I can relate to this after a trip to China back-packing. Everything we took had to fit in one large backpack (maximum weight 15kgs) and one (optional) small pack, often worn in front. My photo kit (in film days at the time) was 2 bodies One 28-105 zoom, variable aperture One normal lens, f1.7 for poor light occasions. One 70-210 zoom, constant aperture One hot-shoe flash. Cable release, film picker, caps etc.
When not in use I carried the kit in the small pack, along with weather gear. For shooting, the camera was around my neck with one lens fitted, the two lens not on the camera and the flash fitted in a waist-pack. Nowadays I would add spare batteries, spare cards, and charger. When travelling later with a digital kit, I added a 40GB portable hard drive, to which I downloaded the day's shots. Both configurations worked well, I came back from China with 830 shots from 9 days, and from Egypt with 1650 from 21 days. HTH John Coyle Brisbane, Australia -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of John Sessoms Sent: Tuesday, 17 May 2011 6:16 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Essential Kit This is, for now, only a thought experiment, but it might provide a basis for something I will try to do in the future if I can work out the financing. Parameters are that you would be on the road for a minimum of thirty days for a photo safari. The goal of the trip is to produce photography suitable to illustrate a travel article you could sell to a newspaper or magazine along with the photography. It is important to be able to represent both the people and the scenery of the locale being visited. Transportation is problematic. Ground transportation may not be always available, and you may not have any place to secure your baggage, so you may have to carry all of it with you all of the time. Think in terms of you might have to carry your home on your back like a turtle. *ALL* of everything you are carrying - photo equipment, clothing and any other essentials must fit into one U.S. Government Issue duffel bag ... http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41Gium7tfpL._SL500_AA300_.jpg ... plus one *SMALL* carry on (22" x 14" x 9") bag. A suitable size ruck-sack could substitute for the duffel bag. I only suggest the issue duffel as an example of the size of bag I'm interested in - I already have several of them, they're easy to secure with a padlock & I have a steel security mesh that will fit over it. http://www.rei.com/product/709210/pacsafe-140-security-web-x-large You will have erratic (at best) access to the internet during your travels. I would appreciate some thoughts on what constitutes the *essential* kit. What will you need to carry to get the job done? I am more interested in general categories than I am in specific items; i.e. "good wide angle zoom" as opposed to "SMC Pentax DA 12-24mm F4.0 ED AL (IF)", "Laptop" rather than "Apple MacBook Pro", etc. I have my own ideas already, but I would appreciate additional input that might identify things I've missed in my preliminary planning. This is partially based on my most recent trip. I had too much baggage and it was, at times, unwieldy. And I found I did not have all the equipment I needed while I was carrying other equipment I did not need at all. ----- No virus found in this message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 10.0.1375 / Virus Database: 1500/3641 - Release Date: 05/16/11 -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions. -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
