I’m sure we are going to see weekly updates on these sites with supposed specs on new gear, one thing for certain though is that Sony, Nikon and Canon can be expected to make some major announcement in this time frame.

Sony looks set to bring an A77 to the market in July featuring their pellicule mirror technology to an APS-C camera with some decent specs to sit above their A55.

Nikon will be replacing the D3 and the D700 at some point.  It seems likely that at least one of these will be in August.  Before the Pixiq tradeshow was cancelled, Nikon and Canon were probably planning on releasing things at that show.

You guys know that for me it’s the Canon gear that I’m most interested in.  The website Canon Rumors has had so many conflicting reports over the months it’s hard to make sense of it.  We will certainly see an official release of the 200-400 f4 L IS which was announced as in development some months ago.  We have also been waiting for an eternity for a 24-70 f2.8 replacement.  Its been reported that there are several patents and test versions out there, some with IS and some without.  I’d say this one will finally come alongside some sort of 1dsMKIII replacement.  There has also been some reports that the 1d and 1ds line will be merged.  Not sure about that one!  And of course it’s about time for a 5dMKIII too.  On top of that there has been rumors of a 35mm f1.4 II and the much needed 50mm f1.4 II.  My bet would be on the 35mm to come first.

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Another year has passed by in a flash and there have been many developments in the photography world.  I achieved a lot of my personal goals for my photography in 2010 and I hope you all did too.  If you aren’t quite sure where to take your photography in 2011, here are some suggestions to help you on your way!

1. Learn to use your camera’s histogram

If you don’t understand your camera’s histogram now is the perfect chance to learn about it.  By understanding what your histogram is trying to tell you, you’ll really begin to appreciate what the light is doing in the scene you are photographing. Don’t just look at the image on your LCD screen take a look at the histogram too.  Michael Reichmann has an excellent article on his website explaining all the basics.

2. Enter a photo competition

The internet is full of photography competitions these days but BEWARE, many of them have rules and regulations that grant the organizing company a license to use your images for them to save, or make money!  So read the fine print carefully and stick to the big competitions like the Sony World Photo Awards which has both professional and amateur categories.  For professionals, winning one of the bigger competitions or categories is a great promotional tool to include on your websites or in your newsletters.  Entries for this years World Photo Awards close on January 5th so if you are quick you may still have time to enter!

3. Backup your photos

Last week I wrote about my backup routine and I urge you to have a read of it.  If at any point you come across something that you do not do with your photos then make it your resolution to patch that hole in your routine or at some point in time you will loose images that are either precious or valuable to you.

4.  Print some photos!

This is something we all used to do without thinking when we shot with film but its become a rarity in the digital days.  I recently printed up some images to send to family members for Christmas and it reminded me how great it is to hold a stack of photos in your hand.  Gathering round a computer screen is one thing, but being able to pass around physical prints brings an extra connection to your photos.  There are lots of great promotions out there to try and entice digital shooter to get back into printing so why not print your ten best photos from 2010 to show your friend and families.

5. Shoot a short video with your DSLR

If you have a DSLR purchased in the last 12-18 months then chances are that it has the ability to shoot HD video as well as photos.  Many photographic compositional skills translate very well into film making so why not learn how to shoot a video with your DSLR.  There are many great tips on HDSLRCoalition and ProVideoCoalition.  Many professional are already finding their clients requesting both video and photos from an assignment so get a jump on those who haven’t figured it out yet.

6. Update your website portfolio

Nearly all of us are guilty of this at one point or another.  We spend days or weeks building portfolio websites and then we leave them stagnant for many months or years with the same photos.  I believe my photography improves yearly as I take more and learn more, so it only makes sense to update my site to reflect more current work.  Take an afternoon to sit down and go through your photos from the last year and add your best ones to your website.  Remember to remove some from the site first though!  Nobody will ever wade through hundreds of photos on your site so keep a tightly edited selection of your very best.

7. Give up on-camera flash

On-camera flash is harsh and unflattering.  Even moving a flash just a few inches off the camera will improve your photos tenfold.  For everything you need to know about off-camera flash check out Strobist.com.  If you have a shoe-mount flash then spending a few bucks on an extension cable to let you hold the flash away from the camera will make you wander why you never did it before.

8. Don’t give away photos for free

Sara Frances wrote a great article on this just the other day which I urge you to read.  Photographers are often tempted to give their photos away for free, in return for a photo credit.  It might be fun to see your name up in lights but it’s the beginning of the end to your career if you do that, even if you are just starting!  Does that make sense? Giving photos away for free belittles your work and pegs you as a photographer who does not value their craft.  Start as you mean to go on.  If you want to be a professional photographer then act like one from the beginning and charge people for your photos at the proper rate.  It might take you a little longer to see your name in a photo credit but at least you’ll be able to pay your bills when it happens.

9.  Have a camera of some sort on you at all times

With the invention of the iPhone this is something that has become a lot easier in the last few years.  You just never know when a photographic opportunity will present itself.  I actually don’t have an iPhone so I keep a Canon s90 point and shoot on me at all times.  Whilst the photos from it are rarely acceptable quality for my professional work, I use the photos all the time to record reference photos for possible locations or photos for my blog posts and Facebook fan page.

10.  Keep your photos organized!

With another year under your belt you probably shot another few thousand photos, in many cases more than that.  If you don’t do it already then you’ll want to start organizing them in a way that helps you locate specific shots in the future.  Importing photos onto your computer with Aperture, Lightroom or even iPhoto will give you some organizational options.  Tag the photos with keywords on import that will help you locate them faster in the future and store them in a folder with a date.  There can be a tendency to think “I’ll start doing that next year” but soon things will get out of control!  Trust me, I still have thousands of photos from 2005 when I first started shooting that aren’t keyworded and I wish I’d been far more organized from the get-go.

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Tramm has just released a new version of his firmware and this time it follows in a similar direction to the popular Panasonic GH1 bit rate hack.  Essentially it allows you to select from many different bit rates during video recording, greatly increasing the quality of the video.  In 24p mode, 66mb/s seems to be the highest it will go for sustained recording but higher is possible if you just want a quick shot.

As with the previous versions of Magic Lantern , the firmware is loaded into the cameras RAM so you have to install it each time you turn the camera on by keeping the firmware on the memory card you are using.  This is a safety feature which SHOULD stop you from bricking your 5dMKII… Not my fault if it does happen though! Proceed with some caution.

I suspect that you will find much better results with faster CF cards.  Obviously you need something that writes faster than the bit rate in order to sustain it so a 90mb/s Sandisk card would be a good start.  Thanks to Tramm for such amazing work!

Q-scale FPS Mbps Notes
+8 30p 7 Mbps Very low quality
-9 24p 32 Mbps
-10 24p 41 Mbps
-11 24p 51 Mbps
-12 24p 59 Mbps
-13 24p 62 Mbps
-14 24p 66 Mbps Best, sustainable in 24p mode?
-15 24p 68 Mbps 2 buffer bars
-16 24p 76 Mbps Only a few seconds

Canon 5d Mark II 76 MBps Test with Magic Lantern High Bit Rate Firmware from RockStar Media on Vimeo.

