Traveling with Epic

[Mark Andersen]

I am flying overseas with the two Epics and a bunch of accessories, here's how I packed it. In short, kit includes two Epics, matt box, a bunch of Canon primes and 1 zoom, 5D mk3 (for stills and timelapse) 10 redvolts, filters, 9 TB of USB3 HDs and MacBook pro, some spare parts, and a Leica Noctilux and Leica mount. I like to carry everything, I don't want to check my gear. I'd love to see how others get their gear around the world.

Sorry my photos are sideways

 

[Bob Gundu]

Looks like the Lowepro 450. BTW, The warranty on those bags is amazing. They exchanged by bag to a brand new one after having it 10 years! No questions asked... poof... new bag over the counter.

 

[Mike Yonts]

Mark, is there a Quad Charger in there, or are you getting by with travel chargers?

 

[Peter Savage]

which airline lets you carry the weight of all that as hand luggage? I've had so many problems with less than that...

 

[Mark Andersen]

Mark, is there a Quad Charger in there, or are you getting by with travel chargers?

I have a quad charger but it's too heavy for travel. I like to use four travel chargers and a power strip.

 

[Mark Andersen]

which airline lets you carry the weight of all that as hand luggage? I've had so many problems with less than that...

I usually fly Delta, I've never had a problem with the weight of my carry on, they are only concerned with size.

 

[Bob Gundu]

To save even more space, replace those power cords from the travel charger with short 12" lengths. It's amazing how much space cords can take.

 

[Mark Andersen]

To save even more space, replace those power cords from the travel charger with short 12" lengths. It's amazing how much space cords can take.

Thats a great tip. I hate all that extra cord. Any idea where to find them?

 

[Mark Phelan]

Thats a great tip. I hate all that extra cord. Any idea where to find them?

Here's something even smaller than a cord: http://www.buy.com/pr/product.aspx?sku=234627461

 

[Dr. Sassi]

If you fly overseas, you might need other cords anyway. Perhaps you can use the local Amazon to send the cords to your destination before you even start. Have a nice trip.
BTW, check the with Delta about the Batteries, just a thought.

 

[Dominik Muench]

Flew with my EPIC a few times in the last 8 weeks and had it in a pelican case on the cargo hold every time.

CAUTION: APART FROM US AIRLINES...all other international airlines now have a hand luggage weight limit of usually 7kgs.....which is a bloody pain in the ass...especially since at some airports (e.g Brisbane - Australia...don't get me started) they weigh your hand luggage and at others they dont....so you might have to put your backpack into the cargo hold depending on where you are traveling and how you go at the security check.

 

[Brian Iannone]

Along the lines of traveling with gear... Would anyone happen to have any suggestions for transporting eight hard drives (26TB) as a carry-on onboard a plane? This is something I'm going to have to do in December and I believe I may have an idea, but am interested in hearing how some of you would approach this situation.

By the way, that's eight disks in addition to a backpack (which I'm using as a carry-on) containing a Nikon D800, a Scarlet, a MacBook Pro, a MacBook Air and four lenses.

 

[Dominik Muench]

Brian: for this sort of setup we used a small storm or pelican cases....made cutouts in the foam that just fit the HDDs tight and snug as little slot ins....then transported the cables and power supplies for the harddrives separately. worked really well. In terms of security and onboard luggage, that shouldn't really be an issue at all.
Air on the plane is usually quite dry and cold, but just in case i would throw in a pack or two of silica gel anyway...its cheap and cant hurt the cause.

with non solid state HDDS you really want to make sure that they are as shock and bump proof as possible....I had various harddrives die on me in the past because they got shaken around too much and then the reading arm inside the drive was damaged.

you might get away with the backpack as your "computer case" which usually doesnt count towards your carry on luggage...most airlines allow for a laptop case in addition to the on board carryon.

 

[Bob Gundu]

Here's something even smaller than a cord: http://www.buy.com/pr/product.aspx?sku=234627461

Hose are handy but with the travel chargers it can be tough to gang them up on a powerbar.

