Seeing that as I’m writing this I am mid-travel on my way to Trinidad, I felt it appropriate to talk a little bit about gear safety while traveling. As seasoned CameraPorn readers may know from previous posts, I from time-to-time travel to Trinidad (read here, here and here). This and a recent, horrible gear theft experience of a friend of mine (more on that later), got me thinking a little bit more about gear safety. Now I’m not talking about professional swimsuit photographers off to Bali, or insane conflict photographers to a war zone. I’m talking about you, and me and most of the readers of this blog… serious hobbyists, traveling for fun and shooting pleasure. For me these trips usually mean a hot, sweaty, foreign country, though the tips I’m going to share can apply to almost anything from a day trip to the desert or an adventure to remote villages in India.
And so we begin, 6 ways to keep your gear happy, safe and sound during your travels.
1. Don’t Be an Idiot…
…or use the common sense you have buried somewhere in that head of yours.
Seem vague? It is pretty broad and all-encompassing because most of the things I’m going to list are all common sense driven, but what I’m talking about here is that basic stuff that we all forget sometimes due to a momentary brain fart. I’m saying stuff like, if you are in a crowded cafe in a foreign place and you leave your bag on the back of your chair when you go take a leak, expect it to be gone when you get back or if you are going on a boat trip in rough waters, bring a big friggin plastic bag. Its really just a matter of being aware that you have thousands of dollars worth of gear on your person, and there are a million ways it can be lost, stolen or damaged. Now on to the specifics…
2. Take Only What you Need
If you are planning a trip, do a little critical thinking about what you want to shoot, and take only what is necessary. Bringing more than you need not only means you are lugging around a bunch of extra weight, it also exposes you to more risk of loss. For example, on this trip, I know I want to shoot a wide range of things.
I know I’m going to be doing some walkaround street shooting, so the 28-70 zoom is coming along for its versatility.
Wait, I might also trek through a bit of wilderness. Trinidad has lots of birds and lots of bugs. In comes the 80-200mm, 2x doubler and a 105mm Macro for the little stuff.
Looks like I’m only missing a bit on the wide end, so I’ll throw in the 10.5mm for some landscapes. It’s tiny and fits in a shoe in my carry-on. 
Effectively, I’m covered from wide to long at 10.5mm all the way up to 400mm with the doubler. Pretty solid.
Yes, this is a decent amount of gear, but I’m really not doubling up on much across focal ranges except for the macro, but there is no substitute if thats what you want to shoot. The doubler is a great help because its small, and it keeps me from bringing a heavy, bulky, telephoto. If i decided I only wanted to shoot people and landscapes, I’d leave it all out except for the 28-70mm and I’d throw in a fast prime. The point here is, figure out what you want to shoot and bring the gear for it and thats it.
3. Don’t Check Unless ABSOLUTELY Necessary
First of all, how many times have you or a loved one flown somewhere only to arrive to have a lost bag? If you’re traveling to shoot, the day or two it takes to get your bag back could be devastating to your plans. Secondly, if you’ve ever looked out the window as they are tossing bags onto the plane’s conveyor, they aren’t using kid gloves. Now imagine how they toss it onto the baggage claim conveyor when no one is looking. A soft bag flying through the air onto a hard object is not the place for sensitive electronic equipment and optical glass. Thirdly, don’t think shady baggage handlers won’t get into your bag, locked or not and steal the goods. It’s happened, and it might just happen to you.
As i mentioned before, this post is not targeted towards pro-shooters with tons of gear, bet reagardless, if you do ever find yourself having to check some or all of your gear in, here are a couple tips:
- Spread The Love - Try to carry-on what you can if possible, even if its just the body and a versatile lens. If your bag gets lost, you’ll thank me. At least you’ll have some way to shoot.
- Get Hard - Check your gear in a lockable, hard-shelled travel case with lots of foam padding.
- Lock it up! - Don’t be lazy, either get a TSA certified lock or wait until they are done screening your bag and lock it. They generally let you.
So this will get you there. Since you are a traveling as a photo enthusiast and not a professional working in another country, you shouldn’t have to worry too much about customs.
