Photo Gear for Traveling

As I pack for our summer vacation, I always stop to think what camera gear I want to take with me. Thought it would make a good blog post for anyone interested…

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Camera & Lenses

So I typically avoid taking my Canon 5D due to several factors like its weight and because it is my primary work camera and I don’t want to damage it lugging it around while traveling. Oh, and yea, it wouldn’t be cheap to replace.

So instead I take my old, trusted Rebel XTi that I have had since at least 2007. Compared to the 5D though, she is so much lighter and easier to travel with. It’s also a workhorse of a camera and is more than sufficient to take great vacation photos. That camera has shot almost 20 weddings with me and countless vacations here in the US and in Europe and it still works great. I did invest in getting her all cleaned up last year to help make sure she keeps clicking away.

So what lenses do I take? I take three: a general purpose zoom lens (Canon 24-70mm f/2.8); a wide angle (Canon 10-22mm EF-S) and a fixed macro to use with my TTV contraption (Canon 60mm f/1.8). The 1st two lenses offer a nice complete range for me.

In addition I take my Anscoflex camera to use for my TTVs (easiest to travel with), extra battery and lots of memory cards in my awesome ThinkTank Pixel Pocket Rocket cardholder.

Can’t forget a point & shoot as well for those times when you don’t want to carry the DSLR… I have always had some version of a Canon Elph Powershot and my current P&S is no exception – the Canon Powershot S95. Oh, and of course, there is always your camera phone (see image at the bottom of the post)!

Oh, and yea, I leave the speedlite behind. Can’t really justify the extra weight and potential damage to the flash that might happen when traveling. I have my P&S for night-time party pics and I can bump the ISO up on most everything else. I use flash minimally in my photography so why drag it along?

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Camera Bags

In terms of gear bags, I use various padded inserts and neoprene lens pouches to “hide” my gear in large shoulder bags so I don’t call attention to the fact that I am carrying camera gear when going through the airport. I do switch to a Lowepro Passport Sling bag that I pack flat in my baggage for walking around my vacation destination. It is smaller and more comfortable for daily excursions and still does not look too much like a camera bag.

Oh, and when I do take my 5D and all my gear for a gig like a destination wedding? I pack it all (2 cameras, lots of lenses, 2 flashes, etc.) in my Pelican PCS-172 rolling bag. It even has a slot for my laptop. They don’t make this exact bag anymore but seems like they sell something similar still.

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Computer Hardware & Software

Speaking of laptops, I have dragged my laptop with me in the past so I can edit photos while I am on vacation but this time I have decided to leave the laptop behind and leave Lightroom behind and instead, simply take my netbook (a netbook is too sorely underpowered to run resource hogging photo editing software like LightRoom and PhotoShop).

I’ll download my cards onto an external hard drive, possibly back them up on the netbook itself.  FastStone’s free ImageViewer will let me view the RAW files so I can at least scroll though what I shoot. I think I will also shoot JPG+RAW so if I can’t resist, I can upload a few favorites SOOC (straight out of camera with no editing). I will also download Google’s free photo editing software Picasa for some basic editing abilities.