When you’ve booked the photography trip of your dreams, or a client has sent you halfway around the world to shoot your next assignment you won’t want to be without these essential items. It might seem like a pretty long list but in reality many of the items are simple, small and inexpensive. Bookmark this list for reference before your next trip!
Quick Reference List
Further down is a detailed explanation of why each of these items is on my list but if you just need quick links then here you are!
Panasonic Eneloop Batteries with Think Tank Battery Holders
LaCie Rugged Drives
At least one short prime lens
Kikkerland Travel Adapter
Power Strip
Anker 5-port USB charger
Gura Gear Et Cetera cable cases
Memory Cards & Reader
Tabletop Tripod
Camera Rain Cover
Headlamp and Flashlight
Digital Luggage Scales
Travel Tripod
Non Branded Camera Strap
12v Inverter
Customs Documentation
Strobe Documentation
Cleaning Gear
Laptop Bag
Insurance
Roller Bags by Think Tank Photo
Eneloop Rechargeable Batteries
I’ve no doubt that there’s at least one item in your kit list that needs AA batteries, and maybe AAAs too. When you get to your destination, the last thing you want is to have to waste time going in search of batteries.
I used to use a real mix of rechargeable batteries but when Panasonic’s Eneloop brand came along a few years ago I threw everything else out and switched over to these amazing NiMH batteries. What’s so special about them? If left unused, they last forever (well as near as makes no difference). Gone are the days when a set of unused rechargeables would lose power over time. With the Eneloops I can grab a set that I haven’t touched in 12 months and know that there is still juice in them for the job. In fact after a year of stagnation, Panasonic says they maintain 85% of their power which is extremely impressive. These days I pretty much always throw another 4-pack in my shopping cart every time I make an order from B&H Photo.
Sanyo also make a neat little USB charger that will charge up a pair of them from your laptop or other USB power supply which is a handy addition to your travel kit. I keep all my sets of batteries in the awesome Think Tank AA Battery Holders which, despite their name, also work very well for AAA batteries too!
Rugged Hard Drives
It goes without saying that you’ll need a way to backup your images on the road. Once again, if you’ve spend the money to get somewhere there’s just no point in trying to save a few bucks by buying the cheapest drive you can find. Go straight for something which is built to last and for me that means using the excellent LaCie Rugged drives. If you believe the internet (you do right?) then all hard drive manufacturers are terrible. It doesn’t matter what brand you choose, there will always be horror stories from someone out there so I don’t tend to pay any attention to that. I go with what’s worked for me and I’ve had LaCie Rugged drives for 8 years without a single issue. Some of them have dents in them that make them look like they’ve been to war but they just keep on ticking.
Recently they launched a new set of drives that have a built in Thunderbolt cable and these are what I’ll be using for the foreseeable future. If the cable is attached, that’s one less thing I can potentially, accidentally, leave behind. With the rubber bumper on the casing they aren’t the smallest drives in the world but they are much lighter than the G-Tech G-Drives.
My advice is to always have at least 2 external backup drives and either use Lightroom or Photo Mechanic to import your cards to both of them, or use Carbon Copy Cloner to mirror the drives every evening. Then when you travel, keep one on you at all times, even when you go out for dinner, and another in your checked luggage to protect you from thieves. You could even go so far as to sync all your 5* images up to the cloud with a service like Google Drive or Dropbox and this can be automated if you use Mosaic.
On a very long trip I might even take a couple of extra drives and mail them home half way through the trip, or upload a considerable proportion to the cloud if there happened to be a reliable fast internet connection without throttled uploading.
At Least One Short Prime Lens
It used to be the case that the prime lens was king when it came to sharpness and contrast. Much has changed in the last few years though, particularly for Canon shooters who now have an incredible selection of tack sharp zoom’s to choose from in the L-Series range. Nikon have some pretty stunning options as well and more and more people are piecing kits together with zooms instead of primes. My go-to kit is the Canon 24-70 f/2.8 L II and the Canon 200-400 f/4 L IS, both of which produce images that exceed the quality of some of my prime lenses.
