Travel photographers can I grab some advice on my kit please!

DPBP

DPBP

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Dave
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Hi all, I'm off Uganda for a 5 weeks in 10 days time. My friends out there working at a few schools, so i feel its a great opportunity to go out there, not to be a total stranger, and hopefully get some intimate shots and learn about the culture.

I know this a bit of a long thread, but I want to get my kit right as never travelled before to somewhere like Uganda. And I feel with two weeks to go, If something is screaming out to you that I haven't got then I still have time to order online....

I have about £300 budget left to spend on kit if required.

My Current kit is this.. (which is geared towards stills, but I do want to play with HD video out there a bit)

Canon 7D
Canon 50m 1.4 prime
Canon 28m 2.8a prime
Speedlight 580EX11
gorilla tripod
remote shutter release control
2 batteries (One in body one spare)
Crumple Cupcake 4000 small bag / Lowpro slingshot 200

Memory card situtation (All scandisk)
Ultra2 4GB
Ultra2 8GB
Extreme3 8GB

Bag situation
Crumple Cupcake 4000 / Lowpro slingshot 200

So... I guess most of my time will be in villages. I prefer street photography of poeple compared to gameparks etc.

So the questions are...

  1. Lens - Do you think I will miss out on not having a zoom or wide lens?
  2. Batteries - how paranoid about power should I be? More batteries needed? Do you take loads of AA batteries for the flash? (town uses a generator which apparently breaks down a lot)
  3. Memory Cards - I am tempted to start using video out there, so have been looking at the Sandisk Extreme Compact Flash (CF) Memory Card - 8GB - 60MB/s - UDMA for £30. i find myself been persuaded towards a Duracell card, double the memory same price... but scandisk have never failed me.
  4. Bag - bigger lowpro or smaller messenger. I feel lowpro is more secure, but stands out more. it screams camera, mug me....I was thinking of buying a soft skin for the camera and then putting it a bog standard nike drawstring bag when out and about
  5. memory card back up device - worth getting? once backed up, do you wipe your memory cards on the field and rely solely on the backup device, is it used as a secondary back-up in case.... device.
  6. other - any thing I haven't spoken about? I don't have any filters etc.

Any help / tips / pointers greatly appreciated. If I need to fill any blanks please let me know!
 
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I have no experience of Uganda, but have family in Botswana whom I visit every year, so spend a fair amount of time in a village with no running water or mains electricity and also around people who are poor by UK standards.

So the questions are...


  1. [*]Lens - Do you think I will miss out on not having a zoom or wide lens?

    Possibly, it depends on how you shoot, have you felt hindered by not having a zoom in the UK? You may find that 28mm is too long if you do any indoor shots depending on the types of houses they have (my experience in Botswana is that mud huts are small and dark, 2.5 room houses have rooms which are similar in size to modern small UK houses). I struggled shooting a wedding with a 10-22, 50 and 70-200 in the summer as I really needed something between 22mm and 50mm, but that was a situation that I had no control over; if you are shooting for fun and haven't found any problems in the UK, then you you will probably be fine there.


    [*]Batteries - how paranoid about power should I be? More batteries needed? Do you take loads of AA batteries for the flash? (town uses a generator which apparently breaks down a lot)


    I have 2x camera batteries for my 40D which is good for about 2000 shots, and 8x AA rechargeables (Eneloop types) for my flash gun. How does HSS affect battery power? (I have a Yongnuo so no experience of it to know if it drains the batteries much faster or not), I was finding that the sync speed was an issue when I wanted to take shots with fill fash during the day with small DoF - my camera was wanting to be at 1/500+ outside with ISO 100 and f5.6 between 8am and 4pm and we are only a few hundred Km's north of the Tropic of Capricorn; being closer to the equator you will find that the sun rises and sets faster so will have a shorter 'golden hour' than you are used to in the UK. My village has no electricity, but we have a generator at home for our use, so use that most nights to charge things up (phones, laptops, camera batteries, torches, normal batteries, iPods etc etc etc) we do have a surge protector on the main socket where we charge most things (it does end up looking like a fire hazard with extension cables plugged into extension cables when all the family is there charging their phones, iPods, laptops and cameras etc!). We have never really had a problem with it, but petrol is clean and not watered down etc, but it does have a tendancy to surge / fade when the tank is low or we are putting a lot of demand on the system.

