Additional equipment for a trip

[Manfred M]

We are just coming off a very busy crazy period at work, so my wife and I have decided we need to get away for a couple of weeks to "recharge the batteries", so to speak. For us, this means heading off to some remote part of the world for a couple of weeks, with our cameras and a fairly limited amount of gear (it isn't a luxury trip so transportation and accomodation will be fairly basic). We are limiting ourselves to a large duffle bag for clothes and a camera backpack each. We leave in less than 3 weeks (off to the travel medicine clinic on Monday).

This time we are heading off to Ethiopia and will be heading into the southern part of the country (i.e. south of Addis Ababa) down towards the border with Kenya. Of interest is that we will be getting into the areas where the Ari, Karo, Murse, Hamer and Dassanech people live, so we are hoping for some good people shots. I expect the days will be sunny and much of the shooting will be your typical travel photography; i.e. highly opportunistic and during periods where we will be fighting with the lighting.

I'm thinking of taking the D800 (D90 as backup) and just going with the f/2.8 24-70mm, the f/2.8 70-200mm. I'll have a few filters and the tripod along as well. I'm also going to want to take the SB900 for fill lighting, and this is where I am wondering if I need to pick up something like a Lastolite Ezybox as a modifier. The last time I shot in similar conditions, I found that using the on-camera flash was not giving me the quality of light I was looking for.

Any other thoughts on equipment that I might consider taking.

[Andrew76]

I don't have any advice, but I am quite jealous of your trip! That's awesome, Manfred - and I can't wait to see the shots! Have a great time!

[rpcrowe]

Manfred... The Joe Demb Flash Diffuser Pro is an extremely light weight and easily transportable modifier which is really versatile. It can be effective in any place from a small room with a low ceiling to a large church with ceilings too high off which to bounce. It can also be used outdoors at night and for fill in the day. Another nice attribute is that it can fit virtually any hotshoe flash (mini models like the 270ex ii excepted). It is very reasonably priced also.
www.dembflashproducts.com

Note: There are Chinese knock-offs available but, my OEM Flash Diffuser Pro is better made than the knock-off I tried...

Here are a few shots with a Canon 550ex on camera modified with the Flash Diffuser Pro. These were from a trip to China...

[Manfred M]

We hoping for an awesome trip Andrew, and I hope to get some great images.

Richard; I do use flash diffusers on my flash, but the underlying issue is that I find that they enhance indoor work, especially where I can bounce the light from someplace, they are still a small light source. For the type of shooting I expect to be doing a light modifier that gives me a larger light source would probably be better. If I weren't flying, I would be tempted to take a softbox and a studio strobe or an umbrella, but they take up too much space.

[Mike Buckley]

I'm already counting down the days to see the photos!

[William W]

Hi Manfred: the advice from my point of view . . .

I make a lot of Photos and manage quite a few people in my day to day work, typically when I get away for 5 to 7 days to ‘recharge the batteries’ I take one of my 5Ds and a fast 35 or fast 50 Prime and that is it – that is when I go to the typical “recharge the batteries resort” because when I do that, I am not really interested in either talking to people, or making many Photographs – and we usually go to a resort where there is no mobile phone or sat. internet coverage, too.

Last year I really relaxed in a different way and we took a much longer holiday that we ever have before: travelling around Europe in a car for more than 8 weeks - and I put a lot of thought into what to take with me, because I knew that I would want to make a lot of photographs; but also I wanted to travel very light.

To cut a long process short – I took: 5D; 24 to 105/4 IS; 35/1.4; 15/2.8 Fish; no flash; no tripod; no monopod; CPL Filter; Powershot SX40HS as my backup camera.
I made just over 8000 frames: about 87% with the 24 to 105; 10% with the 35/1.4; 3% with the 15/2.8.

I would choose the same kit again for a light weight travelling holiday.

