Photographic travel kits

[alphaomega]

I would like to open a new thread discussing travel kits to see if I can get some new ideas from other forum members.
At present I have two kits depending on the load I can carry. I mostly take travel, architecture and landscape pictures for Alamy as a supplier of funds for my hobby and maybe additional support for my pensions.

My light travel kit (Ryanair type flights with one bag only) consists of Panasonic LX2 and LX3 together with SD cards and a Vosonic VP8360 160 Gb photo downloader. Since SD cards are now so cheap I have enough to avoid formatting and will use the Vosonic as my back-up only when away. This gives me a very light kit with cameras covering from 24 to 120 mm range. If I have space I may include my A350.

When away using my car or being able to bring a heavier suitcase I will bring my A700 and A350 with Sigma 10-20, CZ16-80 and Tamron 18-250 as well as my Philips 1.5 Kg laptop and light 250 Gb external hard disc. Chargers are a necessary evil as well as spare batteries. This gives me a range from 15-375 mm (35 mm equivalent). I will also bring my LX2/3 for good measure.

I would like to hear how other members organise themselves for travel photography.

[KevinBarrett]

Sounds like a dream kit! I haven't got an extensive kit, but I generally go with my a700 wearing the VG and Tamron 17-50 and a small bag with beercan, 50/1.7, and f56 flash. I need some better travel solutions, to say the least. I hadn't very seriously considered P&S cameras, but the LX3 is seriously tempting.

[David Kilpatrick]

If I have to travel with a single walk-on bag, it's normally only for a night or two and I shove spare underwear and toiletries in the front/back of it - if anything terrible happens, you can buy clothes so cheaply now it's not worth worrying about, almost anywhere in Europe, 24 hours a day. When Shirley and I were targeted by a sting/scam involving squirting some kind of mess on our clothes in Spain, we literally threw them away and bought new shirt (me) and skirt (her!) for a total of €19 before driving to the airport. At ASDA today I noticed you could have replaced an entire outfit including shoes and had change from £30. Airport stores are more expensive but there's hardly anything you are forced to carry as a spare.

I use one of two Tenba reporter-type bags, had them both for years. My smaller one will fit A900+28-105mm, flash or another lens (anything up to 70-300mm SSM), Mac ProBook, notepad, chargers/batts. I normally use this for conferences, events, meetings where only the 28-105mm is likely to be needed, and the flash may be essential. My larger one is an exact fit for Easyjet and will hold A700+18-250, A900+28-105 or 28-75, 70-300mm SSM, 12-14mm Sigma or 11-18mm Sony, 2X converter, flash, 50mm f1.4 or a macro or 28mm f/2, one further small lens, charger, batteries, filters, cards, paperwork, tripod trapped in under the flap. We use this for our combined camera kit. Shirley then uses a backpack which usually has portable storage device, toiletries, books, water and anything else - the tripod can move to this if necessary.

I find that my lens use breaks down to about 80 per cent 28-105mm, 15 per cent 12-24mm, and 5 per cent 70-300mm. The 28-105mm spends a fair amount of time at its extremes and really I would prefer it to be an equivalent to the 16-105mm on APS-C - that is a wonderful range, 24-157mm equivalent.

David

[bakubo]

A travel kit really depends a lot on how you will travel, where you are going, and how much gear you are willing to put up with. I have traveled a lot over the years, but mostly it has been with a backpack and traveling close to the ground (public transportation, small guesthouses/hostels/etc., *lots* of walking). Also, quite a lot of it has been in rather hot, humid parts of the world where 8-14 hours of walking in a day for several weeks or even longer can really tire you out.

Having said that, I will tell you what I carried on a few recent trips:

2006/3 - 2006/4: Morocco -- KM 7D, Sigma 18-125mm f3.5-5.6, Minolta 50mm f1.7, 1gb of CF cards, charger and 3 batteries for 7D; Canon A540 digicam, SD cards, 4 nimh AA batteries and charger; 30gb X-Drive II portable storage device and charger; old-style extension cord with both prongs straight, plug adaptor; UV filters to protect lenses, polarizer filter

2006/4: France -- KM 7D, Sigma 18-125mm f3.5-5.6, Minolta 50mm f1.7, 1gb of CF cards, charger and 3 batteries for 7D; Canon A540 digicam, SD cards, 4 nimh AA batteries and charger; 30gb X-Drive II portable storage device and charger; old-style extension cord with both prongs straight, plug adaptor; UV filters to protect lenses, polarizer filter

