We travel a lot, and gear can add up to considerable weight and bulk, not to mention security risks on days when you just can't carry it all with you.
We've pared back to basic SLR travel kits. Sure we'd appreciate the luxury of more gear or "better" lenses, but it's just that: a luxury.
Without resorting to a P&S, this is our smallest and most versatile small kit:
We each pack a body (me a D2X, she a D300), two lenses (me an 18-200 and 12-24, she an 18-200 and 10-20), and an SB800 strobe apiece. I'm packing a Gitzo 1541 and RRS BH-30, and she's packing a Gitzo 1531 and BH-30.
Some destinations might result in adding a longer lens or macro, but those are the basics for us.
How about y'all?
Posted by Jim Erhardt on December 16, 2010 at 12:17 PM
G11 in a coat pocket.
Posted by David Prichard on December 16, 2010 at 12:38 PM
Hank,
Did you abandon the 24-120? I bought one after your recommendation and find it has become my walk around lens. As Nikon has released an upgraded version of this lens I suspect it is a bit of an unsung winner.
Posted by Darren Huski on December 16, 2010 at 1:01 PM
You are right about needing smaller kits. Bob Krist had an OP article that touched on this and covered camera and clothes.
My least amount of equipment set up is taking my Panasonic LX-3 and a tiny tabletop tripod. That works nice when photography is a sidelight to another trip.
For photography trips my 50D, 10-20, 70-200, and a Feisol 3401 tripod (plus a few filters) is my small load.
I used to carry on my 4x5 plus film but that has gotten much more annoying and difficult.
Sounds like a similar "spirit," even with the switch in brands, Darren.
Hey Dave- We still have several 24-120's (actually 4!), but use them occasionally on jobs close to home. We originally bought a couple of 18-200's as compromises for travel, but they're migrating into our daily work to replace the 24-120's. In truth, we've just about worn out the latter in very hard use. We're still waiting for a pro-grade lens in that zoom range with fixed apertures, but Nikon isn't listening. Do they ever? Of course, why should they? We've bought six other lenses instead!
Well, , I'm envious of you guys who don't drag around 500 mm lenses and a back-up body.
Airports and flying in general are a nightmare.
My backpack has the 500, 2 bodies, 2 TC's, my indespensible 18-200, and a wide-angle. Strobe, beamer, batteries, cards, rainsuit, strobe batteries, etc. Weighs about 35#.(has wheels, thank God) I stick the 300 and the macro into a suitcase and pray.
Even though the backpack squeaks in under their length/wideth requirements of a take-on , they often want to take it as I board and put it in the baggage. They give no options sometimes, and the overheads are often full by the time I board.
Plus, as we all sadly know, airlines have no insuracnce for photo gear and my policy does not cover "mysterious disappearance" - ie "I packed it in my suitcase and now it's gone."
More often than not, they want to hand-search the backpack, have me turn the cameras on, etc. I do understand, but it is still time-consuming and frustrating.
All this makes flying VERY miserable and anxiety-producing. .
I know it's not a fix-all (even for us), but whenever possible we ship large gear ahead of us. You need a destination other than a hotel and it's not cheap, but still cheaper than baggage fees and more secure than the airlines. That still doesn't solve our problem of providing security for the gear at our destination when it's not in our possession.
Posted by Jim Hackley on December 16, 2010 at 4:05 PM
My lightweight hiking kit is a D300, 16-85 VR and 70-300 VR, no tripod. For me, this covers my landscape work and any wildlife opportunities.
Posted by Tom Nevesely on December 16, 2010 at 5:17 PM
I recently sold my P&S camera. Although it's image quality was "good" it was still no where near the image quality of my Canon 5D2. I was finding I tended to be lazy and often reached for my P&S even when the DSLR would have been more appropriate. Now, that temptation is gone.
My lightweight kit consists of: 5D2, 24-105mm f/4 and 70-200mm f/4. I often throw in my little Gitzo 1541T tripod and my ND Grad filter kit.
Nice travel it, Hank. I think it's important for you to mention what type of trip you're on, the photographic requirements and the method of travel.
I have numerous bags of different sizes, and put together a kit for the particular trip/method that I'll be on. Those small Gitzos really come in handy and perform well, too.
Posted by Jim DeWitt on December 16, 2010 at 6:22 PM
Oddly, I'm just back from a 3.5 week trip. We were told that one carrier, Aerolineas Argentinas, has a 33 pound weight limit, so a lot of anguish went into selecting what to pack. Because there aren't any repair shops in Antarctica. What I took:
Olympus E-3 Body (main camera)
Olympus E-30 Body (backup)
300mm f2.8 (main telephoto, and the best lens I've ever owned)
12-60mm f2.0 (main landscape and basic lens)
50-200mm f4.5
1.4 teleconverter
2.0 teleconverter
50mm Macro
I splurged on a new MacBook Air as my laptop; with cables and such, it saves me 6 pounds. And I have an armored 784GB LaCie USB drive I carry as backup. It all fits in a LowePro Computrekker AW+ nicely, and the LowePro fits in all but the smallest overhead bins.
