Travelling with big lenses

Lighter is better, especially if you are carrying everything on your back.

Here is a good link about what to carry for backpacking/travel. It is not so much about photography, but it has a lot of good ideas.

http://www.travelindependent.info/whattopack.htm

You want to enjoy your trip, not be miserable lugging gear around.

SE Asia is great. There are so many places I want to go....

Have fun!

Paul

I backpacked around SE Asia for 3 months, by myself, photography being a main goal. Stayed in hostels and guesthouses, kept the total weight including photo gear and film to around 25 lbs in a medium internal frame pack. I didn't own a big zoom, but I chose not to bring my big 180 2.8. Just a N80, 24-85 AFS, 20mm 2.8, 85mm 1.8, and tripod (no digital on that trip). This was all in a shoulder bag, often with a guidebook, ipod, small water bottle in there too.

2 points I want to make. 1 - I love working out of a shoulder bag and HATE working out of a backpack (I have several of both). 2 - I wouldn't put much more load than the above in a shoulder bag, preferably less. If I was to do it again (now with a digital rig and better lenses), I'd use the shoulder bag for my 3-4 most frequently accessed items, and a light cloth rucksack (non technical looking, certainly no Lowe etc bags) for infrequently used items and water etc. There are lots of options for padded wraps for flash, big zoom, etc. to go in the rucksack.

Personally I'd leave the laptop and bring an image tank. Plenty of internet access in any town where tourists and backpackers go. I never had trouble finding access in Laos, Cambodia, rural Vietnam (this was 1 year ago, can only be better now). Almost all can burn CDs.

photos here - http://fourfa.com/photo/Galleries/Southeast%20Asia/index.html

You really have made me think again!

I've decided to not take the big zoom, and even purchased an Epson P-2000 as an image tank, but there's some sweet smaller laptops available now that have made me think about selling my P-2000 again and taking a laptop instead.

It really is quite a conundrum and I only have 2 1/2 weeks before I leave!

Many thanks for your input.

swarve said:

You really have made me think again!

I've decided to not take the big zoom, and even purchased an Epson
P-2000 as an image tank, but there's some sweet smaller laptops
available now that have made me think about selling my P-2000 again
and taking a laptop instead.

It really is quite a conundrum and I only have 2 1/2 weeks before I
leave!

Many thanks for your input.

Click to expand...

Don't take a laptop unless you really need it for other reasons. The Epson P-2000 is a good backup system. Personally I would take a number of CF cards as well. That way you can backup the cards to the P-2000, but keep the images on the cards as well until you return home. I'm a strong believer in making sure my images are stored on at least two different media as quickly as possible.

The laptop has the advantage of being able to burn CDs or DVDs so you can re-use the same memory cards.

If you must travel with a laptop, I highly recommend the Fujitsu P-7000 ultra-portable notebook. I've had the P-2000 (earlier model) for a number of years and it's one of the smallest and lightest full-featured laptops out there. It won't be the fastest laptop you can get, but it has built-in CD or DVD burning, weighs 3.3 pounds and has long battery life. It has a built-in CF reader as well. I've been in the IT business for many years, and Fujitsu makes some of the best designed and most reliable laptops I've seen. The only thing larger I would consider travelling with is a 12-inch Apple Powerbook.

Taking a stack of CF cards and the Epson image tank will be easier to carry. Taking an ultraportable laptop and a couple of CF cards will be more versatile, but even a Fujitsu P-7000 will take up a bit more room than the image tank. Whatever you choose, have a great time!

sean000 said:

Personally I would take a
number of CF cards as well. That way you can backup the cards to
the P-2000, but keep the images on the cards as well until you
return home.

Click to expand...

three months of CF cards doesn't sound practical...

Andy Radin said:

Andy Radin said:

Personally I would take a
number of CF cards as well. That way you can backup the cards to
the P-2000, but keep the images on the cards as well until you
return home.

Click to expand...

three months of CF cards doesn't sound practical...

Click to expand...

Three months is a seriously long trip! I wish I could do something like that. I was thinking along the lines of two or three weeks (about as long a trip as I can dream about unless I quite my job or retire). Yup, for three months I would either haul a laptop so I could burn some CDs, or I would find a way to backup the Epson P-2000 to a computer somewhere that would allow me to burn CDs or DVDs. Depending on where you're travelling that could be tricky. But if I had three months... or even three weeks... worth of photos on a single drive, I'd be a little on edge until I got them backed up.

Sean