So why am I suggesting you still pack a prime? Well to start with let’s define my suggestion a little more. When I say “short prime lens” I’m thinking particularly in the 50mm – 24mm range. I’m also thinking of lenses that are faster than f/2.8. So maybe a 24mm f/1.4 (my usual pick since it’s also great for night shots) or maybe something much cheaper like a 50mm f/1.8.
There’s really two reasons and the first of which is low light usage. I almost always find myself shooting in very low light at some point on a trip. Whether it’s inside a church or other building, or outside wandering a city at night. Whilst it’s true that high ISO shooting has come on leaps and bounds in the last few years as well, it’s always nice to be able to able to get a higher shutter speed as needed.
The second reason is that a prime lens with a wider aperture offers a very different look than most zoom lenses, a much shallower depth of field when the aperture is set in the wider end. Note that this does not have anything to do with it being a prime lens, it’s just that a zoom lens with such a wide aperture would be hugely expensive and physically impractical. So if you (or your client) have spent a great deal of money getting you to a far-flung location, you’ll want to come away from that with a broad selection of images. Adding a prime lens to your kit is a quick way to widen that selection and bring back something with a different look to that which is achievable with with zooms, particularly standard kit zooms.
Now I’ve mentioned some of my lenses which are a bit on the pricey side, but that doesn’t have to be the case at all. If you are using a kit lens like a 17-55 then a 50mm f/1.8 would be a great choice and these can be had for well under $200 for both Canon, Nikon and others. M 4/3 users have many great options like the 17mm f/1.8 Olympus lens and Fuji users should look at the 35mm f/1.4.
Plug Adapters Of Course…. But These Ones Are AWESOME
Plug adapters don’t have to be big bulky things. I have three of these and I can fit them all in my pocket simultaneously! They cost under $10 from amazon and you should just go out and buy a handful right now. The ones i have are branded Kikkerland, but you can also find the exact same thing branded APC and a bunch of other things as well. They originate from Japan, and it used to be the case that you had to import them directly from the manufacturer but thankfully some Western companies have finally started to see the value in this design. They are so small and flat that you can easily stick them in pockets all over your bags and even in tiny cable bags without getting in the way. So far I’ve not been to a country where I haven’t been able to use these successfully. An absolute must-have item!
Power Strip
Hotels and motels with only one power socket happen. On safari you might be in a camp with a generator that will only have one outlet as well. If you bring some kind of power strip with you then you’ll only need to use a single plug adapter on that strip and then you can charge 5 or 6 devices at the same time. The key thing here is to remember that if you want a true international solution then you need something that is rated to take up to 240v. In N.America we only use 110v but many places use more than this and a 110v strip will get instantly fried in those places. Unfortunately it’s not always that easy to figure out if your strip or block will work. You might be fooled into thinking that if it says”travel” on it then you are good to go. Sadly it’s not that simple, there are several Belkin “travel” adapter that stupidly only work with 110v. I’m using this Monster adapter because it fits into my carry-on bag and gives me three outlets along with a couple of bonus USB ones. Check and double check that yours is truly rated to 240 VAC if you want a worry free universal solution to live in your kit bag.
Anker 40W USB Charger
Hat tip to Terry White for discovering this one. It seems like every year I add another thing to my bag that charges via USB. When you get to your hotel it can be a struggle to find enough power sockets and we’ve all experienced the situation where the one nearest the bedside table is actually UNDER the bed so your phone ends up charging on the floor underneath you. The fact is, a lot of these places were designed before our reliance on such devices.
This 5-port charger from Anker has a power cord attached to it so you can easily position the actual USB ports in a convenient spot on a table somewhere and then run the cable to the wall outlet. 40W is powerful enough to charge an iPad and then I’ve got room for my phone, kindle, Mophie power pack and GoPro all in the same place. It’s a simple product but it does the job admirably and also means you won’t leave any USB devices behind in your room because you plugged them in under a bed or desk and didn’t see them when you were packing up. Yep…… speaking from experience here!!
So these items so far are what I would consider to be “the essentials”. If you’ve booked a once in a lifetime trip, perhaps even a photo workshop with me, then this stuff should be in your bag. The total price of it all is minimal when compared to the overall cost of your trip. What follows next is what I’d call the “luxuries”. These are items that I take with me, and for ME they are essentials and come on every trip, but I’m sure that some people who don’t necessarily make a living from their photography might find them a little over the top to be called “essentials”. Nonetheless I do recommend them because for me there is nothing worse than having gear trouble when all you want to be doing is enjoying a new culture and making images.
