This is sort of like the “What’s in the bag?” posts that are common on many photographers’ blogs, but instead of listing all of my gear in this post I want to talk about what I’m taking for a specific photography trip.
On this trip, I’ll be traveling to Riviera Nayarit and the beautiful city of Puerto Vallarta on the west coast of Mexico. I’ve visited that area previously, so I have a good idea of what to expect. This will be a working trip so I am bringing a good assortment of camera gear. My itinerary includes hiking, visiting an area rich in wildlife, wandering small villages and a major tourist destination. I’ll be doing architectural, food, and people photography, some of which will be on assignment for an upscale boutique hotel.
I have recently switched from Nikon DSLR to mirrorless for both my travel and nature photography, so I’ll be bringing both my Z7 and Z6 bodies. I’ll be doing mostly general travel photography on this trip, so I plan to use the very versatile Nikon Z6 as my main camera. I will have the Z7 with me for any opportunities to capture nature images that I might want to make large prints of; it will also serve as my backup camera body.
For travel photography, as well as most landscape work, my basic kit of three lenses will do very nicely: 14-30mm f/4, 24-70mm f/4, and 70-200mm f/4. The first two are the new Nikon S-line of lenses, which besides being compact are super sharp, even edge-to-edge at wide apertures. The 70-200/4 has long been a favorite lens, both compact and with excellent sharpness; it works perfectly on the new mirrorless cameras with the XTZ adapter. One of my day trips will be a birding tour in La Tovara National Park near the town of San Blas. On a trip more dedicated to wildlife photography I’d bring my 200-500mm f/5.6 Nikkor, but I know in advance that this tour takes place middle of the day and caters to the general public, not serious wildlife photographers. So rather than lugging the big glass, I’ll just work with the 70-200 plus a 1.4x teleconverter, knowing that I have plenty of resolution and pixels to crop if needed.
Now to decide what photo accessories to bring. For sure a polarizing filter, plus 6-stop and 10-stop neutral density filters from Breakthrough Photography Filters. Each of my lenses uses a different filter size; I’ll bring some step-up adapter rings so that I only need one set of filters. My Sirui W-1204 tripod with Acratech GPSS ball head is a great combo for travel and nature photography – relatively compact and lightweight, but very sturdy and the tripod supports my camera at near eye-level or inches from the ground. A Vello electronic release will help for long exposures.
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Other accessories that are always in my pack include:
- spare batteries
- extra memory cards
- mini bulb blower
- micro-fiber lens cloth
- hex wrench with several feet of gaffers tape wrapped around it
- headlamp and spare batteries
- backup battery for cell phone (with cable)
- 4×6 notebook, pen, model releases
- lens wipes for eyeglasses
- bandana
- basic first aid kit
- Clif Bar
Another item I always have in my pack is a 10″x15″x3/8″ white closed-cell foam pad. This can be used as a reflector or diffuser for close-ups, a kneeling pad, or something clean, dry, and comfortable to sit on. And always in my pocket (except when flying) is my Swiss Army Knife.
A few more items that I’ll add to my backpack specifically for this trip: reef-safe sunscreen, eco-friendly bug repellant, the rain cover that comes with my photo backpack, and a rain cover for the camera.
For the past several years my go-to bag for carrying my camera gear is the MindShiftGear Backlight 26L. This is a great photo backpack that will easily hold all the above and more. When fully packed, it can be a tight squeeze to get into the overhead bins of small regional airplanes, but I’ve never not been able to make it fit. Once I’m at my destination, I sometimes use a small, non-descript daypack for walking around towns and villages with minimal photo gear. While working at the upscale resorts I’ll use the more stylish ThinkTank Retrospective 7 messenger bag.
More photo gear that will go in my checked luggage, but will be carried with me while shooting, depending on need: tripod+ballhead, collapsible circular reflector, Nikon flash unit with diffuser and extension cord, ultra-mini tripod with flash shoe attachment.
What else goes in the checked luggage:
- Leatherman multi-tool
- Black Diamond FLZ hiking poles
- mini-screwdriver set
- filter wrench
- sunglasses
- spare eyeglasses
- spare cables for phone, hard drives, battery chargers
- waterproof case for iPhone
That leaves just enough room for clothing in my 26″ hard side spinner suitcase. It sure will be nice going to a warm, tropical climate, where I won’t have to pack cold-weather layers and bulky jackets.
A few things go in my backpack or messenger bag during my flights but get unpacked once I’m in my hotel: battery chargers and cables, spare batteries, and spare ball head. The latter is in case something happens to either my tripod or ball head. It’s not too difficult to find a make-do tripod in most cities, but finding a decent ball head is a different matter (been there, done that). I’m not taking any prescription medicines, but if I was I’d have those in my carry-ons.
My carry-on messenger bag will hold my MacBook Pro and charger, a couple of small external hard drives, cables for the drives and phone, triple-tap for sharing outlets in airports if needed, iPad mini (which I use as a book reader in lieu of a Kindle), AirPods, earplugs, sanitizer hand wipes, a snack bar, pen, and fine-point Sharpie. I try to keep all the documents and files I need for the trip in electronic form, but I always end up with a folder of paper docs as well.
So, that should about cover it. Am I forgetting anything? What are your must-have’s when packing for a photo trip?
UPDATE: With the Nikon Z system I was able to fit the bodies and lenses into my MindShift Gear Backlight 18L, a slightly smaller version of the very versatile Backlight 26L. This was my first trip with Think Tank Retrospective 7 and that bag turned out to be a real winner. It held the Nikon Z6, three lenses, four filters, remote release, and a few miscellaneous items and was easy to carry around hotels and while walking around towns.
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