Traveling With Photo Equipment – Part 2 – Bag in a Bag

Eight days away and I have to work on editing down the proposed gear list plus figure out exactly how to get it all to the destination. Shown below is the pile of gear I think I am taking as of this second – it will change by tomorrow. I’m sure I will edit the list several more times, especially as I try to get it all the bag.

Photo bags are such personal beasts – I guess that is why there is an endless variety of bags available and new ones come out all of the time. The perfect bag not only has to hold the required gear for the photo session or journey, but it absolutely has to fit your individual workflow. Just like any other photo person, I have several different types of bags for different kinds of trips. When heading out on location in my vehicle, I take huge bags with all the gear I can shove in the car. When having to carry the gear exclusively, sometimes my preference is a Tenba or Crumpler shoulder bag. Other times, and more frequently these days, I love to use Think Tank modular gear and a Pro Speed Belt. These are the trips where I need quick access to gear and things are constantly changing. What is missing from my camera bag arsenal for the most part is a camera backpack. I still have, and probably will never say goodbye to , the trusty Lowepro Mini Trekker. It is a great bag, but anymore it just doesn’t work for me to put the bag down to get out gear, and it doesn’t hold enough of a variety of things for me to be able to travel with it.

For this trip to Tanzania I have many requirements for the perfect bag:

• Can it haul camera gear and personal gear – the 1 carry-on bag allowance problem?
• I don’t want it to scream out “camera bag, camera bag”.
• Can it be used on-location to shoot out of?
• Can it be worn all day long without too much discomfort? There is no place to leave gear back at the hotel or in a vehicle on this trip.

My solution is a two-part one. Shown is all of the gear, nicely packed into a combination of Think Tank and Lowepro modular bags. The body (no grip on this trip) and 24-105mm go into the Think Tank Digital Holster 20 (which can be used on-location to handle the body and any of the lenses I am taking because it zips out to a longer length). The 70-200mm f/2.8 goes into the Lowepro Zoom 2. The Thank Tank Chimp Cage (for now) is holding the 10-22mm, 1.4x Extender, 580 EX II, Omni-bounce, and filter pouches. The G12 goes into the Think Tank Modular Pouch. All the tiny stuff went into the Lowepro pouch. The travel tripod will go into checked baggage. [NOTE: Also shown is the Think Tank Lightning Fast, off to the side. I still haven’t decided if the 50mm is going. If it is, I will move the flash over to this and pack it in with the other lenses. If the 50mm isn’t going, I don’t need this bag. However, it is a great sized bag for holding all sorts of things once there and great to have along. This is obviously something that needs to be sorted out soon.]

Right about now is when you are going to call me either crazy or brilliant, and I figure it is the later. Shown below are several images illustrating where the modular bags are headed and why. Enter the Mammut Nirvana Pro (35L) technical pack. Where do I start on why this is the perfect one bag solution? This is a snow pack. These are a little different than other technical packs and this is why this works for me:

• Camera gear is placed in the back, using the full zippered access and reachable from the top/front of the pack through a different zipper.
• Personal gear like a change of clothes, toiletries, music, phone, glasses, passport, etc. goes in the middle/front section.
• The pack is lightweight, but very durable.
• The pack has a real waist belt and internal frame to help out with the load.
• It has a removable hip belt which could be replaced by the Think Tank Pro Speed Belt. [The existing waist belt has room to accommodate one modular pouch on each side so I can leave the Speed Belt at home if I want and the shoulder straps will help distribute the load.]
• It even has a hydration chamber.
• This thing will even fit under the seat, fully packed, in small Regional Jets.

Do I have to keep going?

For me, this is about as perfect a solution as I can come up with. That however, is all just in theory. We will see as the adventure unfolds. This will be my last post here before the trip. If possible, I will post updates along the way on Twitter. When I return, I will follow up and post info on how it all worked out, exactly what gear I decided on, and what I wish I would have or wouldn’t have taken along!

Traveling With Photo Equipment – Part 1 – What to Take

Let me preface this multi-part series about traveling with photo gear by saying that for the most part, when having to travel for work with photo gear, I typically have the luxury of driving to the site. That means I have no limits on what I can take with me. On a few occasions, I travel by air, but those situations are rare. So, for the most part, I am a nubile when it comes to major travel with photo gear. This fact, however, may be just the reason that you are reading this, as you too may someday be faced with exactly what I am.

