Main Bag. The bright stuff is fluorescent tape that I use to mark my equipment.
Some of you may have seen my camera equipment list on Amazon.com — “What’s in my camera bag?” You could probably guess that all of that stuff doesn’t fit in one bag, so some decisions have to be made before I head off on a week-long trip to Europe to teach a couple of workshops and take lots of photos. What am I taking photos of? That’s the best part…I have absolutely no idea! I haven’t looked at a single travel book or website giving me suggestions where to go take photos. I’ll have a rental car, a GPS device to get me back to my hotel every night, and camera equipment, but otherwise, no set agenda. I’ll be posting images every day, so look for new blog posts.
Contrary to popular belief, I will only be going to Amsterdam to take photos and teach a class. What happens in Amsterdam won’t stay in Amsterdam anyway, because I’ll have my camera tied around my neck. While it will be a fun trip driving to Germany, Brussels, The Netherlands, and France, it will involve a lot of getting up before dawn and napping at noon. I’ll also have a lot of self-imposed goals I need to accomplish. So, don’t think it’s ALL fun and games.
In packing, my main goal is to pile as much equipment into a Think Tank International Security V2.0 and an Urban Disguise 60, which if you ask me, doesn’t do a very good job of disguising my equipment anyway. If all goes well I should be able to have them both as carry-ons on my flight to Frankfurt, Germany. If not…well I’m not separating from my equipment, so I’ll have to pay whatever it takes to make sure they stay by my side.
The Urban Disguise 60 will mainly carry my projector, Macbook Pro, and a bunch of cables, so all of the camera equipment will go in the Interantional Security V2.0.
I’m taking two bodies, my Nikon D700 (of course) and a back-up D90. Here are the lenses I’ll be packing…all Nikon.
Ammunition
- 14-24mm f2.8
- 16mm f2.8 fisheye
- 24-70mm f2.8
- 50mm f1.8
- 105mm f2.8 VR Macro
- 70-200mm f2.8
Sure, life would be easier (and much lighter!) with an 18-200mm f3.5-5.6, but if you’ve taken my workshop, you’ve probably heard that photography and convenience have nothing to do with each other.
For light, I’m only bringing one SB-900 flash and 2 pocket wizards. Would I like more? Yes, but everything I bring will have to be lugged around.
For accessories, power and cards I’m packing:
- 4 Lexar 300x cards – three 8 GB and one 16 GB card (it’s more memory than I need since I’ll be transferring all of my images to my laptop every night but they don’t take up much room)
- 4 Nikon batteries – these fit in both the D700 and D90
- Singh Ray LB Warming Polarizer and Cokin holders
- Tripod
- Geopic II geotagging device (see my previous post)
- Vivitar wireless remote shutter release
- Panofix panorama camera bracket
So that’s it. I’ll be rolling that suitcase around Europe all of the time, so I don’t know if I’d call this a true vacation, but when we head to Hawaii in September I’ll be traveling much lighter—except for the 200-400mm I’ll be taking for surfing pics. And yes, I do realize that last sentence doesn’t make any sense at all.
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
I can’t remember where I read this, but here’s a question. Do you need any special paperwork from Customs to get your equiptment back into the US? I had heard they could charge taxes based on the fact that the equiptment could have been purchased abroad.
I’ve never had that problem and I’ve been to Europe and Japan with my equipment. I’ve only had film issues since I would want it hand checked. If anything happens I’ll be bringing up this post with my inventory on my iPhone!
Good luck on trip! You got some serious collection of glasses in your bag and you even packed your D90.
I remembered where I saw the article about travelling with camera gear. Here’s the link. http://www.photoattorney.com/2005/12/customs-issues-when-traveling-abroad.html
I’m planning a trip within the next year so I’m curious about this subject.
Well I can tell you getting here was a breeze. I never had to open up either bag. I only took out the laptop. Stay tuned for the return.
Okello,
All your lenses are 2.8 which I know from your class are better and faster. I am thinking/shopping around for a wide angle lens. F4 is much cheaper then 2.8, but why would you need 2.8 on a wide angle? Isn’t a whole point of wide angle lens is to capture as wide as possible, and if you are capturing wide wouldn’t you want everything to be sharp. How does 2.8 works on a wide angle lens?
And the second question: do you recommend buying the lenses of the same brand as your camera or other manufactures (Tokina, Bower) are also fine? How do you make this decsion?
Hey Igor, I always buy the best lenses so if i ever need that 6th gear it’s there.
I hate to quote my mom, but “It’s better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it.” I do understand that most people have a budget to work with so this is an area where you can save a little money. First thing about wide angles is 2.8 with a wide angle will have more in focus than 2.8 with a longer focal length. In other words, that blur you can get at 2.8 with a 50mm lens ain’t gonna happen with f2.8 at 14mm. With my 14-24mm, I rarely use it at 14mm and 2.8 so I certainly could get away with a 16-35mm and I probably would have bought it but it wasn’t released yet when I bought my 14-24mm. Hope that helps!