Re: Photologue: Central Brazil. Jaguars, Giant Otters, Macaws & more Quote:
Originally Posted by R2D2 Thanks Robi. I would certainly love to go to South America, starting with Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, Chile and Peru. Guess its too much to dream of at this time for multiple reasons.
But if by chance Lady Luck smiles on me I had some queries. How did you guys manage to travel with a heavy kit including cameras, tripods, gimbal heads and lenses - especially the super telephotos? Were you allowed to carry the gear on board? Did you use Pelican cases? I cant imagine you would have checked it in - mishandling and loss of baggage are a nightmare for photographers and other travellers. |
Well air travel with heavy photo equipments especially international travel is always tricky. Over the years we have tried different stuff and always have a Plan B or even Plan C so that we are able to carry our equipment as cabin baggage.
We always travel in a group of usually 3 or more so we share our lens burden. Each of us carry our own DSLR bodies and a super telephoto plus a medium telephoto. Rest of the lenses are usually shared.
We use bags like ThinkTank Airport Security International which can fit a huge amount of equipment. To give you an idea, it can swallow a 600 f4, 70-200 f2.8, 24-70 f2.8, 2 or 3 DSLR bodies and extenders etc. including a small laptop. For Brazil, my cabin baggage weight was around 17kgs.
But since the size of the bag was small, they never bothered to weigh it.
Nikon 200-400 case can be used for carrying all super telephotos separately. Its small and perfect size to sling it over your back
Lens hood, gimbals, tripods and other accessories without delicate parts are always checked in.
We always wear photographers vest during check in so that we can load it with equipment if the need be. Preferably vests like the ones made by Domke, CampCo, Woodlands etc. Airline staff never weigh your jacket/vest. This also helps if you are stopped at the boarding gate and they want to gate-check your cabin bag.
Usually stick to the same airline for international travel, once you are higher up in the frequent flyer program the airline staff treat you well and usually dont bother if you tell them that you are carrying expensive optical equipment.
As a last resort, we don't carry our cabin baggage to the check in counter (leave it with someone to watch over it while you check in). Just get an extra baggage tag and take your bag to security once you are checked in. |