Nerd Stuff....finally!!!!
So far in this blog’s most recent entries we’ve discussed our Spain trip, the places we visited, the food we ate, and what we drank. There’s been very little mention of the tech and gear we brought along. I know everyone is clamoring to know about that and I will remedy the matter in this installment of your favorite blog. To start, I made the commitment to myself that I was going to pack lighter for this trip. I feel as though I did a pretty good job of it. In hindsight, I could have packed a touch lighter and still been pleased with what I accomplished.
The reasons for that decision were:
1. Weight
2. Fear of lost gear
Let me explain. Weight is pretty easy. That giant, super safe, Pelican Air case I took to Europe last year and Mexico earlier this year fully loaded clocks in around 22 pounds with all the gear. Quite frankly, it doesn’t roll all that well-especially on streets in places where the roads are more “rustic”. The second reason is that due to the proliferation of cheapskates who refuse to check their bags on a plane. Those asshats try to bring oversized bags to place in the overhead bins which really should be checked. This, in turn, leads to situations where the bins get full and I’m forced (as was the case in Puerto Vallarta) to gate check my bag. I wasn’t happy with that-Tracy pleaded my case with the gate agent…and we lost. Thankfully, it was a direct flight home and all of my gear is insured so I wasn’t too concerned. I may have pulled the memory cards as a safety measure-I can’t remember. If I were on the beginning leg of a trip with connections, this would be a big no bueno. Thus, lighter/smaller photography baggage was in order.
Beginning my search I wanted to decommission my old AmazonBasics Large Photography Backpack as I nearly dislocated my shoulder in Hawaii with it when fully loaded. I looked at a variety of bags and the one that kept coming up in searches and on youtube was the PGYTech OneMo 2 25l. A bonus feature of this bag is that it comes with an integrated shoulder bag. I was able to put my camera, three lenses, portable hard drive, tripod, and drone equipment in the bag. It was pretty heavy, clocking in at around 19 pounds, and fit fairly well. Seeing as I didn’t plan to be carrying it fully loaded the whole time I was confident it would be okay. Another feature that I really love about it is one of the internal pouches has storage for camera batteries with a "switch" that you can change from green to red-indicating that battery is charged or dead. Cool stuff. Overall this bag is a winner and the only thing I’d change about it was to make it a bit taller/longer and that’s only because of my freakishly long torso more than a flaw of the bag. The 35l version would have fit better but I was concerned about it being able to work as a carryon for the airlines, especially on the European carriers. I’d highly recommend this bag as it’s (reasonably) affordable (found a coupon), highly customizable, and doesn’t overtly scream “Hey I’m a camera bag so please steal me”.
Lighten the load
Tracy said to me a few months back that she’d like a smaller/lighter camera. While she really liked the image quality she got with her A7iii and Tamron 28-75 combo carrying that heavy/bulky of a combo can wear on someone when walking miles a day for nearly two weeks. Fortunately, Sony has answered her request and delivered an absolute rockstar in the A7C. Essentially, this is a smaller and more compact version of the A7iii and has a tilting/flip out screen. The main differences I’m aware of are that the max shutter speed is 1/4000 (vs 1/8000 on the A7iii), no IBIS (in body image stabilization), and the shutter is electronic first curtain. I was really impressed with this little guy and she was over the moon with its form factor. It came to us from eBay and, sadly, there was a damaged section of the sensor that created a spot in almost all of her photos shot north of F5.6. I used the spot removal tool in my editing software to fix it for this trip and returned it to the seller as that’s a no go moving forward. I’m happy to report that we have found a suitable replacement with a clean sensor.