2006/10 - 2006/12: Japan -- Canon 30D, Sigma 10-20mm f4-5.6, Tamron 28-75mm f2.8, Sigma 18-125mm f3.5-5.6, 4gb of CF cards, charger and 3 batteries for 30D; Canon A540 digicam, SD cards, 4 nimh AA batteries and charger; 30gb X-Drive II portable storage device and charger; old-style extension cord with both prongs straight, plug adaptor; UV filters to protect lenses, polarizer filter

2006/12 - 2007/1: Thailand -- Canon 30D, Sigma 10-20mm f4-5.6, Tamron 28-75mm f2.8, Sigma 18-125mm f3.5-5.6, 4gb of CF cards, charger and 3 batteries for 30D; Canon A540 digicam, SD cards, 4 nimh AA batteries and charger; 30gb X-Drive II portable storage device and charger; old-style extension cord with both prongs straight, plug adaptor; UV filters to protect lenses, polarizer filter

2007/9 - 2007/12: Japan -- Canon 30D, Sigma 10-20mm f4-5.6, Sigma 18-200mm f3.5-6.3 OS, 4gb of CF cards, charger and 3 batteries for 30D; Canon A540 digicam, SD cards, 4 nimh AA batteries and charger; 30gb X-Drive II portable storage device and charger; old-style extension cord with both prongs straight, plug adaptor; UV filters to protect lenses, polarizer filter

2007/12 - 2008/1: Thailand/Cambodia -- Canon 30D, Sigma 10-20mm f4-5.6, Sigma 18-200mm f3.5-6.3 OS, 4gb of CF cards, charger and 3 batteries for 30D; Canon A540 digicam, SD cards, 4 nimh AA batteries and charger; 30gb X-Drive II portable storage device and charger; old-style extension cord with both prongs straight, plug adaptor; UV filters to protect lenses, polarizer filter

2008/4 - 2008/5: Mexico -- Sony A700, Sony 11-18mm f4.5-5.6, Sony 18-250mm f3.5-6.3, Minolta 50mm f1.7, Sony HVL-F36AM flash and 4 nimh AA batteries, 8gb of CF cards, charger and 2 batteries for A700; Canon A540 digicam, SD cards, 4 nimh AA batteries and charger; 30gb X-Drive II portable storage device and charger; old-style extension cord with both prongs straight, plug adaptor; UV filters to protect lenses, polarizer filter

I don't plan to use the X-Drive psd anymore though. I now have 24gb of CF/MS cards and before my next extended trip I will probably buy another 16gb CF card so it would be *very* unlikely that I would need to reuse a card. Recently I bought an Asus EeePC 900HA netbook (8.9" screen, 1.6ghz Intel Atom cpu, 1gb ram, 160gb hd, WinXP) so I may carry it next time for wifi internet use. I can also back up my memory cards to it. I haven't decided for sure whether I will take it though. The size and weight of the netbook is a bit over double the psd, but provides much more functionality -- including being able to use Skype to make phone calls.

If you travel by car, stay at hotels, and/or tend to not be on the move a lot then, of course, taking more/heavier/bigger gear would be welcome.

[PhotoTraveler]

Completely depends on the situation.

For my typical weekend it involves loading my truck up with bags of camp gear, hiking gear, food, maps, camera gear (typical a big selection), and going from there. This would be my "heavy kit", it's not well suited to air travel.

Second kit would be above but tailored for stopping in hotels, and quick day hikes. Where the first kit is usually for targeting 1 National Park, this one is for trying to hit many in short time frame.

Getting down to just a bag and no auto, it depends a lot on where I'm going. I typically carry either the 17-35 with a 50, or a 28-75 with the 24, to cover that end, not often do I carry both zooms, but have more recently. And then I will match that with either 100macro, or 70-200G.

I don't like to carry any more than 3 lenses, 4 at most and it better be some small ones at that point. I'm in the process of selling off a lot of my lenses. Trying to simplify down. Of course Sony doesn't make this easy, since they lack all the lenses I would use. Thus I'm more and more nikon bound.

Some other kits I have used a lot:

70-200 w/2x and 24mm. This is a pretty good hiking setup around the SF bay since trails tend to be open, or in a patch of woods. Covers needs well.

