031 - 8 Top Tips for Packing Your Camera for Travel

I’ve had my fair share of close calls when travelling with my camera gear. Bags knocked around, gear that has fallen into one another in transit, memory cards buried and thought lost, a circular polarizer that nearly ended up in the ocean in the Cinque Terra in Italy, and other not-so-disastrous situations. But things that came close. What stopped these from becoming true disasters is that I am very careful when packing up my kit and getting ready for any long-haul travel days (like getting on airplanes and trains). Places where gear may get knocked around a fair bit. It’s so important on these travel days to protect your gear. That’s why today, I’m going to talk about my 8 rules for packing your camera on long-haul days so that it arrives at your destination safe and sound.

Travelling is such an amazing experience. There are many many reasons each of us loves hitting the open road and seeing new places. But, I don’t necessarily love the act of getting to some of these places. There are those days where we won’t see our gear much because we will be in a bus seat for 12-hours or in an airplane for 18-hours to get to where we are going. And then there is the transit to the accommodation, or another flight, or another bus ride. You get where I’m going. The act of getting somewhere can be rough on not just our minds and bodies but on our gear as well. So let’s talk about 8 rules for packing your photography gear for long haul travel days.

Let’s get going with our very first rule.

Rule #1 - Keep Your Gear With You

As much as you possibly can, avoid checking your gear when you are getting on an airplane and avoid putting it underneath busses. Just avoid putting it in the hands of other people who have a lot of stuff to move and may not treat your equipment with the reverence that it deserves.

I say this for two reasons. Firstly, it is far less likely to break if you are handling it and secondly it is far less likely to go missing. Putting your gear out of sight gives people more opportunities to take it. So just keep it with you and your gear will be a lot safer and more secure.

You also don’t need to worry about x-ray scanners with digital cameras. Security checkpoints and screenings don’t affect memory cards, batteries or digital cameras. If you are still shooting on film, let the people at security know and ask for your bag to be hand searched. 

Rule #2 - Limit what you are bringing

The easiest way to keep gear down to carry on size? Don’t bring so much with you. Think through carefully about what you are bringing. Do you really need that extra lens or that flash? Are you going to shoot long exposures?

Think about what you want to take photos of, then bring the gear that you need for that. I’ve always found that travelling lighter opens me up to more artistic expression, which means I can get better photos with less gear weighing me down. 

Rule #3 - Get a Padded Case

I’ve watched a lot of people just drop a camera into a shoulder bag and then put that into an overhead bin. Please don’t do this to your equipment! Make sure to put your gear away into a padded bag that will help absorb any shocks or drops that can happen during travel. I’ve had a bag pop out of an overhead compartment on a train when we had to break quickly and I’ve seen a lot of luggage fall off of trollies during transport through the airport. Keeping your camera in a padded case will help prevent it from being damaged during some of these falls.

You can use everything from a shoulder bag with camera inserts (like one of my favourites, the Peak Design Everyday Messenger Bag) to a proper Pelican Case (although this is a bit excessive in my eyes for carry on). Just look for what is going to protect your gear and will work for where and how you are travelling. I personally love using a camera box that slides into my daypack as my personal item on flights. This way I can quickly show security my gear and I can store it either in my backpack during the flight or at my feet if I think I may want to take a few photos. These boxes are normally hard-sided with padded, flexible interiors that allow me to change configurations depending on the gear I’m bringing.

Rule #4 - Disassemble Everything. Every Single Time.

This one can be a bit of a pain. But it is so necessary. You need to break down your gear every single time you are going to pack it for a long day of travel on airplanes and bumpy bus rides. This means separating the lens from the camera and securing all caps on lenses and camera bodies.

This can be an annoying process, but it is fundamental in ensuring that your camera continues to work properly. Big falls can result in a lens snapping off the camera body, meaning hefty damage to both the camera and the lens. On the subtler side, you can have a lens that shifts slightly around constantly and, while it may not snap off, the bumping can cause damage to the electronic connectors between the camera body and the lens. This may prevent certain functions to stop working or maybe even prevent you from changing lenses. So save yourself the headaches and possible damage and just take everything apart.

Rule #5 - Store It Tightly

After you’ve taken everything apart, make sure that each lens, camera body and any accessories are all stored tightly and away from each other. You don’t want your camera equipment to be sliding into one another, possibly causing damage. You also don’t want the gear to come bouncing out of a bag. So make sure that each piece of gear has a physical barrier between it and the next piece and that the gear fits securely into the spot you are storing it. This is one of the reasons I love the flexibility of internal camera boxes.

Before you lock all the gear into place, just go through and make sure all the caps are in place securely one more time. Then lock everything down so it won’t move during transport.

Rule #6 -  Secure the Extra Items

Every photographer knows how many extra little things we need to carry with us. Batteries, memory cards, charging cords, filters, and so many other little things. You need to make sure these are stored correctly as well. One so that they don’t get lost or broken but also so that they don’t slide into where your lenses or camera are and scratch that expensive touch screen or the glass itself. I like to keep all my extras secure in a Peak Design Tech Pouch that closes up on its own. So each item gets stored inside a pouch inside of the tech pouch and then that pouch gets tucked securely away (either in the camera box or in my backpack depending on how much gear I’m carrying).

Make sure to include all cords and other little items in here. You really don’t want them knocking around with your full kit.

Rule #7 - Silica Gel Packs

Pack silica gel packs into your camera gear to absorb moisture while you travel. Silica gel packs are those little things that come with seemingly every product that say “do not eat” on them. These are used to absorb moisture and they are a great way to keep your camera safe from the condensation that can happen at high altitudes or with drastic temperature changes. They won’t protect it from full-on water, but the condensation that it does protect from is huge. Plus, you can get them free in nearly everything you buy, so worth putting in your bag.

Just keep an eye on them and if they are looking a little thread bear replace it. I’ve had one burst open before and that was not a fun cleaning process.

Rule #8 - Record What You Packed

Sometimes bad things happen, things get misplaced and you need to know what you brought with you. So before you go, make a record of what went into your camera kit.

I’d suggest doing this in just a simple note on your phone that gets backed up to the cloud so that if your phone goes missing along with your gear, you still have a record of it somewhere.

This record should include all accessories (batteries, filters, etc…), lenses, camera bodies, and how many of each. If an item has a serial number, also record that as it can be helpful for insurance and possible police identification.

If you are going on a trip with a bunch of other photographers, this can also be helpful just to make sure you bring all your gear back with you and it doesn’t accidentally get mixed in with other gear.