All too often when getting ready for a photography expedition we focus on packing our camera gear with little time spent focussing on anything else.
I must admit I’m guilty of it. I’ll pack every lens, lens cloths, a stack of memory cards, too many batteries, a tripod, 2 camera bodies, spirit levels, cable release, filter sets, a good 17kg+ (35lb+) packed camera bag.
A few hours into a shoot I’ll realise all the things I didn’t pack!
So here’s a list of 10 useful things you can put in your camera bag that will have a negligible impact to your load, but will come in very handy:
1. A Pencil Case – Fill it with gravel, sand or soil when on location and zip closed to use as a lens bean bag. After use empty it and slot it back into your camera bag.
2. A Tube of Super Glue – Things inevitably break. Super glue can be used on carbon fibre, aluminium, steal and plastic. It can also be used to suture close a wound, after all that’s what it was initially invented for!
3. A length of String – A simple piece of strong nylon string can come in really handy. I can’t count how many times I’ve snapped a shoe lace on a hiking boot whilst out on a shoot. It can also be used to tie up things including your camera bag if your zip fails.
4. Zip Lock Bags – Great for food storage. Great for keeping memory cards dry. Perfect for holding lens cleaning cloths.
5. PowerGel pack – Keeping one of these in your bag can be the saving grace when you get an attack of the grumbling tummy or when you start finding your energy levels slipping as you climb that next peak to get the perfect angle.
6. Collapsable water bottle – fill it with water before you set out for a shoot, the more you drink, the less space your water bottle takes. Why carry home a bulky, yet empty bottle if you don’t have to!
7. A whistle – More often than not when out on a shoot, people meander there own way around a location. If by chance you have a fall, roll an ankle or worse break a leg, nothing is better to alert your colleagues than the shrill pitch of a whistle blown with a dose of adrenaline.
8. Sunglasses/Sunblock – its 430am in the morning. You’re loading your camera bag into the back of a 4WD. Its pitch black. You’re using a headlamp to see and wearing a beanie as its dark and cool … but by lunchtime when the sun is up you’ll be burnt to a crisp and squinting. My latest sunblock tube has a carabiner and clips onto the side of my Lowepro bag.
9. That old 4GB you have lying around – We all have a pile of these small old memory cards lying around. But have you ever run out of card space? Or even worse, left your card case on the table top next to your laptop. Having that old small card that you were going to throw out now in your camera bag could make the difference between getting that shot and getting nothing.
10. Swiss Army Knife/Leatherman – The loose L-Bracket, the loose base plate, that stuck UV filter. A Swiss Army Knife/Leatherman can be the saviour on any trip. Just make sure you don’t leave it in your carry on luggage as they’re a little too expensive to donate to airport security when you have your luggage x-ray’d.
So there’s 10 things that you can add to your camera bag that won’t add much to your load that can help you keep up the enjoyment factor on your next photography expedition.