Gura Gear Et-Cetera Cable Cases
Available in 3 sizes, the Et-Cetera cases are by far the best cable and accessory organization option on the market at the moment. In fact you could buy the large one and put everything else on this list into it and stick it in your gear closet as a travel “grab bag”. The smaller of the three cases is perfect for all your USB cables and memory card readers and the larger sizes are great for chargers, GoPros, hard drives, medical supplies….. the list is pretty much endless. I like the elastic internal straps for securing some items and I prefer these cases over the pouches that they also offer. They just pack so well into camera bags with their more defined shape. You can buy them individually, or as a set with one of each of the three sizes. The larger ones also work really well for organizing flashes and PocketWizards and slide on and off shelving really well to keep you tidy at home as well as on the road. There’s good reason why these were also included on my photographers gift list this past Christmas as well!
To keep the cables tidy in the bag I use the red cable whips from Think Tank which are a bargain at only $7.50 for 10 of them.
Cards & Card Readers
There’s not much that needs to be said about this particular item. Each to their own with card brand choice, personally I have always used Sandisk Extreme cards and I’ve never had a failure. Just make sure you take a couple more than you think you might need, just to allow for the potential loss or failure of one. I use the Lexar USB 3 reader because USB is a more universal standard than Thunderbolt and that way if my Apple laptop dies then I can connect the USB reader to pretty much any kind of computer I can find. One other thing I will note is that the USB reader lives in my laptop bag permanently. No excuses. I used to take the one from my office and use that on the road but you only need to forget that once to realise that it’s well worth paying the extra sub-$30 to have a guarantee that there’s is one in your bag!
Tabletop Tripod or Clamp
The tripod police are out to get you these days! It’s all too common to visit a tourist attraction or even a public space and see the “No Tripods” sign. Sometimes it’s not enforced and sometimes it is so you should always have a plan B. For me this comes in two options; a tabletop tripod, or a small clamp system. If I’m not sure what situation I’ll encounter then I take the tripod but sometimes I know ahead of time that the clamp is a better solution. The Really Right Stuff TFA-01 tripod is sturdy enough to take pro sized cameras, unlike most of the cheaper options from the likes of Manfrotto etc etc. Yeah it’s not cheap but if it makes the difference between getting the shot and not, just one time, then it’s worth it for me. Don’t think of it just as a tripod for use on tables either, you can just as easily use it against a wall to brace yourself for a longer exposure. The clamp that I have is the Manfrotto Nano Clamp, Really Right Stuff also make an excellent clamp, albeit a bit pricier. These work really well when there are safety railings around and all these options are small enough that you can put them in your carry-on bag. That way if the airline loses your checked luggage with your larger tripod in, you’ve got something to get you started.
Camera Rain Cover
As well as various power solutions, you’ll notice a lot of the items on this list relate to maximising your photographic potential on your travels. A decent rain cover is another such accessory. In a lot of hotter climates rain is a daily occurrence in the afternoon and the dramatic skies of monsoon season in Asia is actually a good reason to choose that time for a trip. Wherever you are in the world though, you’d be lucky to spend a couple of weeks there without some precipitation. Taking a rain cover allows you to experiment in these conditions and whilst it is typically harder to get great shots in the rain, there’s often times where you’ll find something great that you otherwise would have missed.
There’s a fair few options out there, but again I prefer to recommend based on my own experiences and I use the Think Tank Hydrophobia covers. In fact I have both the 70-200 and the 300-600 versions. The larger one works with any lens longer than a 300mm f/2.8 and the smaller one will just about work with anything from a 14mm up to a 70-200. In a pinch, if I’m really trying to save weight, I can use the larger one to cover my whole lens range.
Yes it’s true that some people are quite happy to use plastic bags to do this job but when I’m covering potentially well over $10,000 of gear on a trip that likely cost me over $4000….. what’s an extra $150 if it allows me to make more images and keep my mind on creativity and not worrying if my plastic bag has a hole in it.
