looking for travel tips...

[shaylou]

I am getting ready to take a 5 day trip to San Francisco California for the sole purpose of photographing the city for my own amusement (can't wait).

I have never traveled with my equipment so I was looking for any tips you might have. I will be in a hotel for 4 nights and will carry all my equipment with me most of the time. I just don't want to get there and think, man I should have done this or brought that. Sorry for such a broad question. Any travel tips will be appreciated.

 

[Just Dave]

Try google images that should pull loads of iconic shots, http://SPAM/7caxka3 google street views good also as you can see said iconic places

 

[Barks]

In terms of lenses you're going to want to travel relatively light so I'd say go for zooms over primes covering 18-200 range should cover you for most things. May as well take a nifty fifty though having said that, they're small, weigh nothing and cost pretty much nothing should your stuff get dropped, knocked or even worse nicked. And if you need a tripod or other stuff that you might need but won't want to be carrying over with you due to size or weight etc then when you get to SF get on Google Maps or ask a few locals like waiters/waitresses or hotel staff and see if you can find a pawn shop that has photo equipment and buy it when you arrive and pawn it back when you leave.

A speedlite of some kind might be worth taking too (if you're looking to do any portraits) and batteries.

Equipment insurance that covers you overseas.

A decent, well padded camera bag and travel padlocks for the bag. Even in "touristy" places like SF you can never be too careful. And along those lines just be careful and remember that to the wrong people they don't see a camera and lens around your neck they see £1000 (or whatever) in cash for the sake of a bang around the head or knife in the guts. Yes that's worse case scenario but better safe than sorry. Always be aware of your surroundings and the people around you and at times when you're highly unlikely to be using your camera (on a bus or something) put it away.

One last tip, when you put your camera away even if it's in your hotel room at night take the memory cards out of it. Even if the worst happens and your gear is lost/broken/nicked it's replaceable. The shots you've taken aren't.

And my last bit of advice, Have a fantastic trip.

 

[woof woof]

I'd take a second smaller camera, in my case a LX5 or MFT, to give a more discrete option for use when most appropriate but also to give different lens options. For example, the LX5 has quite a wide zoom lens (I mostly use primes on my DSLR) and a MFT can be fitted with a fast prime like the 20mm f1.7 pancake.

Hope you enjoy the trip

 

[shaylou]

Thanks for the advise gentleman. I should had mentioned I'm from the u.s. so this is a domestic trip for me. I'm taking 3 lenses, 17-55, 50mm and 70-200 (new to me) so I have most of the range covered. I'm going to have to put my tripod in my checked bag so I'm a little concerned about it but I don't have much choice. I have a backpack that will hold everything except the tripod (for the flight) and will also hold my laptop. I have a smaller backpack that I was planning on packing and for using to carry around town. It will not hold my laptop so I'm not sure if I should have the front desk hold it for me or just lock it in my luggage. If someone wanted it all they would have to do is cut the bag so I'm a bit concerned about that as well. As far as memory cards go, I have two and always upload all of my shots as I return. So I guess its all fine unless someone gets my laptop. I hope this doesn't seem on the paranoid side, I'm just trying to be prepared. The excitement is starting to build!!!