4. Secure Your Gear
So you made it, now what? Depending on where you are visiting and your accomodations, your gear may or may not be safe in your room. I generally err on the side of caution no matter how nice my hotel is. You gotta figure, some less-developed places you visit, your kit may be worth a considerable amount more than those who have access to your room make in a year (housekeeping, bellman, etc), so keep that in mind. If there is an in-room safe, use it to store what fits. If there isn’t, and you can’t take it with you, get creative with hiding stuff if you feel uncomfortable with the security. Even in a private residence or at rest your gear isn’t always safe. When I interviewed Alex Smailes, a conflict photographer based in Trinidad, he mentioned that his kit gets decimated on average once of year due sometimes due to theft, which leads to the next point…
5. Keep Your Gear Close
Another aspect of keeping your gear safe is in transit and on location. I mentioned a “horrible gear theft” in the intro to this post. A friend of mine and ridiculously talented photographer, who will remain nameless for now, (i hope to get him to share his experience with you guys) took a recent trip to backpack around Central America, and here’s pretty much how his day went. Land, get on bus, have some seemingly nice gentleman help him put his bag on luggage rack, arrive at destination, open bag to find tin cans.
Yes, he lost his whole kit and it was a doozy, we’re talking 5D, L glass everywhere. It was a devastating loss. What could have been done to prevent this and thefts like it?
- Do not let a stranger handle your kit - Even seemingly helpful people sometimes have malicious intentions. In inhospitable places, its important to realize that if you leave your gear unattended for even the shortest time, it can disappear, be wary of this and try not to get too distracted.
- Watch your back - I know this is starting to sound like some james bond shit, but hear me out. Say you are carrying around your Lowepro full of shiny camera gear, you throw it in your rental car trunk, drive a bit down the road and stop for a beer. You are in the bar maybe 5 minutes, you come back out, and your windows busted, trunk popped and gear gone. This happens, and is another story of loss I heard from Alex. If someone pegs you as having something they want, don’t think they wont go to abnormal lengths to get it.
6. Insure, Insure, Insure
This is one that many of us have not done yet, but its absolutely necessary if you are traveling a lot. You would insure a $10,000 car wouldn’t you? Do the same for your camera equipment. There are reasonable plans out there, (of which I can’t recommend quite yet) so try to get one, and make sure it covers international travel. This way, even if you have a devastating loss, you can get your stuff back with as little financial hit as possible.
And that’s that, my tips for keeping your precious, beautiful gear safe when traveling. Do you have any tips to add? Any horrible experiences to share? Leave ‘em in the comments.
Very useful tricks! Thanks
Most of it are common sense but…you never know 
One trick I had always learned was to buy a second hand, ratty looking diaper bag. One that fits around your existing camera bag (or if you want, retro it for your gear). But still, don’t expect this to be the end-all solution.
Great post with some great info. The thing about common sense, like you said, is its tucked back in our minds. I happen to be the most paranoid person on the planet and I never let my gear out of my site. On a recent trip to NYC I had to use the restroom as a restaurant. A friend was there with my gear but did I leave it? No. He did not spend the money on it. He is not going to watch it like I will.
If you’re wearing a backpack with your gear in it, wear the pack in FRONT of you when in a crowded area. Thieves can sneak up to the back of you with a knife, then slice the bottom of your bag and toss your shit to another person waiting. They can be “very” skilled at this. So, always have your eye on your gear even if it means having a “chest” pack.
And NEVER EVER leave your gear in your car in a visible place. A friend left a bag on the back seat of my car and we came back to find the window busted. The window? Cost $400. The equipment? A few grand. Not fun.
@Scoble - Thats horrible, but come on, that fits under #1
Like I said, sometimes you gotta remember to use the common sense. Although I’ve never had my gear stolen out of my car, I had the window busted and an iPod stolen. Pretty much never gonna make that mistake again, just takes once.
@Rex - Now THATS some james bond shit.
@Wes - WOW. i thought i was paranoid
@John - not a bad idea.. Kinda why I like my Crumpler, doesn’t really look like a camera bag, and its never had any poopy diapers
Even when you’re not traveling far from home, it’s really good to keep your gear under wraps. One of the small decision points for me when buying my recent car was that I wanted to have a lockable trunk. My previous car didn’t have one and I always stressed a bit about leaving stuff in the back. Now I rest at least a bit easier.
If you do have a vehicle that doesn’t have a trunk buy one, the Pelican cases locked or bolted to the body or frame will be very secure especially if it isn’t out in plain sight. I got a 1660 for this purpose when traveling and keep it locked in the rear of my truck which has a cap. If I am out on a day trip everything goes in there if it isn’t in my RV. I actually use a lock designed for locking a trailer latch to lock it with that makes it harder for the thieves to cut it since it it a luch fit except for th ehousing.
Having spent 20 years in the militaary I have seen the pelican cases take some sevear punishment and not even show it. I ahve seen them fall off forklifts, thrown off of fighters etc. And still work like it did the day it was new.
One thing I always do is either have my leg or a leg of my chair around a strap of my bag when sitting at the gate or an airport bar. If someone tries to grab your bag they have to take you with it. I also never let anyone handle my computer or camera bag. Nothing like seeing a porter or cab driver try to cram your bag with expensive gear into a small space.
