Alpha Photography Blog

Preparing for an upcoming trip I find myself taking a look at my photography equipment and doing a check to make sure all is in working order and that I have everything I need.

I always like to make sure I have a few different memory cards, as I have been caught out with relying on one card and it corrupting, leaving me without a working camera, as there is no built in memory in my camera.

My current cards are a few years old now, so I decided to get myself a new 8GB card.  It’s getting increasingly difficult to find cards of smaller size.  Generally I like about a 2GB or 4GB, but in the better quality (faster speed) options, these don’t seem to be available in the brand I like (Sandisk).

The other thing I treated myself with is a new bag. Now with my Canon 5D I needed a larger bag and a more ergonomically comfortable bag.  I opted for the Lowepro Flipside 400 AW (see the image below).  I also wanted a compartment that I could put things like a book or umbrella in, so this bag as it all!  It also has an all-weather cover built in, which is great as I’ll be going to some dusty places.

One other thing I’m always concerned about when I travel is available light.  While I have a Canon Speedlite 580EX (the old version), it is quite bulky and is sometimes too strong for daytime fill flash purposes.  So, I got a little Canon Speedlite 270EX, which is very compact and perfect for those times where you just need a little bit more light.

It’s a good exercise to do even if you’re not travelling, as it will make you think about what you have and what you need.

Of course, the budget has to come into the consideration.  I also want a Canon L series telephoto zoom lens, but considering how much I’d use it, that might need to wait

So, take a look in your photography equipment ‘chest’ and see what you use most, what you don’t use but should, and what vital piece of equipment might be missing that you can aspire to.

This entry was posted on Sunday, August 29th, 2010 at 1:00 am and is filed under Travel Photography. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.