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Different sizes of photography business will benefit from slightly different routines. If you are running a huge photo studio with 10 employees working on projects constantly then check out Chase Jarvis’ site for info on that scenario. My business is relatively small in comparison because I do that majority of the work myself, shooting, archiving, editing and client delivery are all done from my workstation and most of the time done by me when I am around. So if you are a one-man-band then this will be a bit more suitable to your needs. There are plenty of other permutations on how to handle this but this is what works for me. I will go into specific downloading workflow and Lightroom work in future articles, this one is just concerned with backup.

Office scenario (when I am not traveling)

Used cards from the day’s shooting are stacked up on my desk in one pile. In turn I take each card and put them into my Sandisk card reader. I use Lightroom 3 to ingest the photos from the card and tag them with the necessary metadata for the shoot. I use the COPY command in the Lightroom import interface and this is VERY important. If you use the MOVE command then it will delete the files from the memory card after it has moved them to your hard drive. By using COPY I am creating a copy of the file on my drive, and the original shot still remains on the memory card for the moment. All the files from the card are copied onto my DROBO storage unit into a folder called “Photo Archive” where they are then put into another folder labeled with the year and then a further folder with the date in dd/mm/yyyy format. For every day of shooting then I have a separate folder. If you are not familiar with DROBO storage then I suggest a read of their website which contains extensive videos on their usage. Basically they are somewhat similar to RAID systems in that they make duplicates of your files so if one drive in the DROBO fails, the data is still available on another drive and you have not lost anything. So at this point I now effectively have two copies of the photos on the DROBO (because it creates duplicates automatically) and one copy still on the memory card.

After import I have Lightroom setup to automatically backup the catalog when I close it. The backup catalog is stored on the DROBO in a folder called “Lightroom backups” so this means that any metadata changes and image alterations I have made are stored redundantly on the DROBO as a backup. The actual Lightroom catalog is stored on the main internal drive of my computer. The internal drive on my computer is backed up every hour automatically using the built in Time Machine functionality in Mac OSX, This creates a duplicate of my computer internal drive onto a CalDigit USB 3.0 AV drive. That means a further backup of my Lightroom catalog is also available on that drive so there are effectively 4 versions of the catalog and we haven’t even got to off site backup yet.

Any file that I decide to export from Lightroom to send to a client is exported to my computers internal drive into a folder called Exports and then into a sub folder with the clients name. That means that I have two further copies of files that I deemed worthy of sending to a client. One in the Export folder on the internal drive and then another that is automatically created by Time Machine onto the AV Drive.

Drobo makes things pretty easy for your archival storage but you can’t stop there. What if someone was to rob your office or it got burned to the ground ? You would lose both your Drobo, and your Time Machine/internal drive. So you need to have your files stored off site too and until this happens I do not consider the files to even exist. There are some serious horror stories of photographers out there loosing a lifetimes work due to house fires. The thought of buying more drives to store your work off site can seem a bit daunting but I have come up with a cost effective solution that is working great for me.

There is two things to understand about the off site backup. Hopefully you won’t ever need them because you should already have at least two copies of everything in your office so that will protect you from drive failures. So the off site backup is there to save you from natural disasters, burglary and multiple simultaneous drive failure. All these are relatively unlikely so my personal opinion is that you do not need the off site backups to be redundant in themselves. So I don’t keep 2 of everything in my off site location, just single copies. Furthermore, you can save some money by having your off site drives be just simple drives that are not in fancy, expensive drive enclosures with built in power supplies. The partially empty off site drives get added to frequently, but the ones that are already full are simply spun up every mew months to make sure they do not seize and are still working. To use drives in this manner you will need a “Drive Toaster” or a SATA dock. I have a Thermaltake BlacX which sits on my office desk and has eSata and USB ports. You simply take the bare 3.5″ (or 2.5″) drive and slot it into the toaster where it mounts like any other external drive normally would. Its a very neat solution for under $50 and means you can save hundreds of dollars by buying the bare drives and not fancy ones in enclosures that are only going to sit there and get looked at once every six months.

The off site drives that I have are stored in a Pelican Storm Case iM 2075. It is deep enough to stand drives vertically and holds 7 or 8 3.5″ drives in anti-static bags. Because Drobos drives are upgradable in size, when I add a bigger drive to my Drobo, I take the old drive and use that one in my off site collection. The means you get more usage out of your drives you you otherwise would do and you are rotating your off site drives too to make sure there aren’t any ten year old ones in there! The Pelican case is brought to me every week (or after very important shoots) and the new photos are copied from my Drobo onto my off site drive using the toaster. Because my files on the Drobo are stored in folders labeled by the date that they were added to the catalog, it’s easy to see which folders need to be copied to the off site drive to have both archives match up. After I have matched up the photo archive I take another drive from my Pelican case which is used for an off site Time Machine backup. You cannot simply copy over Time Machine backup files like any other file so instead you need to select this drive as the Time Machine Drive and get your computer to do a full backup. Now my off site collection contains a full archive of all my photos and a copy of my computers internal drive. If the wort happened and all my office gear was stolen I could be back up and running on an identical computer with all my business files and photo archive in a matter of hours.

There is really no end to how many backups you can make but this is what I would consider the absolute minimum. I would not say bare minimum because I think this is a great solution but having both your computer drive and photo archive in multiple locations is a must.

The travel solution

Now what about when I am away from the office and I don’t have access to my Drobo? In this situation cards are copied onto a firewire 800 LaCie Rugged drive using the Lightroom import dialogue as before. This time I also tick the little box that says “make a second copy to….”. This means that Lightroom will put your files in two places, I set the main one to the LaCie drive and a backup goes onto the internal drive of my laptop. When I travel I still carry another LaCie drive that is used as my traveling Time Machine and that backs up the internal drive every time it is plugged in and hence also backs up the backup of my photos that were imported. So photos are now in three places. When this is done I am free to format that memory card. The reason that I still have a Time Machine drive with me is that I want to be able to restore my computer in a hurry if I need to. If my internal drive goes down while I am away I can’t afford to be without my Lightroom and Photoshop programs so I can restore it all from Time Machine by just buying a new 2.5″ drive.

Now off site backup while you are traveling is tricky. Rule number one is that you never EVER travel with all your drives on your person. When flying, one drive goes in my checked luggage and the laptop goes in my bag. The third drive goes in my jacket pocket. That way if someone steals my laptop bag it is no big deal. Even at your hotel, never leave all the drives in there together. Hotel room robberies happen more often that you would hope, so give one drive to someone else to keep in their room. Typically I carry one with me in my pocket too every time I leave my room. If a trip is costing tens of thousands of dollars, the small annoyance of a bulge in my jacket pocket is a small price to pay. Sometimes the third drive in my case is a Hyperspace Color drive which also has the benefit of a card reader to do it’s own backups. You can read a full review of it HERE on my other site. The final protection that I have is that I take my 5 star shots from a days shooting, typically 10-20 shots, and I use an FTP program to sent them to my server back home in Canada. That way if the whole hotel burns down or somehow everything else is lost I still have my banger shots back home. Last year I think it was, one of the largest bicycle companies was shooting their catalog on location. They had an editing studio set up in a hotel and the hotel DID burn down with everything in it. I believe they lost it all and had to re-shoot…….

While I am away all of the Lightroom imported files are put into a new catalog labeled with the name of the trip and as usual the catalog is backed up onto an external drive too. When I get home to the office, the catalog is imported onto the Drobo and the files synced with my off site drives. At this point I remove everything from the small 2.5″ LaCies ready for the next trip.

