Argos tent goes tropical?



P

Pat Bennett

Guest
Hi folks,

I'm going on an expedition to Ghana at the end of the moment to study elephants - would you believe
that there is some doubt about how many species of elephants there are in Africa? See
www.cheshirewildlife.co.uk for more details.

Question - has anyone used the Argos tent anywhere tropical, or just really hot? I'll be camping in
the bush, and wonder whether I ought to get a tent which has better ventilation. Alternatively, does
anyone know of a tent with better ventilation, or better suited to the purpose, than the Argos tent?

Pat

--
Pat Bennett www.cheshirewildlife.co.uk
 
> I'm going on an expedition to Ghana at the end of the moment

That should be "the end of March".

How did my brain replace March with moment? Doddering twit.

Pat

--
Pat Bennett www.cheshirewildlife.co.uk
 
Pat Bennett wrote:

> Question - has anyone used the Argos tent anywhere tropical, or just really hot? I'll be camping
> in the bush, and wonder whether I ought to get a tent which has better ventilation. Alternatively,
> does anyone know of a tent with better ventilation, or better suited to the purpose, than the
> Argos tent?

Have you ever thought about getting a tent with silver fabric for reflecting the sunsine? I'm pretty
sure that Fjallraven used to make tents like that (with good ventilation too) but they don't seem to
have any on their website at the moment.

I did come across this page which has some aluminum coated tents on it.
http://www.escapade.go.ro/en/tents.htm

Perhaps there are others, anyone know?

I hate camping in hot weather. I think a tent with at least two doors, ideally at opposite ends,
would be great for creating an airflow through the tent.

Paul
--
http://www.wilderness-wales.co.uk
http://www.wildwales.fsnet.co.uk
http://www.photosig.com/go/users/userphotos?id=118749
 
In article <[email protected]>, Pat Bennett
<[email protected]> writes
>> Have you ever thought about getting a tent with silver fabric for reflecting the sunsine? I'm
>> pretty sure that Fjallraven used to make tents like that (with good ventilation too) but they
>> don't seem to have any on their website at the moment.
>>
>> I did come across this page which has some aluminum coated tents on it.
>> http://www.escapade.go.ro/en/tents.htm
>
>Thanks for that Paul. At first I thought that the silver tent was a bargain when I did the currency
>conversion - 4p!! Then I noticed that it was millions of rol, not thousands!

I have used a few foil survival blankets and some duct tape to greatly cool tent in relatively hot
sunny conditions (central Europe in August). Makes hangover lie-ins bearable ;-)

If the tent is a cheapy you can tape the blankets directly onto the fly sheet. If it is expensive
you might want a few more and some extra pegs so you can join them and peg them into the ground via
duct tap tags.

--

http://www.dscs.demon.co.uk/
 
On Mon, 16 Feb 2004 03:21:28 -0000, Paul Saunders
<[email protected]> wrote:

> Pat Bennett wrote:
>
>> Question - has anyone used the Argos tent anywhere tropical, or just really hot? I'll be camping
>> in the bush, and wonder whether I ought to get a tent which has better ventilation.
>> Alternatively, does anyone know of a tent with better ventilation, or better suited to the
>> purpose, than the Argos tent?
>
> Have you ever thought about getting a tent with silver fabric for reflecting the sunsine? I'm
> pretty sure that Fjallraven used to make tents like that (with good ventilation too) but they
> don't seem to have any on their website at the moment.
>
> I did come across this page which has some aluminum coated tents on it.
> http://www.escapade.go.ro/en/tents.htm

Thanks for that Paul. At first I thought that the silver tent was a bargain when I did the currency
conversion - 4p!! Then I noticed that it was millions of rol, not thousands! However, I won't be
able to take the weight of a 3 man tent. All the gear must fit in my baggage allowance, as well as
my digital photographic gear, which must include battery chargers, voltage inverter, laptop,
portable hard disk for backup, etc etc.

> Perhaps there are others, anyone know?
>
> I hate camping in hot weather. I think a tent with at least two doors, ideally at opposite ends,
> would be great for creating an airflow through the tent.

If the rains don't break early, I hope to only spend nights in it, and I have hopes that the nights
will be cooler than in the humid south, where I spent three years back in the 60s.

Have you had a look at the scanned slides from that era on the website? Those are Kodachrome. I
can't believe how bad the Ilford colour slide film was, poor resolution, horrible colour casts. They
kept sending me replacement films which I couldn't resist using, so I have many more useless slides
than I should have.

