Nothing is finalized yet, but it’s looking like I’ll be spending a good portion on my summer traveling abroad. This may be my most complicated trip in terms of logistics and when traveling, the thing that complicates my trips the most has to be my camera gear. I’m the type of person that likes to pack everything to make sure that I forget nothing. This just means that I bring a lot of stuff. This makes traveling complicated because before I even get to my destination, I have to worry about whether or not the gear will even successfully make it on the plane and inside the cabin. If you’ve haven’t seen it, in my Traveling by Plane with Camera Gear video, I talked about how camera gear and anything that you find valuable should be taken into the cabin as a carryon because unless you’re traveling with something like a Pelican case, there is a huge chance of the gear getting damaged. From my experience, the best way to get this done is to just travel with a bag that will blatantly fall within carryon size requirements and to travel light because many international airlines have a strict carryon weight requirement. Downsizing my gear of course also has the benefit of making my entire experience more enjoyable because I don’t have as much to carry around. With all of that in mind, I’m going to walk you through what I think will be the best minimal setup for me.
First let’s talk about the bag because that’s possibly the most important factor to all of this. The bag that I’ve decided on is the Jill-E Designs JACK Hemingway 15" Leather Backpack. This is a new bag for me but I saw the potential because it seems to be pretty well setup for travel even though it’s fairly simple and minimal. On the outside is one external pocket. This is pretty decently sized and I think it’ll be good for holding things like filters, batteries and small accessories like that. On the side of the bag is a zipper which leads to a stretch panel made for a water bottle but I’ll probably make this work with my travel tripod. Moving inside, the bag has a bunch of organization pockets for pens, electronic devices and the like. I chose this backpack because like I said earlier, it is blatantly smaller than any carryon size requirement. I’m certain that this bag will actually work as a personal item, which is another type of baggage that you’re typically allowed in the cabin. Again, watch that Traveling by Plane with Camera Gear video to learn more about this. So, if I’m able to efficiently use this bag, I’ll actually still be allotted a carryon luggage. This means that I’ll just be able to carry on my essentials in the carryon and maybe not need anything else besides the two bags.
My current plan is to use the Jill-E bag as my camera bag and I’ll be able to accomplish this with the various camera inserts that are available for this bag. I actually own two different inserts, the
Jill-E Designs Jack Backpack Insert and the Jill-E Designs E-Go Camera Insert. Right now, it’s looking like I’ll be bringing both of these along for my trip. The larger Backpack Insert will be used when I’m just traveling and have everything put away. The E-Go Camera Insert will be for short day trip use where I’m just carrying one body and one lens. The E-Go Camera Insert actually comes with its own carrying strap that turns the insert into an independent bag so if I really want to go minimal, this is an option. Again, if I’m able to carry all my camera gear in this bag, it’s going to make my life a lot easier when traveling and frees up my carryon.
Now, let’s talk about the camera gear that I’ll be bringing. After some thought, I think that I’ll only be bringing one main camera setup and that’ll be the Sony A7RIII and the Sony 24-70mm f/2.8 GM. This is the setup that I most use on a day to day basis and the setup that I’m most used to. With this, I’m pretty much able to get anything done. I’ve actually traveled with a similar setup in the past and it was nice but definitely limiting. I shoot photos and videos and having only one camera really makes this difficult because I can only shoot photos or videos, not both at the same time. Sometimes, I like to get footage of myself doing photography. This is obviously not possible with only one camera. The only answer is to bring another camera, one for photos and one for videos. So, if I do bring another camera it will be the Sony A7RII and attached to that will be the Sony Vario-Tessar T* FE 16-35mm f/4 ZA OSS Lens. Finally, the tripod. A lot of my work involves the use of a tripod so it’s just something that I’ll have to bring. The one that I’ve decided to bring is the Benro FIF19CIB0. This is my current favorite travel tripod. It’s small, lightweight and extremely capable.
Like I said, the trip is not finalized yet. I don’t know when I’ll be leaving, where I’m going or which airline I’ll be flying with. That last factor is a major determiner for all of this. Different airlines have different regulations for luggages. The airline that I fly with will play a role in the gear that I bring.
All that being said, this is looking to be a travel heavy summer. There’s going to be a lot of new travel/photography content coming soon so make sure to check back for that!
If you're considering on buying any of the products mentioned, please support my work by using the links below.
Jill-E Designs JACK Hemingway 15" Leather Backpack https://amzn.to/2KlAoNQ
Jill-E Designs Jack Backpack Insert https://amzn.to/31DV3lk
Jill-E Designs E-Go Camera Insert https://amzn.to/2RiCte0
Sony A7RIII https://amzn.to/31ABpXE
Sony 24-70mm f/2.8 GM https://amzn.to/2IjKXPa
Sony A7RII https://amzn.to/2O35rwl
Sony Vario-Tessar T* FE 16-35mm f/4 ZA OSS Lens https://amzn.to/2JED5VG
Benro FIF19CIB0 https://amzn.to/2Idiw6x
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