24mm was wide enough for most everything; F/1.4 was fast enough and 35mm was wide enough for everything inside in dark; 105 was long enough – I’ve cropped some to the equivalent FoV of just a tad more than FL =200mm, quite OK for outdoor shots in good light; tripod/monopod? – I improvised when necessary.

I went out and bought the 24 to 105 especially as a lens for this task: and I am glad that I did – it fits the bill perfectly.

***

Addressing your specific question about the Flash, If I were to take a Flash, then, I would take a ‘packing flat’ ‘cannot break me’ ‘light weight’ bounce mitt – like this DYI model:



WW

[Manfred M]

Mike - same here. I'm looking forward to getting there, but am not necessarily looking forward to the long flights.


Thanks for your thoughts Bill. I might rethink the lenses a bit, especially for the street photography opportunities in Addis Ababa. I am thinking of getting a teleconverter (versus taking the long lenses and assocaited space and weight impact) for some of the wildlife and portraiture opportunities. Your homemade reflector is iquite nteresting.

[GrahamS]

I wouldn't travel without these:

http://www.amazon.com/Fotodiox-Premium-Grade-Professional-Collapsible-Reflector/dp/B003Y2KC7W/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1382875667&sr=8-2&keywords=folding+reflector

http://www.amazon.com/Fotodiox-Speed...ref=pd_sim_p_4

[loosecanon]

The bit of kit I would take is a GPS unit. Synchronise the clock on the camera with it, and you will know where each image was taken. The Map function in Lightroom really works well - so much of a time saver for it to look up and label your images for you. Slightly better GPS will also display on a world map where you are, but a simple unit will do all you need for photography and much cheaper than dedicated units from camera manufacturers.

[Manfred M]

Thanks for the suggestions

Graham - I was thinking the same thing. I do have a 42" reflector, but even in the collapsed state, it is not going to fit inside my bag (It's fairly narrow bag). So I am not quite sure what I am going to do...

Loosecanon - Yes, the GPS is going for sure, I have the Nikon GPS-1, so it writes the location data to the image metadata file. I will definitely be covered there. This is one Lightroom feature that I do use.

[GrahamS]

Manfred - have a look at this:http://digital-photography-school.co...it-photography

You don't need a 42" one - I carry a 8" double sided - silver and white.

[davidedric]

Can't help with the kit but a comment on Ethipia. It's a long time since we were there, but tourists were rare and I think we hsd as many photos taken of us as vice versa. Absolutely fascinating country of extraordinary contrasts. I hope you will share your experiences as well as your photos.

Dave

[Andrew1]

I use one of these softboxes and they fold down flat.
http://www.lumiquest.ca/

I also carry foam sheets from Michael's that I cut to size to use as bounce cards on the flash. Held on with rubber bands it can be rolled, molded, bent, etc to get the right amount of light going forward. Really just a DIY version of http://www.expoimaging.com/product-d...&product_id=21

Small reflectors are a bit more versatile in that they can be used to bounce both the ambient and flash.

Have a great trip.

[RustBeltRaw]

I'm a fan of the ExpoImaging Rogue Flashbender, large version. The small one is sort of a joke, but if you're at relatively close range, the large size is excellent. Flexibility makes it pretty easy to fine-tune your light. I've used them as gobos and snoots, too. Quite handy, but you'll probably want a set of gels to go with it. Almost all of my flash work uses some kind of correction gel. But if you could only bring one light mod, a reflector is probably the way to go.

No one's mentioned batteries yet. If your camera can accept a AA adapter (most Canon battery grips), I recommend picking one up. 60Hz 120VAC isn't everywhere. AAs are nearly universal.

Would it be worth adding an ultra-wide to your lens selections? Might be helpful if you're after any vistas or interior shots.

[Manfred M]

I'd like to thank everyone for the advice.

Lex, Andrew; Large ExpoImaging Flashbender is on order from B&H and should be here early next week.