24/28, 50, 100. This is more of my City kit where I find I don't need a zoom much, and want to go light and be able to interchange hoods and such.

The dream kit for me would be an A900 with a 4/24-105G, 4/70-200G and a 24mm TS. This would have me fully covered. I'd pack a wild card lens in the form of a 1.4/50 or 100mm macro. This would do me for most travels very well. If I was to go to Europe again, place like England, the 70-200 would stay at home, and I would just go with a 24TS and 24-105 and maybe both 100macro and 1.4/50. Saldy this kit is just a pipe dream in Sony land at this time.

As I sell off gear, if I stay A mount, I might put together the 16-80ZA and 70-300G kit. I think that on a A700 is a great matchup.

The key to me of a good kit is keeping things small and common with little overlap. I want all lenses to use the same filters and even same hoods when possible. Similar sizes is also nice as going from a 70-200G to a 24mm prime is awkward (I really need a second body for that one).

[David Kilpatrick]

I forgot to mention that the ASUS 700 subnotebook also goes in my larger kit. A full size smaller Mac laptop won't fit but the ASUS pushes into the rear document pocket fine.

David

[mikeriach]

At the moment my travel kit is a Lowepro Orion Trekker which takes 2 bodies in the bottom section, one with a Sony 18-250 and the other a Minolta 100-300APO plus a couple of spare batteries. The charger, filters and cards also fit in the bottom section and the top section has the food, water and waterproofs.
Fairly lightweight but not waterproof so I have a separate rucksack cover just in case.

Mike

[A1000]

cell phone, Sony of course, was thinking of getting one of those wide angle magnetic clip-on adapters for it, so call it

Sony two lens travel kit

[A1000]

Sonolta, it's not the camera, it's the photographer; I'm sure that one day you'll learn

[alphaomega]

Thanks for the replies so far. I note that David Kilpatrick has the same problem with lenses starting at 28 mm (35 equivalent):

I find that my lens use breaks down to about 80 per cent 28-105mm, 15 per cent 12-24mm, and 5 per cent 70-300mm. The 28-105mm spends a fair amount of time at its extremes and really I would prefer it to be an equivalent to the 16-105mm on APS-C - that is a wonderful range, 24-157mm equivalent.

I am exactly the same. I found the 28 mm equivalent on my LX2 so constraining that I actually bought the LX3 just to get the 24 mm equivalent and I can carry both on my belt together with my phone. On the other hand I find when using my Sigma 10-20 that the 30 mm equivalent often is frustrating and I may purchase the new Tamron 10-24 if the price is right and the reviews positive.
I also note that a couple of contributors have moved towards more and higher capacity memory cards because of lower cost to enable multi days of shooting without the need to format. Really the costs when buying CF/SD cards on the Internet are so low now that I have to restrain myself from buying even more.
I am surprised that only one other contributor used a downloader. The new new netbooks are so light now that I would probably have bought one had I not already invested in the Vosonic and my Philips 1.5 Kg laptop. On the other hand having looked at the spec. of the new cheap netbooks I wonder if they have fast enough processors to handle large numbers of raw files.

[David Kilpatrick]

I bought a Freecom Passport 320GB USB powered HD to use with my ASUS. It lasted about two weeks. The power is inadequate even with the mains adaptor plugged in, and even from my Mac's main USB bus. It needs its mains adaptor, and does not come with one. As a result, the heads crashed before I had even transferred any data to it and I have a lump of defunct HD. I can not remember where I bought it from so that's £69 down the drain.

I took it on our last trip, but we also took 2x 16GB Transcend, 4GB and 2GB Memory sticks in-camera, 2X other 4GB cards and 3X other 2GB cards just in case. We didn't need anything more than the two Transcend cards.

Now I see that 32GB USB memory sticks are about £30 each, I might just get one of these to handle overflow - or just to back up to for security. But I may look for another portable USB powered HD and this time find one which comes with an AC adaptor.

David

[braeside]

My last couple of trips were to France and I took my Safrotto "Domke F1 Clone" bag, which is just about the maximum size that most budget airlines allow as carry on.