 

[Brian Iannone]

Brian: for this sort fo setup we used a small storm or pelican cases....made cutouts in the foam that just fit the HDDs tight and snug as little slot ins....then transported the cables and power supplies for the harddrives separately. worked really well. In terms of security and onboard luggage, that shouldn't really be an issue at all.
Air on the plane is usually quite dry and cold, but just in case i would throw in a pack or two of silica gel anyway...its cheap and cant hurt the cause.

with non solid state HDDS you really want to make sure that they are as shock and bump proof as possible....I had various harddrives die on me in the past because they got shaken around too much and then the reading arm inside the drive was damaged.

you might get away with the backpack as your "computer case" which usually doesnt count towards your carry on luggage...most airlines allow for a laptop case in addition to the on board carryon.

I see. Since I have the backpack with the camera gear inside, I was planning on taking a 15" notebook bag and laying the disks inside flat, while perhaps stacking two per layer if necessary. I just got back from Zurich, Paris, Berlin and New Jersey and not once was my carry-on weighed. Though, I have had it weighed in the past, so I still avoid going over the weight limit (especially when traveling to Australia as they're ultra-picky there).

Since notebook bags are considered "accessory bags," I would imagine there should be no issue long as they don't weigh it. If they do, I will have quite a dilemma.

Perhaps I'll just wear cargo pants and stuff the 26TB in disks into the pockets... I'm sure security will love me taking eight drives out of my pants to place into the plastic bin to go through the X-ray scanner.

Now, another question about transporting camera gear. Has anyone tried to carry their camera in their hand while passing through security (I don't mean during walking through the metal detector, but during the general process of arriving at the airport and boarding the plane) in order to avoid adding weight to their allowed carry-on bags? If so, did it work or did you encounter any issues?

 

[Christoph Ferstad]

Brian - Yes I've carried a camera as big as a nikon d3 and 24-70 lens through security etc and onto plane without a problem, in addition to backpack and ''personal item''. Re the weight of your carry on, it may also depend on where in the world you are travelling and whether they are budget airlines etc... they tend to be more strict regarding weight. Also I've found in Europe they can be more strict in some cases (except for the ''premium'' airlines where you're paying quite a lot for a ticket). I've been travelling around Asia with my scarlet the past 3 months and haven't had any problems, my backpack weighs about 18kg with scarlet, lenses, HDs and V-mount battery. I did luck out in Japan though I think they were too polite to tell me my stuff weighed too much, I could see the panic in the check in counter girl's eyes as she weighed my check-ins, which in theory they should have charged me about 400$ for overweight baggage (cheap korean airline with strict baggage allowances, or so I thought). Where are you travelling and with what airline?

Also regarding batteries I've brought huge v-mount batteries onto the plane and even the dodgy looking battery kessler uses for their sliders (its like a fricking car battery) without any problems. But sometimes airlines do mention not bringing certain batteries in hand luggage in their literature, so I don't know maybe I've just been lucky.

 

[Brian Iannone]

Brian - Yes I've carried a camera as big as a nikon d3 and 24-70 lens through security etc and onto plane without a problem, in addition to backpack and ''personal item''. Re the weight of your carry on, it may also depend on where in the world you are travelling and whether they are budget airlines etc... they tend to be more strict regarding weight. Also I've found in Europe they can be more strict in some cases (except for the ''premium'' airlines where you're paying quite a lot for a ticket). I've been travelling around Asia with my scarlet the past 3 months and haven't had any problems, my backpack weighs about 18kg with scarlet, lenses, HDs and V-mount battery. I did luck out in Japan though I think they were too polite to tell me my stuff weighed too much, I could see the panic in the check in counter girl's eyes as she weighed my check-ins, which in theory they should have charged me about 400$ for overweight baggage (cheap korean airline with strict baggage allowances, or so I thought). Where are you travelling and with what airline?

Also regarding batteries I've brought huge v-mount batteries onto the plane and even the dodgy looking battery kessler uses for their sliders (its like a fricking car battery) without any problems. But sometimes airlines do mention not bringing certain batteries in hand luggage in their literature, so I don't know maybe I've just been lucky.

