Packing Your Camera Bag for an Extended Wildlife Trip
Ian PlantDescription
What would it be like to pack your camera gear for an extended, photography excursion away from home? In this free video, professional outdoor photographer, Ian Plant, will take you through his own preparations as he plans for a month in Africa.
Ian’s assignments include wildlife and landscape work. He packs light but smart. In his camera bag, he carries two telephoto lenses, an ultra wide-angle zoom lens, a mid-range zoom lens, a handheld flash with extender, and two DSLR camera bodies including the full frame. Ian also includes his lightweight tripod with ball head.
Join world traveler, Ian Plant, as he gives you tips on how to pack your photo gear for a long trip.
Hi, Ian Plant here. I'm about to leave for a month long trip to Africa. I'll be visiting the countries of Namibia, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. And so I'm gonna be doing a mix of wildlife and landscape photography. So this is what's going in my camera bag. Start off with my wildlife kit. This is my Canon 200 to 400 millimeter lens with a built-in one, four extender. And I'm gonna slide that over here in my guru gear bag also gonna be bringing my flash, flashes a critical wildlife accessory. I typically use flash at low power just to add a little bit of fill light to my wildlife subjects and to create a catch light in the eye. So that is gonna go in here with the big lens. And then I've got my flash extender which is another critical wildlife accessory. This is a small Fresnel lens that goes onto this device that wraps around the flash. And this allows me to extend the range of my flash. So that is gonna go in with my flash, go over here and that's gonna complete the packing on this side. Now my camera, I've got my a 70 Mark two which is a crop sensor camera. And I use that mostly for wildlife. That gives me a little extra reach. And then my five D Mark three which is the full frame camera which I use for my landscape work. And a lot of my wildlife work I'm bringing my Canon 100 to 400 millimeter lens which is a really great hand holdable lens. It gives me a lot of range. I'm hoping to photograph mountain grills when I'm in the Congo in the Rwanda. So this will be the perfect lens for that, slides in right here for landscape. I've got my Canon 11 to 24 millimeter lens which is an ultra wide angle lens. I use this on my full frame camera giving me 11 millimeters on my full frame camera, which is the widest angle of view of any lens it's currently available. That's gonna go right here and I have my Canon 24 to 70 millimeter lens which is a mid range zoom, perfect for landscape subjects when I have to zoom in a little bit more, when I don't need that ultra wide angle perspective it's also great for wildlife subjects. When wildlife gets relatively close and I need a wide angle lens, and then I've got my a battery charger and a spare battery, electronic shutter remote for triggering the shutter when doing landscape work to avoid any vibration, when I trigger the shutter, a wallet full of spare CF and SD card. So I have plenty of storage space for all the wildlife photos I'll be taking and then a few lens gloves to help keep my lens clean. And then we'll have a few things for support. I've got, of course, my tripod with a sturdy ball head, and this ball head is also usable for wildlife photography. It operates like a gimbal head. And then I've also got my beanbag, which is perfect for support when I'm shooting from the vehicles. So this will be useful when I'm shooting wildlife when I'm on Safari in a Etosha National Park of Namibia. So that is my complete kit, this bag and all my camera gear will go with me as my carry on, on the plane. The rest of this stuff will be checked in my luggage and I can't wait to get there. It's gonna be an exciting trip.
Because of weight and size limits-rather than packing all that gear would you be able to recommend an appropriate bridge camera with fast enough shutter speed and zoom to photograph birds at distance?
Hi I too attempt to pack a lot of gear into my carry-on luggage but recently I’ve been stopped at the gate because its overweight. The result is that they put my gear in the hold as checked baggage How do you get past the 7kg (15lb) limit with all of that gear?
What tripod did you show in this video? It seemed relatively small. I'm 6'2" and would like something tall enough without having to raise the center column, yet compact enough for travel and hiking. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
How do you get around the cabin luggage bag size and more so the weight restrictions? Some airlines only allow 7kg's
What filters do you use for landscape other than a polarizer?
Hello Ian, that such mark II goes the canon 7d, with the topic of area and brightness. And another question you have proved the Tamron 15-30 mm f2.8 I gave VC USD? A greeting and to say to you that I am charmed with as photographies.
I have been looking for the perfect bag and the Gura Gear bag Ian is showing looks like it just might be the right one for me. What model is the bag?