Photography Equipment and Air Travel

[samsim]

My question is related to photography equipment and air travel. When I travel most times I manage to carry my limited equipment (5D 2nos, 3-4 Lenses, 2 Speedlight’s, memory cards and a laptop) in my tarmac backpack, although carry along baggage limit in 5-7 kgs so far haven’t been stopped for weight check. I have never put all this expensive equipment in check in baggage as I have been advised not to since check-in baggage is badly handled. My question is what is the best option or what should I do if I have to carry more equipment say couple of more cameras few more bulky lenses , a few go pro, a tripod and an underwater Ikelite housing which is bulky all by itself . It would be really helpful if someone who has been in such a situation guide me on this. What are my options? I’m based out in India and most of my travels is domestic. I’m not sure if this is the right forum for this question but thanks in advance.

 

[TCampbell]

I transfer items which are not expensive to replace and/or very durable (can take the abuse by the bag handlers) to checked bags to leave more space for the things I would be afraid to check.

I do have a rolling camera case designed to be airline approved "carry on" size but most airlines tend to limit you to just one carry on bag per passenger so if you go over one bag that becomes a problem.

I did meet a photographer who was once told he would have to check his camera bag due to space problems on the plane... but he had a "photo vest". He took out the vest and loaded the oversized pockets with his lenses, etc. so that he was basically turning over a mostly empty bag to be checked by baggage handlers.

There's also the option of sending your gear ahead via parcel carrier (insured) to your destination so that you can pick it up when you arrive. This can still be risky. I haven't personally done this, but when I looked into renting some gear for a special event (involving travel), the rental company told me they would only ship to FedEx office... not to hotels. They said that even insurance isn't good enough because the "insurance" only covers the item going missing or damaged from the courier. But once the hotel signs for the package, the hotel does NOT take any responsibility for it going missing. They claimed to have incidents where the gear was delivered to hotel and subsequently disappeared -- and insurance wouldn't cover it. But here in the US, many of the couriers have local retail stores for shipping and receiving -- rather than shipping to a hotel, they can ship to one of these stores and the carrier holds the package for pickup rather than delivering it to your hotel.

Ultimately, however, I try to think through what I'd really like to do to determine what gear I would reasonably want to have with me. I never take all my gear anywhere -- just what I believe I would actually use.