Traveling and photography.

spink · July 16, 2004

I will be soon going on my honeymoon to Maui and Need some travel advice when it comes to photography. I will be purchasing the 300D soon and a friend is lending me a laptop for storage while I'm there.

Can anyone suggest things I should take? Sites that may be useful to read first?

I was also thinking of this bag for the trip, looks like it would be good for hiking as well as for wearing while I travel on my motorcycle. Anyone with experience with tamrac quality?

http://www.tamrac.com/5747.htm

Thanks, Spencer.

gubbs · July 16, 2004

I've no experience of tamrac so I can't comment, but I'm not keen on backpacks. I may be over cautious, but from a security point of view I prefer to be able to see my bag, especially when travelling. Pickpockets can spot a tourist a mile off and can be pretty certain they'll have reaonable chance of getting something decent. I use a non camera shoulder bag which is just wide enough to fit my tripod in, then put my camera case inside.

mercphoto · July 16, 2004

Travel

spink wrote:

I will be soon going on my honeymoon to Maui and Need some travel advice when it comes to photography. I will be purchasing the 300D soon and a friend is lending me a laptop for storage while I'm there.

I was also thinking of this bag for the trip, looks like it would be good for hiking as well as for wearing while I travel on my motorcycle.

I've found I'm paranoid about travelling with my camera gear in soft bags, so I bought a Pelican hard case. I got the largest model I thought I could reliably take as carry-on on any airplane. The one size bigger was too close to the hairy edge for my comfort level. I even feel better about my gear in my car when it is that well protected. But I would find that case cumbersome to use on a motorcycle, hiking, etc.

For that the backpack may be a good idea. The comment about spotting tourists is a good one to heed. Might want to use a generic backpack rather than a photography backpack that screams "expensive stuff inside". Another hiking option is to use a photographer's vest instead. Probably bad on the bike though.

If it were me, I'd use a hard case on the airplane, and pack a backpack in my regular luggage.

For storage I wonder if those new hard-drive based card readers are any good. About the size of an iPod, easier to carry with you than a big laptop, but little if any ability to view your pictures.

DoctorIt · July 16, 2004

doesn't sound like your a pro photog, so here's my advice: travel light!!! Its nice to have all your gear, but I've learned my lesson. I leave the battery grip at home, screw the laptop, I don't want to be tempted to waste valuable play time post processing. I just came back from a 9 day trip in the Austrian alps and I managed with NO laptop and the following camera gear. I shot in fine JPG and came home with over 300 photos, 100 of which after some work ended up being good enough to make it to my smugmug gallery:

Drebel
18-55mm EF-S (kit lens)
50mm f/1.8 II
75-300mm EF IS USM
(2) 512MB + (1) 1GB CF cards
spare battery
lens cloth

and it all fit in this nice little lowepro bag, which btw, is a beltpack so its even better for riding than a backpack (I was riding the hairpins in the alps):
http://www.lowepro.com/pages/series/trekking/phrunner.htm

if you are really attached to your laptop and plan to have down time, go ahead bring the laptop. my friend and shooting partner just finished his own italy trip and he used this bag, because it looks like any old backpack:
http://www.crumplerbags.com/cgi-bin/crumpler/crumpler.cgi?bag=49

but if i haven't stressed it enough - go on vacation and have fun!!! don't bring the damn office!

spink · July 17, 2004

Thanks for the tips.

Traveling and photography.

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