SLR/Housing travel tips

[E-diver]

Howdy folks,

So now that I finally have my hands on the new housing and strobes I have a few questions about travel. I should mention that I've read through several similar threads, in fact the soft sided cooler/personal dunk tank that I'll be using as a carry on came from one of them.

I've done quit a bit of dive travel, and have usually checked everything but regs and computer. However, my current plan is to back as much as I can/makes sense into the soft sided cooler posted above. This will most likely include housing, camera (Nikon D7000), pair of strobes (YS-D1), Sola 1200 focus light, arms, and Zen 100 mini dome for tokina 10-17. At some point I'll add macro port and lenses to the mix but it might be a few trips away. In addition my gut is to carry on camera chargers, power strips etc, to ensure they make it. I'm just curios how this relates to what most other SLR folks are lugging for LONG international trips. Also, when traveling do you typically mount ports for transports or carry them separately? I noticed for my Nauticam housing the recommend NOT transporting the camera in the housing during travel, which means double the space. I certainly don't want to risk damaging anything, but if I truly need to back the camera, housing, and dome all detached in the same bag it's going to fill up quickly.

Just looking for a sanity check here. Any other relevant tips you can share would be appreciated.

-E

 

[Scubanomad]

you can leave the dome mounted if it fits in your bag, just place a protection over the dome. Close the housing without the O-ring though. The camera, I would definately carry in a separate camera bag like a sling shot bag or something.

 

[retendokid]

This is a constant dilemma for the traveling underwater photographer, and to date I've not read a perfect solution offered by anyone. I tend to vary my packing configuration depending on where I'm traveling and what the airline constrictions (and actual airplanes) may be.

My own gear consists of two complete UW DSLR rigs (for my wife and I) including Nikon D90, and D7000, Nauticam housings for both, 2 60 mm Nikkor lenses, zen minidome, Nikon 105 lens, Tokina 10-17 lens, Nauticam ports, Sola focus lights, 4 Inon strobes, chargers, batteries, arms, fiberoptic synch cables etc etc etc. I've tried Pelican and Storm cases, both designed to fit in overhead compartments, a ThinkTank Photography case, an Ape Case Backpack, and Kata backpack. No matter the configuration, how I pack or repack, its always a hassle and expensive and risky to travel with UW camera gear.....but I do it anyway cuz I love it. Some people don't think its worth the trouble to haul their gear across the planet, but when I get there and get those cool shots, its always worth it. Plus, its not just underwater shots, but I love my DSLR for shooting the people and places and cultures I'm in.

Some lessons I've learned traveling to various destinations (Indonesia, Philippines, Fiji, Caribbean, North America etc.)

1) Never pack your camera inside your housing to save space. I damaged the shutter speed gear mechanism is my D90 housing doing that and was scolded by a Nauticam service technician when I got it repaired for doing that. Housings weren't designed for those kinds of hits and so while its a great space saver I no longer do that.
2) I now try to pack all my non-breakable photography gear in my checked luggage. This includes strobe arms, clamps, housing handles, rechargeable batteries etc. In my carry on I pack all the lenses, cameras, housings and strobes. People will make arguments about taking ALL your gear as carry-on in case the airlines lose your luggage but since I have most of my other dive gear in my checked luggage I'm pretty much screwed and wouldn't want to dive if they lose my luggage anyway. (although with todays computer tracking lost luggage happens with decreasing frequency)
3) If you travel in Asia, the luggage allowances are extremely limited so you just might as well plan on paying extra $$ for the privilege of lugging your gear on board. You can pack pretty efficiently to save space, but you can't do much to minimize weight. So if the airlines you are flying on weigh everything, you will pay.....no getting around it.
4) I often explain to the TSA/security people that I'm hauling UW photography gear and its saved me several complete unpacking security checks. I've explained to airline stewards/stewardesses that are looking to make people check their bags in the cargo hold cuz of limited space that I'm carrying delicate photo equipment and they always find space.
5) I will typically travel with my gear divided into one hard sided case (Storm Case) and one soft case/backpack so in the event that I'm told I have to check some of my carry on, I know its better protected. My hard side cases also have TSA locks, for whatever thats worth as prevention.
6) I use a Jamaican Smuggler by Stahlsac which is a super light roller duffle. I can fit all my dive gear, and clothing for a week, sundries, and camera parts mentioned above and still stay under 50 lbs. Fine for most US based flights but again will have to pay extra for flights leaving from Indo-pacific/Asian airports.
7)I've been debating about a technique I saw the owner of a dive travel company use. He's been running international dive trips and lugging his UW rigs for 25 years. He 'uses an Igloo hard sided plastic cooler. He wraps all his camera gear in bubble wrap and foam and packs them inside then puts tight nylon webbing straps around the whole thing. Then he just checks this as an extra bag where ever he travels. Seems like a true utilitarian solution that I might eventually adopt.
8) Dive equipment insurance covers theft and damage so having this on your camera gear can make for a little peace of mind while traveling, although theft or damage insurance isn't going to make you feel better on your trip when you can't take pictures.
9) Take all strobe, camera, housing manuals as pdfs on your computer or ipad or whatever. You don't want to lug unnecessary stuff and it seems like I'm always wanting to look something up just when the resort WIFI is down.
10) Have a packing list of all your underwater camera gear and check to make sure everything you need is in before heading to the airport.
11) Carry a miniature tool kit with o-rings, silicone grease, allen keys, picks, wrenches etc so that I can deal with any equipment issues and perform regular maintenance of UW rigs.
12) Pack efficiently. Soft things like lens cleaning kits etc can fit inside ports and domes if wrapped in cloth bags so they won't scratch. Everytime I pack everything up, it seems like I get a little smarter about space saving configurations to jamming it all in, so it does get better and easier with time


well, I'm still trying to figure out the best way to dive, travel, and lug camera gear but I know I won't stop diving and I won't stop taking pictures.




Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD the packing

 

[AndyT]

I lug all of my photo gear in a carry on.
I learned the hard way on a trip to the Red Sea.
My strobe arms, port extension rings and some other vital bits were in my checked in luggage which ended up taking a different route to mine, finally arriving on the day before we left.
End result was that I ened up shooting the whole trip with an 8mm FE,natural light only.


I now make sure all of my photo gear travels with me, plus I pack a spare t-shirt and pair of shorts + swimming costume. I can hire dive gear and buy some clothing if the stuff goes missing but not any of my photography stuff.
My next trip to the Phillipines also saw my checked in luggage taking a different route - fortunately I had all of my photo gear, the rest of my luggage arrived 7 days into the month long trip.