Traveling with your photography equipment can be challenging when you are taking all your pictures on dry (or at least solid) ground. Add all the equipment you need if you are going to get wet with you camera and it becomes a production just getting it all to your destination. When I first looked into what to do I had a hard time finding information on what other were doing, so I hope you find this helpful as you plan your underwater photography dive trip.
This is part 2 in a series on scuba travel and our trip to Honduras.
Related Posts
- Diving the Bay Island of Guanaja, Honduras (Part 1 - Packing)
- Diving the Bay Island of Guanaja, Honduras (Part 2 - Traveling Photographer)
- Diving the Bay Island of Guanaja, Honduras (Part 3 - On the Road)
- Diving the Bay Island of Guanaja, Honduras (Part 4 - Lodging)
- Diving the Bay Island of Guanaja, Honduras (Part 5 - Diving)
To Check or Carry: A Photographers Dilemma
One of the hardest decisions I had to make leading up to our trip was whether to check (most of) my camera gear, or try to find some way to have it as a carry-on. I say hard, because I just dropped thousands of dollars on equipment I’ve only ever “tested” around here and I was now considering putting it an expensive box and hoping it arrived with me at my destination. As I previously wrote, you know I chose to check, and it was practicality that won out in the end. There was just too much equipment and it is too large to try to find some way to have it all with me. It is all something that insurance can replace and while I’d be bummed if it didn’t get to my destination, I would still have some options available to me (like the GoPro in my carry-on).
What I did not put in checked luggage was my camera or any lenses. These items all went in my carry-on luggage, carefully wrapped in bubble wrap and inside a bag with a semi-rigid exterior. The pelican case I got worked really well for all my other gear. Plenty of room for all the equipment and I had no worries about what condition it would all be in when we got to Honduras.
I’m happy with my decision, and while I was worried about something happening to all my gear, as soon as I decided I was checking it I was able to focus on simply making sure it was in one piece when it got there and I stopped worrying so much about if it got there. Some things I do recommend though, is that you very carefully check all the choices your enclosures offer. I went with Ikelite for my enclosure and I have a fisheye lens, so I got the 8” dome. The dome worked very well, but, it is huge! The dome is bigger than the camera body enclosure. I later learned (through more researching) that Ikelite has a reasonably smaller 6” dome. Things to consider when getting a lot of gear, as each piece adds up, both in weight and bulk, when traveling. For instance, the 6” dome might have allowed me to with with a pelican case I could have taken as my carry-on, rather than checked.
Next time I'll write about some tips while in transit.
If you are interested in my photos or videos from the trip take a look at Flickr and YouTube.
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