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Gear used in this article

Drobo

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Thermaltake BlacX

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Pelican iM 2075

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LaCie Rugged drives

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CalDigit AV Drive

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One of the first questions people ask when they start experimenting with flash is “why does my camera not allow me to use a shutter speed higher than 1/xxx second?”  If you scan through the specifications of a camera you will see one called x-sync.  Typically listed as between 1/180 and 1/250 of a second, this is the fastest useable shutter speed of your camera when using flash. The best way to get to grips with it is to understand exactly what is happening in that split second after you press the shutter button.

The cameras shutter consists of 2 curtains.  When the shutter button is pressed the first curtain opens exposing the sensor.  A fraction of a second later the second curtain follows the first, racing across the sensor in the same direction and blocking it from receiving any more light.  At slower shutter speeds, there exists a point in this cycle where the first curtain has fully exposed the sensor and the second curtain has yet to start covering it up.  At this point the sensor is entirely exposed and when a flash is fired at that point, its resulting light will appear evenly spread across the whole photo.  A camera’s X-sync is defined as the fastest shutter speed at which there still exists a point where the sensor is entirely uncovered and exposed.

At faster shutter speeds, the second curtain begins moving across the sensor before the first curtain has finished opening.  The result is that at any one moment in time, only a portion of the sensor is exposed at once.  The “slit” between the 2 curtains rolls across the sensor exposing the final image evenly but at no point is the entire sensor exposed at once.  Any flash fired during this process would only effect the portion of the photo being exposed by the slit between the 2 curtains.  This causes dark bands to appear on your photo where light from the flash was blocked by the curtains from exposing the sensor.  Most SLRs will automatically limit you to using the maximum X-Sync speed unless you are in manual exposure mode or using remote strobes which is where this tip comes into play. If you are shooting in a situation with bright ambient light where the strobes you are using are only lighting a small portion of the frame then there is not necessarily a need to expose the whole image to the light from your flash.  The black bands I described above would only appear if there was no ambient light to expose the area where the bands are.  If you can position your subject in an area of your frame that is exposed to the the flash between the “slit” then it doesn’t matter if the rest of the frame did not get exposed to the flash. Take this image at the top of the post for example.  I shot this while working on an ad campaign for the ski resort Whistler Blackcomb in British Columbia.  The shutter speed was 1/640 which is far above the 1/250 x-sync speed of the Canon 1dMKIV.  But the key thing here is that I only wanted to strobe the skier at the top of the frame.  The ambient light is exposing the rest of the frame, but the strobe is needed on the skier to fill in his shadows and really make him “pop” against the background.  I know from experimentation, which areas of the frame are exposed to the flash burst at various shutter speeds.  In this case a horizontal band covering about 1/8 of the image at the top will be exposed to the flash burst.  By positioning my subject in that safe zone, I can work with a much faster shutter speed.  This has the compensating benefit that your overall exposure is vastly different to what it would be if you were limited to 1/250.  Overcoming the ambient light with your strobe power is a constant battle for location photographers and squeezing every last 1/3 stop of shutter speed is very useful.

In this image above, the same technique is applied where the subject is at the top of the frame and the shutter speed is 1/400.  In this shot though you can also see the strobe that is providing my fill flash on the subject.  Looks like it didn’t even fire right ?  Well it did !  If you image those shutter curtains moving across the sensor, then simply imagine one of the curtains blocking out my Elinchrom Ranger flash head at the exact moment it fired.  The “slit” between the curtains was positioned over the skier.  And you don’t have to have the subject at the top either, you could have them at the bottom, and simply hold the camera upside down!  Or if you are shooting in portrait orientation then your subject would need to be off to one side.  If you shoot with a camera with a large enough resolution you can even shoot horizontally with the subject at the top or bottom, but with the intention of cropping a vertical shot out of it.  On my Canon 5DMKII the 21MP images are often big enough to crop a vertical shot out of a horizontal one so that gives you 4 options of placement of the subject in the flashed area.  Left or right side by rotating the camera , or top and bottom by shooting horizontally and cropping a vertical shot from it!  Get creative and see what you can do with it!

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A note about the updated Elinchrom Quadra RX

When Elinchrom first released the Quadra it was met with some mixed reactions.  It appeared that there had been a couple of glaring omissions by Elinchrom’s designers.  Firstly, no protective caps were included for the Quadra heads and secondly, the tiny little display on the pack was totally unreadable in daylight.  This really had me scratching my head?!  How is it possible to design something like this, with such an obviously fragile glass tube upfront, and not design (let alone include) anything to protect it.  Especially given that all other Elinchrom heads come with such protection.  Secondly, for a device that is designed for portability and flaunted as a location lighting solution, how did it make it through initial prototyping and testing with a screen which, and I say this with no exaggeration at all,  cannot be read whatsoever in  outdoor light?

In order to save some face, Elinchrom quickly released the freshly titled Elinchrom Quadra RX.  Designed to fix these two issues and also at the same time integrate their updated Skyport RX receiver.  Customers in the US who bought the original Quadras were also offered free protective caps for their heads.

The version of the Quadra that I had for testing was the early version that had the dud screen, as Elinchrom has now fixed this issue I will not let it taint my final review in any way except to say that it does not give you much confidence in how the product was tested before release.  It is immediately obvious that you cannot view the screen outdoors and it was the single worst performing LED screen I have ever seen.  There was literally no way to tell if the unit was on or off unless you cupped your hands over it and peered though the cracks in your fingers to trawl through the menu system.  The photo to the right gives you some idea compared to my aging Ranger RX which you can view perfectly, guess the power setting of the Quadra??.  Like I said though , it’s been dealt with, they have fixed it on all versions with a serial number greater than 4000 so we can move on….

Elinchrom heads

The very first thing you notice about the Quadra heads is that they are very very small.  Roughly 1/3 the size of FreeLite head for the Ranger RX.  They also weigh very little (280g), much less than an on-camera flash like an SB-900 or 580-EX.  The whole rear casing of the Quadra head is made of plastic which contributes greatly to the weight difference as the FreeLite heads are encased in a cylindrical metal tube with a plastic handle.  The standard reflector that comes with the Quadra heads can be removed to make it even smaller.

Much like the bigger FreeLite heads, the Qadra RQ heads are available in two versions.  A standard RQ S Flashhead and an RQ S Speed Flashhead.  The difference being that the A head has a much faster flash duration of up to 1/6000 of a second when used in the lower powered “B” port though physically they are identical.  The price of the RQ A head is currently about $65 more than the RQ S head and for that difference you may as well get the faster head considering the whole setup is going to be costing you well north of $2000 anyway.  A faster duration never hurt anyone, but one that is too slow can really make for less that perfect images.  Incidentally I would recommend the same thing if you decided to purchase the bigger brother too.  I have only ever used the A head on my Ranger RX and it has worked very well.

If you already have a collection of accessories for regular sized Elinchrom heads then there is an adapter available for the RQ head that allows retrofitting any of the other softboxes and reflectors for the FreeLite heads.  I did not have this to test, but some searching on the internet suggests that natively they are not that strong and need some modifications to hold the weight of larger softboxes.  On top of the standard 13.5cm reflector, a 15cm grid reflector is also available but that is all they offer right now.  A specialized RQ Ringflash was also introduced recently which is much smaller in size than the standard Ranger Ringflash.

