Vietnam Travel with Film and Digital Cameras

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Vietnam Travel with Film and Digital Cameras

Vietnam is a country that has always fascinated me.  A country that historically has been associated with a specific war but has in recent years grown a well-deserved reputation as holiday destination in Southeast Asia.  During the last couple of years, I have travelled there a couple of times.  In both cases I have travelled with both film and digital cameras.  

The first trip was in January 2023 where we visited Da Nang and Hoi An.  This was with my wife, Noelle, and at the time seventeen-year-old son, Alec.  To say this trip was a bit of disaster is to understate the bad weather we faced during that trip.  It literally rained from the moment we landed until the last day.  While we had a hotel on the famous My Khe Beach (also known as China Beach from the movie), we did not get to use the beach a single time.  It is also considered one of the worlds top six beautiful beaches, well not on this trip.

The second trip was with Noelle and myself only.  As it was to celebrate our twenty-fifth wedding anniversary it was in June and August 2024.  We went to Hanoi in the North, and then Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) in the South.  While many would avoid this time of year, as it is extremely hot and the rainy season, it was tied to our anniversary, so we planned it as a city holiday this time.  Luck was on our side and while the hot weather was there, the rain pretty much kept away.  Both trips reinforced our love of travel though, and did give opportunities for photography.  

While I do prefer to use film for most of my photography, I also significantly shoot digital.  I use what is best for the occasion.  For instance, the Canon PowerShot S95 that I have written about previously, though that article is not focused on the first Vietnam trip in which it came with us.

Equipment

On both these trips, Noelle did make fun of me as I started the process of what to take months before we travelled.  I like to keep it fairly light for day-to-day usage, but as I want to make the most of the opportunities to capture, I don’t mind being a bit heavy handed with what I take with me overall.  With SLRs I have always been a Nikon user, and these trips lent themselves to SLR shooting as it can be a bit rough, I stuck with that.

On the first trip, to Da Nang and Hoi An, I settled on the Nikon FE.  I also took the Nikon FM2n, as my son, Alec, wanted to shoot some film.  It then also doubled up as my back up camera.  For film, I settled on Kodak Portra 400, Ilford HP5 Plus and Ilford Delta 3200.  Lenses were the Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 Ai, Nikkor 35mm f/2.8 Ai, Nikkor 20mm f/4 Ai and the Nikkor 105mm f/2.5 Ai.  I also had the Nikon 50mm f/1.8 E lens for Alec to use on the FM2n while we could share the others easily.  

For digital I took the Panasonic LUMIX GX7, with the wonderful 20mm f/1.7 lens, and the Canon PowerShot S95 compact, mainly for my wife to shoot.  I also took an adapter to use the Nikon lenses on the GX7.

On the second trip to Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, with Noelle who does not shoot much at all, I took the Nikon F3 with HP finder, and the Nikon FM2n as second camera again.  I packed the same set of lenses minus the 50mm Series E.  I also brought along the Canon Sure Shot A1, as I knew I would be in water at one stage, and for a bit of fun, the Takane Mine Six, 6×6 120 medium format folding camera.  Again, I settled on Kodak Portra 400, Ilford HP5 Plus, Ilford Delta 3200 and Ilford FP4 Plus in 120 format.  

The Panasonic LUMIX GX7 also came with us, but this time we had the Panasonic LUMIX LX3 for any time we just wanted to have a small compact with us.

Travelling with film

We can’t talk about travelling with film cameras without discussing the experience of airports and security scanning.  For travel I pack the film in a clear zip lock bag.  I take the 35mm film out of the canisters and 120 film out of the box but leave them in the foil. This way the security people can see the contents clearly.  I also attached a sticker with the warning from Kodak on the bag.  I do get precious about it, as I have had x-ray damage on film before, and that was with the old machines, not even the new CT scanners which I believe are even stronger.

In Sydney airport with both trips, there was no issue, they happily hand checked my film.  They run a explosives swab over it and generally it is a smooth process.  On one of the trips, we flew through Singapore on the way to Vietnam.  As per Sydney there was no issue in Singapore.  On the way back they did question the foil on the 120 film, but it was all very civil and no issue.

On the first trip into Vietnam, exit from Da Nang was also very straightforward, once I explained my situation with film, they were happy to accommodate.  

On the second trip, on the way into Vietnam we initially flew into Ho Chi Minh City and had an internal flight to Hanoi. This is where things got a little hairy.  It was extremely busy, that airport had no air conditioning, so temperatures were around 35 degrees Celsius, and the security officer did not understand why I wanted hand check.  He even suggested I run one through the machine so we can see what would happen.  I calmy explained that it would not show anything, and it is not like it would change colour or anything like that.

