Over my spring break, the last week of March, I spent 6 days backpacking with family in a remote region of Grand Canyon National Park. I flew down with my DaYi 617, undecided on whether or not I would actually bring it on the trip. At the last minute, I decided to bring it, along with 6 rolls of Ektar 100, 2 rolls of Velvia 50, 2 rolls of Provia 100, a full-size tripod, and two digital bodies: a Fujifilm X-T20 with 10-24mm lens, and a Fujifilm X-T2 with 55-200mm lens. A heavy pack indeed!
I stored the camera wrapped in a large padded lens wrap, and kept it at the top of the back for easy access. At the onset of the trip, I shied away from using it out of a misguided sense of needing to preserve the film “for when I really need it,” but I quickly realized this was a silly attitude. If I’m carrying the damn thing, might as well use it as much as you can, right? So I shot almost every roll I brought.
Actually using the camera was as straightforward as always, and after getting into rhythm, I could drop my pack, get out the camera and tripod, compose and take the photo, and put everything back in only 2-3 minutes. This meant that as I was hiking, if I came upon a scene that seemed well-suited to the field of view and aspect ratio, I could shoot it without too much worrying about keeping companions waiting. I left the ground-glass for the camera in the car, since it didn’t seem like I would use it that much, and therefore I only used the DaYi in “point-and-shoot” mode, which is certainly speedier than the alternative.
I did not bring stand-alone lightmeter, and instead metered with the telephoto lens on my X-T2, which worked great. I keep the Fuji on a shoulder sling, so it’s easy to have at the ready for metering, and the long zoom lens makes for a great spot meter.
Arriving home, I developed the C-41 myself, and sent the E-6 off to Panda Lab for processing. My favorite images are below. Captions should contain location and film information.