The contents were:
iPhone & charger & USB lead
headphones

EU & UK mains adaptors
A700 charger
Asus 700 & charger (Asus will also charge other USB things like TomTom, Vosonic)
TomTom Navigator
Vosonic VP2160 USB drive/reader & USB lead

Sony A700 camera
Sony 11-18/16-80/70-300 lenses
2 filters CP
2 batteries for A700
16GB CF, plus spare CF cards and one MemoryStick in camera in reserve (Never needed any of them).
Blower
Lenspen & cloth

In the suitcase in the hold I packed a small cheap rucksack (from a petrol station special offer) to use as my "day bag", not wanting to cart the big Safrotto camera bag all of the time. I generally just put the lenses in their pouches in the haversack and if it rains or I want to put the camera away I wrap the camera in a soft microfibre cloth in my haversack. I put the padded base from a Billingham bag in the bottom of the haversack for better protection when putting it on the ground. I prefer not to carry an obvious camera bag around with me in places I do not know.

[bakubo]

I also note that a couple of contributors have moved towards more and higher capacity memory cards because of lower cost to enable multi days of shooting without the need to format. Really the costs when buying CF/SD cards on the Internet are so low now that I have to restrain myself from buying even more.

Yeah, that is how I see it now too. Actually, on my Mexico trip last year I had the psd with me and 8gb of CF cards, but I didn't need the psd because I didn't have to reuse any of my cards. As it turned out, my psd barfed when I tried to use it to back up my new 4gb CF card and after that it would no longer work with even my smaller cards. I bought the 30gb X-Drive II in 2003, but now it is so cheap to have even more than 30gb of memory cards that I don't need the psd any more. Actually, the 24gb of memory cards I have now is more than I would need even shooting A700 cRAW for even trips of a couple of months. The 3.5 weeks in Mexico I shot just under 8gb of photos (also A700 cRAW).

I am surprised that only one other contributor used a downloader. The new new netbooks are so light now that I would probably have bought one had I not already invested in the Vosonic and my Philips 1.5 Kg laptop. On the other hand having looked at the spec. of the new cheap netbooks I wonder if they have fast enough processors to handle large numbers of raw files.

Why would they not be fast enough? Not so long ago a 1.6ghz cpu and 1gb of memory would have been quite good even for a desktop and people were processing raw image files with them. Actually, in 1998 I was using a 266mhz Pentium II and 96mb of memory to process 8mp tiff images (images scanned from film). In 1999 I upgraded to 256mb of memory and a 466mhz Celeron cpu and also got a new film scanner and was working with 10mp tiff images.

[alphaomega]

Bakubo wrote in reply to my observation that the new small netbooks were not fast enough:

Why would they not be fast enough? Not so long ago a 1.6ghz cpu and 1gb of memory would have been quite good even for a desktop and people were processing raw image files with them. Actually, in 1998 I was using a 266mhz Pentium II and 96mb of memory to process 8mp tiff images (images scanned from film). In 1999 I upgraded to 256mb of memory and a 466mhz Celeron cpu and also got a new film scanner and was working with 10mp tiff images.

I used a second hand Sony Vaio with an Intel Centrino and found the download rather slow when coming back to a hotel needing to download and also recharge camera batteries but it would do the job OK. Patience is not always my strong side. The new netbooks have smaller processors than my old Vaio so it would take me even longer with one of those. Maybe I am just impatient or I took too long to enjoy my dinners. My new Philips with dual processor, 250 Mb graphics, 2Gb of RAM and large HDD is much quicker and so is the Vosonic for downloading.
David Kilpatrick complained about his 320 Gb Freecom external HDD. I used a Freecom 160 Gb for backup and now I have the new Freecom 250 Gb mobile drive. I have found both perform without any problems. Perhaps the power supply from first the Sony and now the Philips laptop are both adequate for proper working of the external HDDs.

[Dusty]

Bakubo wrote in reply to my observation that the new small netbooks were not fast enough:

I used a second hand Sony Vaio with an Intel Centrino and found the download rather slow when coming back to a hotel needing to download and also recharge camera batteries but it would do the job OK. Patience is not always my strong side. The new netbooks have smaller processors than my old Vaio so it would take me even longer with one of those. Maybe I am just impatient or I took too long to enjoy my dinners. My new Philips with dual processor, 250 Mb graphics, 2Gb of RAM and large HDD is much quicker and so is the Vosonic for downloading.

Neither downloading to the computer nor downloads on a network should be compromised by processor speed. The first depends upon bus speed- USB, usually, if using a card reader, the second upon network hardware. IF for some reason the USB is only using ver 1.1, not ver 2, you will have slow writes to the computer.

Dusty