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Travling with photo equipment.


jiazi liu

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This topic has been covered a lot recently. You should be able to find some answers while doing a search. I think everyone has different experiences -good and bad- and it really depends on who you're travelling with and what their restrictions are. I think your best bet is to contact the airline you're travelling with and simply ask them. Tell them you're a photographer and that your carrying expensive and fragile equipment.

I personally didn't have any troubles, even though my camera gear was well over the weight allowed for carry-on. I got special permission and it was all good. However, on my trip home (with Thomas Cook airlines), they weren't very considerate of my situation and ordered me to put my camera gear in the checked luggage. It was supposed to go with the fragile luggage but no, they didn't even do that. They just let it come (literally) rolling down the conveyor belt. Needless to say, I wasn't pleased. Fortunately nothing was damaged. I will definitely be taking more precautions on my next travels and be sure that I am allowed to carry my gear on all my flights.

If your gear is going to be checked, I'd make sure that you have a lot of padding around your equipment and a secure case for it all.

Best of luck and enjoy your travels!

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As far as I know you're allowed to carry your gear with you as long as it meets the carry-on size requirements. The possible exception may be London, but I think I read that they have eased some of their policies (but I'm not 100 percent sure...sorry).

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I always carry my gear and have never had a problem...you shouldn't either. That's assuming, however, that everything you're taking fits in a carry on bag.

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I have brought camera equip. as hand luggage through security screenings in about 20

countries, and never experienced even a secondary inspection after xray. The only conflict i

think you are likely to face is if you have more than one bag, or if your bag size exceeds size

limits. if you have a tripod i would put that in your check in luggage. If you are shooting

film, put it in a plastic ziploc bag and ask for hand inspection, should work everywhere

except the USA.

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Just got back to the US from London Gatwick. I had no problem on the Continental flight out of the US, with the current one carry-on plus one extra bag [my laptop]. But, on the return flight, I found - at the airport of course - that the rule is just one carry-on and that's it, no purse, no bookbag and clearly no seperate laptop. And the carry-on has strict size limits. These rules really are enforced. Had I known that in advance I would not have taken the laptop. So check and double check, the airline may have one set of rules and the local airport another.
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Travel light. Take a fraction of the equipment you think you need. If you miss a shot, you'll just have to make another trip, which is not the end of the world.

 

Seriously, travel is its own reward and photography is its own reward. You can take one camera and one lens and concentrate on seeing everything through that one lens.

 

This was made a couple of years ago in Paris at the St. Martin Canal with a Zorki 1 and an Industar 22 50mm f/3.5 lens, which is as basic a Leica imitation as you can get. The package of film I carried was bulkier than the camera and lens put together. I learned by hard experience: travel light.<div>00JlPA-34720484.jpg.673cb69c3c78672048ebd4fe10e03542.jpg</div>

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  • 2 weeks later...

I haven't gone through the UK recently but my gear is always with me. I can always buy clothes and things where I'm going but I do not check equipment. The liability insurance maxes out around $1400 per luggage item or by a few dollars per pound.

 

I usually go with one body, one lens and a digisnap. It's much more fun. If I'm on a paid activity, then it's a different deal.

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