On the FreeLite heads the cable is permanently attached and comes in a 5m length.  The cable is considerably bulkier and heavier than the RQ head cables for the Quadra.  A major benefit to the Quadra is that the cables are removable from the head.  Not only that but they feature a male termination on one end and female on the other end meaning you can join them together to make a longer cable of you need it.  Extra RQ cables are available in a variety of lengths from 1m to 10m so you can space your heads out as needed.  Remember there will be a reduction in flash power if you start running huge cable lengths above 5m though.  This is one of my favorite advantages to the Quadra, packing the FreeLite A head can be cumbersome sometimes with the huge cable hanging out of the back of it.  On top of that there is only one length of extension cable available for those particular heads and they are extremely expensive (hundreds of dollars!).

On the left is the diminutive little Quadra head and on the right a Ranger A-Head for the larger RX units.

A pair of Ranger Quadra “A” heads

Battery Packs

As you can see in the shot below, the Ranger RX battery is about twice the size of the Quadra battery.  The Quadra takes more shots at full power and also recharges to from empty to full in about half the time that it takes the Ranger battery to do so.  The battery for the Ranger RX slides into the main body of the pack whilst the Quadra battery just clips onto the bottom of the pack.  The clips for the Quadra battery are solid so there isn’t any chance that it would come off during a shoot, in fact quite the opposite, I had to fight to get the battery removed on more than one occasion.  The spare fuse on top of the battery pack is a nice touch though.

Battery pack size comparison.

My personal Ranger RX kit and the borrowed 2-head Quadra kit

As a generalization, a Ranger RX and one FreeLite head takes up roughly the same volume in your pack as a two head Quadra kit with a spare battery.  The Ranger RX kit is a bit heavier but in terms of bulk and space needed to safely pack the gear that’s how it pans out.  Note that in the photo above I have not included the spare Quadra battery or the head cables.

The Skyport system

The Quadra comes with a 4-channel Skyport receiver built into it and the newer Quadra RX allows you to connect your computer to the pack in order to control the power functions.  With a Skyport transmitter on your camera you can remotely control the power level of the strobes and also operate the test flash and the modeling light.  If you are using multiple packs you have the option to set up multiple groups and hence control the power of individual groups of packs.  The antenna on the transmitter seems like it might break off at any moment though so take good care of it!  I performed some rudimentary range testing with the Skyport and a Pocketwizard connected and with the PW placed on top of the pack it had a very small advantage.  A much greater advantage though is that the Pocketwizard can be positioned away from the pack and up on a lightstand and connected with a sync cable which greatly extends its usable range.  For studio use and location portraiture you would have no range problems though and the overall the Skyport system appeared to be solid.

I just can’t do it, Captain. I don’t have the power

iso 50 , 1/320 , f11 - Ranger RX at 1100Ws

Judging by the questions I get about strobes, the first thing people want to know about the big strobes is can I overpower the sun ?  People shooting different subjects from me might be less worried about this but in general everyone wants to take control of the lighting situation they are shooting with.  So can you overpower the sun with a Quadra ?  Well that depends how close you put the head to the subject.  You can overpower the sun with an on camera flash if you put it close enough!  I’m going to tackle this question in two parts.  One for those of you who are interested in the specific type of photography that I do, ski and snowboard.  And then secondly speaking more generally for those of you who have stumbled across this review without knowing and/or  not caring exactly what it is that I do for a living!

At 1100 Ws the Ranger RX is right up there with the biggest in terms of power.  A lot of other action sports guys use the Profoto 7b which is 12oo Ws but I much prefer the Elinchrom as it is about half the weight!  With 1100 Ws I can overpower the midday sunshine when the flash head is about 7 or 8 feet from the subject when shooting with my 1-series Canon bodies which will sync at 1/320.  The shot on the left if a good example of this as I was able to underexpose the background by a couple of stops to prevent blurring and add to the drama a little bit.  This was shot with 1 Ranger RX at full power and it was positioned behind me a couple of feet and slightly to the left.  Could I have achieved this exact shot with the Ranger Quadra ?  Probably not.  The flash head would have had to be so close to the subject that with the wide angle of the lens it would probably be in the shot.  You might have been able to do it if you had an assistant holding the flash head on a boom directly above my head but that is quite a stretch.  For shooting fast moving action at slow sync speeds like 1/250 or 1/320 you need to underexpose the ambient light by anywhere between 1 and 3 stops to prevent ghosting.  The impression of ghosting will vary greatly depending on the angle at which your subject is moving in relation to your camera sensor.  If they are moving towards you, much of the blur will be towards the camera and hence not visible.  If your subject is moving across the image very quickly as in the shot on the left, then you will have to underexpose more to prevent that blur.

iso 50, 1/320, f10 - Ranger RX at 1100Ws

If you are not familiar with this concept then I recommend reading up on it to fully appreciate why you may or may not need a 1100 Ws strobe over a 400Ws like the Quadra.  So there are ways in which you could still shoot a skier of snowboarder in a halfpipe like this with the Quadra, but you would need to shoot along the length of the pipe so that they are coming towards you and not across the frame.  That would allow you to have the ambient light a bit brighter.  The photo on the right shows the exact same skier in the same quarter pipe but this time he is coming towards me.  In this instance I was still using a Ranger RX at full power BUT I believe that this shot would have been possible to re-create with the Quadra, whereas the other one would not.  I know this is somewhat speculative but you’ll have to trust me on that one!

Continuing on with my type of work I often get asked if I can overpower the sun when shooting a big jump during the day.  If it is a sunny day then the answer is no, not even with the 1100Ws Ranger RX.  As I said above the head needs to be about 8 feet from the subject and when the skier or snowboarder hits the jump they are going to be much higher in the air than that.  Consequently the Ranger Quadra will not be able to achieve this either.  But the majority of my jump shoots are not done in the daytime anyway.  Most of the time we wait until the sun is setting, or very occasionally when it is rising.  Ambient light levels fall off dramatically in the hour before sunset and the angle of the sun also creates much more contrast in the surroundings, and often some very nice colors.  As the light levels fall in the evening, there comes a point at which it is possible to begin to shoot using a flash.  This point is defined by the exposure you can achieve with your fastest sync speed with your flash at full power.  When the ambient exposure matches this exposure then you are about ready to turn the strobes on, but normally you need a couple more minutes to allow the ambient to become less than your flash exposure to prevent the ghosting we talked about before.  In this situation, the advantage of the bigger Ranger RX is that with about 1.5 stops stops more power (1100Ws vs. 400Ws)  you would be able to start shooting with your flash long before you would be able to with the Quadra.  The time difference would be however long it takes the ambient light levels to fall by 2 whole stops.  So in this situation with falling light levels you will always be able to shoot with the Quadra and get the shot, but you will have less time to do so.  For comparison, roughly speaking a Canon 580EX flash is a further 1.5 to 2 stops less power than a Quadra, depending on the zoom position of the head.  VERY roughly speaking that makes it equivalent to about 100Ws of power although I have seen it called as little as 64 Ws before.  The Quadra puts out a much more even light pattern though and that causes some variety in how the results would be measured.  Either way you would need 4 or 5 580EX flashes to compete with the Quadra.

