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Published: August 18th 2014
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I am an amateur photographer, and one of the most exciting things about our upcoming European tour, is the chance for me to practice my craft with some of the most spectacular subjects on the planet! But to be honest I am a little nervous about juggling my photography with sightseeing gracefully/tactfully. In an attempt to set myself up for success on this venture, I spent a lot of time assembling the best travel gear I could (on a budget). I am quite pleased with the setup and wanted to give you an inside peak into my camera bag to help spread ideas for travelling budding photographers.
I started off my hunt for the perfect travel bag. The bag needed to be camera gear friendly, but also serve as our regular day pack. After some searching I came across the Lowepro Photo Hatchback 16L AW Backpack. This bag seems to have everything going for it! First off this bag is shaped like a regular backpack: ergonomic and familiar, but it isn't as bulky as a backpack. At only 16L it reminds me more of a hiking pack that would hold a water bladder. But surprisingly this little bag has the
perfect capacity for all of my camera gear and our day pack needs. What makes this back work is the unique design for which it gets its name. The bag features a "hatchback." The camera holster (my nickname for the typical padded compartments for storing your body/lens) sits in the bottom of the bag, but is easy accessible by unzipping a pouch on the back of the bag. The camera holster is adjustable (also removable) and can comfortably fit a compact dSLR with lens attached and two auxiliary lens, flashes or whatever you need to bring of comparable size. It even has a little pocket for extra SD cards. So the gear is safe and cozy but still super easy to get to when you need it, but wen you are on the go, it is virtually impossible for anyone to get to because it is flat against your back. Not only is this a great safety precaution, but it frees up the top of the bag to serve as a normal bag completely separate of your camera gear. I find the space at the top large enough to hold our guidebooks, rain jackets and travel essentials (cell phones, chapstick,
etc.). There is also a zipped pocket in the front that your could slide in a tablet/small laptop that I will be using to house all of our daily mission packets (see prior blog for more details).
So like I said, the camera gear holster can hold a body and lens as well as around two auxiliary pieces. For my two auxiliary pieces, I chose to bring two additional lens bringing my total to 3. For my choice of 3 lens, I am bringing my 18-55 kit lens, my 50 mm prime lens and my 8 mm fisheye lens. I chose these pieces strategically. Disclaimer: I only have a handful of starter lens, so your selections may be far more advanced, but probably follows the same line of thought. I chose the kit lens for flexibility. It's range from 18-55 mm will pretty much serve any of my photographing needs. I can zoom out for a shot of the city of Paris from Montmarte or zoom in to get detail of a single gargoyle at Notre Dame. Next I chose to bring my 50 mm prime because it is my portrait lens. I love getting my portraits with a
shallow depth of field; something that my kit lens cannot do for me. So when I do want to get some fancier portraits of my husband and I, my prime lens will be handy to get the job done. Finally, I am most excited about my 8 mm fisheye lens. This lens practically achieves 180 degree points of view. I believe this lens will come in very handy for some of the cathedrals that we will be seeing: St. Chappelle, Notre Dame, Sagrada Familia, Westminster Abby, etc. I am really excited to see the effect of being able to capture much fuller perspectives of these churches then possible with a regular lens. Coastline landscapes and high up city views will also get a boost from my fisheye. I am hopeful that my choice of lens will cover all of the shots I want to achieve while I am over there.
The final piece of camera gear I picked especially for this trip was my Polaroid 42" Travel Tripod. After all a tripod will most definitely be necessary for my evening fountain shots! My regular tripod was just to bulky to try and navigate our fast-paced tour with so I set out to find the most compact, easy to use tripod that would work. I was very excited when I stumbled across this tripod at Walmart! I didn't buy it right away, but I went home and began reading a lot of reviews. About two pages into the comments I axed the tripod from my list because it "isn't meant for dSLR cameras." Unfortunately I couldn't seem to find anything that was similar but dSLR capable for a halfway decent price. So I kept going back to the Polaroid and finally on page 10 found a couple of folks who clarified that the tripod worked just fine with their dSLRs. That was all the buy-in I needed. After getting the tripod and trying it myself, I am so glad I gave it a try. Sure this tripod isn't as sturdy as your heavy duty ones, but its meant to be that lightweight, compact on the go piece. My body and lens sat unwavering atop its fully extended frame. The legs work like a thick inverted radio antenna, which I think is very neat. By the way this tripod (as you can probably guess) extends to 42", but is only a foot long when stored so the tripod fits easily into the water bottle pocket on the side of my day pack, which will be super convenient on the go.
So there you have it! I am overall very pleased with my setup and super excited to give it a whirl. I am much more excited for the photographing though and can't wait to share my images when I get back!
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Home and Away
Bob Carlsen
I was wondering...
why you excluded a 55-200 mm telephoto lens. I have one, but actually don't use it that much.