuse]

Cheers m'dear. That'll make it nice and easy to bring stuff over.

Is there anything *specific* you'd like brought over at all, at all? (apart from the post apocalyptic movies)