Phew, so i’m not the only one to use raggy bags to stash my gear.
I’ve tried to follow tip #6 in the past, but all the travel insurers that i’ve found have a pretty low cap on equipment loss - about $2k, and laptops are only insured up to $1-2k.
It’ll be great if you could do a follow-up post with some insurers that you’ve used in the past that did not have this cap.
I don’t have a huge amount of gear but its always in my carry on and stays with me.
Relating to the insurance tip, check to see if your equipment can be registered under your home-owners insurance. We have our laptops registered on our policy, so they are covered even when we are traveling. As a bonus, many policies will cover accidental damage as well. Sure, you’ll be stuck with paying the deductible, but that’s a lot better than having to repurchase everything.
Never enough caution. Friend of mine lost (stolen) gear worth a lot of money. Lefted in back of the car and went to store. Less then five minutes.
Good tips! I am a professional and I do alot of charity missionary type work that takes me overseas. A couple of things I learned on the last trip. I was carrying my Kata backpack which had 2 nikon bodies, 70-200, wide angle, cards, mini hd, etc, etc. and a messenger bag with my Macbook Pro, extra hard drive, toiletries, and a change of clothes. We flew into Heathrow from Charlotte via Chicago, no problem, but when we went to get on the flight to Kenya I was only allowed one carry on bag and then it couldn’t be over 10 kilos. I had about 13 to 14 kilos in my Kata bag. I had to go buy locks, check my Kata with hard drives, one body, and extra lenses. I had to squeeze my MacBook 15″, D200 with grip, 70-200, 24-70, power cords, extra batteries, battery charger, and a toothbrush all into a messenger bag. Thankfully, our prayers worked and my equipment made it through safe and un-damaged, but I was pretty worried and was very happy to see my bag on the other end.
Lesson learned, check with each airline about their limitations on carry on luggage and their weight restrictions on each item. I made sure that if my checked bag was stolen or damaged I could have still done my job with the equipment I carried, but it was hairy having to make those changes when we were rushing to make this connection.
Next trip, I will check all the way through to the destination.
I’m surprised to see no mention of PacSafe products. I do alot of travelling as a professional humanitarian and commercial shooter and never leave home without my PacSafes. They come in different sizes and allow you to chain your gear to the frame of a truck or a bed or radiator in a hotel room, all the while encasing the gear in a heavy wire mesh bag. Pretty slick. The only time I do not lock my gear with a pacsafe is when I am travelling with StormCases in which case I put my gear in the largest one and chain that to something - usually the toilet in my hotel room because it’s the most immovable thing there.
Paranoia gives you a much better chance at keeping your gear. If it’s not locked down with a chain, it should be in your hands.
I love taking road trips, I usually keep my laptop and camera gear handy. That always posed issues in my mind because I did not want to leave my gear exposed in the car where it could be pinched or left to fry in a hot car, but it isn’t always convenient to carry with me every step I take away from the car. My brother-in-law shared his trick for concealing and protecting his electronic gear on car trips, he stashes his electronics in a ratty looking cooler, if possible he still conceals that in a trunk but it looks less appealing to passers-by and insulates from heat and cold for a while too.
Agree with all of it. However, as important as constant vigilance is, it is also very good to remember that not everyone has it out for you, and the constant (overt) attention you have to your gear is lso a bit of a draw card to potential evil doers. A quick solution, I should mention I carry a Lowepro Compu-trekker backpack for all my gear, doubling as a day pack, with which I have done many overseas treks and has served me wonderfully (not advertising here), it doesnt really look like a camera bag per se, is to cover the lowepro badge with something else. That badge is a dead give away for anyone who knows their cameras.
Thanks for these reminders. I just came back from a trip to New Orleans where I stayed at the Sheraton, which offered a small room safe. The first couple days I locked my camera gear inside, but later in the week I got lazier and more trusting. Thankfully nothing happened, but after reading this, I won’t make that mistake again.
Just a few tips on keeping your gear and other belongings safe when traveling:
a) Mark you bag uniquely so you can spot it on a airport conveyor “Quickly”. Look-a-like bags can be grabbed by the wrong person.
(threads or ribbons of your family colours — what ever works for you).
b) Get your name tags off of your belongings as fast as you can. A family had all their belongings ripped off in New Zealand buy a con that was smart enough to read the name tags off of the luggage and see what room it went to. He just had to say the room number and give the persons name he saw on the tag and claimed to staff he got locked out.
c) Check that the safe in the room is really safe. Last week I stayed at Caesars Windsor Hotel and Casino and I was able to pick up the ’safe’ and carry it around the room.