This past spring I was shooting an ad campaign for the ski resort Whistler Blackcomb.  I was able to take the Quadra up to the shoot and test it out alongside the Ranger RX.  I did not use it for the whole shoot though because I only had the standard reflector for the Quadra and really I needed to have a tighter beam of light that it provided, but below is an example shot.  You can see how the standard reflector is spilling way too much light.  In the final shot that I did with my Ranger RX I used a sports reflector which spits out a much more concentrated beam of light.  To use that reflector on the Quadra I would have needed the adapter that I mentioned above due to the lack of reflector choice for direct attachment to RQ heads.  To my eye there is no difference in the actual quality of the light from either the Ranger RX or the Quadra though.  If you can use the Quadra in a situation where light levels are low enough then you can get awesome results.  Whether or not the extra time that you can use the bigger Ranger RX for is worth the extra weight of the kit is something only you can decide though.

iso 320, 1/160, f5.6 - Ranger Quadra at 400 Ws

For nighttime urban shooting though there would not be a lot of difference between using these 2 setups.  In that scenario it would come down to how much depth of field you want for the shot.  The bigger RX would be able to get an exposure with a greater DOF at a lower ISO than the Quadra, through frankly with the high ISO capabilities of today’s cameras I think you would be able to get plenty of DOF using a 400Ws pack at a very acceptable ISO.  Something else to consider is the strange way that the Ranger RX flash duration varies with power setting.  Unlike a lot of other strobes where duration speeds up as power decreases, the RX is opposite.  Its fastest flash duration is at full power.  This means that I almost always use it at full power.  In a multi-light setup where I am using Nikon speedlights for fill, it can be a pain to have the RX at full power because to balance the exposure out you have to put the ranger a long way away from the subject and/or put the speedlights very close to the subject.  With the Quadra being much lower powered it would play much nicer with my speedlight collection.  Other situations where I think the Quadra would be beneficial over the Ranger is shooting skiers on stormy days in the trees.  It can often be so dark on those days that having the big Ranger RX on full power again is just overkill because you could actually overpower ambient on those days with a couple of speedlights!  The 400Ws Quadra would be a nice compromise for stormy day shooting and if I just packed 2 lenses and 1 camera body you can carry the pack and one head all in one bag.  If I use the Ranger RX and one FreeLite head I have to take a second bag and either take an assistant, or get the athlete to help carry things.

I also used the Quadra for a few shots while covering a downhill mountain bike race in my home town of Whistler.  Whilst it was overcast it was still pretty bright but the little Quadra did the job nicely.  I only used the one head , but you can see in the example below how it adds to the shot and helps to balance the brighter background with the darker shaded area in the foreground.  This was taken at full power and pixel peeping it shows me that there is no discernible ghosting, so the flash duration with the A head is quite suitable for this sort of work.  I think bike photographers would get on really well with this setup because riding a bike with a larger Ranger RX is not really an option.  The compact nature of the Quadra really pays off here.

iso 200, 1/250, f7.1

Another advantage of the minimal size of the Quadra kit is that you can set up a miniature studio in a very small area.  I used the 2-head setup with a reflector to shoot some images of products that I was reviewing for this site.  I set the shots up very quickly on my kitchen table (!) and I deliberately didn’t bother with softboxes to see what sort of light quality you can get with such a super simple and quick setup.  Example shot can be seen on the left.  By using the built in Skyport wireless receiver and the Skyport transmitter on my camera’s hotshoe you can have a 2 light setup up and running in under two minutes from getting it all out of your bag.  This hassle free factor will likely have you using it more often, and that can only be a good thing!  So product photography would be a great way to use the Quadra as you can often get the heads nice and close to the product where 400 Ws is plenty of power.  An area where the Quadra would really stand out though is quick location portrait work and I can see wedding photographers making great use of them for portraits of the bride and groom.  Group shots would be a bit more difficult if it was a bright sunny day as you might struggle with a lack of power when the heads are set back far enough to cover a large group, but for shooting one or two people it would be a good, quick solution.  You can easily carry the pack over your shoulder with the very comfortable supplied shoulder strap and even hand hold one head off to the side while you shoot with the other hand.  A bit of a guerrilla method but very achievable with a head that weighs so little.

Build quality and construction

Having used the Quadra in a few different situations, and used the Ranger RX for several years I have quite a few things to say on this subject.  My trusty Ranger RX has seen it’s fair share of adventures to say the least.  I regularly leave it standing in the snow during heavy blizzards and never worry about it when it gets wet.  I have seen the FreeLite head collect 15cm of snow on top of it and keep on ticking like it was just a normal day.  For my pack and head, that IS a normal day.  This past winter on an assignment in Alberta I used it every day for a week when temperatures were below -30 Celcius.  The battery cells still held a charge without issue.  Both the head and pack are dented from being carried around in backpacks and thrown around by airport baggage handlers.  Even after all of that it all works as advertised and I have never had even a single problem with it.  What I LOVE about the Ranger is that I do not have to baby it.  I trust it’s solid build and it is one less thing to worry about on my travels.

The Quadra on the other hand is simply not designed to be as rugged as the bigger Ranger RX.  When I first saw photos, it seemed rugged enough with its big rubber bumpers and a similar top panel to the Ranger which is devoid of any large physical buttons.  Unfortunately, on close inspection when it arrived several concerns developed for me.  Now before I go into the details, remember that I have very specific demands on my gear and it is not the same as most people.  So for many photographers these things will be a non-issue, but I want to make them clear for all the other ski and snowboard shooters out there and anyone else that wants to maybe use this kit during inclement weather.

Firstly the rubber bumper that surrounds the top of the pack came off in my hand when I was removing the Quadra from the case.  It is not permanently attached like the one on the Ranger which is glued and screwed on.  Instead the Quadra’s trim clips on with some very small plastic clips which do not hold it very well.  Every time I used it I found myself having to re-fit the rubber trim.  As you can see from the photo to the left, once the trim comes loose there is direct access for moisture to get to the internal circuit boards.  Even if the rubber did not remove itself, it seems that any liquid which might collect on the top panel could run straight into those holes beneath the trim as there is a channel for the water to get trapped in.  The second weather related concern I have is the open recharging socked on the side of the battery.  On the Ranger RX, the battery charging socket is protected by a solid metal screw in plug.  On the Quadra there is nothing, not even a rubber bung to plug the hole.  For a device that is labeled as a location lighting solution this seems like a strange omission.  And the third concern I have is caused by the design of the snap-on battery.  In the larger Ranger the battery slots INTO the bottom of the pack.  Not exposed to the elements.  The Quadra simply clips onto the bottom of the pack and this means that the electrical connections that join the pack and battery together are almost entirely open to the elements.  The photo below shows the gap between pack and battery when they are connected.  If snow or rain were to get in there I’m sure it would short out and possibly cause some major damage.  Next to the charging socket you can also see the fuse it right there too and open to the elements.

Now Elinchrom never makes any promises about the ruggedness of the Quadra, but I wanted to point these things out just in case anyone was assuming, like I did to begin with, that it was going to be in the same league as its bigger brother.  After all, the prices are not that dissimilar.  It’s nice to think that you could keep it dry when it’s snowing but in reality snow and water has a habit of finding its way into everything during a good blizzard.  And one of my favorite things about the Ranger RX is that I can shoot in a blizzard if I want to, and feel confident doing it.  If I had a Quadra I would never use it in such conditions.  For most normal uses though like location portraiture these things will likely be a non-issue but I would treat it carefully.