Camera body requirements met she'd need a lens (or lenses) to supplement this smaller camera. Thus, I found a used Sony SEL2860 lens from eBay, and no I didn’t pay anywhere near its $499 MSRP. This is the lens you can buy as a part of the A7C kit so used copies are readily available for under $200. It’s razor sharp, weighs virtually nothing, and compliments the A7C perfectly. The only drawback is that its widest setting is 28mm and fastest aperture is F4 so something wider/faster was needed for lower light and wider angle situations. A bit of research and past experience brought me to the Tamron 20mm F2.8 which I picked up on eBay for around $175. An additional benefit of this lens is that it shares the same 67mm filter size with many of Tamron’s lenses and I have a variety of filters in this size. The lens performed flawlessly and actually became the lens she shot the majority of her images with. Her captures in some of the cathedrals are absolutely gorgeous! Her gear exceeded my expectations and Tracy came home with over 1,700 amazing images! She mentioned on multiple occasions how easy it was to carry the camera in conjunction with my borrowed LowePro sling bag- that’s a win to me.
Yeah, but what about you?
Let’s talk a bit about my gear. I’ve raved before about the Sony A7iv and knew that would be coming along. I tossed the SmallRIG L bracket on for easier tripod usage and better grip. No surprise, it performed remarkably. Where I was getting stuck was lens selection. I wanted to try out a “travel lens” and deliberated over a few options. Some of the lenses I considered were the Sony 24-105 F4, Sony or Sigma 24-70 F2.8, or Tamron 28-75 F2.8. I also kicked around the idea of bringing the SEL1224G which is an ultra wide angle lens that I’ve used quite frequently. Ultimately, I decided to keep my promise to myself and limit the size and weight I was bringing so a “super zoom” seemed to make sense for my primary lens. I rented a copy of the Tamron 28-200 FE lens from Lensrentals and I can confidently say that it is the most versatile travel lens I’ve ever used. It starts at 28 mm at F2.8 and tops out at F5.6 at 200mm. I shot the overwhelming majority of my (nearly) 2,600 images with this lens and only swapped to the 18mm when there was something really wide. An ultra wide angle lens like that makes sense for shooting subjects like churches and interiors-not so much for human subjects. Wide angle lenses tend to distort people’s features in a very unflattering manner when they’re close to the camera. The Rokinon 18mm F2.8 lens was chosen for its reasonable size, affordable cost, and low weight. The lens did what I asked it to, but I’ve already sold it upon our return as I’d have liked something a touch wider/faster. There are upcoming lenses from the likes of Sigma (14mm F1.8) and Viltrox (16mm F1.8) that will probably suit my needs better…though the Sigma won’t be cheap, small, or light.
I knew I wanted to capture some aerial photos and videos so bringing a drone was a must. I had, until recently, owned the DJI Mavic Air 2S and been pretty happy with it. Though, after some reading and viewing online videos I began to wonder if I could achieve similar image quality in a smaller/more portable form factor. The more I dug the more it seemed that I could achieve most of what I wanted in purchasing the Mavic Mini 3 PRO. The list of pros was pretty long but the biggies were that it was considerably smaller/lighter. You can see how small it is next to my cell phone in one of the photos. That reduced weight translated into good (or better) battery life (especially when used in conjunction with the larger capacity battery that’s available). An additional plus is that due to its weight the drone isn’t required to be registered with the FAA. It’s a minor thing but pretty cool. I decided to purchase the unit with the RC vs. the traditional package which uses your cell phone as a control screen. This seemed like a good idea as my spouse has a tendency to text me when I’m out flying the drone so no interruptions seems safer. Finally, this unit is pretty quiet and though folks are becoming more comfortable with seeing drones out there it's always nice to be more incognito. The orange props are from Master Airscrew and I added them after the trip for reduced noise in the sky and better visibility against blue skies.
The final things of note were a tech case to keep cords and memory cards well organized. I’d definitely recommend one if you’re like me and travel with a bunch of devices.I also brought a decidedly low-tech solution in a pen and small notebook that was useful for taking notes regarding the places we visited and, in turn, writing these blog posts. That about wraps up everything we packed for the Spain trip and I feel like nearly everything was useful. I’ll continue to hone what I pack for future trips and would love to hear what your travel tech looks like.
