ThinkTank have released what I think is probably the perfect roller for the photographer who needs to travel by air with a decent amount of kit on any kind of photography excursion. As many of my readers over the years will already know, one of the biggest problems I have [...]
This year our feature photo safari takes us to the Chobe region in the north east part of Botswana. Here is my thinking on what gear to take. Botswana is an amazing country. It’s blessed with unimaginable beauty in the form of Africa’s most exciting rivers for wildlife and adventure, [...]
A few weeks after our Ultimate Big 5 Safari in August, I found myself packing to fly to Cape Town where we had a 32 day adventure lined up, namely the Namaqualand to Namibia Safari. This time there was a lot more to pack, so I decided to put the ThinkTank Airport Security V2.0 to the task, seeing as I already knew it would fit on a smaller plane (one of our guests used it without drama on the flight from Kruger Airport to Jo’burg) and the plane to CT would certainly be a lot larger than that other one. I had planned to do a lot of landscape work on this trip so while I was going to bring along my Nikons and the Sigma 120-300/2.8, I also needed to find space for my entire mirrorless kit. Configuring the roller with the low divider set was challenging for the m43 stuff, mainly because the lenses are so much smaller and the dividers are designed for much bigger partitions. But I managed and here’s a shot from my iPhone of everything that fit inside the Security V2.0 roller. […]
As a photographer who organises wildlife safaris fairly often, the biggest elephant in the room I usually have to deal with is transporting my camera gear on airplanes between cities in South Africa. The issue is that if you are flying on a domestic airline within South Africa the rule for carry on luggage is that it can’t exceed a certain dimension or weight. This happens to be either 7 or 8kgs, depending on which flavour airline you’re on. Not a hell of a lot, is it? Put a couple of pro cameras with big lenses and a laptop into the mix and you’ll be over the limit very quickly. The domestic airlines here also restrict you to one piece of checked luggage that cannot exceed 20kgs. On my last safari to Namibia I think my camera bag was pretty close to 20kgs on its own. I’ll elaborate a bit more on what was in it later in this article. The volume side of the carry-on restrictions is not usually a problem, provided the bag you’re using fits into the little aluminium scaffolding apparatus they use to determine maximum proportions at the check-in counter. Smaller planes don’t always have overhead stowage so your bag has to fit under the seat in front of you which is not always a possibility, especially if it’s a really small plane and also if you find yourself sitting next to an emergency exit. […]
Somebody somewhere recommended this bag to me as a good option for a small mirrorless system. Our local pro shop had one in stock and I mulled over it for days. Eventually the GAS was too much to bear and I went down there yesterday, credit card in tow. An hour or so later and my entire m43 system was snuggled up inside it. That’s the OM-D E-M5, the Panasonic Lumix GF1, four lenses, the baby flash for the Oly, plus there’s room for at least 1 more lens, or perhaps a proper Olympus flash should I ever need one. Or maybe another OM-D in the future. You never know. […]