He called over a more senior officer, who then asked me many questions.  The senior officer wanted to see my cameras to prove I was using film, so I showed him my cameras, to the comment “you have a lot of cameras”.  I showed him where the film goes.  He then asked the junior officer to check each one, so I took each one out handed it to him.  For the 120 film I had to cut open the foil and show it.  Considering how much film I had with me, it took a while.  In the end, he was satisfied, and I was allowed through.

On the way back home, for the internal flight from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City, hand check was accommodated without any fuss.

Catching the out flight from Ho Chi Minh City to Sydney, this is where it I hit a roadblock.  I asked for a hand check and the security officer straight away called in a superior.  When the senior officer arrived, he literally stood very close to me, in a very menacing way, and proceeded to tell me that the x-rays were safe.  I explained I had 3200 ISO film with me, and he said this is not in any way affected.

Even after I explained I had seen damage firsthand, especially on high ISO film, he said he could take me to the private area and show me a film on how it is ok.  This is where I started to lose my cool a bit, and Noelle knowing me well, suggested it was a lost cause and let it go.  So, I said to him that I could also show him films where there is a problem.  I then asked, if I watched his film, would he hand check?  He refused, so I showed my displeasure by telling him that he should stop wasting my time.  We put the film through, at least luckily it was an old x-ray machine.

While there was a few rolls of film 800 ISO and 3200 ISO, which are likely damaged, they were ones that had not been used.  I had decided on this trip to get most of my film processed in Vietnam, so from a photography point of view I was safe for the images I had already taken, except for two rolls of Portra 400 and one 120 film of FP4 plus.  I had these processed when I got back and they are not damaged enough to show significant degradation.  The faster film though, I will use on something not important to see what it has caused.  Keep in mind, even for slower film, it is a cumulative impact with the older x-ray machines, so once is probably ok, but repeated doses will build up.  For the new CT scanners, the dose is too much even once, according to Kodak.

Film processing in Vietnam

As to the film I had processed in Vietnam, there are quite a few labs in both Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.  Costs range from $2 to $5 for process and scan of a roll.  I am so glad I did this, especially for Portra 800 and Delta 3200 films.  It did come back with some drawbacks though, the film processed did get quite a few scratches and the scans were quite ordinary.  I don’t care about the scans, as I prefer to do this myself, but the scratches are quite annoying.  Normally, at least with the labs I used, they do not sleeve film, they either return it to the cartridge or they just roll it up, which probably leads to a lot of the scratches.  I am still glad I did it though, as the x-ray damage cannot be cleaned up in post.

Humidity in Vietnam

I experienced two types of humidity in Vietnam.  In the first trip it was raining so much it was just wet, wet, wet.  In fact, on one day when we went through Hoi An, it rained so much that my waterproof Lowepro bags got flooded for Alec and myself.  I had a lot of drying out that night.

The second trip was so hot with the feeling it was always going to rain (again, luckily we did not get the monsoon rains). The air felt like you were swimming in it all the time.   For the equipment, this was a real challenge.  Constant changes of temperature were ongoing all day as we were in air conditioning, and out constantly.  One morning where I got up to photograph a market, it took nearly three hours for some of my lenses to lose the fog, as they kept the cold temperature in my camera bag until I needed to use them.  I should have fully aired them out of the bag first.  Always let them air naturally is best to avoid damage.

The Nikon FM2n did succumb to some damage during the two trips though, through flooding of the bag and the constant moisture.  It gained some fungus in the viewfinder, needed new seals and the light meter intermittently would not fire up. I recently had it repaired with strict instructions to make it like new operationally, but to leave it beat up on the outside.  The camera is so clear and smooth now! Jess at Viva La Film deserves lots of praise.  The camera is now coming with me to Thailand on a trip soon.

Other than that, everything else seems to have survived unscathed.

Da Nang and Hoi An

As I mentioned earlier, the first trip was to Da Nang with some time in Hoi An.  These are cities on the East coast of Vietnam, about halfway up.  The latter with an old town section where it is aimed at tourists and very photogenic.  If you do travel to this area of Vietnam, do spend some time in Hoi An or even base yourself there.  The evenings there are really worth it, including the floating candle lanterns.

In Da Nang itself, there are quite a few destinations worth visiting, including My Khe Beach (something we didn’t really get a chance to enjoy due to weather) and the Lady Buddha statue up on the nearby hill.  Night markets we enjoyed and are worth going to are Dragon Night Market, Helio Night Market and Son Tra Night Market.

Most of the year there is a fish market on My Khe beach, where the fishing boats bring in the catch of the night and various fishmongers buy them right there on the beach.  You need to get up very early to see this.  After that, head into the fishing boat yard and see all the activity on boat maintenance and repairs.  Due to the bad weather and with being the Chinese New Year holidays I saw very limited activities at both these, practically nothing at the beach fish market.  As such, my photos are mainly the boat yards from this excursion.  

