How to travel with camera gear.

[dougolupski]

Hi all,

I just found out today that I am going to Austrailia for two weeks for work and

some pleasure on the side. I want to bring my camera gear along with me but

want to know how to pack or if I should bring it as a carry on since I just

bought this Lowepro pack.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?

O=NavBar&A=getItemDetail&Q=&sku=279101&is=REG&si=acc&showAll=1#more_accessories

 

Also if I do carry on is there anything I should be aware of going through

security? I know I need to pull out all of my 35mm film but is there any

concern with my 30D body and my lenses (canon 70-200 f2.8). If theres anyone in

Brisbane let me know I need drinking and shooting partners.

 

Thanks

Doug

[johnw436]

Carry your gear.

 

Checked bags are good fodder for thieves, and what isn't stolen will be slung around like bags of dirt and have fifty bags thrown on top of it. If you must check gear insure it and put it in a pelican case. The airlines will not reimburse you if your bag is destroyed along with the contents. They will usually give you fifty dollars after 30 days if your bag isn't found.

 

You can carry on your lowepro backpack with no problem. Don't worry about your film. The scanners for carry on baggage will not harm it in any way unless you are shooting iso 1600 film or faster.

 

Do not put film in your checked bag. The checked bag scanners will destroy film.

[SteveH]

I agree with John. A couple of other points: Make sure your bag fits the size and weight

restrictions of the airline your are flying. Qantas, for example, may be prettry sticky about

their carry-on weight limits. Also, any in-country flights may have lower weight/size limits

than the international flights. The solution, of course, is to fly business or first class and for a

few thousand dollars you can carry on anything you can pack.

[dougolupski]

Yeah maybe first class in country. It was 16,000.00 to fly buisness class from LAX to Brisbane. I will have to watch the size but weight won't be much an issue. My 2.8 is a beast but everything else is small. Thanks for the info guys.

[bruce_margolis]

Dave, the PhotoTrekker barely gets by as a carry-on but as one who travels frequently, here's a couple thoughts.....

 

Board as quickly as you can. On long flights, the overhead compartments can fill quickly and this is one bag that is much too large to fit under your seat.

 

Pack all your sensitive gear in the bag. Never put anything delicate (lenses, bodies, etc) in a checked bag. To the extent you can, do not pack liquids or cables. The TSA people are touchy about this stuff.

 

You will be on an extremely long flight. Periodically check your bag to make sure everything is still in there. Believe it or not, there are many reported cases of people putting their computers in the overhead compartment, only to find after they get off the plane that it is gone.

 

If you will be on any smaller regional airplanes, you will almost certainly have to check your bag because it is too large to fit under a seat. If you check the bag, my suggestion would be to remove your camera gear first, at least as much as you can. You never want that stuff out of your sight.

 

And another just-in-case..... keep a record of your equipment and serial numbers with you. I travel with a laptop all the time so that info (as well as a copies of my passport, drivers license, etc) is always on the laptop if I need a backup. If you don't have a laptop, just make photocopies and put them in both your carry-on and checked baggage.

 

Have a great trip. Australia has been on my list for a long time. Maybe in a couple years....

[JDMvW]

"It was 16,000.00 to fly buisness class from LAX to Brisbane" -Jeez, I didn't know that the dollar had dropped that much! ! !

[dougolupski]

Yep we are on track to have the new Mexican Peso.

[Jochen_S]

Read your airline's restrictions and maybe place backup batteries in the checked bag. - They might cause trouble. Ordinary camera gear doesn't matter.

[charles_stobbs3]

I would think a laptop would be the first thing stolen.

[steve_b3]

Dont forget to fill out a 4457 before you go. Unless you want to pay import on the stuff you bring back into the county.

 

http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/toolbox/forms/

[Matt Laur]

I'll certainly echo Bruce. I cram all of my carry-on gear (bodies, lenses, laptop, etc) in a Crumpler pack. It WILL go in an overhead bin, but only if I'm in my seat row early in the game. Those larger bins fill up quickly these days. As for the gear being stolen out of your carry-on bag/pack... consder one of those TSA-friendly combination locks. It will slow down someone trying a stealthy dig through your bad while you're snoring somewhere over the Pacific.

 

Interestingly, I found that at every airport checkpoint (Washington DC, Frankfurt, Munich, and Verona), the folks wanted my laptop out separately for a pass through the scanner, but didn't need to see it booted up like the older days. As for my pack full of gear: they wanted it open, and did a chemical wipe-down (they run a tissue over most of the exposed surfaces, and then pass that tissue through a cute little spectrometer). So, none of my larger lenses or other gear got directly inspected, but I definitely got the smell test.

 

I did check a tripod, some chargers, and various cables in with my larger luggage. It's a good thing I didn't need it right away, since it ended up two days behind me on the way home, having taken its own special tour of the German baggage-handling infrastructure without me!

[bruce_margolis]

The only airport that has ever inspected my carry-on camera gear was Orlando. I had to take each lens out of my backpack (I wouldn't let TSA handle them). One was swiped and I was on my way. BTW, this happened twice at the Orlando airport.

 

In Paris, there were three security checkpoints before boarding the plane, not just the usual one-stop you see in the US. At all three, my camera equipment just sailed through their x-ray. No hand check, no swab swipe. Go figure.

[vivid_earth_photographics]

Depending on how much gear, this is just another idea for consideration. If I'm on a particularly long trip where the equipment is going to be getting jostled and banged in transit, I sometimes load it into a padded Storm (a/k/a Pelican) case and put the backpack inside my luggage. I use the largest Storm case approved for carryon. The Storm case is nearly indestructable and provides maximum protection. It is, however, bulky. I only take it if I have somewhere to leave it when I arrive at my location (a friend's home where I'll start/end the trip; a hotel room where I'll be staying, etc.). For easy travels I just pack a backpack, but when I went to Hawaii recently, for example, with many plane changes and lots of moving about, I used the hard case.

[raysgallery]

I order a shourd strap from this co. and this was on my receipt. It was a interesting read.

 

IF YOU HAVE QUESTIONS OR NEED TO VOID YOUR ORDER EM sos@upstrap-pro.com or CALL THE OFFICE AT 850-878-1088.

 

Thanks. . .

 

P.S. Here is a link you may find helpful

 

http://www.onebag.com/

[lauren_macintosh]

May I suggest you either buy you film there or mail it to yourself there and mail it back to yourself; as I did when I went to yellowstone N.P., we just had a person, here state he lost about 26 -4x5 negative because of air port personal checking things? your call: