Travel Gear

Different trips call for different amounts and even types of gear. Case in point was our almost month-long trip through Amsterdam, Germany and Austria.

Along with our large two checked-in bags Marion and I were both hauling a carry-on bag for the flight plus two camera bags.

In the camera bags we each had an Olympus camera (OM-1 and OM-5) and I had a bunch of lenses (12-45, 12-100; 8-25, 40-150; and the heavy 17mm f/1.2) and extra batteries.

Normally this kit wouldn’t be too much to handle on a daily basis just walking around but on day one we ran into problems with our train from Frankfurt to Amsterdam.

So we spent seven hours hauling two very heavy travel cases, two carry on bags and two heavy camera bags. By the end of the day we were exhausted.

Things were so bad that in Amsterdam we rearranged our stuff and threw away a big knapsack and replaced my carry-on stuff into our checked-in luggage.

But we still had the camera bags to contend with but now that we were settled it was easier to walk with one lens depending on whether it was day time or a night time walk.

Looking back we needed this gear because a lot of our shooting was using the telephotos. But we could have done with smaller digital cameras (why not film will come in a future post) but not for everything. When we looked at the vast majority of our images most were shot around a range from 28mm to 50mm but some images required long telephotos to work.

I’m thinking seriously that a FujiFilm X100 might get most of the job done at a 1/10th the weight. I could even carry it around in my new “man bag” (more on this to come). Yes we wouldn’t get the long telephoto shots but heavy lenses do take their toll after carrying them around for a couple of days.

The other “solution” would have been pack everything into a Wandrd full-size back pack. While a big pack that can carry a lot of weight it does sit right on the shoulders and the hips. Much better than a messenger-style bag that is continually moving around on your shoulder.