Camera Gear in Australia on a WHV

hawesome145

Hi all,

know this is more a question of common sense but was hoping some of you have experience and may give me advice.

I am heading over to Oz with the girlfriend on a 1 year whv, placing the emphasis on the holiday aspect with casual employment whenever funds get low (assuming there is any!!!). I am a keen amateur photographer and as such I would be lost without my SLR camera and gear but as I plan to be fairly mobile and active I was wondering would this be a nuisance lugging it around Oz. Have any of you brought over such equipment (cemera, lenses, filters etc) and or had any trouble? Would I be better off just bringing a compact?

Any help appreciated.

jackbhoy

Bring it. So many incredible shots you'd miss without it or be unable to do justice to with a compact.that you'd kick yourself. I bring a Nikon. D40, which is perfect for traveling as its very light with great battery lite and one lens, an 18-200 that covered all my needs. I definitely wouldn't bring a bag full if lenses and battery packs etc as way too hard to mind and lug around. Don't really use many filters but circ polarizer is very handy here, what with all the big blue sky around

joaneire

I had the same queries before I came here; I don't own an SLR but I wanted to get one. Granted I wouldn't have had all the equipment, I still didn't want to lug around an SLR, it's fine for landscape etc but you can't carry a massive camera on a night out! I got a Canon S90 (well it was bought for me as a going away present) and it's the most amazing piece of equipment I have ever owned in my life! The reviews on Amazon speak for itself. Maybe pick up a cheapy compact for nights out etc (cause you know you'll want to take pictures of people etc) and bring the SLR for scenery...believe me, you'll get sick of lugging around all your stuff, because if you're a normal person, you'll definitely overpack!

hawesome145

Thanks all, thats a lot of help. Think I will bring it be fecked but just the bare minimum as you recommend jackbhoy. The girlfriend will have a compact so that should cover all eventualities. Just know I would be kicking myself if I left it at home.

Cheers again all.

FreeAnd..

Definitely bring it...be selective on what you need though...I brought alot of gear with me and over time ended up selling what I wasnt using and downsizing bags...Still regret selling my 24-70 though...should never have done that

Jimoslimos

Yeah bring it for sure, but you might need to be selective in accessory choices. I found that a 50mm lens was a godsend - excellent photos and a compact lens. I also had a pretty basic model (1000d) but the smaller size did make a difference when travelling.

Would have loved a compact aswell though, for the reasons mentioned above but also to take some underwater photography. Casings for SLRs are just too prohibitive!

zweton

just bought a canon s95 for my trip hope it does the trick with some nice photos.

hawesome145

Jimoslimos,

thats a good suggestion for the underwater casing for the compact, might invest.

Have a large camera bag with Canon Eos 400d, standard 18-50 lens, 70-300 and a 10-20, polarising and ND grad filters. Think I'll bung em all in the older small bag I had, should fit in the rucksack. Needless to say tripod will be staying at home!

Did anyone bring a memory stick or external hard drive for storing their photos? Wont have a laptop so can you use the computers in internet cafés etc for transferring your photos from the camera to your storage device?

FreeAnd..

Get a Nextodi (http://www.nextodi.com/) - I couldnt live without it while travelling...copies from memory card direct to external harddrive and is a godsend

Jimoslimos

Yeah I'd second the external hard drive idea, even if it isn't something quite as convienient as the Nextodi mentioned above. If you're doing any sort of shooting in RAW it will burn through flash memory sticks in no time. Personally I was quite paranoid regarding photo backups. At one stage I had the same photos on the laptop, memory sticks, and two separate stacks of DVDs (one of which was posted home). Was the result of a bad experience in SE Asia with a corrupted xd card in my compact - still gutted, don't ask!:(

Oh and if you are anyway even slightly interested in photography try get to Japan while you're over that side of the world. Pure. Camera. Heaven!.....and a fantastic country to boot .