Backpacking with a Leica IIIC

Cesar Israel Romero Islas -
When preparing for a backpack trip there are a lot of things to consider regarding storage space, for me the hardest decision was what camera to take with me...

*Prague Astronomical Clock*
Traveling is something I always enjoyed, from meeting new people and places, to the stressful situation where you don't know how you will get to the next destination.

*Prague Train Station*

For most people trip photographs are mostly a way to remember vividly their journeys and to take an analog camera with them is a risk only few are willing to take.

When preparing for a backpack trip there are a lot of things to consider regarding storage space, for me the hardest decision was what camera to take with me, I would love to take all my Nikon gear but that would take more than half of the space in my bag. After too much thinking I decided to only take a Nikon F3 and a 50mm lens, but when I was about to take it a weird feeling directed my attention to an old Leica IIIc, I took the camera and gladly saw that it fitted my jacket pocket.

*Prague National Museum*

Is a well known fact that old Leicas are a pain to load and I had terrible experiences when finishing a roll and when trying to rewind it realizing that it wasn't well placed so it didn't advance at all.

*Berlin Holocaust Memorial*

I took the risk after my friend and mentor Matteo Prezioso told me that "it would be a good opportunity to master it".

Photos of new places are not too hard to take, as everything is new for your eyes there's always a good chance of getting a great shoot if you know how to compose properly. I didn't have to focus a lot cause almost all the photos where taken from far away so the focus ring was always set to infinity, exposing was not a big deal either due the fact that the weather was very stable (either cloudy or very sunny) so I measured one or two times per day using my cell phone (LightMeter Free) and tried to adjust by eye when light changes occurred.

*Warzaw Łazienki Park*
Roll after roll, city after city, I got very comfortable with the camera to the point where I was loading the rolls without thinking about it.

When I got my rolls back from the lab I was amazed, I didn't have high expectations, I knew that there were some light leaks but I'm cool with that, the sharpness and contrast weren't something I was expecting.

*Vienna Mumok*

*Berlin Old City*

*Berlin National Gallery*
![SurrealCrow](/content/images/2016/04/26235812921_929075693f_z.jpg)
*Budapest Parlament Castle and Danube*

You can find more of my photos here:

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