Conclusion

Wow this turned into quite the essay….. !  I’ll try and keep this wrap up a bit shorter then.  The Quadra is a great little unit for a lot of uses.  Location portrait shooters, wedding shooters and action sports guys like skateboard and mountain bike photographers will be very happy with it.  With the RQ “A” heads I was impressed with the flash duration which is something very important for shooting moving subjects.  I was much less impressed with the overall design and build quality though which was definitely several steps below the bigger Ranger RX series.  The Ranger series is roughly 30% more expensive though but the Quadra is still not cheap.  In a world where it is becoming increasingly expensive to fly though, photographers are searching for ways to travel light.  Being able to pack a 2-head kit with a spare battery that is lighter than a single head Ranger RX kit with only one battery has some major benefits.  I always have to pay excess baggage fees when I travel with my Ranger so a Quadra kit could almost pay for itself after a couple of busy travel years!  I also really liked having the Skyport receiver built into the pack even though I normally use my Pocketwizards.  I found the Pocketwizards were able to sync a bit faster on my Canon 1D MKIV at 1/320 where the Skyport was limited to 1/250 to achieve full flash exposure on the whole frame.  For outdoor work this makes a difference so I stuck with the PWs.  But for quick indoor shooting I preferred using the minimally sized Skyport transmitter with its remote power controls.  Even outdoors, you could use the Skyport transmitter as a remote to control the power level.  And then simply fire the strobe with the Pocketwizard.  The kit that I was using is sold as a package including a spare battery, both heads and the transmitter for about $2300.  Similar in price to a single head Ranger RX kit but the 2-head Quadra kit makes it far more versatile for the price.  Still a premium priced product in my opinion but much less expensive than the Profoto Acute B battery pack which most people would consider to be the Quadra’s competition.  The 600 Ws Acute B is slightly more powerful and offers more flashes per battery but it is also heavier and costs twice as much for a single head kit with their new Li-Ion battery.

I am going to stick with my trusty Ranger RX kit for now because there are times for me when the extra power comes in handy.  I hope Elinchrom update those packs to include lithium-ion batteries instead of the current heavier lead-acid packs.  But if you need something a little lighter weight then you should definitely take a look at the Quadra.  For the extra money of the Ranger RX you are getting a considerably better built product, but if you have no desire to put your gear through the wringer then I wouldn’t let it affect your decision too much.  If you want to move fast and take lots of photos the Quadra is several steps above using regular speedlights and if weight and portability is important to you then it will be the best choice.

If you are thinking of purchasing any of these products please help me to continue adding to this site by using the links below.

Elinchrom Quadra products at B&H photo

Elinchrom Ranger products at B&H photo

Support the site

• B&H Photo
• Amazon.com
• Adorama
• Zacuto
• Outdoor Photo Gear
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• Think Tank Photo -As a friend of this site, clicking through to the Think Tank site and spending more than $50 will earn you a FREE bag when you reach the checkout. Choose from several different accessory or modular bags for FREE!
• Borrowlenses.com
• DROBO Enter coupon code DANCARRPHOTO for up to $150 off on certain models.
• Letus Direct

1. G-Tech Hard Drives

In the essentials list I put hard drives and recommended the LaCie Rugged drives.  If you are going to take a step up though then you have to check out the G-Raid Mini from G-Tech.  This tiny enclosure houses 2 hard drives that can be configured in any Raid configuration meaning that with RAID 1 setting you have totally redundant backup of your data without having to worry about manually copying data onto 2 different drives.  In this configuration though you should still copy to your laptop internal drive though and store the G-Raid and the laptop in different places just in case one gets stolen if you are flying.  But if you travel nationally by car and can always have your gear on you this may not be such a worry to you.  The next option is to get a pair of G-Drive mini SSDs. The solid state drives are WAY more expensive than regular drives but being SSDs there is far less to go wrong inside so you can in theory subject them to way more, and they have the added bonus of being much faster than regular mechanical drives!

2. Really Right Stuff TVC-24 Carbon Fiber tripod

In my opinion Really Right Stuff makes the best camera support gear on the market.  I have written before about the awesome BH-40 ballhead and I also have a selection of RRS quick release plates on all my long lenses and cameras.  At the end of last year RRS released the TVC-33 tripod.  A no-nonsense tripod built purely to be the best, with no compromise in the quality of the design or the parts used to construct it.  It came at a price though, $925! The TVC-33 though was designed to be paired with the fairly hefty BH-55 ballhead which is not the best option for a traveler due to the weight and bulk.  The BH-40 makes much more sense though and just a couple of weeks ago RRS announced the new TVC-24 tripod designed to be the perfect partner to the BH-40.  The TVC-24 is lighter than its bigger brother and also has a 4-section leg design making it much more compact when fully closed.  Only 18.7″ in length compared with the 26″ of the TVC-33.  A much nicer package to travel with.  It also carries a very impressive load rating, matching up to a 3 series Gitzo tripod but in a considerably smaller and lighter package.  Again the price is high at $910 but with these guys you get what you pay for.  This is the tripod you buy once in your career.

3. Apple Airport Express

Sick of using hotel room internet chained to the tiny desk with the awkwardly small chair ?  For some reason there are still a lot of hotels around the world that insist on using standard network cables to provide you with internet.  If you are like me then maybe you prefer to sit on the bed while you check your mail or browse your favorite sites.  Well then the Airport Express is for you then.  With this little plug in device you can create your own simple wireless network in your hotel room and easily browse the web from the comfort of the bed, or even the bath!  If you are sharing a room with someone then you can also both use the same connection simultaneously instead of waiting in line to get the next turn with the blue cable!

4. Hyperdrive Album

I have an extensive review of the Hyperdrive Colorspace UDMA on my site already but the Hyperdrive Album is an updated version with a new form factor and a much bigger 4.8″ screen.  The Album is available in several different drive sizes from 160GB up to 500GB or you can buy the empty case and put whichever drive you want in it.  This makes it great for future proofing it as you can upgrade in the future. All the best features of the Colorspace are carried over so you have the ability to recover damaged or deleted photos from your cards as well as checking the integrity of the files as they are copied from your card.  Having one of these with you is a great way to backup one set of shots from your trip.  When I travel I have one copy of my shots on my laptop and one copy on my Colorspace, but if I was in the market for one I would definitely grab the new larger screened Album version.

5. Hypermac Battery packs

These Hypermac packs are actually from the same company as the above mentioned Hyperdrive.  Again they are available in a variety of sizes to suit, and they will give your laptop or USB powered devices a few more hours of juice for those long trips with lots of time in the airport or on planes that do not have built in power to the seats.  They will even power your iPad for hours and hours of movie watching.  The exact amount of extra powered time you will get depends on the size you get but even the smallest one witll give you 34 hours of power to your iPad and the largest one will even power 17″ macbook pro for 26 hours!  They have a use port too so you can charge your iPod or camera while you are using your laptop.  Awesome is the word.  They even have new smaller versions that are designed specifically to be used with iPhone or iPod.

6. Travel scales

I wasn’t sure whether to put this in the essentials section of the luxury.  If you are like me then you are always on the borderline of allowable baggage.  No matter where I travel I always end up in the terminal next to the check in gate weighing my bags on the scales and trying to balance things out so I don’t get charged excess fees.  In fact a lot of times I am already committed to the excess fee and am simply trying to get the bags under the maximum allowable weight so they don’t have to go as freight.  I really need to pick up one of these scales for my home so I can figure it all out before I leave…..  There is a huge selection of luggage scales available from Amazon.  All different sizes and styles from portable ones that travel with you, to massive semi-permanent ones to leave in your garage.  Very useful if you are packing heavy!

