Haiti Trip - What gear to carry?

<p>I am heading to Haiti in a week. I am planing on carrying my D300 with 18-200mm lens and a 50mm lens. Any other suggestions? </p>

<p>If you're going to Port Au' Prince: Travel light (VERY light). You'll need at least an additional battery (maybe two or more, depending on how often you expect to have access to AC power), and CompactFlash cards. Plan to bring your own laptop and card reader, as you won't likely find open stores to do it for you.<br>

Bring a circular polarizer, and perhaps an external flash with batteries.<br>

Oh - don't forget to bring your battery chargers!</p>

<p>Cleaning supplies. Remember that the 18-200 isn't a (well) sealed lens.</p>

<p>Try to carry your gear as inconspicuously as possible, in a dirty, ratty looking bag if possible. Take off that bright Nikon strap and replace it with something unobtrusive. Cover that Nikon badge on the camera body with a small piece of black electrical tape. Walk the streets with a physically capable partner to watch your 6 while shooting. These are desperate times, for desperate people. </p>

<p>How much compact flash memory capacity do you have? I'd bring some high-capacity 8G, 16G cards so that you won't have to upload.</p>

<p>Bring things the Haitians need.</p>

<p>@ Jerry - I will look in to the polarizing filter. I have never used one before <br>

@ Shun - I have one 32 GB and two - 4 GB cards. I will be there for over a month. I am planning on leaving my Lap top behind. <br>

On another note : I have some space left and I am leaving from the SF. If you know families from bay area who want to send letter and small items to their families in PAP or near by areas, let me know. I am happy to carry them. <br>

@ Arthur - I am raising funds through friends and I will make a donation to red cross and other Ngos on field when I get there. They will be in a much better position to use the funds. </p>

 

<p>Suchitra,</p>

<p>Even though I admire your efforts to raise funds for Haiti and donate the money to those organizations that can make a difference, I really hope that you realize that any trip to Haiti by any person that is not actively involved in helping the victims - doctors, nurses, truckdrivers etc - is basically putting pressure on an infrastructure that can barely cope with those in need.<br>

Again, with the utmost respect for your good intentions, please reconsider if you really really need to go there?</p>

<p> </p>

<p>One post will do. </p>

<p>When I was there I used the 18-200 as well, which worked fine in good light. The 50mm will cover low light situations fine, but I used a 28-75 2.8 zoom for that work which worked well. It allowed me to get closer without distracting people and isolate them with the 2.8, yet still get a bit wider in the evening light rather than limited to 50mm. </p>

<p>I found that a small bag you can attach to your belt worked very well rather than one with a shoulder strap, but a backpack would be my first choice if I went again. I hope to get back within the next few months, we support an orphanage down there and they need supplies...</p>

<p>Suchitra, so you have approximately 1G of memory card space per day? I would suggest at least double the amount. In particular, just in case your only 32G card fails, you'll have nothing to use. Perhaps buy a couple more 16G cards; if nothing else, you have a spare card or two.</p>

<p>I hope you have extra batteries also.</p>