[Leica] Best practices for carrying camera gear on long-haul trips

[Brian Reid]

I'd like to mention that over the years I have seen photographs taken by 
Duane Birkey in a very large number of distant places, so he obviously 
travels far and wide with camera gear. He speaks from experience.

On 2024-03-26 18:23, Duane Birkey via LUG wrote:
> The only photo gear I will ever put in checked luggage is a tripod...
> or a light stand...  Having watched how suitcases are handled and
> looking at the wear and tear inflicted on my checked luggage on every
> trip...  there is no way I would put any gear in a suitcase or checked
> bag.
> 
> I usually use a Domke satchel full of my primary gear that goes under
> my seat as a personal item.... and a roller/spinner carryon filled
> with spare gear/extra batteries/ chargers, my laptop and a couple sets
> of clothes/padding.   My carryon bag usually pushes 30+ pounds... When
> I am working my whole kit is typically 2 or 3 bodies, 6 or 7 lenses,
> two flashes, and audio recorder/mics/cables...  I don't take that much
> gear on vacation....
> 
> If packing camera gear into two bags, I do recommend packing things so
> that you have everything you need together in each bag, charger, extra
> batteries/ cards, lenses etc...   so if you were to lose one bag....
> you have enough gear in the other bag for your trip...
> 
> If you are taking more gear than what fits in a camera bag and a
> carryon...  you are taking way too much gear...
> 
> I don't carry liquids in my carryon, and I rarely ever have any issues
> going through security even with all my gear...   and I when I do have
> issues it is when I'm entering some countries that are not fond of
> people bringing in that amount of gear...   I tell them that I always
> carry extra gear in case I am held up and my whole bag gets stolen....
> they usually say something like oh no,  you won't have to worry about
> that here... and then they let me through....
> 
> The only time I do have trouble in security is when I travel with a
> Leica table tripod and the large ball head....  I've learned to
> separate those two items as together it looks too much like a
> gun/silencer...  I've lost track of how many times I have been flagged
> for those... whether in carryon or checked luggage...  ( I stopped
> putting it in checked luggage)
> 
> Either way... I have had no problems traveling with lots of photo gear
> in my carryons...  a laptop-size shoulder bag and a regulation size
> spinner carryon doesn't attract much attention....
> 
> Duane
> 
> 
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