7. Leica M9 + 35mm f1.4 summilux II

I did say this was a list of luxuries right?  For the photographer who already has everything else the Leica M9 must surely be on the bucket buying list.  Leica’s very first full frame digital camera has been met with nothing but praise from those who test it.  Every one of it’s 18 megapixels rendered beautifully by the legendary Leica M lenses.  To fit a full frame sensor in such a small package is a remarkable achievement and this is what makes it good for people who travel.  Its discreet looks and low weight make it an ideal street camera.  Combined with the brand new version of the 35mm f1.4 summilux lens you have a lens+camera combination that can capture detail you never thought possible.  But it comes at a price!  $6995 for the camera another $6000 for the lens!

8.  Apple iPad

For the moment I think the iPad must still stay on the luxuries list.  I have written before about the potential uses of an iPad for photographers. That article was written in the run up to the launch and since that day there have indeed been many photographers integrating the iPad into their workflow in one way or another.  To be honest though, until there is a little more development into some of these applications the main benefits of an iPad are travel related rather than photography related.  Being able to carry many travel books, phrase books and guides all in a small package is useful.  Not to mention the entertainment provided by the movies and games that are available.  The limited storage space on the device is still a problem, but using it as a preview device has some mileage.  Mamiya just recently announced their new RZ33 medium format camera for example, and at the same time an iPad application that allows remote viewing of the photos on an iPhone or iPad.  This is certainly a potential usage but i’m waiting for some of the larger companies to jump into the arena before I consider it a necessity.  In the meantime though, its still an great device to travel with if you need books, music and movies all in one place.

9.  HPRC Hard Cases

I only recently discovered HPRC cases as they are an Italian company with fewer distributors in N.America than Pelican or other such hard cases.  Nonetheless they are now available from some of the larger online photo stores such as B&H photo.  Sp what makes these so special then?  I often travel with some gear in a pelican case.  Sometimes it is unavoidable but it always causes trouble trying to get within weigh limits for airline travel.  My Pelican 1610 for example weight 24lbs EMPTY !  And that right there is the main problem I have with the pelican cases, sometimes they are just too heavy.  Well the HPRC cases are designed to be up to %25 lighter than equivalent competitors cases.  I checked out a few examples on their site and compared them to the Pelican equivalents.  Sure enough, every single one of them came in several pounds lighter.  But they are still rated to be pretty much indestructible and whats more, they are almost all available with modular camera inserts.  Various models have the usual wheels for easier transport and even those ones come in much lighter than other cases on the market.  They have a carryon legal wheeled case to rival the Pelican 1510, called the 2550w and they also have carry bags to put the cases into to make them look less conspicuous and add shoulder straps to those that have no wheels!  This last part is fantastic because a hard case sticks out on a baggage carousel like a sore thumb and can often be a worry for photographers.  It looks like it contains expensive gear and for slipping through customs without much hassle I often put a pelican case in a duffel bag.  I have nothing to hide of course!  But I prefer to get in and out of the airports as quickly as possible.  HPRC have this covered though and a multitude of accessories are available for all the cases!

10.  Zoom H1 Digital Audio Recorder

Depending on your exact position in the professional photographic world (if indeed you are professional) this item may soon move from the luxury to the necessary list.  More and more photographers are being asked to shoot multimedia assignments for their clients.  Video or audio to be combined with image slideshows and interviews are now something that many people need to consider when they are traveling.  Audio from built in mics on cameras such as the Canon or Nikon DSLRs is poor at best so a separate audio recorder is the way to go.  The brand new Zoom H1 is a perfect pocket sized partner.  You can either record stereo audio onto the SD card in the device , or use the stereo mic in the H1 to record a signal straight into your camera.  I have written much more about the H1 on my blog before so if this one interests you then check it out.

Support the site

• B&H Photo
• Amazon.com
• Adorama
• Zacuto
• Outdoor Photo Gear
• ebay
• Think Tank Photo -As a friend of this site, clicking through to the Think Tank site and spending more than $50 will earn you a FREE bag when you reach the checkout. Choose from several different accessory or modular bags for FREE!
• Borrowlenses.com
• DROBO Enter coupon code DANCARRPHOTO for up to $150 off on certain models.
• Letus Direct

1. Power Strips

If you’ve ever spent prolonged periods bouncing from one hotel to the next then you’ll know that the one thing they all have in common is a lack of power sockets.  By the time you take into account a couple of camera battery chargers, a laptop, flash battery chargers, phone charger, iPod, point and shoot camera, audio recorder and video camera you can imagine how many things you might need to plug in a one time.  A power strip is an absolute necessity!  Make sure that you get one that is rated for both 110v and 240v or even up to 250v to take into account fluctuation voltages in some less developed areas.  One of the best solutions I have found so far is the 3 Port + USB Outlets to Go model from Monster cable.  It offers 3 power sockets and a USB charger all in one package, complete with a built in cable management system.  The best part about the design is that the 3 sockets are spaced well apart, with one on the back and two on the front.  This means that even with the biggest power brick, you can still get something into the socket next to it.  It can be had from Amazon for less than $15 and at that price you just can’t complain!  Make sure of course that the device you are plugging into the power strip can also handle 240 volts!

2. Plug adapters

You are going to need to adapt the plug on the end of your power strip to fit the local socket type so decent plug adapter is also a necessity.  The Warrior Go!Con adapter is a crazy looking device but I have seen it recommended in a few places if you can get hold of it.  They come from Japan and whilst you can order them from their website, they are not so cheap.  You can also order them from this other Japanese website and pay in US$ this looks like it would be the easiest.  It looks complex to arrange, but it does seem to have the biggest variety of plug adaptions that I have ever seen and the whole thing folds flat and fits in your pocket!  Quite amazing if you can find one.  If you want to find something a little closer to home then take a look at this universal adapter from the online travel store Magellans.

3. External Hard Drives

No matter where you go you should always be backing up your photos.  When I’m on the road I use the LaCie Rugged line of drives which I have written about before. So far no problems with them at all and no failures.  Prices have come down a bit now and the top of the line triple interface 500gb drive can be had for under $140.  Keep an eye out for USB 3.0 drives in the near future though.  Right now not many laptops support USB 3.0 but that will all change within the year so expect companies like LaCie to follow that up with new drives.  There are drives that are physically smaller but the rubber bumper and internal rubber suspension gives me a little piece of mind.  I tend to travel with 2 of these, one of which I format before each trip to use for photos, and the other one contains my music and movie collection.  If you keep one set of photos on your laptop and one on your external drive, make sure you don’t have them in the same bag when you are traveling.  That way you can’t lose all your shots if the bag gets lost or stolen.

4. Camera Insurance

If you are traveling with professional gear than more than likely the maximum value of gear you have will well exceed any travel insurance policy that you have.  A lot of regular policies also won’t cover gear being used for business so you should think about getting everything insured by a specialist.  Some people find that adding gear to an existing home insurance policy is an option but finding a company that specializes in camera insurance has a lot of advantages.  There is a couple of ways you can insure things with most people, either a worldwide policy that insures your gear wherever you travel for a single rate, or have a policy that cover things when you are home and then add a rider to your policy for each trip that you take.  Depending on how much you travel, one of these will work better for you.  If you travel a lot then go for the full package and you have one less thing to organize before your trip.

