After reading about friends’ holiday posts on Facebook for the whole summer, it is finally my turn. This year my holiday trip will be bigger than ever before as we head to the west coast US with few friends. This will not be a photography trip but obviously photography will be a major part of it for me. Along with another great interest of mine – craft beers!
Going for a fortnight holiday to places I have never been before means I want to take most of my kit with me. I do not want to take all possible bits but travelling light is not the most important thing now as we will have a car there. And after all, my Micro Four Thirds kit will not be huge anyway.
Here is a description what I will have with me and after the trip I will tell how it all worked out. And of course, some photos will be coming during and after the holidays.
As you can see, filter kit and tripod will take most of the space. If I was travelling light, I would only have M5II with 12-100, maybe 17/1.8 and/or 25/1.8 for low-light use, charger and batteries, and some cleaning stuff. Anyway, all this kit would fit into a small backpack or medium-sized messenger bag if you tied the tripod outside.
Cameras
My main camera is Olympus M5 mark II. I have been using Olympus OM-D cameras since the release of M5 in 2012. I also have this old M5 which will be my backup/second body.
Along with cameras I need to take chargers and batteries. Luckily both M5’s use the same batteries so I only need one set of them. I have four batteries in total: two old Olympus batteries I have used with my old M5, one new that came with the M5II, and one white ExPro battery.
I have grips for both camera bodies but will only take one for the M5II.
I have both neck strap and wrist strap for the cameras.
I also have a couple of memory cards sized 8-32 GB and a cable release for tripod use.
Lenses
The workhorse will be Olympus 12-100 f/4 Pro zoom I bought this summer. I am expecting to make most of the photos with this.
I will also take my set of Olympus primes: 17/1.8, 25/1.8, 45/1.8, and 75/1.8. These are for situations I need more light in or just when the zoom feels boring. In some cases, for example late evenings, I may also want to take less obtrusive and less expensive mini kit with me, for example the old M5 with 17/1.8. I may not need all of these but after all these are small lenses.
With lenses I will need a set of cleaning kit: Lenspens, wet lens cleaning clothes, and micro fibre cloth.
Flashes
I have decided not to take any flash units with me as I am almost sure I will not need them. After all, it would mean not only the flash unit but also batteries, charger, etc…
I will take the tiny flash that came with the camera although I have not even used it yet.
Tripod
Although Olympus’ great in-body image stabilation is enough for most situation, I will also take Q666C travel tripod (I have reviewed here) for those long exposures. Thanks to the M5II grip, there is no need for quick release plates.
Filters
Filter kit will be Formatt-Hitech 85mm square filter holder with ND1000, ND8, and graduated ND filters, along with 72mm adapter ring and circular polariser for Olympus 12-100.
I am also taking Haida 46mm ND1000 if I want to use it with 17/1.8 or 25/1.8.
Computer – Microsoft Surface Pro 4
I do not think I will be doing full post-processing on the road but as I have Microsoft Surface Pro 4 I will take it with me. As it is basically a Windows laptop, you can run all Adobe software in it. The display is also great. As a downside Surface is not very powerful unless you got some of the ridiculously expensive models. Therefore, running Lightroom on it is not a joy.
Obviously as I have a blog now, I will use it also for blogging, as well as occasional movies, social media, trip planning, etc.
With the Surface itself I will also take the charger, sleeve, mouse, HDMI-cable, and cable for camera.
Surface will also be my backup device when I transfer photos in it. When there is a solid internet connection available, I will be uploading the photos to my NAS at home as well.
Bags
Lowepro Photo Sport 200 will be my day backpack, main camera bag, and hand luggage. It can take all my camera kit and computer inside. It is a decent lightweight sporty camera backpack but is not really meant for carrying a laptop. There is no laptop compartment and the backwall is curved (by a piece of metal inside) for good carrying ergonomics. Surface is small enough to be carried in front side of the back but is not ideal. However, I will not be carrying it with me daily, only when travelling to a new location.
As a tiny light alternative to Lowepro for evening walks I have a small messenger back. This is when I do not want to take full kit but just a body with a prime or two.
Stay tuned for holiday photos and further experience on how the kit is working.