Pat

--
Pat Bennett www.cheshirewildlife.co.uk
 
<{d-sep03}@dscs.demon.co.uk> wrote:

> In article <[email protected]>, Pat Bennett
> <[email protected]> writes
>>> Have you ever thought about getting a tent with silver fabric for reflecting the sunsine? I'm
>>> pretty sure that Fjallraven used to make tents like that (with good ventilation too) but they
>>> don't seem to have any on their website at the moment.
>>>
>>> I did come across this page which has some aluminum coated tents on it.
>>> http://www.escapade.go.ro/en/tents.htm
>>
>> Thanks for that Paul. At first I thought that the silver tent was a bargain when I did the
>> currency conversion - 4p!! Then I noticed that it was millions of rol, not thousands!
>
> I have used a few foil survival blankets and some duct tape to greatly cool tent in relatively hot
> sunny conditions (central Europe in August). Makes hangover lie-ins bearable ;-)
>
> If the tent is a cheapy you can tape the blankets directly onto the fly sheet. If it is expensive
> you might want a few more and some extra pegs so you can join them and peg them into the ground
> via duct tap tags.

That sounds like a good idea! I'll have to see if I've got any weight to spare in my allowance when
I've packed the rucksack.

Pat

--
Pat Bennett www.cheshirewildlife.co.uk
 
In article <[email protected]>, Pat Bennett
<[email protected]> writes

><{d-sep03}@dscs.demon.co.uk> wrote:
>
>>
>> I have used a few foil survival blankets and some duct tape to greatly cool tent in relatively
>> hot sunny conditions (central Europe in August). Makes hangover lie-ins bearable ;-)
>>
>> If the tent is a cheapy you can tape the blankets directly onto the fly sheet. If it is expensive
>> you might want a few more and some extra pegs so you can join them and peg them into the ground
>> via duct tap tags.
>
>That sounds like a good idea! I'll have to see if I've got any weight to spare in my allowance when
>I've packed the rucksack.
>
It can make a big difference with a dark coloured tent - mine was dark brown :-(

You might get away with just one and some string but you will probably have to move it for mornings
/ evenings unless you have some shade to pitch in.

String can be tied to the blanket by wrapping a small pebble in the blanket and then tying the
string round the blanket trapping the pebble.

--

http://www.dscs.demon.co.uk/
 
On Sun, 15 Feb 2004 18:42:35 -0000, Pat Bennett
<[email protected]> wrote:

>a tent which has better ventilation. Alternatively, does anyone know of a tent with better
>ventilation, or better suited to the purpose, than the Argos tent?

Have you considered one of these:

http://www.hennessyhammock.com/catalogue.htm

There's a third-party review here:

http://www.hikinghq.net/gear/hennessey_hammock.html

SteveO

NE Climbers & walkers chat forum; http://www.thenmc.org.uk/phpBB2/index.php

NMC website: http://www.thenmc.org.uk
 
Pat Bennett wrote:

> Have you had a look at the scanned slides from that era on the website?

I have now. They look fine.

> Those are Kodachrome.

Did you try scanning them with ICE or similar? I've heard that you can't scan Kodachrome with ICE
for some reason.

> I can't believe how bad the Ilford colour slide film was, poor resolution, horrible colour casts.

But surely the casts are fixable in Photoshop?

> They kept sending me replacement films which I couldn't resist using, so I have many more useless
> slides than I should have.

I had the same problem with Jessops free print film (also Ilford I think). I went through a period
of a few years of disinterest in photography where I just carried a compact to take snaps. What a
waste! Awful grain on that film.

Paul
--
http://www.wilderness-wales.co.uk
http://www.wildwales.fsnet.co.uk
http://www.photosig.com/go/users/userphotos?id=118749
 
On Mon, 16 Feb 2004 20:56:29 +0000, <Steve Orrell> wrote:

> On Sun, 15 Feb 2004 18:42:35 -0000, Pat Bennett <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>
>> a tent which has better ventilation. Alternatively, does anyone know of a tent with better
>> ventilation, or better suited to the purpose, than the Argos tent?
>
> Have you considered one of these:
>
> http://www.hennessyhammock.com/catalogue.htm
>
>
> There's a third-party review here:
>
> http://www.hikinghq.net/gear/hennessey_hammock.html

Don't know whether there'll be trees around where I'm going. Thanks for the thought, though - I can
snooze in my garden hammock with no problem.

Pat

--
Pat Bennett www.cheshirewildlife.co.uk
 
On Mon, 16 Feb 2004 18:02:31 -0000, Paul Saunders
<[email protected]> wrote:

> Pat Bennett wrote:
>
>> Have you had a look at the scanned slides from that era on the website?
>
> I have now. They look fine.
>
>> Those are Kodachrome.
>
> Did you try scanning them with ICE or similar? I've heard that you can't scan Kodachrome with ICE
> for some reason.

No - my Acer Scanwit 2720S does not have ICE. Saves me having to decide whether the softening effect
is justified by the crud removal. Haven't heard that about Kodachrome - can't think of any reason
why it can't be scanned with ICE.

>> I can't believe how bad the Ilford colour slide film was, poor resolution, horrible colour casts.
>
> But surely the casts are fixable in Photoshop?

Some can, but a lot of them have a cast which varies over the slide. The resolution and grain are
totally unfixable.