I'm flying from Los Angeles to Paris and Paris to Réunion on Air France. LAX typically only checks the carry-on dimensions, but not weight. CDG usually checks neither. ORY sometimes checks both and RUN often pays more attention to the check-in baggage than they do to carry-ons. So, I'm not expecting to have any issues, but I'm going to try to mail a few heavy items there in advance prior to the trip.

Back in July during my Europe trip, I wanted to bring a touristy-looking, discreet backpack to use as my carry-on (and as my walk-around bag also), so I brought an Incase DSLR Pro Pack. I was able to fit a a D800, D3200, 14-24mm, 24-70mm, 70-200mm, 16-85mm, a MBPR, a MBA and a 2TB disk. For that trip, I used a small bag from Case Logic and stuffed two 4TB drives inside; which became my "accessory bag." My carry-on and accessory bag were never weighed, but all the equipment was attracting a little too much attention from security. Now that I'll be flying with a Scarlet and 26TB of disks, I'm not looking forward at all to "standing by" as everything gets swabbed down at the airports...

So traveling with gear, in my experience, has been a two-part deal; making sure that all the bags are within the weight restrictions and packing everything in a certain way that it's relatively easy to re-pack at the airport after security personnel empty out the contents of your bags onto a table for examining...

 

[Jeff Whitehurst]

Thats a great tip. I hate all that extra cord. Any idea where to find them?

Been researching some travel friendly options for charging myself. Found out the travel charger takes a C7 (non polarized) female plug, the Quad takes a C13 female plug.

Found a C7 retractable cord option
http://www.amazon.com/BESTEK-retrac...=UTF8&colid=7D7ZXAHYZH9T&coliid=IIP8AXF1IU4HC

Here's a 12" C7 cord if you just want to go short without a retractor.
http://www.amazon.com/Notebook-Powe...=UTF8&colid=7D7ZXAHYZH9T&coliid=IUZXQTWEC5ACP

Another C7 short adaptor option similar to the one posted by Mark, except this one is straight so you can fit more travel chargers on a power strip.
http://www.amazon.com/SF-Cable-adapter-60320-C7-receptacle/dp/B004OHHKSU/ref=pd_bxgy_e_img_z

This is the most compact power strip I've found with 4 outlets. 4 Travel chargers with the C7 short adaptors fit at the same time, which could give you a travel friendly "Quad" charger for a total of $32
http://www.amazon.com/Monster-MP-OTG400-BK-Outlets/dp/B000F9YN2M

For the Quad, here's a C13 12" cord.
http://www.amazon.com/Cable-Univers...UTF8&colid=7D7ZXAHYZH9T&coliid=I2TE1NHBRBICEL

 

[Mark Andersen]

Been researching some travel friendly options for charging myself. Found out the travel charger takes a C7 (non polarized) female plug, the Quad takes a C13 female plug.

Found a C7 retractable cord option
http://www.amazon.com/BESTEK-retrac...=UTF8&colid=7D7ZXAHYZH9T&coliid=IIP8AXF1IU4HC

Here's a 12" C7 cord if you just want to go short without a retractor.
http://www.amazon.com/Notebook-Powe...=UTF8&colid=7D7ZXAHYZH9T&coliid=IUZXQTWEC5ACP

Another C7 short adaptor option similar to the one posted by Mark, except this one is straight so you can fit more travel chargers on a power strip.
http://www.amazon.com/SF-Cable-adapter-60320-C7-receptacle/dp/B004OHHKSU/ref=pd_bxgy_e_img_z

This is the most compact power strip I've found with 4 outlets. 4 Travel chargers with the C7 short adaptors fit at the same time, which could give you a travel friendly "Quad" charger for a total of $32
http://www.amazon.com/Monster-MP-OTG400-BK-Outlets/dp/B000F9YN2M

For the Quad, here's a C13 12" cord.
http://www.amazon.com/Cable-Univers...UTF8&colid=7D7ZXAHYZH9T&coliid=I2TE1NHBRBICEL

Thanks a ton Jeff, all good info.

EDIT: I tried to order the 45 cent 12" cords from Amazon and the shipping was $56.00. Not a great deal.

I went to cableorganizer.com and shipping was more reasonable.

 

[Kemalettin Sert]

2 epic& 5D mark III