NOTE: If you order these directly from Think Tank using THIS LINK, you’ll get a free gift as a friend of the site.
Flashlight & Headlamp
If you are on a photo specific trip then chances are you’re going to be up before dawn whether it’s on safari in Africa or shooting landscapes in Iceland. Some form of illumination is a must-have item because you don’t want to drop a filter or a precious memory card and not realize it. Plus, it’s handy to be able to see where you are walking so you don’t fall off a cliff in Bryce Canyon or somewhere like that! I always have a head torch on me and I like the Petzl ones and the Tika R+ is my current weapon of choice since it’s USB rechargeable so I don’t need to worry about having batteries for it and I can keep it charged using the aforementioned USB charging hub.
I find having a flashlight is also really worthwhile. I have a couple of LED ones from FourSevens and they have a much stronger beam than a headlamp which is really only designed to see what’s right in front of you. The flashlight on the other hand can be used for light painting which is always fun, and also for focussing on foreground objects in night time shots. Just put the camera in live view and 100% and then shine the light on the object and focus manually. Works a treat! Again, both of these items I consider so necessary that I pack at least one of them into my carry-on bag just in case (or should I say when) the airline “misplaces” one of my bags. Fly enough and that WILL happen. Trust me.
Digital Scales
When I travel I like to enjoy the excitement and anticipation and not stress about things like overweight bags and re-packing at the check-in desk. I keep a small digital scale in my travel “go bag” and make sure everything is evenly distributed around my luggage before I leave the hotel. They don’t cost a lot, weigh next to nothing and other people are always asking to borrow it!
It’s worth noting that my carry-on bags are always overweight. 100% of the time is no exaggeration. Carry your heavy bags with confidence and I’ve only had real troubles with this a couple of times.
Travel Tripod
I have a couple of tripods but my favorite is the utterly brilliant Really Right Stuff TQC-14. A small carbon fiber 4-section tripod which is far more stable than it deserves to be for something so lightweight. It’s a pricey option, but it’ll last a whole lifetime.
I do appreciate that many folks won’t want to spend that much on a tripod though so you might also want to check out the Benro Travel Angel II series or the Manfrotto BeeFree series. In my opinion it’s worth getting the carbon versions of these.
Travel tripods are typically 4 or 5 section tripods that are much smaller and lighter than regular tripods. These days I really appreciate the weight savings and love to use one if I’m not taking any of the big supertelephoto lenses with me. To add extra stability to these lighter tripods you can hang your camera bag on the center column to reduce shutter vibrations. Always remember to use a cable release so that you don’t introduce vibrations from your hand into the equation as well.
Non Branded Camera Straps
It’s best not to wander around some places screaming CANON or NIKON. It can just make you a target for thieves and muggers. Take the original camera strap off and replace it with something simple and black. For me, the huge wide neoprene ones are too hot for many Eastern climates, I use the excellent quick release straps from Peak Design (read the review here and get a 10% discount here with the Shutter Muse coupon). They cost less and fold up small enough that you can stash a couple in your bag without even knowing they are there. Just brilliant.
12V Cigarette Lighter Inverter + USB
Powering your gear can be a challenge in some places and that’s why so many of the items on this list relate to that in some way. One thing you can nearly always be sure of though is that somewhere there will be a car and that means there’s a 12v battery. I always carry this simple inverter with me wherever I go and it’s saved my ass more than once when I’ve simply forgotten to put my camera on charge the night before. It’s pretty lightweight and it’ll also power your phone via USB so you can make use of the GPS and mapping apps to get to where you need to go. Some of the options on Amazon even come with crocodile clips so you can connect them directly to a 12v battery.
Customs Documentation
This is one of those slightly less than helpful situations where I have to preface this section with caveat; this will vary depending on where you live so it’s hard to be too specific. If you are traveling with very large amounts of equipment then you should use an ATA Carnet. More information about that on the website here. Essentially this amounts to a passport for your gear. When you enter a country you have it checked to make sure what’s on your Carnet is actually with you and then the same is done again when you leave. This prevents you from selling any of it during your visit. To get a Carnet, in theory you have to put up a huge sum of money as a guarantee that you will return with your gear. This isn’t hugely practical though so you can use an official brokerage company who, for a fee of course, will guarantee your gear for you. Carnets are valid almost everywhere. The process will take time at the airport though so make sure you factor this in.