    Personally I would take a surge protected extension lead or two (for however many chargers you have) with a local adapter then when the generator is working you can charge a lot of things up at once if security isn't an issue, but it is always better to have more than you think you will need, so maybe get another couple of camera batteries and some more AA's. I have always foound AA batteries easy to get hold of in Botswana even in small towns, don't know how true that will be for Uganda.

    [*]Memory Cards - I am tempted to start using video out there, so have been looking at the Sandisk Extreme Compact Flash (CF) Memory Card - 8GB - 60MB/s - UDMA for £30. i find myself been persuaded towards a Duracell card, double the memory same price... but scandisk have never failed me.


    I don't have video capability so can't recommend anything, other than take more than you think you will need! I have a Jessops own brand card and the rest are Sandisk, I have never had a problem with any of them if that helps.


    [*]Bag - bigger lowpro or smaller messenger. I feel lowpro is more secure, but stands out more. it screams camera, mug me....I was thinking of buying a soft skin for the camera and then putting it a bog standard nike drawstring bag when out and about


    If you are in the sticks, then just being white / foreign means you are wealthy and a potential target. Make sure your gear is insured, find out about all exclusions and figure out a way around it (for example, my insurer will not cover me if I just hand over my gear to anyone who asks for my bag, but I am not going to chance getting stabbed / shot for what amounts to £3k's worth of kit; so my story will always be it was aggravated and they waved a knife / gun at me) So I would just get something that works for you and is comfortable in the heat / humidity.

    [*]memory card back up device - worth getting? once backed up, do you wipe your memory cards on the field and rely solely on the backup device, is it used as a secondary back-up in case.... device.


    I use my laptop to back up to with an external HDD which I keep seperate and try to not delete stuff off my cards. I also try to get some shots up on the net from internet cafes, but that can be a faff on slow / old computers or there may not be any internet access, so not something I rely on! I pretty much back my laptop up on a HDD and DVD's in the UK, then delete all personal / work info of it incase it gets nicked; I know if someone wants to they could find it all again, but at a cursory glance it will just have photos on and possibly some music and software.

    [*]other - any thing I haven't spoken about? I don't have any filters etc.


You may want a decent ND filter if you want to get shots with shallow DoF with fill flash to negate the use of HSS. I would also get a circular polariser for landscape or portrait shots where you want to enhance the sky.

How stable is your gorilla pod? The night sky is amazing and it goes dark early. If the villages where you are staying are anythign like mine people sit around fires at night which can make for some fab shots especially if they are cooking.

Camera gear, if you can find any, is expensive IME. Last summer I arrived in Bots with 16Gb of memory cards and was asked to shoot a wedding; I found a shop that sold CR2 batteries for my film SLR so I had spares and they cost me close to £10 each, I found another shop that sold CF cards, they only had a 4Gb Sandisk Ultra card (the new version, not the old one) and that was £40. :puke: So it is worth taking more than you think you will need.


I probably have painted a picture that everyone is a thief and will mug you at every opportunity! However that probably isn't the case. The vast majority of Botswanans / Zimbabweans etc that I have met have been friendly and nice! However, as a matter of course we do not leave electronic items out on view so the temptation isn't there. I always ask to take photos of people and have on occaision given them a few coins for doing so depending on the situation (but I have no hard and fast rules about it).

Hope that helps you somewhat.
 
That kit sounds fine to me, I went to the Philippines last year with just a 35mm and a 50mm on crop, did a lot of street stuff and never felt the need for something longer. I'd be tempted to find a 85/1.8 and leave the 50mm behind though, but you shouldn't feel too limited with that kit, especially since you said you want to get intimate shots.
 
DPBP said:
Hi all, I'm off Uganda for a 5 weeks in 10 days time. My friends out there working at a few schools, so i feel its a great opportunity to go out there, not to be a total stranger, and hopefully get some intimate shots and learn about the culture.

I know this a bit of a long thread, but I want to get my kit right as never travelled before to somewhere like Uganda. And I feel with two weeks to go, If something is screaming out to you that I haven't got then I still have time to order online....

I have about £300 budget left to spend on kit if required.