With batteries, chargers, cables, cleaning kits, filters and whatnot, it weighed in at 32 pounds. Not a feather on your back, but something you can manage.
Posted by Paul DeCesare on December 16, 2010 at 7:05 PM
My everyday/carry-on bag of choice is the ThinkTank Retrospective 20. In it goes the 5D2, 16-35mm and 70-200mm which covers most of it. I also take the 50/1.4, that lens on the 5D2 becomes my Point n Shoot, great for candids, low light, and most of all, it's a superb video lens. I also have a table-top Manfrotto tripod.
Now, for extreme minimalism, it's the 5D2 and the 24-70/2.8 stuffed into a small Tamrac 515 zoom bag. The camera with reversed hood BARELY fits, but that is my Alternate Point n Shoot.
That's an amazing array within the weight limit Jim!
And Jeffery raises a good point about how the specifics of a trip determine a kit. What I listed is our basic "do anything" kit for travel, especially on casual trips of our own. We're doing mostly landscapes, but have actually done quite well for wildlife using the 18-200's
Work can be the opposite extreme. We shot a very large wedding last year, for which we shipped 165 pounds of camera gear from Alaska in addition to large carry-ons, then rented two large power packs and 8 lights, plus stands, umbrellas and such once we arrived. The nuptials were held in an auditorium to accommodate the 750 guests and the wedding party was 24 people. Egad. No wonder we relish small kits for personal travel!
Posted by Kent Staubus on December 17, 2010 at 12:12 AM
Really, doesn't what you bring depend on what your goals are and what you want to photo? I always think it over very carefully and just bring what I know I'll need. When I went to Iceland last summer I took my D300 as my main camera. I also took my D80 as a backup. I took my Nikon 17-55mm f2.8 as my general lens. I left my Nikon 70-200mm f2.8 VR home and took my Nikon 80-400mm VR so I could photo the many puffins. I took my SB-800 to light up church interiors, puffins, and people shots (used it off camera mostly.) I took my Benro Travel Angel A269 tripod with AcraTech head because it's very compact. I took my Nikons 18-55mm VR and 55-200mm VR as back up lenses. I always take back ups on important trips. Also took a 77mm polarizer and a 52mm polarizer and two Hi-Tech ND grads. I used ALL of this gear, almost daily. It was actually a pretty minimal kit but was very capable and delivered the shots I wanted. And yes, it turned out I needed the back up 18-55mm VR lens. Without I would have been crippled.
Hank--
My dream would be to bring my x6 White Lightning X3200 monolights and Vagabond Lithium power packs, 13 ft. lightstands to Iceland in the winter and light up the big waterfalls. Never been done, and I know I could do it. About 100+ pounds of stuff though.
That's why we raise big strong kids, right. Tote that bale!
And yeah, it's about your goals. My goal in defining a small kit is to cover 95% of my anticipated shooting ops with the least gear possible. I felt like we were at "minimum" when my wife and I flew out to photograph bears with 40 pounds each. But that was a special case, compared to normal or run of the mill.
Posted by Arnab Banerjee on December 17, 2010 at 11:28 AM
For my last Europe trip in summer, I packed D300/18-200 combo as my walk around gear, but also packed D700/17-35/24-70 for all serious landscape work. I am thinking to ditch the D300/18-200 combo and just add 70-200 lens for the next trips, but that takes away the back up body - so not sure yet
I don't do airplanes (that's another story) so the kit I carry has to be what my body can handle and/or what my goals are.
Since I shoot 4x5, the lowest I could go when on the trail for longer or more strenuous hikes would be the following for a single day of busy shooting:
4x5 field camera
One lens, with the focal length depending upon what I'm after
Focusing loupe
Spot meter
Dark cloth
8 to 10 film holders (20 sheets)
A couple of ND Grad filters and a polarizer
Lens shade
Tripod
For work closer to my truck I would have my full complement of lenses, for a total of five. The lenses don't weigh much, so the reduction in weight is small, but bulk is reduced.
--P
Posted by Mel Ladewig on December 17, 2010 at 1:22 PM
I'm talking urban travel here.
I've gone out with just an LX-3 when traveling. Great camera for that. The fast 24-60 equiv lens is a good fit for me.
One of my favorite travel setups is an EOS3 with 50/1.4 + 17-40L + Portra 160VC or Ektar 100 + Ultramax 800 and a roll or two of E100GX. You can setup the EOS3 to leave the end out on the rolls to change films mid-roll when going in and out of buildings. I carry that in a nice little Tamrac Messenger bag.