As an alternative, after limited photography to both these I headed out to the Con Market, a daily market which starts early in the morning.  This was great to see the food section where they were preparing the various meats, fish, fruit and vegetables.  Soon after that, the household goods section opens up and you can pretty much pick anything up.

Day trips out of Da Nang include the Marble Mountains, where temples built inside the mountain are spectacular to see.  There are obviously shops selling lots of things made from marble there, but be prepared to walk up quite a few stairs to get to the real interesting things to see.  Being mostly in caves, photography was a little challenging, but worth the results.

The Ba Na hills are bit of must do trip out for a day, but make sure you see the bridge with the hand holding it up and make your way to the top for the French village.  There are multiple levels on these hills and it even requires a gondola ride to get to the top two levels.

One other day trip is My Son Sanctuary, an old Cham area.  Some of the old temples are fascinating, especially covering a race of people who have been in the area for many centuries.

Hanoi

Hanoi is a very busy and bustling city.  You are hit with noise the moment you step outside and with the heat in the high 30s Celsius, you can get very overwhelmed quickly.  This is where I do enjoy being able to see places for their beauty but also through a lens.

One of the key parts of Hanoi is the Old Quarter, where we made sure we had accommodation.  You are not going for luxury in this part of town, but a lot of original culture and seeing the city operate.  Also, most things you may want to see in town in Hanoi are within walking distance from the Old Quarter.  Key things to visit in Hanoi itself are the Train Street, where a train navigates between people and cafes, Hoan Kiem Lake which has the Ngoc Son Temple, the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, One Pillar Pagoda, Temple of literature and National University, Long Bien Bridge and the Hanoi Opera House.  Word of warning, they x-ray your bags at the Mausoleum, so watch out for your film.

No trip is complete in Hanoi without a side trip to Ha Long Bay or one of the other less busy bays.  We took a single all-day trip out there, but most people like to take a two-day trip staying on one of the boats overnight.  It really is a wonderful place, very beautiful with the rocks looking like they float on the water, and the caves within are truly amazing.  On this trip I was worried that I would get the camera wet, so took the Canon SureShot A1 with.  Just do not expect it to be secluded and quiet, there a lot of boats out there all the time.

Another trip worth considering from Hanoi is Nihn Binh.  Again, this is a day trip.  Be prepared to walk up very high hills on this trip.  We also had a cycle through a local village and a boat ride included in ours.

While I was on a roll photographing people in Hanoi, I booked into a private guided tour by a local photographer to a market dubbed the Thieves Market.  This market was borne out of people selling all sort of things which were obtained in dubious means for many years.  There is a local saying, “if you lose something, you can buy it back at the thieves’ market”.  These days it has been cleaned up a lot from a legal view but still had the chaotic atmosphere it always had.  It even had a seniors’ home table tennis hall in the middle of it!

Towards the end of our time in Hanoi we had heard of a village nearby which was centred around incense production.  The village, Quang Phu Cau, has a whole industry around it, including production of the bamboo required not just for the incense, but also for baskets.  It has become so popular there is a display that is set up for tourists to view the beautiful colours.  Not content on regular tourist access, I found a company that was able to organise access for my wife and myself as they set it up.  It was a wonderful day trip, including meeting some of the local villagers who had some amazing stories.  

Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon)

Ho Chi Minh City surprised us when we arrived there.  It is a much more modern city than Hanoi.  Much less chaotic, though crossing the road is still like playing frogger.  We were only there for three days, so quite limited in what we could see.  We went to the usual places, like the Reunification Palace, War Remnants Museum, Nguyen Hue Walking Street, Saigon Skydeck and Bui Vien Street.  A friendly tip is to stay in District 1, where all of this is very accessible.  

In terms of a day trip, we went on an all day trip to the Cu Chi Tunnels and then to the Mekong Delta.  For the tunnels, very much a must do, but not for photography.  The history and understanding on how they were used in the war is worth the effort.  In the Delta, we got to be paddled through some of canals in an inland island and visit a town where they made sweets.

I have to admit that I did not take many photos on the day trip, as it was more for the experience.  The tunnels were thrilling as they can get claustrophobic very quickly.

End of Trip

Two trips to Vietnam in two years did give me a lot of opportunities to flex my photography muscles.  South East Asia is a favourite destination for me, as I write this I am finishing my packing for a trip to Thailand.

Vietnam is a destination that is worth shooting with any camera, film or digital.  My advice is to ensure you enjoy the country and the people you are with.  The photography will flow from there.  Make sure you do try the local experiences, food and drink!