A Few Quick Reminders Before You Leave On A Trip

Road trip in this school bus?  Motor home? Route 66 touring coach? (click to enlarge)
Saw this converted school bus in Pontiac, Illinois on my 2013 Route 66 road trip.
Nikon D800E, Nikon 16-35mm f/4 lens @ 24mm; 1/500th sec. @ f/10; ISO 400 (my pre-mirrorless days!)

This is the time of the year that we in the Northern Hemisphere are more likely to take vacations, photo trips, etc.  Children are out of school for the summer, the weather is warm and lots of people are traveling.  The National Parks and tourist attractions are in full operation.  If you are planning some sort of vacation or photo trip, before leaving is the perfect time to do some gear and bag maintenance so you aren't disappointed if something were to fail while on your trip.  Here are couple of recommendations as to what you can do to reduce chances of gear failure and disappointment.

Take everything out of your bag and clean the inside.  You would be surprised at the amount of dust and debris that can accumulate in a bag over time.  That dust and debris can easily get onto lens surfaces and work its way into your camera.  Rear lens surfaces are most critical as they are nearest the focal plane and and dust on them will more readily show up in your images.  Vacuum out and wipe the surfaces of your bag if those surfaces are conducive to wiping with a moist microfiber cloth.  Let everything thoroughly dry before placing your gear back into the bag.  This is also a good time to evaluate what you have in your bag and what you don't.

Packing everything back into your bag is a good way to know exactly what is in the bag and where it is located so you not only don't leave anything out but you exactly where everything is when needed.  How often have you "thought" something was in your bag until you needed it, looked for it, and it was not there.  Little things like the hex wrench to attach your L-plate (carry a spare as well), a certain filter, spare lens cleaning cloths, a pen and paper or business cards. You know you will have the big stuff, but it is the little stuff that can be aggravating and submarine a photo opportunity.

If you do this early enough and find there is something you don't have but want to take, you will have time to purchase it.  An upcoming trip is always a great excuse to buy that new lens you wanted!

Check the mechanical condition of your camera bodies.  Make sure all knobs, switches, dials and buttons actually work and if they are assigned a function, that they still have that function assigned.  Besides checking them for working order, it is also a good time to ensure that your camera is set the way you intended it to be.  Also that the function buttons are program as intended.  I know I've forgotten I changed a function button for a specific reason then forgot to change it back.  Later, in the field, I fumbled around trying to change things.  We don't need to be distracted when photographing.  Set every now so you can fully concentrate on making images.

Clean your lenses and filters.  Not only clean them, take a good look at them, outside and through the glass.  Look for any debris on the lens elements—both outside and inside elements. Look for any oil on the aperture blades.  If there is, you might want to send the lens off and have it cleaned and repaired before you leave.  I find it amazing how filters seem to attract debris.  More than they should, in my experience.  Look for a slight "haze" on your ND filters.  Out gassing from plastic storage compartments can cause a haze on filters and it is really hard to see on the very dark ND filters.  

Make sure you clean the insides of your rear lens caps and body caps. Also make sure you clean your rear lens elements and the lens mounting flanges.  These are critical to keeping dust out of your camera and off your sensor.  Too many people can't figure out why dust is on their sensors.  If they would only clean the insides of their body caps, rear lens caps and the rear lens elements, they would see how easy it is for dust to accumulate in those areas which then transfers to their sensors.  Pack extra lens cleaning cloths so you don't have to use one that may get dirty.  A bulb blower can be your best friend when getting rid of dust on your lenses or in your camera.

Not only charge the battery in the camera, charge your spare batteries as well.  We often times charge our camera battery regularly because we readily see it needs it.  But we often neglect to charge our spare batteries because we haven't needed them or even looked at them for months.  Being out in the field is not a good time to reach for another battery and find out your spares are dead or almost dead.

Make sure the lugs on your camera and camera strap are not worn and are not in danger of breaking.  Yes, this happens.  Imagine how you would feel if your camera lug or strap broke and you hear that crash onto the pavement next to your feet.  Ugh!

If you plan on taking a tripod, now is the time to get it out and examine it as well.  Clean it, check the legs and locking mechanisms.  Tighten the bolts and pack a hex wrench or whatever you need to tighten the legs if they loosen when on your trip.  Lubricate anything that needs lubricated.  Operate all legs and extensions.  Check the head as well. You will want this in perfect working order if you plan on using it.

Since you are going away for a while, figure out what else you may want to take with you that you normally wouldn't pack for a day trip.  For example:

Place a couple of NSAIDS (aspirin, ibuprofen and/or acetaminophen) in a small container and put them in your bag.  Am ankle twist, muscle pull or a strong headache can make you miserable and sometimes it is nice to have an over the counter pain reliever handy. Take a reusable water bottle as well.

A small flashlight (torch) can come in very handy even in the daytime.  Make sure the batteries are fully charged.  I have a small LED one in which the batteries last for a long time.  If you are going to do some night photography, pack a headlamp with both white and red light settings.  At night the red light won't ruin your night vision.  Also, I keep a multi-tool in my car as well.  If you are flying, you would have to pack it in checked luggage, but a good multi-tool can save the day.  For you eyeglass wearers, and my fellow older photographers who need reading glasses, I keep a spare pair of reading glasses in my bag and have a very small kit of eye glass screwdrivers somewhere close.  That tiny kit, which normally contains a couple of tiny slotted screwdrivers, a small Phillips head driver and a pointed punch or something similar can be used for far more than eyeglasses.

Take an extra rear lens cap and/or camera body cap.  They are easy to lose.

Take a thick rubber band in case a filter gets stuck on your lens.  A thick rubber band placed around your filter may be the only thing handy to get that filter off.

If it is going to be really hot and humid where you are going, you may want to pack a very large plastic bag that can be sealed into which you can place your gear to keep condensation off the outside (and inside) of your glass surfaces and gear until it normalizes to the different temperature and moisture level from inside to outside. That goes for both taking your gear from an air conditioned building to the hot humid outside as well as taking your gear inside from the humidity and heat to air conditioning inside. Both can cause condensation on and, worse, IN your lens and camera.

If you worry about your gear, do like I do.  I have a separate insurance policy on all of my gear so if anything happens to it, I receive full replacement value, not just depreciated replacement value.  I find it not very expensive and worthwhile.

You all know how to research and plan your trips so I won't go into that.  But I think you should do as much planning and maintenance on your gear as you would do on your car or truck before leaving.  A little precaution now can save your vacation and your images later.

P.S.  Many can't afford this but if you can, take an extra camera body that is compatible with your lens system just in case....  I've never needed it as in the past many years my Nikon, Olympus and Fuji cameras have been 100% reliable, but I have sure been glad I've had one, just in case, as I've found some images that I would have really been sorry to miss if my camera malfunctioned.  

Most of all, enjoy your trip, make some great images and make lasting memories.

Thanks for looking. Enjoy! 

Dennis A. Mook 

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