Flying with camera gear

[DangerouslyMoody]

Not sure if this is posted somewhere on here but I am flying this weekend and again this summer...how do you travel with your camera gear?? I sent my tripod with my dad already but i still have my camera and lens and battery etc...any tips??

[janetg]

yah - if they want to inspect it, just smile and say ok...dont scratch any lenses...

[DangerouslyMoody]

so its okay to carry it on with you??

[janetg]

sure - as long as the container fits in the overhead compartment, or under your feet. this is not usually an issue on a larger plane, but can get iffy if on one of those embray air small jets.

i, along with many people on the forum have travelled with cameras without any issue at all. if you are travelling out of the country - there are some different rules you should be aware of - but just regular air travel, there should be no issues. i did read something recently about lithium batteries having a limit regarding how many, but i haven't seem to have had an issue.

usually in my cam bag, is also my gps unit, my mp3 player, etc, lots of electronic gizmos - and no issues. every now and then they will run the 'explosive residue' check on my bag, sometimes check out the gear, and most of the time, they do nothing at all.

deep healing breaths - you'll be fine...

[ST77]

Out of the 12 times I have flown with my camera gear I have only every had it inspected once. Now my laptop gets looked at every single time.

[darktiger]

I would carry on the plane with you. I do not think you will have any problems. I would tape the top of your AA batteries(if you have a flash) just in case.

[DangerouslyMoody]

cool. thanks!!!

[picman]

Don't leave your camera bag out of your sight at the security check-point. You don't want your bag getting too far ahead of you for anybody to pick-up. And certainly don't check anything of value.

[utdbear]

I pretty much carry everything I have in my camera backpack(Tamrac Cyberpack 8), which is my body, lenses, flash, and other accessories for my laptop, iPod, PSP, and usually copies of any documents I might need on the road and a couple of magazines to read on the flight. Usually my tripod, and any empty camera bags, chargers, etc go into the checked luggage. I usually only bring a small amount of AA batteries, most of the time I just get them once I get there. Oh, and I use TSA locks on all of my luggage, including my carry-ons. I don't think I've ever been inspected on a flight before. Just make sure that if you ever keep any water or anything in your bag, to make sure and clean it out, I did get inspected once on my business bag for leaving a bottle of water in there.

[futurshox]

Never, ever check your camera gear if you want it back!

Besides, if you check it, how are you going to take in-flight photos? I'd never fly without my camera. OK, you have to stow it for takeoff and landing but if you have a window seat you can spent the entire flight looking for interesting landmarks, cloud formations, sunsets, other planes etc to take photos of...

Do yourself a favour and get a rubber lens hood (Precision Camera in Austin have them for about $5) - they screw in like a filter and protect the window glass from getting scratched when you get into turbulence and the lens bounces off the window. Yeah, it happens no matter how careful you are. And you have to be lucky that you get a window that isn't too scratched from all the other people before you ;)

Here's a 747 cargo conversion a few hundred feet below us, somewhere in Paris airspace, taken with the long end of a 28-135mm lens, my usual workhorse. It's never going to win the Pulitzer prize but it's fun to get these: