Jun 27 2007
Camera Position 51 : Travel Gear
Traveling with a camera involves planning. A lot of folks have asked me about traveling with the large format camera, and in this episode of Camera Postiion, I detail the gear that I take on the road.
Links for this podcast:
Very good episode! I usually learn a lot and take many ideas by asking fellow photographers what do they carry on their bags. Packing for travel can certainly be difficult at times.
Personally I travel with a relatively small bag that fits two DSLRs and three lenses. I’ve had some trouble in the past when I put my Giottos Rocket Air Blower inside the bag. I bet it looks pretty scary through an x-ray monitor! I’ve learned my lesson and now take it out of the bag before handing it to TSA security.
Yeah, I can imagine that the Giottos Rocket Air Blaster
would cause the average TSA employee to look twice.
One of these days I’m going to travel “light” and not put much in the bag…
Oh… who am I kidding?
Thank you very much for a (as usual) perfect episode! I have recently moved to a flat without a possibility to make a dark room, so the Harrison Film Pup Tent tip comes very handy! One of the best tents I have ever seen… thanks again!
I’m tellin’ ya… that Harrison tent has changed my “in the field” life. It’s a fabulous gizmo.
-Jeff
Nice ‘dorff. What dark cloth are you using Jeff?
Thanks, Dirk;
I use a Calumet dark cloth. It’s kinda ratty now, but still works. It’s got a white side which I usually have on the outside so it reflects the sun’s heat, but it also works as a nice reflector if need be. It’s got weights at the corners and in the middle of each edge and it’s really big (maybe 4×4 feet).
Closest I can find in the Calumet catalog now is this one:
http://www.calumetphoto.com/item/PI1010/
-Jeff
I just discovered your podcasts and enjoy them. I found 51 particularly informative since I am traveling to Alaska in June and am in a quandry about how and what to pack. I am strictly digital DSLR and will probably pack 2 Nikon bodies and one all-purpose VR lens so compared to what you haul, this is a piece of cake.
The one issue I have is the tripod. I have a backpack that will hold the bodies, the lens, a laptop (though I will probably not take that), and all the supporting gear. I have a Manfrotto tripod with a nice joystick head but it all weighs a ton. I also have a Manfotto monopod that takes that head. What I am thinking is packing the monopod in my suitcase and carrying the head.
In any case, I would like to see the images associated with podcast 51 so I can get an idea of the bag you have and how you actually pack it. The images cannot be found and the podcast does not play on your site. This is apparently one of the leftover glitches you talked about in one of your other podcasts.
Thanks.
Hi, Dave;
Thanks for your post.
I’m not sure what was up with the podcast file, but it worked OK for me. It should be fine now.
I’d lost the images from that podcast, but just now went into the podcast images (the beauty of enhanced podcasts!) and grabbed the missing images out of it and put them back on the page. So, the whole thing is all back to normal; I’d forgotten that that one hadn’t been fixed since “the big loss” of stuff.
I pack my tripod and head in a tripod bag. I wrap the head in some clothing and the body of the tripod in m view camera dark cloth (not something you have, I know, but… a cloth) and then put the whole thing into a bag. I used to pack the head separately when I had a pan-tilt head, but now that I have the ball head, nothing much can happen to it.
A compromise might be a monopod… not as much weight, easier to carry around and if you get one with a wrist strap, it can double as a waking stick!
Thanks again,
-Jeff