My Current kit is this.. (which is geared towards stills, but I do want to play with HD video out there a bit)

Canon 7D
Canon 50m 1.4 prime
Canon 28m 2.8a prime
Speedlight 580EX11
gorilla tripod
remote shutter release control
2 batteries (One in body one spare)
Crumple Cupcake 4000 small bag / Lowpro slingshot 200

Memory card situtation (All scandisk)
Ultra2 4GB
Ultra2 8GB
Extreme3 8GB

Bag situation
Crumple Cupcake 4000 / Lowpro slingshot 200

So... I guess most of my time will be in villages. I prefer street photography of poeple compared to gameparks etc.

So the questions are...

  1. Lens - Do you think I will miss out on not having a zoom or wide lens?

    My favourite combination for travel photography portraits/street (Crop DSLR) is an UWA for context portraits and a 50mm for closer portraits. Its up to you to see if you think you will be confident enough to get close in with a UWA
  2. Batteries - how paranoid about power should I be? More batteries needed? Do you take loads of AA batteries for the flash? (town uses a generator which apparently breaks down a lot)

    Get two sets of 4 AA high capacity rechargeables and you will have enough to last a day or two if the generator goes
  3. Memory Cards - I am tempted to start using video out there, so have been looking at the Sandisk Extreme Compact Flash (CF) Memory Card - 8GB - 60MB/s - UDMA for £30. i find myself been persuaded towards a Duracell card, double the memory same price... but scandisk have never failed me.

    Get a class 6 or above memory card for video, I use class 10 all the time, 16gb for video as it takes up loads of memory
  4. Bag - bigger lowpro or smaller messenger. I feel lowpro is more secure, but stands out more. it screams camera, mug me....I was thinking of buying a soft skin for the camera and then putting it a bog standard nike drawstring bag when out and about

    I wouldn't be to worried about your bag, just have your whits about you and try and blend in and you will be fine, most of these places are generally for the majority of people a safe experience.
  5. memory card back up device - worth getting? once backed up, do you wipe your memory cards on the field and rely solely on the backup device, is it used as a secondary back-up in case.... device.

    I would want my memory stored in two places so two hardrives preferably if possible
  6. other - any thing I haven't spoken about? I don't have any filters etc.

Any help / tips / pointers greatly appreciated. If I need to fill any blanks please let me know!
Click to expand...
 
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I think you'd have alot of fun with a super wide angle lens. Especially due to you travelling. The 28mm lens will be perfect though, I want that lens so much!
 
I do a lot of travelling to remote areas of the world, Nepal, Vietnam, remote Morocco, etc. And I have travelled light as we use local public transport and feet, just taking a Nikon D200 with a few 16GB sandisk cards, 3 spare batterys, Nikon 18-200VR lens and a Sigma 10-20 lens. And a lot of images from this set up has been accepted into International Photo Salons.
 
i am looking at a samyang 85mm 1.4 they seem to have great reviews and are really cheap compared to the nikon or canon versions, around £250 however it has no AF still produces great shots and would work fantastic for HD vid !

actually looking at your gear again i think this would be great its sharp and offers a great focal length, the 50mm and 85mm would work great for those portraits
 
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Wow guys, brilliant response. Especially gembobs, thank you for taking the time to write that.

I'm going to spend this evening hunting down additional memory cards, that ND filter and batteries on Ebay. I am also (perhaps paranoid here) going to grab a cheap extra charger. I'm not taking a laptop as I believe its one less thing to be upset about if it goes missing.

Camera Insurance wise. I'm currently use Insureaandgo for my travel insurance. They are not specific camera insurance, but they also cover a single unspecified item up to a £1000 and then smaller items up to £250 each totalling an additional £1000. I was quite content with this, but would you get more specific insurance than this? Do you mind if I ask who your insurance policy is through when you take you kit to Botswana?

I recognise I will stand out quite a bit. I have travelled to Lesotho, a long time ago and before I was into photography. I'm going to embrace the standing out part, whilst been as street wise as possible regarding when to get the camera out, and when not to. I'm going to grab a 7d sock / soft case and chuck it in my rucksack as an additonal, less obtrusive bag compared to the messenger. My plan is also to never leave it anywhere, but also have it on my back.

