Compact Photographic Items Useful for Traveling
When I’m travelling for any purpose, I usually have a camera and other photo gear with me. You never know when you’ll come across a great opportunity for architectural photography, long exposure photography, nature photography, or landscape photography.
Even when travelling for a photo job, luggage space is often at a premium, so compactness or multi use capability is often something to value. So, for general photography gear, an MFT format mirrorless camera might be an option. For long exposure photography gear, a camera mount and a filter holder system. For landscape and architectural photography gear, an ultra-wide-angle zoom could be in order.
So, let’s look at some ideas for a compact camera, nature photography, and long exposure photography gear lists.
Compact Gear for Architectural Photography
photo by Backiris via iStock
Even though I usually check online for possible subjects in any city or town I’m traveling to, I’m always surprised by what I find off the beaten path. I want to capture the beauty of the buildings I find, so I bring a high-quality camera.
High quality in the digital age can come in any size. The cropped format MFT (Micro Four Thirds) has excellent quality in a very compact size in the form of popular cameras like the Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark III and the Panasonic GH5. Add a compact sized ultra-wide-angle zoom lens and you have a very capable tool for capturing outstanding architectural images.
These mirrorless cameras and their lenses are very compact and deliver outstanding image quality. They are also excellent videography cameras so you get double duty out of your MFT rig this saving space in your gear bag.
Compact Gear for Long Exposures
Using those same MFT cameras from the above paragraphs, we can capture ultra long exposures provided we have good enough support. As a long exposure gear guide for beginners, I like to extol the virtues and usefulness of a great tool I found, the OctoPad camera mount.
For long exposure photography, keeping the camera still is a prerequisite. Many times we would opt for a tripod, but when travelling light we can look for tripod alternatives. The OctoPad camera mount is an excellent way to keep our camera still for ultra long exposures.
It’s a compact, weighted, semi rigid disk with a non-slip pad on the bottom. The top has a ball head and can be extended up with an accessory mount arm. The pad can hold several pounds of camera gear on almost any type of surface, even when that surface slopes up to 45 degrees. The OctoPad is compact, making it very useful for travelling.
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Long Exposure Photography Gear List
Compact Gear for Filters
photo by blanscape via iStock
Other gear for long exposure photography is also useful for general photography and architectural photography. A good filter holder system is worth its weight in gold. A filter holder system allows for using specialty filters on several different lenses.
Some of these specialty filters also qualify for inclusion in our long exposure photography gear list. A good filter holder kit for landscape and other photography can hold multiple filters at once, such as a C-POL filter, a GND filter, or a 10-stop ND filter for perfect landscape, architectural, or long exposure photography.
The Perfect Bag to Hold Them All
The perfect grab bag for holding all of our compact photography gear is a sling bag, like the HEX Ranger Sling shown above.
Not only is a sling bag compact, they are also quite convenient for rapid access to our photo gear while traveling. Many sling pack style bags have extra features such as webbing and grommets that we can attach more to.
In this case, the original Ranger Sling and the Ranger Sling V2 offer loads of features that make traveling with your gear a breeze.
For starters, the bag hugs your body so you don't have to worry about it bouncing all over the place as you explore for the next shot. It's slim form factor is ideal for things like street photography, but don't think that because it's a svelte bag that it can't hold all your gear. You get eight liters of space for all your stuff, so you can be well equipped and still travel light.
In the case of the Ranger Sling V2, you get the added benefit of a stowaway rain fly, increased padding on the shoulder strap and the top of the bag, and a double-buckle strap for more sizing options.
As far as I'm concerned, when you need to travel light, there is no better bag than the HEX Ranger Sling!
Don’t Forget a Compact LED Light
photo by Jag_cz via iStock
Since we’re using an MFT camera system, we shouldn’t overlook the awesome video capabilities most of these fine cameras have. In order to take full advantage of their video modes, we should be sure to carry a portable light source like the LitraTorch 2.0.
Continuous lights made with LED bulbs are available in sizes small enough to mount directly to the camera. Since they’re LEDs, they can be battery powered for true portability. In fact, I own several that are about as small as a deck of playing cards. A couple of those attached to their OctoPad could make up a complete portable lighting studio for videography or on location photography.
What About Smartphones?
photo by Drazen_ via iStock
I really prefer the extra capabilities that mirrorless or DSLR cameras offer, but when it comes down to being somewhere or at some time that makes a full camera impractical, then the cameras built into our smartphones are very capable photography and video tools, especially the newest models. Add a couple of versatile apps to get the most out of these always available cameras.
A little planning and some compact photographic items in our bags will enable us to be ready to capture the awesome images and videos our creative minds see when traveling.
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