Travelling Overseas with Photographic Equipment
Travel Photographer
Anyone traveling overseas may want to bring along some of their photographic equipment, and while this is a great idea, it is advisable to really scrutinize this extra baggage to ensure it is all going to be necessary. It is also a good idea to consider the following:
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Photographic Equipment
What do you “need” – Few photographers or travelers will require every lens, filter and item in their photographic equipment. Consider just how quickly you might ruin your trip with a sore neck, back and shoulder pain from the weight of a few extra bags of gear, or even worse an insurance claim on lost, stolen or damaged equipment.
Think about your travels and pick the minimal equipment required – for example bring the basic body with only one or two lenses, and if the camera is point and shoot this is even easier to transport, a reliable flash, small tripod, extra batteries and memory cards all in a single case if possible.
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Camera Bag
Consider this case – If you have costly camera equipment you might want to invest in solid and reliable carrying cases, for every day use as well as for long distance or international travel.
Cases intended for camera equipment will have large pockets and padding placed to protect objects from damage or scratching, and may even have isolated areas for spare memory cards, batteries or even film.
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Photography Memory Stick
Don’t forget your memory – There is a wide range of light and portable digital photo storage devices available; ranging from the ever-popular iPod to media players intended to store vast numbers of digital images.
Each has a unique manner for loading files from a camera or memory card, and if a laptop computer figures into such an equation it may be better to invest in an alternate device or more memory cards to avoid carting around the computer along with everything else.
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Airport Check-in
Checking in – Prior to arrival at the airport it is wise to investigate your airline’s carry on limitations. You really do not want to arrive for an international flight to discover that you are obliged to “check” thousands of dollars worth of equipment.
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Insurance – It is always a good idea to contact an insurance agent when traveling, especially if the traveler will be bringing expensive equipment along.
Many travel agencies make special travel insurance policies available at the time of booking and it is a good idea to consider some coverage for cameras, computer and video equipment if these will be included in luggage for the trip.
Ten Travel Photography Tips
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Contribution by Amy Renfrey
bobbyd
Great article,one to make you think
February 1st, 2009 at 8:59 pmElvin
Well, take the choice for your body too: if you take a body which (also ) uses normal penlight / AA – batteries, you can safe a charger for your specialized accu’s and a number of accu’s. If you need to charge, make sure the charger is working also abroad and can be plugged in. Here in Europe we have 220-240 Volts and a different format of plug – for US-photographs this can be a real pain if you only can use special accu’s or batteries. For this reason I choose the Pentax K100D with a large-range lense: 18-200mm, an extra flash, filters and very little tripod.
February 2nd, 2009 at 12:29 amNot enough for everybody but it suits a lot of needs.
Elvin
Blujean
As being someone who has not traveled out of the country I would probably forget to bring enough memory and I didn’t realize that you might have to check-in your equipment.
February 2nd, 2009 at 3:24 pmI would have been so unprepared without your information.
Suzanne
Hi, Don’t know if you know, but the video skips every 1-2 sec and stops. What I hear was good information, but I gave up before 2 minutes was up.
February 2nd, 2009 at 6:59 pmAdministrator
Thanks Suzanne. I just checked it and it seems OK. Might have been your connection at the time…I can only guess.
February 2nd, 2009 at 7:28 pmRoy
DaCosta
Good Evening Roy!
As always, a very helpful article. Acutally I believe in travelling light: an advanced point & shoot running on AA batteries with a mini tripod (or “Gorillapod”) and extra memory (or film) is my best choice. I believe travelling light makes for more fun and less headache.
Thanks and all the best!
February 2nd, 2009 at 10:57 pmV.G.
Good Morning Roy.
February 4th, 2009 at 10:24 amThanks for the article and always your good advise. On my last journey abroad, I did have a small but sturdy tripod (it did fit in my backpack) and I brought about 6 extra memory card just to be on the safe side. Everything workout great.
Thanks, keep up the good work. Really appreciate it.
Richard Day
I once went to the Bahamas, Long Island, with three Hasselblad bodies, five lenses and the various accessories. What a joke. I did have it insured and it made it safely, but there was no way that I would ever use all this equipment.
I was totally paranoid about it being damaged on the plane. I was afraid to leave it in the cottage – no locks. I couldn’t enjoy my vacation.
Take the minimum and you will be happy.
By the way, I did take a Nikon with an 80-210 zoom on a plane trip years ago. It sat on the bottom of an thinly-padded case. The vibrations of the airplane caused the body to have necessary repairs. Many of the screws loosened up.
February 5th, 2009 at 7:29 pm