Graham - my white and silver reflector does fit in the luggage, so it is going along too.

Rather than taking a light stand and softbox, I have found I can modify my walking stick to hold a flash bracket and Speedlight, which means I can pop my convertable (white reflector / shoot through) umbrella in the pack as well. Pocketwizard PlusII and TT are going as well.

I'm still vacillating on whether I take the 14-24mm lens or my L-bracket and long rail (super wide angle versus pano gear).

Lots of batteries too; we will be going over a week without being in places to recharge them. so something I can't afford to run out of. This means 4 batteries for the D800, five for the D90s and 24 AA rechargable PowerEx for the flashes and backup for the camera handle. We've done several trips where we have gone that long without power, so should be okay.

CPols are going for sure, I am also looking at GND and ND. Tripod and remote release for sure as well. GPS is going too. Stuff to keep the gear clean (rain won't likely be a problem in November, but dust might be). Tons of SD and CF capacity for sure too. Not sure on whether my old netbook or a laptop is going; primarily to run the two portable HD for backup (500GB each).

We'll be packing next weekend, so I have another week to finalize exactly what is going. Hopefully I will have enough space for clothing and toilet paper (the parts of Ethiopia we will be visiting are in the BYOTP (bring your own toilet paper) zone.

[GrahamS]

Here's a final suggestion: http://pacsafe.com/products

[Manfred M]

Thanks Graham - we do have some security stuff, but nothing quite as extensive as what is shown here.

I'm hoping that our system for staying secure continues to work; well over 40 countries visited so far; almost half fall into the "developing / third world" group and we had high end camera gear along for many of those trips. Hopefully, our good fortune will continue to hold...

[Basu1947]

Manfred: I don't have any advise, but looking forward to seeing your shots when you get back. Bon Voyage. Basu

[Manfred M]

Manfred: I don't have any advise, but looking forward to seeing your shots when you get back. Bon Voyage. Basu

Thanks Basu - we leave in less than a week, so I will start finalizing the gear I am going to take over the weekend. My Flashbender, additional spare battery, and a few other small items arrived yesterday and I will play around with them this weekend.

I found some images that Joey L took in the Omo Valley (we will be there for about 3 nights). I'm sure that I won't be able to get images quite as good as his, but they sure inspire me. (I won't be traveling with a Phase 1 camera and studio lights).

http://www.joeyl.com/personal-galler...le-of-mankind/

http://www.joeyl.com/personal-galleries/portraits/

[ajohnw]

One thing I forgot completely on a recent trip to Turkey is that I could have shot some panoramas. I don't just mean horizontal ones either it's possible to do them both ways together. Perspective correction too. Opportunity lost but it would have been ideal for a number of situations.

Not sure how PS etc is with this sort of thing but an application called Hugin will handle it and is now considered completely stable. I haven't used it for panoramas only for perspective correction but intend to go out and shoot a few shots just to try it.

I did take extension tubes but surprisingly insect life seemed to be near none existent. Also the essential in my view rubber bulb blower. Don't like the brushes and only touch lenses surfaces when I clean them.

I seem to recollect a comment from you that suggests you might have m 4/3. The 100-300mm doesn't take up much space if you feel you might need some reach. I would have still been well within the hand luggage range covering 24-600mm in 35mm terms. As I thought that the 100-300 wouldn't be needed I took 12-50 and 40 to 150mm. Including the 100-300mm all up weight including a heavy waterproof shoulder bag is 3.2kg. I can get it in a smaller canvas shoulder bag but the strap on the bigger one is wider. No flash though other than the clip on one.

Bit of a plug for M 4/3 but I seem to remember you agreeing with my comment that the panasonic 40-200 is a bit soft. To much so in my view. So you may have some m 4/3 gear. I've found that the 100-300mm is acceptable so far but may fall a bit short of my ideal - being able to crop to a 600mm m4/3 view. The IS in the lens seems to be excellent.

John
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