P#23 Q2A: What Camera Gear and Accessories Are a Must When Traveling Internationally?

Camera Gear Must Haves

Scott Stulberg: I think the backpack is one of the most important pieces of camera gear you'll buy.

I have a lot of gear and a lot of people might not want to put their backpack on the ground. When you want to shoot, you have to get your backpack out of the way. That means putting it on the ground or buying one of those smaller backpacks that pull around to the front so you can grab your gear.

Lenses are also important. I don't travel anywhere without my 70-200mm, either a 2.8 or an f4, and I make sure that I have image stabilizer on there, which we'll talk about later. I have several wide angle lenses too. I have a fish eye 15mm, I have a 14 super wide, and I have a 16-35mm. It's really tough deciding which wide angles to bring on particular trips, so I pack as much as I can.

I also bring a 1.4 extender, which turns my 70-200mm into something like a 110-280mm. Sometimes I bring my 2x extender but usually it's just my 1.4.

Another important lens is the 50mm macro lens. I bring that everywhere I go. People can go to my website at www.asa100.com and if they click on the category Eye to Eye they'll see pictures of people and kids that were shot with a 50mm macro lens.

Something that I show in my workshops is how important it is to shoot with a macro, and not just a long lens. In fact one of the shots we can show later is of an African tribesman that I shot with my 50mm macro so people can see what it's like with a macro.

Of course I bring my tripod everywhere around the world. I have several tripods depending on where I'm traveling to. I have lighter ones and heavier ones, but they're all carbon fiber, so they're generally lightweight.

I also have the best ball heads in the world. There's a company that I'd like to talk about called Really Right Stuff. It's at www.ReallyRightStuff.com on the web. I think they make the best ball heads in the world.

They also make something else I put on my camera called an L-bracket, or an L-plate, which gives you not only a quick release plate under your camera, but one on the side of your camera so you can do horizontals and verticals within seconds by just unclipping your quick release plate and putting your camera vertical on it.

Whether you're shooting landscapes or you're shooting people or architecture, it's probably one of the best designed products in the world and Really Right Stuff makes the best L-bracket I've come across.

I use really good equipment because it's very important to me. I was shooting once and didn't have my gear so I used someone else's. It just did not feel the same. When you're used to using very professional camera gear that works very nicely, you get very spoiled easily.

Not everybody listening to this podcast needs to be spending a lot of money like that. You don't have to run right out and buy professional camera gear, but it's nice to think about what's out there and what's available because it always helps your photography.

In Conclusion

The key to travel photography isn't just which equipment to bring. According to Scott Stulberg, the quality of the gear matters too. While you don't need to run out and buy the most expensive camera gear on the market, remember that better quality can make a difference in the outcome of your travel photography efforts.