Like Preston, I'm usually shooting 4X5 for landscape and have similar issues. I chose my Tachihara camera for its light weight. However, when I really want to strip down the weight, I go to quickload or readyload film, I leave the darkcloth behind, using my goretex shell as a darkcloth instead. Loupe, filters, lightmeter and timer are still needed though. I bring just the necessary lens(es) for the trip and then the food and water for the purpose. If its just the 4X5 kit and tripod in my 3 lb Deuter Zero 40 pack I suppose this would all be around 20 lbs.
Posted by Kent Staubus on December 18, 2010 at 7:37 PM
Arnab--
Always take a back up. If a key piece of gear goes down, you are then facing the choice of not taking any photos or having to pay a huge amount of money either in European taxes or having something expressed shipeed to you. My old D80 I bring is very cheap insurance, as are the compact and cheap Nikons 18-55mm VR and 55-200mm VR.
Hank--
Paul Buff is just coming out with their Einstein lights which are quite lightweight and compact, and have 2 second recycle! Also coming are lithium powered Vagabond packs, at 2.5 pounds. They are very compact and clip onto your lightstands. I've got two of them on pre-order so I can test.
http://www.white-lightning.com/vmini.html
Kent in SD
Posted by Austin Booth on December 19, 2010 at 2:56 AM
Well my only camera is a 40D so if I wasn't doing any wildlife photography then my minimal kit with equipment I actually own would probably be my 40D, 10-22mm and 28-135mm or possibly only my 17-50mm if I felt it was wide enough and I didn't need any telephoto.
Now if I could choose an even more minimal setup that I don't currently own it would probably be a Sony Nex-5 with the 18-55 lens (and probably the 16mm pancake lens too because its so small). Its pretty amazing they fit an APS-C sized sensor in such a tiny camera. Now they just need to add a telephoto be the minimal complete kit.
Discussion
20 repliesWe've pared back to basic SLR travel kits. Sure we'd appreciate the luxury of more gear or "better" lenses, but it's just that: a luxury.
Without resorting to a P&S, this is our smallest and most versatile small kit:
We each pack a body (me a D2X, she a D300), two lenses (me an 18-200 and 12-24, she an 18-200 and 10-20), and an SB800 strobe apiece. I'm packing a Gitzo 1541 and RRS BH-30, and she's packing a Gitzo 1531 and BH-30.
Some destinations might result in adding a longer lens or macro, but those are the basics for us.
How about y'all?
Did you abandon the 24-120? I bought one after your recommendation and find it has become my walk around lens. As Nikon has released an upgraded version of this lens I suspect it is a bit of an unsung winner.
My least amount of equipment set up is taking my Panasonic LX-3 and a tiny tabletop tripod. That works nice when photography is a sidelight to another trip.
For photography trips my 50D, 10-20, 70-200, and a Feisol 3401 tripod (plus a few filters) is my small load.
I used to carry on my 4x5 plus film but that has gotten much more annoying and difficult.
Hey Dave- We still have several 24-120's (actually 4!), but use them occasionally on jobs close to home. We originally bought a couple of 18-200's as compromises for travel, but they're migrating into our daily work to replace the 24-120's. In truth, we've just about worn out the latter in very hard use. We're still waiting for a pro-grade lens in that zoom range with fixed apertures, but Nikon isn't listening. Do they ever? Of course, why should they? We've bought six other lenses instead!
Airports and flying in general are a nightmare.
My backpack has the 500, 2 bodies, 2 TC's, my indespensible 18-200, and a wide-angle. Strobe, beamer, batteries, cards, rainsuit, strobe batteries, etc. Weighs about 35#.(has wheels, thank God) I stick the 300 and the macro into a suitcase and pray.
Even though the backpack squeaks in under their length/wideth requirements of a take-on , they often want to take it as I board and put it in the baggage. They give no options sometimes, and the overheads are often full by the time I board.
Plus, as we all sadly know, airlines have no insuracnce for photo gear and my policy does not cover "mysterious disappearance" - ie "I packed it in my suitcase and now it's gone."
More often than not, they want to hand-search the backpack, have me turn the cameras on, etc. I do understand, but it is still time-consuming and frustrating.
All this makes flying VERY miserable and anxiety-producing. .
Argh.
Sandy
I know it's not a fix-all (even for us), but whenever possible we ship large gear ahead of us. You need a destination other than a hotel and it's not cheap, but still cheaper than baggage fees and more secure than the airlines. That still doesn't solve our problem of providing security for the gear at our destination when it's not in our possession.
