THE TRAVELING PHOTOGRAPHER: Part 4
you gotta carry it all
Everything has to be carried of course and your choice of camera bag can make the difference between an enjoyable trip and an uncomfortable one. Your decision is of course, dependent upon the amount of equipment you intend to take (and carry) and the way in which you prefer to access that equipment. The number one priority must be access. If you can’t access your equipment easily, chances are you won’t, and you will therefore miss opportunities that may hold more potential than you first thought. Comfort is next on my list of priorities for a bag - but if it’s too difficult to get to your equipment you’ll tend to leave it and miss those opportunities and the comfort will mean nothing in the end. Conversely, if it’s not comfortable enough you may not even set off if the thought of carrying it is a chore! Comfort includes the quality and strength of the harness system and whether you hips take some of the load, as well as ventilation to limit a sweaty back (when climbing those mountains). Protection of gear is much less of a priority as you can simply be more careful under most circumstances if you are conscious of the level of protection the gear has, so as long as there is basic padding I don’t deem this a major consideration and I find too much soft, bulky padding is more often a hindrance.
A few years collecting bags... Depending upon your needs they are of varying degrees of usefulness.
I have a growing collection of bags for carrying photographic equipment, not all of them having done the job as well as I imagined they would. My main beef with every camera bag I have owned is that they aren’t designed for serious walking. Camera bag manufacturers make bags for protecting and carrying photographic equipment, and sometimes even providing good, fast access. Hiking pack manufacturers make packs that have great harness systems that are lightweight, tough and comfortable and it seems that “never the twain shall meet”. To this end I am planning on designing and making a reasonable capacity (30-35L) daypack with superior harness system but fast and easy access to the camera section, without having to remove the tripod if I don’t want to. It should also have a reasonable capacity section for carrying the basics for the day, be lightweight and weather resistant and not advertise its contents as being expensive photographic equipment. Stay tuned...
Before I start on a few particular bags and bag types I should state that this is in no way an endorsement for LowePro bags - they have been up until recently, the only reasonable option available in Australia, at least where I live, but I have been far from happy with some of the bags I have while others have been adequate in function and design. I have yet to find a bag that is not wanting in some way or another, but I do have a few I am more partial to than others.
My rebuilt harness system with better airflow and decent hipbelt.
One of the more versatile bags I own is the LowePro Rover series which can fit a surprising amount into the bottom padded compartment, has a better than average tripod holder and a useful top compartment for clothing and other items, and importantly for travelling in many places, it doesn’t look particularly like a camera bag unless you have a tripod attached). Unfortunately though, LowePro hasn’t updated this bag since its inception eight or more years ago which it could seriously use, they have just changed the name and colour and added an all weather cover but it is otherwise identical - still though, an underrated bag in my opinion. The more recent and more digital friendly Dryzone version of the Rover has a T-zip waterproof bottom section which has a slightly larger capacity, has a reasonable harness and is my choice of bag for any trip that may involve excursions in small boats or the like or even dusty desert environments - but access is much slower if you use it for its intended purpose and have the T-zip closed.I have upgraded the harness system on mine but the tripod holder still puts too much weight too far back and the pack is heavy for its size.
Rear access bags such as the LowePro Flipside series are great for walk-around town photography with great security and access and I would recommend them for this purpose but the harness and airflow are not good for extended walking, so if you intend to venture out of town on foot another style of pack would probably suit your needs better. Beltpacks such as the Inverse AW series are also good for active pursuits and quick access when carrying a limited amount of gear but once again I find them too specialized for travel or walking where other items like clothing and water need to be carried. Separate lens cases can be helpful for lesser-used lenses, to distribute weight more evenly or to store lenses that you won’t be carrying that day but in reality they are far less versatile than accessing a single compartment with everything in it. My experience with the Toploader Zoom type of bag, which can be carried as a shoulder bag with stabilizing strap, is good for fast-access street photography with a long zoom attached but is terrible for walking any distance and for the sake of my back I now avoid any bag that isn’t carried on both shoulders evenly. I don’t personally find larger equipment-only packs such as the Trekker or Vertex series as useful for lightweight international travel, but if you want to take everything, they could be just the ticket for you.
DryZone Rover with modified harness and compression strap.
Other photography related items I have found useful include:
A GPS unit that writes to the EXIF data (this is a straight-forward cable attachment for Nikon but seems more complicated for Canon and other brands) for when you can’t remember where it was exactly that you took that photo.
A sunrise/sunset timepiece to help with being in the right place at the right time (my evaluation of the Yes Cozmo is here).
A multi-tool with pliers, knife etc. I can easily forgo this when I want to travel light and only have carry-on luggage, as I don't find it photography specific
A torch/flashlight I have a LED LENSER P7 with a variable focus beam, 167 lumens high/low ouput and 110hrs of usage on 4 AAA batteries! It can also work as fill light under many situations.
Plenty of storage for digital files. Laptops are still too big and heavy to carry on longer trips for me but a 160Gb+ storage viewer works well and takes up minimal space and weight. The Hyperdrive Colourspace UDMA is the fastest and smallest while the Epson P5000 or later is a slightly better physical design with a few more features and a better LCD display.
And don’t forget those spare batteries, chargers, cables and adaptesr for different electrical outlets.
All these accessory items need to be carried, accessed and protected along with the camera and lenses if not all of the time then some of the time, so take this into account when making any decisions on how to carry it all. Finally, you want to take it with you into the cabin on the plane, so making sure it complies with airport carry-on restrictions for both size (dimensions} and weight will ensure ir doesn’t get stowed in the luggage compartment where it will receive less than optimal treatment!