How To Pack Camera Equipment Carry On Airplane

The first question you must enquire yourself is, how much gear should I bring? If y'all're traveling light and fugitive any checked luggage fees, (plus the hassle of waiting at baggage claim, and the risk of lost luggage), and then the answer is like shooting fish in a barrel: Y'all can just bring any gear you tin fit in your overhead-bin-sized behave-on camera bag, plus one under-the-seat "personal detail."

This might mean that you lot tin't bring all your lenses, flashes, and light stands or whatever other accessories you lot would normally bring.

How to Pack for Airplane Travel with Camera Gear

And then, you've decided how much gear to bring, and whether or not to check a bag. Next, how exercise you lot pack your gear? As the sarcastic reply goes… "very carefully!" Indeed, pack carefully. I'll be specific, and non waste your time with sarcasm.

Checked Luggage vs Overhead Bin vs Under-Seat

Which items should go in which suitcases? That'south 1 of the best questions you tin ask! OK, let's talk about the checked baggage, which is where your clothes and some other stuff should go. These are the things you could possibly survive without, if your luggage were to be lost.

Showtime, anything not and then delicate, similar light stands and tripods, should go at the very bottom of your suitcase.

So, add together padded case-type items, similar lenses or flashes, inside their padded protection, but with batteries removed. I have found that while you're not supposed to pack big Lithium-Ion batteries in your checked luggage, I've had no problems with other types of battery sets, similar 4x Eneloop AA cases.

Final, on elevation goes the really soft stuff, your clothes, socks, and other items. I besides adopt baggage that has one or ii external compartments, so that I tin quickly admission accessories like rain jackets.

Adjacent, what goes into an overhead bin acquit-on, and your under-seat personal item?

Earlier we become any farther, hither is my very important, number-i rule: never let your bags out of your sight. Ever. If you're tardily to the flight and the gate attendant tells you that you must cheque your bag, inform them that the value of the gear in the bag far exceeds the airline's limit of liability for lost baggage, and yous simply can't take the risk.

Split your key pieces of gear up between your overhead acquit-on item and your under-seat personal item. I usually put my main photographic camera trunk and one lens and ane wink in the under-seat bag, and my backup body, plus all other lenses, flashes, and anything I can't afford to lose in checked luggage, in the overhead bin behave-on handbag.

How Never to Forget Critical Photography Accessories

When you're packing everything upwards, it really helps if you can come up with a system then that you never forget smaller items like batteries, memory cards, etc. This arrangement should be super like shooting fish in a barrel to follow; in fact, it should brand failure almost impossible.

Possibly for you, what works all-time is a little whiteboard where y'all check off every single accompaniment earlier every unmarried outing. Or a phone app that does something similar. Or, mayhap you have a shelving organization system for dead and charged batteries.

My own hole-and-corner trick is this: if something has a door, (battery door, retentivity card door) then I leave that door open up if it'due south empty inside. Flashes and cameras etc. are left on my gear shelves on their sides, with those doors left broad open. Now, it's essentially impossible for me to pack upward my cameras and/or flashes without first putting memory cards and batteries in them.

When I travel for my stock photography, I too like to get in the habit of formatting all my downloaded, backed-up memory cards immediately afterward I have verified that they're downloaded and backed up safely, instead of waiting until merely before my adjacent big adventure to do all my formatting. Remember, a formatted but unused memory card is easy to recover images from; however, one time you save new images to the memory menu, it's almost impossible to get over-written images back.

Concluding Air Travel Tips for Photographers

Here are a few more rapid-fire tips, just in instance:

Never check in virtually Lithium-Ion batteries—those must go in your carry-on luggage.
Ever check abrupt pointy objects like pocket knives.
Remember to remove any alcohol-based lens cleaning solutions from whatever of your luggage or numberless. I've accidentally forgotten a modest ~1 oz bottle of Eclipse solution in my bag sometimes, and it was never confiscated, merely it's improve to exist safe than sorry.
Concluding but absolutely not least, here is some very of import, down-to-world general advice for all travelers: always be polite to the people who have the authorization to ruin your mean solar day. Existence genuinely friendly toward someone who is "power-tripping" is the all-time way to resolve most tough situations. Getting aggressive or frustrated with someone else who is easily "triggered" will merely make your situation worse.

Everybody knows that air travel tin exist an ordeal. So, take a deep breath, pack your numberless long before the last minute, head to the airport very early on, keep at-home, and have a great trip!

Usnea Lebendig'south Bio

Usnea Lebendig is an urban activist and loves hiking and adventuring in the mountains in her spare time. For the past 10 years, she has been a traveling stock, landscape, and portrait lensman, having visited more than 40 countries all over the world. She currently writes for www.shotkit.com.