PTP Ep. 004 | How to Pack Camera Gear for a Trip
Hello and welcome Photo Therapy Podcast, brought to you by Oath Photography. I am your host Phillip Slaughter.
I created this show to have in depth discussions with fellow creators, talk about the photography industry, gear, news, and other topics of interest.
First lets start off with a few news stories:
Massive Brenizer Method Portraits Made from 16 Medium Format Photos (https://petapixel.com/2022/08/15/massive-brenizer-method-portraits-made-from-16-medium-format-photos/)
Update: Techart releases faster, smaller $399 M-mount to E-mount AF adapter (https://www.dpreview.com/news/2513405335/techart-releases-faster-smaller-m-mount-to-e-mount-autofocus-adapter?utm_source=self-desktop&utm_medium=marquee&utm_campaign=traffic_source)
Could NFTs spark a photography revolution? Meet the innovators (https://www.wallpaper.com/art/nft-photography-fellowship-web3-platform)
Now for the main story: Today I want to talk about prepping for a trip, what to take, how to pack it, and what to leave behind.
So, I recently went on a trip to Northern California. It’s a wondrous land full of beautiful landscapes, light, and weather. I knew that in the short week I was there, I would want to capture as much as I could while spending time with my family. There were several conditions I had to think of before packing.
A limiting factor on space. I knew that other than some chargers and a tripod, I would have to carry on most all of my camera gear. This left me with a certain amount of space I was able to pack my stuff into.
Quality time with family. As much as I love photography, I love my family more, and this trip was for family first, and if I could get some cool landscape photos while I was there, great! That meant that all of my gear, shooting locations, and times to shoot took a back seat to spending time with family.
In that train of thought I also needed to take gear that would allow me to capture photos of me and my family while I was there.
What I was going to shoot and weight. I knew we would be hiking quite a bit and that some of the content I would be shooting might be more in the moment than planned.
Planned shots, I did have a few planned shots and I had to prepare gear and knowledge on how to capture these images before I left.
Rules and regulations. I wanted to take my drone, but I knew there were certain locations that drones were not permitted. This was very important to look up before I sent it up into the air.
Before you pack anything though I do recommend you know your camera inside and out, know what you plan to shoot and what techniques you want to try. Knowledge before gear!
I am sure there were a lot of other things that limited the amount of gear I had to pack, but these were at the top of the list.
So what did I take?
Sony a7iv
Sony a7iii
Sony Zeiss 35mm 2.8 Pancake lens (a no brainer since its so small and sharp)
Sony 16-35mm G Master (also a no brainer for landscape shots
Tamron 35-150 F2-2.8 (my favorite all around lens for most everything)
Sony 100-400mm G Master for wildlife and tighter landscape shots.
DJI Mavic Air 2s Drone
Extra Batteries of all sorts
Chargers
Camera Remote for family shots
Clip In ND Filter which I used a lot for landscapes and waterfalls
Sony Imaging Edge App for remote shooting (I used this in bulb mode to shoot foreground photos up to 5 minutes long for my astro photography shots)
Computer
Hard Drive
Tripod
Nikon F Mount to Sony FE Mount adapter
Nikon Film Camera, Film, and lenses.
Rode VideoMicro (didnt use)
Extra Tripod Quick release plates
Multi-tool (in checked bag, you never know when you will need it)
Fast Card Reader
Lots of extra SD Cards
One thing I wish I would have taken was a Circular Polarizer for water shots
What I didn’t Take
Many prime lenses ( I love prime lenses, but I didn’t have the space for specialty lenses when I had the whole range covered)
Lighting gear (while I did have a flashlight, I didn’t take any flashes or reflectors, not typically needed for landscapes)
Audio Gear ( I knew I wouldn’t be doing much video and didn’t want to take anything I didn’t need)
Battery grip for cameras
Audio Recorder ( I didn’t have space or time to record a podcast or SFX while I was there)
Macro tubes/lens
These are just a few things I knew that I would want and didn’t want to take for my style of shooting and needs. What did I miss or what would you take instead?
A few other things to think about
Will you be editing on the go or collecting and editing later?
Do you need every single item you are taking?
What happens if you lose your gear or something breaks, do you have a backup plan or insurance?
Do you have cleaning materials if it gets dirty?
Where are you storing it at night or while on a hike?
Will the amount of gear you have distract you from your family or main goals for the trip?
Gear Recommendations:
Sony Zeiss 35mm F/2.8 pancake lens, this is a perfect walk around prime lens that has great sharpness, contrast, quick auto focus, its small, light, and in expensive for what you get at around $300-$350 on the used market. I highly recommend this for anyone that shoots Sony cameras, or look for a good pancake lens option for your system.
Where can people find me?
https://www.instagram.com/oath_photography/
https://www.facebook.com/oathphotography/
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