Pat

--
Pat Bennett www.cheshirewildlife.co.uk
 
Pat Bennett wrote:

> No - my Acer Scanwit 2720S does not have ICE. Saves me having to decide whether the softening
> effect is justified by the crud removal.

Maybe you missed my comments when I bought my Nikon scanner. There are two ICE settings, normal and
fine. The normal setting doesn't soften the image at all, so there's no reason not to use that on
every scan. Fine is only necessary for slides in really bad condition, and even then, marks are
mainly noticeable in the sky, so I could scan a slide twice, once with normal for the land and once
with fine for the sky, then use layer masking to blend them in PS. A softened sky looks quite
acceptable.

> Haven't heard that about Kodachrome - can't think of any reason why it can't be scanned with ICE.

Doesn't work with black and white films either. Something to do with the way ICE works, it uses
infrared to detect the dust and scratches. Kodachrome and b&w don't like infrared for some reason.

>> But surely the casts are fixable in Photoshop?
>
> Some can, but a lot of them have a cast which varies over the slide.

Hmm... Awkward. You could perhaps use different corrections on multiple layers and use the gradient
tool on a layer mask to blend them.

> The resolution and grain are totally unfixable.

My Nikon scanner has grain reduction too, although I haven't experimented with it much yet, so I
don't know how it compares to Neat Image Grain reduction does soften the image though. Have you
tried Neat Image on them?

As for resolution, that's obviously the biggest problem, but have you considered Focus Magic? Unlike
normal "sharpening" which does not correct out of focus images, Focus Magic is designed to do just
that. I presume that the bad resolution is similar to the photos being out of focus? (In spite of
being called magic, Focus Magic won't completely refocus an image, but it can improve it, which
normal sharpening can't.)

I'm not saying you can completely recover your slides, just offering a few suggestions which might
improve them.

Paul
--
http://www.wilderness-wales.co.uk
http://www.wildwales.fsnet.co.uk
http://www.photosig.com/go/users/userphotos?id=118749
 
On Tue, 17 Feb 2004 19:51:04 -0000, Paul Saunders
<[email protected]> wrote:

<snip>

>>> But surely the casts are fixable in Photoshop?
>>
>> Some can, but a lot of them have a cast which varies over the slide.
>
> Hmm... Awkward. You could perhaps use different corrections on multiple layers and use the
> gradient tool on a layer mask to blend them.
>
>> The resolution and grain are totally unfixable.
>
> My Nikon scanner has grain reduction too, although I haven't experimented with it much yet, so I
> don't know how it compares to Neat Image Grain reduction does soften the image though. Have you
> tried Neat Image on them?

At the moment, I'm optimizing all the scans which are not too time consuming, and I'll return to
some of the others - those that might be worth saving - later when I have more time. I'm putting
together a collection of postcards showing people and places in Ghana from thirtyfive years ago to
take with me - see if I can use them to find people I knew.

Pat

--
Pat Bennett www.cheshirewildlife.co.uk
 
In article <[email protected]>, Paul Saunders <[email protected]> writes
>> I can't believe how bad the Ilford colour slide film was, poor resolution, horrible colour casts.
>
>But surely the casts are fixable in Photoshop?

As I remember Ilford cine film, the colours were quite earthy, unlike Kodak which were Micky Mouse!
--
Bill Grey http://www.billboy.co.uk
 
"W. D. Grey" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> In article <[email protected]>, Paul Saunders <[email protected]> writes
> >I hate camping in hot weather. I think a tent with at least two
doors,
> >ideally at opposite ends, would be great for creating an airflow
through
> >the tent.
>
> And if it's big enough the elephants could go through as well :)

That's good, because if they stay in the tent it gets crowded very quickly.
--
Mark South: Citizen of the World, Denizen of the Net
 
On Tue, 17 Feb 2004 19:51:04 -0000, Paul Saunders wrote:

>Pat Bennett wrote:

>> Haven't heard that about Kodachrome - can't think of any reason why it can't be scanned with ICE.
>
>Doesn't work with black and white films either. Something to do with the way ICE works, it uses
>infrared to detect the dust and scratches. Kodachrome and b&w don't like infrared for some reason.

B&W being silver based (the exception being C41 process stuff like Ilford made, XP something or
other can't remember now) so the silver will be opaque to IR and ICE will think you have a *very*
dusty negative. Kodachrome is funny stuff, look at the emulsion side and you can see the layers. So
I suspect this may bugger up the ICE.
--
Phil Cook looking north over the park to the "Westminster Gasworks"
 
> B&W being silver based (the exception being C41 process stuff like Ilford made, XP something or
> other can't remember now) so the silver will be opaque to IR and ICE will think you have a *very*
> dusty negative. Kodachrome is funny stuff, look at the emulsion side and you can see the layers.
> So I suspect this may bugger up the ICE.

I see. The infrared highlights imperfections on the surface, doesn't it?

Paul
--
http://www.wilderness-wales.co.uk
http://www.wildwales.fsnet.co.uk
http://www.photosig.com/go/users/userphotos?id=118749