Gig Bag

[HillPhotos2009]

Helpful item to keep in your gig bag #4,386 - a pocket knife to open stuff when you're at the lake with just cameras...

[Tom]

Remember to take it out before you fly to a gig!

[HillPhotos2009]

I just rubbed the package on a rock. Friction makes a good pocket knife. :0)

I walked to the lake with the baby and all my gear to shoot some ducks that we've been seeing down there. I made it a point to take my large memory card out of the reader before I left so I didn't have to keep switching out 2 gig cards if I saw lots of shots. Well, wouldn't you know in my blondeness (aka Facebook) I set the memory card down NEXT to the card reader instead of putting it IN my camera 12 inches away. I packed up my cammie and left.

Fortunately my dad went to Penn in DC to take advantage of their closing sale and found a memory card for me - that was in the mail today - which I checked before going to the lake. SanDisk's bomb-proof packaging is no match for a rock! Ha!

[Killjoy]

I keep a laser pointer in my bag.

For those long exposure night shots.
Cameras focus on contrast. If there's no light, there's no contrast.
Even on manual focus, it can be difficult.
With a laser light, your camera can focus on the contrast, and it's also much easier for you to focus manually when you can see a sharp dot.

[HillPhotos2009]

@ Alan - that's freaking awesome.

[wclavey]

Stephanie, I just went to England and Spain - - I was gone for more than 2 weeks. Before I left, I took all my memory cards out, initialized them all, put them in their little cases, put the cases in the drawstring bag I carry in my backpack and walked out the door without them. When I got back, they were laying right on the table where I was working. I had 1 4GB CF card that was in the camera at the time and that was it... every camera or electronic shop I went to was closed for the holidays.

And I can't claim blondness - - it would have to be baldness!

Every day, sometimes more often, I had to dump the card to my wife's netbook. So much for being prepared.

[HillPhotos2009]

Ha, ha! That's so funny Westley! Maybe its because you don't have any hair to keep your thoughts inside your head? Thank God for at least the one memory card! I bet you came home to a bag of the cleanest and formatted memory cards ever.

[Redneck]

Originally Posted by Tom

Remember to take it out before you fly to a gig!

+1
I just left a Leatherman MultiTool to the friendly TSA guys at McCarran Airport Las Vegas. The TSA in San Antonio didn't even take notice when I flew towards LV.