Comments on: Essential Gear for the Nomadic Travel Photographer

By: darmabum

darmabum — Sat, 19 Mar 2011 17:08:43 +0000

A hefty list indeed, thank god you aren’t carrying video equipment TOO . . . as I do My list: Nikon d90, four lenses; Sony HDR FX-1 video camera, with beefy video tripod; Canon G12 point and shoot – over 10mp; Hero Helmet Cam; Zoom sound recorder = Total Coverage

Granted I don’t (and can’t:) move much, but I find that once all is said and done, when I’m back home, editing stills and film, I forget all about the load.

By: Duane Storey

Duane Storey — Wed, 27 Oct 2010 06:33:22 +0000

Thanks for the list of gear you guys have been toting around. I was going to do something similar, but I've heard too many horror stories about huge bags and not much fun. I've recently decided to go fairly light, and am only bringing a DSLR and one lens. Here's a list of the photography gear I'm taking traveling. I may end up picking up a lens or two along the way if my bag ends up being light, but I'm only taking a 28mm lens and a Canon S90 right now.

By: Merle

Merle — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 16:42:33 +0000

I just returned from two months in Turkey and Central Europe and had a setup similar to Audrey’s. I packed a D700, a few lenses ( a ‘walk around’ 24-120mm, a great 17-35mm, a longer 70-300mm, a backup 35-70mm, and a 50mm with and extension tube for macro). I also carried a Gitzo carbon-fiber tripod with a Manfrotto hydrostatic head. I only used it twice in the two months, but cheaper, lighter ones won’t support a pro or pro-consumer DSLR (don’t even consider them!). I added a few smaller items: a polarizer, a shutter release, many CF cards, an extra card reader, and two spare batteries.

I also brought a small Sony Vaio, two 1/2 TB Iomega drives (you need two – ‘one is none,’ as they say) that easily held my 6,500 photos (a jpeg and raw image for each) . I also burned two sets of DVDs from time to time, and sent one home. My bag is a two-piece LowePro (padded case on the bottom, day bag on top) with the branding cut off.

It was a bit much, but I wouldn’t have carried less. Small point and shoots don’t hack it if you’re serious, nor does a single or no (!) backup of your photos.

By: JaccoW

JaccoW — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 17:10:15 +0000

@Andy: I got myself a Sony nex, also one of the ‘system’ cameras.
It’s ideal for travel and less visible than a dslr. I do wish for some more choice in lenses but I am certain that will come later this year.
Now I just need a mini tripod that can support this little thing without costing an arm and a leg.

I started using a Q-starz gps logger and it works quite nicely. Not very usefull in large city when you are using the metro/underground transport a lot, but very fun to see.

I always thought of crumpler of weird, ugly looking bags, but now that I’ve got one they’ve started to grow in me. I use a Jimmy Bo 200 around my waist and a regular 30L daypack (Camelbak) for everything else.

By: Andy Bryant

Andy Bryant — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 13:33:32 +0000

I’ve been lugging a Canon 500d and Tokina 11-16mm around on a couple of long distance hikes, but now i’m looking to optimize space and weight with a micro 4/3rds based system.

Sensor size is a lot closet to a slr than on a compact camera, and you have enough controls to shoot hdr, and panoramic shots. I can also get a good ultra wide zoom, and I see that panasonic has a fish-eye on the roadmap.

I think now’s the time to downsize. Thoughts?

By: João Almeida

João Almeida — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 22:35:28 +0000

I second these tips!

Although my regular travel gear includes not one but two DSLR’s (a D90 and a D300s) my advice would go for a Micro 4/3 (like an Olympus Pen or a Panasonic GF1), those camera’s relatively small size combined with excellent image quality and interchangeable lenses probably makes them almost perfect travel cameras (at least until we can afford a Leica).

By: João Almeida

João Almeida — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 22:29:20 +0000

That Epson device is neat but a bit overpriced, with roughly that amount of money you can get a netbook, which is slightly bigger and has more features

By: ayngelina

ayngelina — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 20:55:49 +0000

You lost me at GPS, I can tag the location when I edit them. I also don’t carry a specific bag for my camera, I carry what I need in my day bag and leave the rest at the hostel.

Two other things to consider are:
a) polarizer
b) stabilizing device, I use a small gorillapod as I need precious space in my backpack since I couldn’t pare down to one lens (10-22, 50mm1.4, 17-85)

By: Christoph Hammann

Christoph Hammann — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 11:23:15 +0000

Aw, c’mon. HCB used a lot less, and his method is still viable (refer to Salgado).
So, a Leica 3f with a collapsible 50 mm Summicron in one coat pocket and film in the other. A lightmeter if you can’t eyeball it.
Ça suffit!

By: Thomas Locke Hobbs

Thomas Locke Hobbs — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 10:39:59 +0000

This gear list is a thief’s dream. In some places in the world carrying this amount of gear is an invitation to have it stolen. My advice would be to just carry a high-end point & shoot like the Canon S90 and enjoy the trip.