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In your bag 1162, Christopher de Bethune
Christopher has not only some awesome cameras in his bag, but a great travel anecdote too. Check it out.

Hey there!
My name is Christopher de Bethune, waving you from cold Brussels.

Fell into photography when i was a teenager, with the classic story of the inherited grand father camera, good old Canon, call it cliché!
Droped it after few years because of teenage angst and too much work to do in drawing school.
Beside as much as i enjoyed taking pictures of my friends on a skateboard, or punk bands playing, it was an expensive hobby, even at that time.
Around five years ago i discovered the joy of medium format photography through the work of a friend of mine, it was love at first sight and fell back knee deep into it.
Soon the hobby shifted towards a passion, even if i’m not sure there a lot of difference between those two.
I’m trying to travel to world as much as i can, documenting what i see and what i feel along the road.

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Well guys let me introduce you to my go-to bag, the one i take for travels, vacations or simply for long weekends in the countryside, yes even when it rains.

– The bag is from somewhere in H.K, you can find cheap, relatively good quality made bags over there, i like it because it does’nt look too much like a camera bag and that’s always good.
This one holding up quitte good for now, hope it will age good because i kinda like the color of it.

– Contax T2.
aaah, this little gem, probably my workhorse and one of my favorite camera of all time.
I know i’m not alone and there’s a kind of T2 cult out there, brothers i’m with you.
The f2.8 / 38mm lens is perfect, the autofocus precise and fast, and what i love above all is the fact that it is a TANK,
it fell so many time, never flinched, been spilled with all kind of alcoholic beverages, never failed. This camera is pretty perfect to my eyes.

– Voigtlander Bessa R2a / Leica Summarit 35mm.
A.k.a “lil baby”, it’s funny because i also got a M5 and i always ending up picking up my Voigtlander,
i found it more easy to work with, especially the film loading, and the looks of the grey Bessa just nailed it for me.
For the glass, the 35mm Summarit is a beast, i do love everything about it, from the tiny size to the friendly price tag.

– Voigtlander super wide-heliar aspherical II 15mm.
Killer lens, when i’m on the move, it’s a must have wide lens for great landscaping.

– Plaubel Makina 67.
The eighth wonder of the world, everything as been told about this camera, for me it’s simply the best 6/7 in the world.
SO small & light it fits any travel bags, and man that Nikkor lens is just astonishing, at f/2.8 and f/4 it’s a fantastic portrait lens push it down
to f/8 to f/16 for some of the sharpest images i saw.
It is a delicate camera tho, i’m lucky enough to own a fully working one, including the light metter, and i always put extra care when i fold/unflod it.

-LR44’s
Last summer i traveled to Kyrgyzstan and three days after leaving the capital, no more battery in my Voigtlander, did’nt check it before leaving…
Two days after i have managed to find some old 44’s in a chinese nomad caravan, and that day i swear to myself: “happened to me once, not twice.”

– Pen holder, Long exposure cable & Pinhole cover for the Bessa.

– For the films i do shot 95% in black & white, i still can’t exactly explain why, it’s something about the atmosphere, something about the deepness it gives to the subjects.
Tri-X and HP-5 are my daily choice, of course, how can someone in love with B&W could not use those two babies.
When i use color i prefer the Portra 400 or the Ektar 100, two films i learn to love with the years.

My diary > saintempire.tumblr.com

That’s it!
I wishing all of you a good day, and i put an extra thank to Bellamy for this amazing site, keep up the great work. (and keep making me dreaming about T2’s)

Christopher.

Thanks for sharing your bag with us, Christopher. That is am amazing stroke of luck to find the right batteries in a nomad caravan.
Check out the links and make sure you come and comment.

Keep them coming folks, we need more submissions, so get your bag on Japancamerahunter.com. Send me a hi resolution image of the bag. Optimum size is 620×473. Please ensure there is a bag in the shot, unless you don’t use one. The more you can write about yourself the better, make it appealing and tell us a story. Oh and don’t forget your contact details (twitter, flickr, tumbler et al). Send the bag shots here. Please understand that there is a long wait now as there is a backlog of submissions. Not all make the cut, so make sure yours is funny/interesting/quirky. And please make sure the shot is of good quality, as the ones that are not do not go up.
Cheers
Japancamerahunter