Farrance - I got a bargain with the 28m, and the 7D actually. Bestbuy retail closed down - the shop near me in Hayes was probably more of a mess during that sale than in the London Riots. By pure chance, there was no camera gear on display apart from compacts but I asked a guy working there. One brand new unopened 7D was put aside for a member of staff but he didn't take it. So I paid in total after a negiation £814 for both body and lens (Both brand new, not even ex demo. Same with the lens) That was my good karma christmas find. Pure luck of asking the right guy who happened to know about the camera, and been there at the right time.

FruitFlakes - I'll have a scout for a 85m and check out some prices.

Nikon Fan - I travel light all the time. I've never had a rucksack bigger than 35L and my theory is if it goes in the hold / anywhere out of sight then don't be upset to lose it. So I really appreciate your style. Travelling with that amount of kit means it can always be in your lap.... Apart from the flash, all my kit would fit into the messenger bag.

jameshobson - Sigma?! Must be cheaper than a canon so will check that out. If i get that could dump the 50m perhaps.

Thanks again guys...
 
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DPBP said:
Wow guys, brilliant response. Especially gembobs, thank you for taking the time to write that.

I'm going to spend this evening hunting down additional memory cards, that ND filter and batteries on Ebay. I am also (perhaps paranoid here) going to grab a cheap extra charger. I'm not taking a laptop as I believe its one less thing to be upset about if it goes missing.

Camera Insurance wise. I'm currently use Insureaandgo for my travel insurance. They are not specific camera insurance, but they also cover a single unspecified item up to a £1000 and then smaller items up to £250 each totalling an additional £1000. I was quite content with this, but would you get more specific insurance than this? Do you mind if I ask who your insurance policy is through when you take you kit to Botswana?

I use photoguard, they are reasonably priced)

I recognise I will stand out quite a bit. I have travelled to Lesotho, a long time ago and before I was into photography. I'm going to embrace the standing out part, whilst been as street wise as possible regarding when to get the camera out, and when not to. I'm going to grab a 7d sock / soft case and chuck it in my rucksack as an additonal, less obtrusive bag compared to the messenger. My plan is also to never leave it anywhere, but also have it on my back.

Golden Rule - Camera is connected to your body at all times, even when you need a pee

Farrance - I got a bargain with the 28m, and the 7D actually. Bestbuy retail closed down - the shop near me in Hayes was probably more of a mess during that sale than in the London Riots. By pure chance, there was no camera gear on display apart from compacts but I asked a guy working there. One brand new unopened 7D was put aside for a member of staff but he didn't take it. So I paid in total after a negiation £814 for both body and lens (Both brand new, not even ex demo. Same with the lens) That was my good karma christmas find. Pure luck of asking the right guy who happened to know about the camera, and been there at the right time.

FruitFlakes - I'll have a scout for a 85m and check out some prices.

Thanks again guys...
Click to expand...
 
jacob12_1993 - Love that golden rule. I will check out photoguard as well.

One question regarading the CF cards - class 6 / class 10, what do you mean by this?
I was looking at getting two of these to add to my list.
http://www.7dayshop.com/catalog/product_info.php?manufacturers_id=&products_id=107531

Do you use a seperate camera insurance policy because you have little faith in a gineric travel policy meeting your needs? Should I be questioning insureandgo, and not leave my camera in their hands? (I still trust them my regarding my health strangely enough... )
 
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I just use my house insurance, it is with Natwest. They have a £2000 single item policy, but when I quizzed them on what that meant exactly (and I had to get through to the manager of the claims department for proper answers) they mean the camera bag and all the contents; however they wouldn't let me insure it as a named item as it consists of something like 10 different items with no single item with a replacement value greater than £1200, so a bit of a catch 22. In the end I opted to take my camera rucksack and just keep my 40D and 17-85mm in a seperate bag to the rest of the kit; I figured if it got pinched / mugged they would take my handbag and my camera bag anyway.
 
gembobs - regarding insurance your comment about been forced to hand equipment over made me read the wording (very geeky) from photocover as I was considering them last night. Its not clear at all in any of their policies, so emailed and this is the response (It didn't state this anywhere in their policy documents that I could find) I am probably going to rely on my travel insurance rather than specific camera insurance, as they cover a single item, I am confident they have have the same criteria and it will save a big % of my budget.

