Re: Travelling by air
I travel overseas between 3-7 times a year, often to remote locations for weeks at a time and always with my EOS camera equipment: 7D with a 40D as spare, sometimes 1-V because I still like to shoot some film (Velvia 100), 60 & 100mm macro lenses, a wide angle, a 70-300 or 100-400 zoom, (all EF or EF-S), a 2x and a MT-E 65mm which I especially like to use when I have time.
All the above plus my laptop (Mac BookPro) and spare camera batteries (lithium ion should be hand carried not check-in according to airline regulations) fit easily in my very serviceable LowePro Vertex 200 which is designed as airline friendly. Flash guns, tripod, chargers, cables etc can go in my check-in. If camera gear doesn’t arrive or it arrives damaged where I travel I have absolutely no chance of replacing/repairing it and the trip is severely compromised.
Trouble is my pack-back weights 3.2kg empty, the 7D is 820g without the battery pack, there is the spare 40D body (even if I leave the 1-V behind), the laptop is probably a couple of kg, the lenses vary greatly but most are 600-1300g (little wide-angles can be packed in my clothing) but it all mounts up and quickly, you end up leaving lenses you thought you might need at home, and then wishing you had them.
My American colleagues cannot believe that airlines actually “weigh your hand baggage” because they come across this problem so infrequently. American airlines appreciate that it is dimensions that matter in the bins and under the seats (within reason of course) and many American airlines either have no weight limit (American, Delta, United) or they say stipulate heavier than 18kg, which is eminently reasonable.
Unfortunately non-American airlines are less forgiving. Many Asian airlines impose a 5kg allowance – we fell foul of this flying out of Brunei and it took a lot of negotiation, and not a little pleading, with Royal Brunei NOT to have the entire camera back-packs consigned the hold! I notice Nathaniel considered 5kg adequate in his initial post in this discussion, but then he went on to list two bodies, five lenses and peripherals which would have surely exceeded 5kg just looking at them.
Emirates, Cathay, Qantas and Singapore consider 7kg your lot, but that is still a relatively small amount if you want to take 2 bodies, 3-4 lenses and a laptop to download your images and communicate with the outside world. It would make a good Qlympics 2012 event, packing as much camera gear into a airline friendly camera bag and then making it look as light as a feather. But that is the secret, making it look light so nobody notices or bothers about it, but so often now you are asked “Do you have any hand luggage Sir?” followed by “Can you put it on the scales please”, then “I’m sorry but you are over your hand carry allowance, you will have to put something in your checkin bags”. This will be happening more and more because a travel industry insider has told me that airlines have been offering incentives to their check-in staff to enforce the baggage allowances more rigorously, so the friendly smile as a solution might be a thing of the past if someone’s bonus suffers as a result.
Surprisingly the best deals are some of the budget airlines like easyjet, ‘so long as its fits the dimensions and you can lift it into the bin you can take it’, and best of all, British Airways with a 23kg that equals your check-in allowance. Now that certainly would make them “The World’s Favourite Airline”, if their flights were not so expensive in the first place.
I travel overseas between 3-7 times a year, often to remote locations for weeks at a time and always with my EOS camera equipment: 7D with a 40D as spare, sometimes 1-V because I still like to shoot some film (Velvia 100), 60 & 100mm macro lenses, a wide angle, a 70-300 or 100-400 zoom, (all EF or EF-S), a 2x and a MT-E 65mm which I especially like to use when I have time.
All the above plus my laptop (Mac BookPro) and spare camera batteries (lithium ion should be hand carried not check-in according to airline regulations) fit easily in my very serviceable LowePro Vertex 200 which is designed as airline friendly. Flash guns, tripod, chargers, cables etc can go in my check-in. If camera gear doesn’t arrive or it arrives damaged where I travel I have absolutely no chance of replacing/repairing it and the trip is severely compromised.
Trouble is my pack-back weights 3.2kg empty, the 7D is 820g without the battery pack, there is the spare 40D body (even if I leave the 1-V behind), the laptop is probably a couple of kg, the lenses vary greatly but most are 600-1300g (little wide-angles can be packed in my clothing) but it all mounts up and quickly, you end up leaving lenses you thought you might need at home, and then wishing you had them.
My American colleagues cannot believe that airlines actually “weigh your hand baggage” because they come across this problem so infrequently. American airlines appreciate that it is dimensions that matter in the bins and under the seats (within reason of course) and many American airlines either have no weight limit (American, Delta, United) or they say stipulate heavier than 18kg, which is eminently reasonable.
Unfortunately non-American airlines are less forgiving. Many Asian airlines impose a 5kg allowance – we fell foul of this flying out of Brunei and it took a lot of negotiation, and not a little pleading, with Royal Brunei NOT to have the entire camera back-packs consigned the hold! I notice Nathaniel considered 5kg adequate in his initial post in this discussion, but then he went on to list two bodies, five lenses and peripherals which would have surely exceeded 5kg just looking at them.
Emirates, Cathay, Qantas and Singapore consider 7kg your lot, but that is still a relatively small amount if you want to take 2 bodies, 3-4 lenses and a laptop to download your images and communicate with the outside world. It would make a good Qlympics 2012 event, packing as much camera gear into a airline friendly camera bag and then making it look as light as a feather. But that is the secret, making it look light so nobody notices or bothers about it, but so often now you are asked “Do you have any hand luggage Sir?” followed by “Can you put it on the scales please”, then “I’m sorry but you are over your hand carry allowance, you will have to put something in your checkin bags”. This will be happening more and more because a travel industry insider has told me that airlines have been offering incentives to their check-in staff to enforce the baggage allowances more rigorously, so the friendly smile as a solution might be a thing of the past if someone’s bonus suffers as a result.
Surprisingly the best deals are some of the budget airlines like easyjet, ‘so long as its fits the dimensions and you can lift it into the bin you can take it’, and best of all, British Airways with a 23kg that equals your check-in allowance. Now that certainly would make them “The World’s Favourite Airline”, if their flights were not so expensive in the first place.
Comment