Trip: 10 days in Tanzania.
How: 3-4 plane changes and 30 hours in transit
Why: I will need to hand carry all gear (plus personal items) in one carry-on and once on-site I will have to carry everything 24/7 – no opportunity to leave anything back at the hotel
What: I will be documenting work we will be doing for my company’s Foundation: Play For Power

“In February 2011 the well and water distribution system will be installed at the Sinai school in Babati, Tanzania. We will also spend time with students at the Sinai primary school and Kwaang secondary school in Babati Tanzania. We will be commencing the sister school story exchange (writing curriculum), and starting 14 level book circles (reading curriculum), as well as working on other exchanges with the students.”

This first part of the upcoming series is devoted to what to take on the trip. After an insane amount of reading blogs of other traveling photographers and consulting all of my photog friends, I have decided on what gear to take. The list of gear won’t be presented in this installment – sorry, you will have to stay tuned. Instead, I will be sharing how I go about getting ready for packing my equipment.

I guess I should say that during the days, some of work I do for my company is to write code. Lines and lines and more lines of code. It was only natural that I would make use of the required anal nature of code writing and extend it to my photography. I can’t remember why, but I needed to work on something for somebody dealing with MS Excel. When I write code, I always do the preliminary work on some sort of personal project. This provides a great test bed and gives me a real world test of the code. So in this instance I decided to write an Excel Photo Gear packing list. Turns out, it was a great project and I have been using the result for years.

I prefer to be prepared for travel. Okay, I will say it as I know you are thinking it – I prefer to OBSESS about travel. I am not one of those folks that pack at the last minute and in the hour before the flight. Rather, I agonize over what gear to take and how to pack it from the instant I know I am headed somewhere right up to the moment before I need to leave for the airport. I have been wrestling for this trip for over a year. – It sucks to be me! –

Back to the Excel spreadsheet. In the spreadsheet I have a line item for every item of gear in my arsenal. Included are the manufacturer, description, category, quantity, and serial number. Anal yes, but handy for many reasons. When a trip is scheduled, I go to this trusty spreadsheet and begin to select the items I am taking for the trip. When I am done, a handy packing list is ready to be printed out. I print two copies: 1) to go into a file for later reference and 2) one to take with me on the trip. This serves as a list to use to pack, a reference when leaving to make sure I return with all I took, and a list of the equipment and serial numbers of items I am traveling with for customs or in case of loss or theft. In addition, on the packing list I have columns for “Used” or “Not Used”. I typically take more gear than I probably need and by noting if I actually used something I can better refine future packing lists to just the items I know I will use.

Shown in the accompanying image are three pages from the spreadsheet: 1) the page in which I go through and select the items I want to take, 2) the automatic refinement of the list from all items to just what I have selected, and 3) the final packing list for printing.

Maybe a little obsessive, but it works for me.

Coming next: What I am taking and how to pack it!

Think Tank Photo – Modular Pouch Review

As promised, this is the beginning of a series of reviews of the Think Tank Photo equipment that I have and use. I am not paid by or rewarded by Think Tank in any way, I just happen to be one of those guys that resisted the Think Tank gear for a while and then when I finally jumped in I have been completely changed. I can’t honestly say that I am gone over to the rectangular backpack world and I’m not a roller bag person, but the bags that I do have (all modular) are unequivocally PERFECT!

For this first review, I want to start small – the Modular Pouch. Future reviews will move on to other modular gear that I use with the big cameras and specifically how I intend to make use of the Think Tank modular products in a slightly different way on an upcoming photo job in Tanzania.

There will be no wasting your time here with mentioning what you can already find out on the Think Tank Modular Pouch product page.

When the bag first arrived I was a little baffled about all of the Velcro tabs on the outside.  A little web investigation spelled this out for me and I must say it is brilliant!  Not only can this pouch be attached along with other modular components on a modular gear Belt (and I promise it absolutely will be), but there are these bizarre little wings and such that are designed to facilitate attachment to backpack straps!  All of these Velcro doo-hickies provide options for attaching this to just about anything, including a plain old belt that might be holding up your pants – which is exactly what I do on occasion with the use for this bag mentioned next.

The pouch is the perfect size for all kinds of the little stuff (3.5” L x 2” W x 6”), but… and here is the big one for me and in fact the whole reason I bought this bag…the Canon G12 is a perfect fit!  In my remote and rural area here I do not have access to ANY camera gear stores.  All my acquisitions have to be painfully researched on the web.  When looking for appropriate and suggested bag/cases for the Canon G12, never once did I happen across mention of the Think Tank Modular Pouch.  In fact finding this bag was a complete accident, but “boy oh boy” what a good one.  For those of you that need bullet proof armor for your cases, this might not be for you as there isn’t really much padding.  For me though, I am known to take pretty good care of my gear and it is just what I was looking for.  The G12 is a little big anyway and the last thing I needed was a big bag to haul it around in.

My rating = 5 out of 5…whatever that means.