___________

In regards to theft whilst abroad; the items whilst not being held or used by yourself, or in the responsibility of a responsible adult, must be either in a locked room or locked cupboard. Yes, if they are robbed or mugged off you whilst away and are taken by forcible or violent means then they are covered under theft.

We hope this has clarified your query, if you need further assistance please do not hesitate to call or email us.
 
One of the rules of life is that travellers should always have photos stored on two devices. Usually two hard drive type devices like a laptop and an external usb drive, or a laptop and a backup device etc. Or one of the aforementioned and keep the memory cards. Single point storage is a dangerous way to live. Learn from other people's mistakes - not your own. I've had both a backup storage device and an external usb drive fail [on separate occasions]. Because I had two backups, I lost nothing.

Having said that, multiple backups, laptops etc may not be practical for reasons of money and/or luggage space. If you're really tight for money, get as many cards as you can and shoot jpg only. A few more cards - shoot raw but not jpg, and so on. Guard those cards with your life. Keep them on your body at all times by some means. Not in your camera bag hung over your shoulder. On your body.

Putting your photos on a backup device, laptop or usb drive is more risky than keeping the cards intact. Drives are more prone to failure than cards. Plus, if a drive fails, then you've lost all. Unlike multiple cards.

So, again, the ideal storage method is two separate devices, kept separate from each other - not both together in the same bag.
 
MisterE - Going to take your wise advice. I was under the thought my memory cards haven't failed me yet.... but I appreciate they could get lost / stolen. I won't keep any in the camera bag - more good advice.

So, I have money left for a backup device. Not going to be taking a laptop, so looking for a standalone CF backup device. Do you recommend any? I have done the typical Ebay / Amazon search, but there aren't many on the market. If I get this, I can hide this somewhere no problem so there will always a duplicate copy of my image.

So far based upon this thread I have bought 2 extra batteries, Polarising filter for 28mm, SanDisk 16GB Extreme CF 60mbs for video capture, and a Lastolite Reflector Sunfire/Silver 30cm as I figured that packed up small. I did look at the 85M lens - On ebay brand new they go for around £200 so was tempted. But I have decided against, as at the moment all my kit fits neatly into the messenger bag... another lens wouldn't!
 
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After doing a search on this forum, reading topics and folling up their links I can safely say a secondary backup device is way out of my budget. Sadly I don't want to carry a notebook with me which is the other option people speak bout as i'm still only travelling with a 35L rucksack.

So, I'm going to buy a couple of additional, slower CF cards as well. So when I go somewhere and get some photos I love and I REALLY don't want to lose them for love or money I can pull that card out of the camera regardless of its full and place it somewhere safe until I return back to the UK. I feel thats a good balance between blowing all moneyon one item which would only have a small hardrive (40gb) and once I get into video I know that won't be big enough for future needs, and trying to do the most to protect my image.
 
I take my Laptop when I go away for a week on holiday, so going for away for 5 weeks I would take a laptop and an extremal HD.

On one 7 day trip to Venice I shot about 40GB. :eek: And that is just one camera, I was getting snaps with my compact too. That is travel in in an extremely photogenic place, but I'm sure there will also loads to see in Uganda as it is so different. I back up to the Laptop every night, but try to keep the images on my cards until I run out of space. I have about 40GB of cards, but that is split between two cameras.

On my last trip to Rome I took a couple of videos (not something I usually do) with my compact which is 720p, and one 8 minute vid took about 1GB of space.

According to DPReview the 7D records video at 5.5 MB/sec (1080P), 5.5 MB/sec (720P), 2.8 MB/sec (VGA).



Don't forget to take some sensor cleaning options, be that a Rocket Blower and possibly wet clean options. I doubt (but you never know) that places to get your sensor cleaned would be thin on the ground there, as it is not a common the in the UK. :shrug: Even you don't change lenses, it is still a dusty part of the world and you are not guaranteed to be dust free. :(
 
Redhead - Good point about sensor cleaning kit etc. As this is a new camera I had completely forgotten about all that stuff. - Just purchased blower and sensor cleaning kit from interenet.

Just when I convince myself I don't have the money for backup devices, Everybody points otherwise.

