Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1999/08/18
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Friends, I came back from 10 days in Israel yesterday and found over 1300 LUG posts in my in-box. I will not claim that I read them all, but my quick scan saddened me somewhat when I saw the amount of flaming and name-calling that went on while I was away. Anyway, with me I had the Billingham Alice, which contained two M6s and the 24mm, 35mm Summicron, 50mm Summicron, 50mm Noctilux and 135mm Apo Telyt, plus a Gitzo mini tripod. It may seem strange to take two 50mm lenses, but the Noctilux came in handy when photographing at a family reunion and inside caves and churches. As usual, the 35mm and 50mm Summicrons were my primary lenses, but the 24mm saw a fair amount of use in the bazars in Akko (Acre) and Jerusalem, as well as for some landscapes in the desert near the Dead Sea. And the 135mm turned out to be useful for some candid shots. Somebody asked a question about what to use to carry non-photo stuff. I bought a photographer's vest the day before the trip, and it turned out to be very useful. I still carried my Alice bag, but the ample pockets of the vest allowed me to easily carry my mobile phone, maps, cigarettes, wallet etc. The vest is made of cotton and even in the 40C heat at the Dead Sea it was not a problem to wear it. I will take it along on all trips from now on. My wife first thought it looked a bit geeky, but later decided that it imparted a cool Indiana Jones look, especially after 3-4 days without shaving ;-) On airport security: following Tina's suggestions I put all my film into a lead-lined bag inside my carry-on luggage and had no problems at either Brussels or Tel Aviv airports. Since the latter is an incredibly security-conscious place, for obvious reasons, I expected that I would be asked to open my bag and show the contents but it did not happen. I can only conclude that either the scanning equipment saw through the lead-lined bag, rendering it useless, or the security people were not troubled by a large blob in my shoulder bag. I am glad to be back! Nathan - -- Nathan Wajsman Overijse, Belgium General photo site: http://members.tripod.com/belgiangator/ Belgium photo site: http://members.xoom.com/wajsman/ Motorcycle site: http://www.geocities.com/MotorCity/Downs/1704/