My lightweight kit consists of: 5D2, 24-105mm f/4 and 70-200mm f/4. I often throw in my little Gitzo 1541T tripod and my ND Grad filter kit.
I have numerous bags of different sizes, and put together a kit for the particular trip/method that I'll be on. Those small Gitzos really come in handy and perform well, too.
Olympus E-3 Body (main camera)
Olympus E-30 Body (backup)
300mm f2.8 (main telephoto, and the best lens I've ever owned)
12-60mm f2.0 (main landscape and basic lens)
50-200mm f4.5
1.4 teleconverter
2.0 teleconverter
50mm Macro
I splurged on a new MacBook Air as my laptop; with cables and such, it saves me 6 pounds. And I have an armored 784GB LaCie USB drive I carry as backup. It all fits in a LowePro Computrekker AW+ nicely, and the LowePro fits in all but the smallest overhead bins.
With batteries, chargers, cables, cleaning kits, filters and whatnot, it weighed in at 32 pounds. Not a feather on your back, but something you can manage.
Now, for extreme minimalism, it's the 5D2 and the 24-70/2.8 stuffed into a small Tamrac 515 zoom bag. The camera with reversed hood BARELY fits, but that is my Alternate Point n Shoot.
And Jeffery raises a good point about how the specifics of a trip determine a kit. What I listed is our basic "do anything" kit for travel, especially on casual trips of our own. We're doing mostly landscapes, but have actually done quite well for wildlife using the 18-200's
Work can be the opposite extreme. We shot a very large wedding last year, for which we shipped 165 pounds of camera gear from Alaska in addition to large carry-ons, then rented two large power packs and 8 lights, plus stands, umbrellas and such once we arrived. The nuptials were held in an auditorium to accommodate the 750 guests and the wedding party was 24 people. Egad. No wonder we relish small kits for personal travel!
Hank--
My dream would be to bring my x6 White Lightning X3200 monolights and Vagabond Lithium power packs, 13 ft. lightstands to Iceland in the winter and light up the big waterfalls. Never been done, and I know I could do it. About 100+ pounds of stuff though.
Kent in SD
That's why we raise big strong kids, right.
And yeah, it's about your goals. My goal in defining a small kit is to cover 95% of my anticipated shooting ops with the least gear possible. I felt like we were at "minimum" when my wife and I flew out to photograph bears with 40 pounds each. But that was a special case, compared to normal or run of the mill.
Since I shoot 4x5, the lowest I could go when on the trail for longer or more strenuous hikes would be the following for a single day of busy shooting:
4x5 field camera
One lens, with the focal length depending upon what I'm after
Focusing loupe
Spot meter
Dark cloth
8 to 10 film holders (20 sheets)
A couple of ND Grad filters and a polarizer
Lens shade
Tripod
For work closer to my truck I would have my full complement of lenses, for a total of five. The lenses don't weigh much, so the reduction in weight is small, but bulk is reduced.
--P
I've gone out with just an LX-3 when traveling. Great camera for that. The fast 24-60 equiv lens is a good fit for me.
One of my favorite travel setups is an EOS3 with 50/1.4 + 17-40L + Portra 160VC or Ektar 100 + Ultramax 800 and a roll or two of E100GX. You can setup the EOS3 to leave the end out on the rolls to change films mid-roll when going in and out of buildings. I carry that in a nice little Tamrac Messenger bag.
Like Preston, I'm usually shooting 4X5 for landscape and have similar issues. I chose my Tachihara camera for its light weight. However, when I really want to strip down the weight, I go to quickload or readyload film, I leave the darkcloth behind, using my goretex shell as a darkcloth instead. Loupe, filters, lightmeter and timer are still needed though. I bring just the necessary lens(es) for the trip and then the food and water for the purpose. If its just the 4X5 kit and tripod in my 3 lb Deuter Zero 40 pack I suppose this would all be around 20 lbs.
Always take a back up. If a key piece of gear goes down, you are then facing the choice of not taking any photos or having to pay a huge amount of money either in European taxes or having something expressed shipeed to you. My old D80 I bring is very cheap insurance, as are the compact and cheap Nikons 18-55mm VR and 55-200mm VR.
Hank--
Paul Buff is just coming out with their Einstein lights which are quite lightweight and compact, and have 2 second recycle! Also coming are lithium powered Vagabond packs, at 2.5 pounds. They are very compact and clip onto your lightstands. I've got two of them on pre-order so I can test.
http://www.white-lightning.com/vmini.html
Kent in SD
Now if I could choose an even more minimal setup that I don't currently own it would probably be a Sony Nex-5 with the 18-55 lens (and probably the 16mm pancake lens too because its so small). Its pretty amazing they fit an APS-C sized sensor in such a tiny camera. Now they just need to add a telephoto be the minimal complete kit.