Hi Sarah! First off, I want to say GOOD for you that you're bringing your Holga out there. I've brought my 35mm out there every single year and loved it. Absolutely loved it. I haven't done a lot of medium format but I think it's awesome you're so into it. I wish I would have gotten into it more while I was in school.

Regarding your questions about black and white. I almost soley shot in black and white out there. I was more than happy with my shots. In fact, I preferred all of my black and whites to anything I shot in color. That's just personal preference though. I brought a red filter and always used it during day. The intensity the filter created was amazing. I got lovely rich skies which was so important otherwise everything on and above the horizon was entirely washed out. I loved the richness it created especially when it was cloudy. It was fantastic to massage and carress everything in the darkroom and I spent dozens of hours in there after Burning Man. God, those were fun times. When I was still living in L.A. I had access to a darkroom for free. Chemicals, paper, everything ~ free...I was truly blessed.

You mentioned that you're bringing your Holga with you because you're ok with it getting ruined. I have to admit, it is scary to think about bringing anything worth anything out there. Honestly though, as long as you are careful with your equipment and put them in zip locks inside of your camera bag, you shouldn't be worried. (If you already know all this, please excuse my rambling! ha) A lot of people assume equipment will get ruined out there and it definitely can, if you're not careful. However, I think you have to be pretty careless to have your camera ruined. I've brought my 35mm there 5 years I believe. Granted, it was old and didn't cost a lot, I treated it well. I only changed film in my car. I took compressed air and cleaned the lens and body off throughout the day. I took lens cloths to make sure dust wasn't getting all up on my lens. I think I was pretty anal, but if you're even semi-anal, you'll be fine. Also, not taking it out when dust is kicking up is important. Taking your equipment out only when you're shooting, and put it right back in the zip lock when finished. I also brought out a very nice expensive light meter which I cared for the same way. I've had no problems with any of my eqipment out there. So, now that I've thoroughly answered questions you didn't even ask (haha!) i'll tell you...You may find that cross-posting this in various photography tribes will get you a lot more responses. I'd suggest:

Photography - GoPhoto.tribe.net

I wish I could answer your technical questions! To be honest, I never want to think about the technical aspects of anything! So what I did before each Burning Man was headed to my favorite pro photo shop and picked their brains. I'd tell them where I was headed, that I was soley shooting in the day, high light, white playa, and ask them what their recommendations for film were. I aslo said nything else they'd like to add, I'd be all ears. If you haven't done that, I'd seriously recommend it. Just make sure to bring a notebook and write stuff down. Ask them all of your questions. I've found that they're more than happy to help you.

Good luck with your shots! Please post your photos when you get back, I'd love to see what you captured!

Julie