Two important things to look for in the policy; does it cover your gear when it is locked in a car?  And does it cover the rental cost of gear if your gear gets lost or stolen?  The latter is extremely important.  Make sure that if any of your gear gets lost by the airline, you are covered to rent gear to get the job done.  Again, specialist companies will have this kind of thing in place already and they will have procedures for solving these problems.  Also check with the company to make sure you can easily add more gear to your list as you buy more.  Living in Canada I can’t really speak for insurers in other countries but my gear is insured by CG&B Group.  Whilst its hard to track down on their site, they do have a specific policy for pro photographers and so far they have been great to deal with.

5. Rechargeable Batteries (NiMH)

It’s pretty fair to say that you will have something in you kit that needs AA batteries, most likely a flash.  I much prefer using rechargeable batteries to save the hassle of having to find some in a hurry in an area that you do not know.  Sanyo Eneloop batteries are particularly good for one main reason, they maintain their charge.  Most rechargeable batteries loose their charge over time.  If you have a lot of batteries then maybe there are some that dont get used so often.  With my old Energizer NiMH batteries I would often find batteries in my bag that had lost their charge and that can be a bit frustrating if you have forgotten to top them all up.  With the Eneloops though you can leave them for a whole year and they will still have maintained 85% of their charge.  They also make a pretty neat little dual battery charger that will top up a pair of Eneloops via the USB port on your laptop or by using one of the above mentioned power strips that has a USB port.  This is very handy if you are running low on power sockets in a hotel room.

6.  Have your equipment registered by customs

This information will vary from country to country but I will cover Canad and the USA.  I would assume that similar systems are in place in most countries so you might have to do a little research.  Note that this is not eh same as the ATA Carnet program.  For enormous amounts of equipment the Carnet would still be the way to go but for anything that one person can carry I have not found it necessary.  Instead in Canada there is a simple procedure you can do at the airport to register your equipment with customs officials.  Called the Y38 form (“Identification of Articles for Temporary Exportation”), all you have to do is show your equipment serial numbers to the customs agent in the departure terminal and they will record it on the form.  It is then signed and stamped as proof that you did indeed have that equipment in Canada.  One one piece of your equipment is listed the Y38 form is valid for life so you do not need to keep re-registering your gear.  Just keep the forms in your travel bag for next time.  Upon re-entering Canada if you are questioned about whether you purchased any of your gear while you are away, you can show them the forms to prove that you had it when you left.  Note that you can still be asked for proof of purchase in Canada if they want, but I have never been asked.  Generally they are just pleased that you were organized enough to get the forms filled out before you left!

In the USA there is a very similar system but the form is called the US Customs form 4457.  The procedure is identical, simply find the customs office in the departure terminal and get the to record your serial numbers of your lenses and cameras.  The forms are good for life so get them done and keep them safe.

7. Card Reader

You can plug a USB cable directly into a camera to retrieve you images but you will experience download speeds of anything up to 3 times slower than you will get if you use a dedicated card reader and a regular card.  If you are using UDMA high speed memory cards then the difference will be even more pronounced.  Even though I typically try to take as little gear as possible with me, a card reader is one of those things where I value the speed and time saving it gives me over the relatively small bulk+weight added to my bag.  There are hundreds and hundreds of different readers out there but I like to keep it simple with a Compact Flash card reader only.  None of this 78-in-1 reader business.  All my main cameras shoot CF cards and whilst my Canon s90 point and shoot is SD card I shoot relatively few shots with that camera so it’s not a big deal.  I use a Sandisk Cards and a Sandisk Extreme CF card reader.  I know that a lot of micro four thirds and Canon Rebel series cameras do shoot SD card though so if you have one of those, or a combination of CF and SD cards then take a look at the Lexard Dual slot reader that is UDMA compatible, or the Hoodman USB 2.0 UDMA reader.

8. Laptop Computer

Lets face it, if you shoot digital then you need a laptop computer.  There are far too many possibilities out there for me to run through them all.  The type of laptop that is suitable will depend on what you need to do to your images while you are on the road.  Some people just need something to download their memory cards and maybe upload shots to a server.  In this case you could get away with a small cheaper netbook.  Some people need to be able to edit their photos in Lightroom and Photoshop while they are away so something a little more powerful is necessary.  By far the most popular choice for creative professionals is the Apple Macbook Pro though. I’m not sure what overall worldwide percentages is but in my industry I would say 90% of people travel with an Apple laptop.  For myself I actually do very little editing while I am away but I do like to catalog in Lightroom and I also appreciate the 15″ screen on my macbook for watching movies and TV shows while I am on the plane or at the hotel.

9. At least one short prime lens

I would consider a short prime to be something in the 50mm -24mm range and however light I’m packing I always make sure there is at least one prime in my kit. Why ?  Well if it were possible I would only have prime lenses due to their increases contrast and image sharpness.  But a kit of primes is far heavier than a zoom + prime kit and due to the type of photography I do weight is a factor.  Short prime lenses tend to have a much larger aperture though and having at least one lens with an aperture in the f1.8 -f1.4 range is very useful for nigh time photography in whatever city you find yourself in or photography inside buildings such as museums, cathedrals, restaurants.  I often take my best photos when I go for a walk with just one prime lens because it really makes you focus on what you are shooting.  On my 5dMKII I prefer a 35mm or 50mm lens but mostly I carry my 1dMKIV with a 24mm f1.4 II mounted on it.  If it has to be really lightweight then a 50mm 1.8 on the 5dMKII will do just fine.  And photos shot on primes with wider apertures have a very different look to typical shots from most zoom lenses so it really helps to bring some diversity to your shots from a particular trip.

10. Rocket blower sensor cleaner

Even though newer cameras have automatic micro-vibrating sensor cleaning functions, they don’t keep all the dust off. There are several similar products available but the Giottos products do a great job and are available in many different sizes. Due to their grenade-like appearance, expect to get some funny looks from airport security personnel though! Continually changing lenses outdoors means that you will get dust buildup around the mirror mechanism but a few squeezes with the blower and you will prevent that dust from ever getting to the lens. If you have more persistent particles check out the products from Visibledust. I use their wet cleaning fluids every few months and also their statically charged brushes if the blower can’t shift the dirt. Gitottos also do some kits that include blowers cloths and some lens cleaning solution that you can get from B&H

10.5 Local knowledge

I’ll call this 10.5 because this is a small thing and somewhat dependent on what the purpose of your travels are, but if I have been sent half way around the world on a commercial shoot then I always take the time to research local camera stores and equipment rental places.  If my gear goes down and needs replacing in a hurry, or the airline loses my pelican case then I already know exactly who I’m going to call.

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Support the site

• B&H Photo
• Amazon.com
• Adorama
• Zacuto
• Outdoor Photo Gear
• ebay
• Think Tank Photo -As a friend of this site, clicking through to the Think Tank site and spending more than $50 will earn you a FREE bag when you reach the checkout. Choose from several different accessory or modular bags for FREE!
• Borrowlenses.com
• DROBO Enter coupon code DANCARRPHOTO for up to $150 off on certain models.
• Letus Direct