Do you absolutely NEED a Carnet? The answer is probably no, especially if you are not a professional. The “official” rules for your country and destination should be studied before coming to your own conclusions but in general my rule tends to be that if I can carry it in my carry-on bag then I’ll go without it. If i need to start shipping stacks of pelican cases then it’s time to get a Carnet for that trip.
In Canada (where I live) there is one other thing you can do that I ALWAYS do. You can go to the customs office before you leave and fill out a form with all your camera and lens serial numbers. It’s called the Y38 form (“Identification of Articles for Temporary Exportation”). The customs officer will then look over your gear, stamp it and sign it. Effectively this goes some way to proving that when you return back to Canada with the gear, they know you didn’t buy it while you were abroad since you have some proof of its prior existence in the country. NOTE: There are no guarantees though. You may still be asked to provide proof of purchase. I believe that a similar system is in place in the USA (Customs form 4457) as well and likely in other countries too.
Documentation For Your Strobes
You only need to pay attention to this one if you plan to travel with larger battery packs and strobes. If you just use speedlights then you won’t have any issues but for those of us who occasionally travel with something larger, there’s a whole world of hurt to get into if you forget to bring a few pieces of paper with you. Whilst most flash manufacturers take great care to make sure their products are ok to fly with, the airport personnel you come across might not know this, or they might not speak the language that’s written on the battery pack. Even when they do, sometimes they just think they know better. Once when travelling back from New Zealand with a sealed Lead-Acid battery from an Elinchrom Ranger I was actually marched off a full 747 that was just about to leave. I was then driven at speed to the other side of the airport to the security department where they then proceeded to take my Ranger pack from me and refused to send it on the plane! A similar situation also occurred in Japan but thankfully that time I was prepared with the paperwork in hand. Most manufacturers will supply you with the necessary details on the battery pack. I advise that you take 4 copies with you. Tape one copy to the battery pack itself, along with a copy of the instruction manual. In some countries though, security is not allowed to open baggage at all though so this doesn’t work. That’s why you also give a copy to the airline when you check int. Then you keep two copies in your carry-on bag as a backup. You may never need them, but having published this same advice on my own personal blog some years ago I have been inundated with people who have thanked me and “saved their ass” with this advice.
(Yes I did eventually get my Ranger pack back from New Zealand after about a month. I had to get the manufacturer to fax them details on the battery before they admitted that it was legal.)
Cleaning Gear
Don’t get stuck halfway around the world with a big grease spot or piece of dirt on your sensor! All cameras these days have sensors that vibrate when you turn them on and off, this does keep the majority of dust particles at bay but every now and then something bigger will lodge itself in there and you don’t want that to be on day 1 of your big trip! Personally I just take the standard rocket blower with me and an Arctic Butterfly brush. The brush spins under battery power to statically charge the bristles and then you can use that charge to list particles off the sensor. Again, there’s a ton of options out there when it comes to cleaning. All you need to be aware of is that you should take something with you.
A Laptop Bag
Most photographers struggle continuously with airline carry-on limits though and this makes a decent laptop bag very useful as your “personal item” alongside your main bag. My two current favourites are the Gura Gear Chobe (read the review here) and the Think Tank My Second Brain Briefcase 15” (even though I actually use a much smaller laptop than a 15”). The Chobe bag is actually large enough to carry my Canon 200-400 and that means you could also travel with a larger lens like a 600mm in the main bag. I choose the Chobe when I need to carry extra camera gear and the My Second Brain when I don’t. The Think Tank bag is essentially a replacement for the old Airport Check In bag that I used to use, but it’s a lot cleaner in it’s design and it also makes a great laptop bag for daily use and meetings. Or trips to the coffee shop to do some writing for that matter……
Both bags have a sleeve on the back so they can be inserted onto roller bag handles and both of them have a plethora of pockets, including dedicated pockets for tablet devices which have become de rigueur for many travellers these day, myself included.
NOTE: When you spend more than $50 in the Think Tank store you can get a free gift! More details HERE.
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