In my last installment, I mentioned that I'm traveling light on my way to Beijing. So how does that impact the equipment I'll need to do my job - computer, camera, audio recording? I've spent some time perfecting my system so that everything I need will fit in one bag that fits over my shoulder.
I'll start with the bag itself. I rummaged through my "bag closet" and found an old Bessler carryall that I scored off the bargin table years ago. I've never used it on a job, but it's perfect for this trip. It will hold a 13" laptop and enough camera gear to get me through the assignment. This is exactly why I'm a bag hound.
For my laptop, I'm packing a current model MacBook with Intel processor and 4 GBs RAM. It's light, WiFi adept, and can run all of my photo applications. I'm including a 120 GB FireLite Smartdisk external drive for backups. A power brick with plug adapter for China and that's about it except for a few cables and a FireWire card reader.
My main camera is the Canon 5D with three lenses: 70-200mm f/4 L, 16-35mm f/2.8 L II, and a Sigma 50mm f/1.4 prime lens. I'm augmenting the 70-200 zoom with a Canon 1.4X tele extender and the custom tripod ring that mounts beautifully on my monopod. With this rig, I have reach (up to 280mm), breadth (16mm on the wide end), and speed (f/1.4 on the Sigma). I'm adding a handful of 4 GB cards, four batteries, charger, ExpoDisc, and microfiber cloth. I always pack Ziplocs... just in case.
I'll also bring the Canon G9 with a couple 4 GB cards and two batteries. It's a great backup camera and is less conspicuous if I'm in a situation where I need to keep the 5D in the bag.
Finally, I'm packing the M-Audio Microtrack 24/96 with a stereo omnidirectional mic and a narrow pattern mono mic. That way I can capture big event sounds (great for slideshows) and record interviews for podcasts.
I'll have two phones with me. For international travel, I always take my unlocked Sony Ericsson W810i. Hopefully, I'll be able to buy a SIM card at the Beijing airport so I'll have local connectivity. I'm also taking the iPhone, making sure that I turn off "Data Roaming" in the Network Settings so I don't rack up huge service charges while abroad.
I have added a couple 3rd party apps to the iPhone, since it will also be my portable computer. "Audio Recorder" enables me to capture quick tidbits of audio and save them as standard QuickTime files. The recording quality is actually quite good. I also added "Converter" that makes it easy to convert just about any type of unit for Temperature, weight, etc. The Lonely Planet Mandarin Phrasebook is a must have. Not only does it provide text translations for common phrases, it *speaks* them. Talk about an ace in the hole. And it's free in Apple's App Store. My last new addition to the iPhone is "Stanza," which is a free eBook reader that doubles as a PDF manager. So I can have a few books with me without carrying the weight of paper.
All of this fits nicely in my bargain table shoulder bag. It's not the lightest kit in the world, but it's portable enough so I can have it with me at all times, and hopefully, contains everything I will need for this assignment.
Of course, I'll be reporting on how successful this rig works out. If you're not following me on Twitter, you can find me as Derrick_Story.
Now Available! The Digital Photography Companion. The official guide for The Digital Story Virtual Camera Club.
- 25 handy and informative tables for quick reference.
- Metadata listings for every photo in the book
- Dedicated chapter on making printing easy.
- Photo management software guide.
- Many, many inside tips gleaned from years of experience.
- Comprehensive (214 pages), yet fits easily in camera bag.
Technorati Tags: Beijing Olympics, Canon G9, Derrick Story, digital photography, Technology, The Digital Story, Twitter
Read More: Photography
Posted by dstory on July 31, 2008
| Comments (5)
Comments
I see that you got lucky with the power adaptors being the same, and you do have the FW reader covered.
What I forgot to say is be sure you can plug everything at the hotel. Some of the Monster Outlets2Go are small and cheap
Meant to post this days ago but I've had a wonky net connection, so sorry for the double post!
Commented by: Michael at August 3, 2008 01:43 PM
What about a flash? The 5D (obviously) has none. A couple sets or rechargeable AA's would be much better than 30 through an airport.
The MacBook can be great with Aperture or lightroom and as I has a first gen and yours is less than a year old (by the 4GBs of RAM) it should be fun. If you'd like to squeeze an extra bit of power make sure to use a 7200 RPM hard drive. The latest generation drives (>=200GB) can be found for a little over $100 plus don't use much more battery power, at least not a noticeable amount. If you do upgrade the drive (which takes about 5 minutes) you can put the old drive in an enclosure for less than $20 (more for FW) and use it as a backup and to restore from. I'd also recommend having more than one external. But I LOVE my data and that's all I care about every thing else is replaceable. If you can find a place online for your stuff or connect your drobo to your AirPort and configure it for worldwide access. Just keep your IP for the airport in a (virtual) sticky note.
Is know you use the SanDisk FW800 reader. Make sure to get a FW400-800 cable. I have a short 12" one from OWC which is quite nice and durable.
If you have room for cables there a few general things:
A mid to short length ethernet cable
2 mini USB cables. These will save you life!
an extra FW cable if you have enough devices
Also bring a USB power brick (like the iPhone's) plus adaptors. These are quite use because with any usb cable they can charge anything. A tiny car adapter is also nice. Running out of power sucks!!!
I'll volunteer to be your assistant too! ;-)
Commented by: Michael at July 31, 2008 03:40 PM
What about a flash? The 5D (obviously) has none. A couple sets or rechargeable AA's would be much better than 30 through an airport.
The MacBook can be great with Aperture or lightroom and as I has a first gen and yours is less than a year old (by the 4GBs of RAM) it should be fun. If you'd like to squeeze an extra bit of power make sure to use a 7200 RPM hard drive. The latest generation drives (>=200GB) can be found for a little of $100 plus don't use much more battery power, at least not a noticeable amount. If you do upgrade the drive (which takes about 5 minutes) you can put the old drive in an enclosure for less than $20 (more for FW) and use it as a backup and to restore from. I'd also recommend having more than one external. But I LOVE my data and that's all I care about every thing else is replaceable. If you can find a place online for your stuff or connect your drobo to your AirPort and configure it for worldwide access. Just keep your IP for the airport in a (virtual) sticky note.
Is know you use the SanDisk FW800 reader. Make sure to get a FW400-800 cable. I have a short 12" one from OWC which is quite nice and durable.
If you have room for cables there a few general things:
A mid to short length ethernet cable
2 mini USB cables. These will save you life!
an extra FW cable if you have enough devices
Also bring a USB power brick (like the iPhone's) plus adaptors. These are quite use because with any usb cable they can charge anything. A tiny car adapter is also nice. Running out of power sucks!!!
I'll volunteer to be your assistant too! ;-)
Commented by: Michael at July 31, 2008 03:39 PM
I always "pack" days before I go with gear anywhere- that way I have flashes of insight with time to act on them to make things even better!
Did you find the perfect mic? That gear catalog has great shipping...
I'm photographing an ancient golf-course sized walking sprinkler today. It's destiny is to become an animated alien surreal rust encrusted beast-mobile. Vrroom!
Commented by: Leslie Michel at July 31, 2008 01:40 PM
Thanks! Really interesting. Big ups!
Commented by: Noon at August 11, 2008 05:44 AM