So... My options..
Second hand Epson p2000 (40Gb) £55

Or this - 500GB Camera buddy £160
Amozon link to product

Budget Vs future proof... too many choices to make.
 
DPBP said:
So... My options..
Second hand Epson p2000 (40Gb) £55

Or this - 500GB Camera buddy £160
Amozon link to product

Budget Vs future proof... too many choices to make.
Click to expand...

Like I said earlier, I filled 40GB in a week, so the Camera Buddy would be my choice. But at that price I'd consider a maybe a S/H Netbook which has the option to review and prune what you have taken, and also give the option to edit something like Picasa 3 if you wanted to. :shrug:

If your friend has access to a computer though, a large external HD could be had for well less than £100. A box full of DVDs could be also be a good idea should there be a DVD burner there too. ;)
 
DPBP said:
Redhead - Good point about sensor cleaning kit etc. As this is a new camera I had completely forgotten about all that stuff. - Just purchased blower and sensor cleaning kit from interenet.

Just when I convince myself I don't have the money for backup devices, Everybody points otherwise.

So... My options..
Second hand Epson p2000 (40Gb) £55

Or this - 500GB Camera buddy £160
Amozon link to product

Budget Vs future proof... too many choices to make.
Click to expand...

That camera buddy is a piece of **** imho and I wouldn't trust my iphone pics on it. This is what I would get if I wanted a storage device http://www.hypershop.com/HyperDrive-COLORSPACE-UDMA-500GB-version-p/hdcsu-500.htm but then again it would be cheaper to get a small notebook and two 2.5" drives
 
Seems to me that you want to take lots of kit, guess we all have different views of our travels. But for me I just take my camera body and a couple of lens, plenty of GB's of memory cards and enjoy. I very rarely review the images, other than a quick look at composition and histogram. When I get back home, I will then transfer the images to two external hard drives. In all the years of using digital memory, I have always used Sandisk cards and have never had a card fail, so I'm quite happy not to make any back-ups whilst on holiday.
 
The Epson would be a satisfactory choice to get you by for now on a budget, if you can live with the small drive. You can stock up with more cards, then if you find that you've filled them all up before your time ends, then offload them one by one on to the Epson as required. Yes, there's an element of risk as always, but we all have to live dangerously sometimes!

As mentioned, some of the cheaper storage devices can be a bit crap. I was going to suggest this one until I read the single review down the page

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ex-Pro®-Pic...74XS/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1328023764&sr=8-9

This is typical of the cheaper end ones. Still, if you get one in good time, try it out and if it works then all's well and good. My storage device mentioned earlier which failed was a relatively cheap and new acquisition. In fact I only got it a day or so before travelling and never got to try it out until gone. At some point after a short period of use, the drive corrupted and it became unusable. But I had a second backup so all was not lost. The replacement I got was a Vosonic, which has continued to work well and they have a satisfactory reputation.
 
Hi All, I really appreciate the responses to this thread, so wanted to show I have taken the advice on board, and give a breakdown of my additional kit purchased because of the advice give here...

Back up wise - Chatted to my friend (Skype is amazing) and getting to a computer every few days shouldn't be a problem. I decided to simplify the backup process, keep it in perspective (After all, I only have 32GB of CF space...!) I'm skipping the photo viewers and external hardrives (More capacity than needed, and moving parts - already knocked and broken two). Instead I bought one of the USB sticks from corsair which will be for all my photos as the collection builds. Will take a couple of old 8gb sticks I have lying around - if towards the end of the trip I need to free up CF space I can make an additional copy to one of these, meaning once card cleaned there are still 2 copies of images.

So my kit now is:

Original Kit before thread:
7d, 28m & 50m lens, Flash, Gorilla Tripod, remote, Crumple Cupcake.

And

From the advice of this thread I have purchased....
Lens pen (Jacobs £5),
Blower (Jacobs £10),
S/h Jessops polariser for my 28mm (EBay £11),
CF card Box (7dayshop £3),
16GB Scandisk CF Card (Amazon £54),
Lastolite Reflector Sunfire/Silver 30cm (Amazon £12.20),
Corsair 32GB USB stick (Amazon £27.00)

Out of a budget of £300 I only spent £120. So that’s £180 I didn't think I would have spare for more diving and safari's etc...

Thanks guys!
 
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