Picked up a Photography Magazine as you do and was attracted to it's feature on Travel Photography. Read the first section on equipment and I am still shaking my head. As you know I am off to Dubai shortly and thought well I won't take as much gear as I did to the UK. Here is the suggested list.
Two camera bodies,
A 17-40 mm Wide angle Zoom
A 40-70 mm Standard Zoom
A70-200 mm Telephoto Zoom
Two Teleconvertors (1.4x and 2x)
A laptop
Filters
Remote Shutter Release
A Tripod
A Flash
Batteries
A sturdy camera bag and don't forget pack a reverse lens cap, a mini screwdriver for running repairs, a pocket knife(try getting that through security), Notebook and pen a headlamp or torch and a compass is handy (obviously not heard of iphone)and cleaning tools.
I guess I might as well take my kit as it is now. Infact might have to throw a few more things in.
Several interesting tips on getting those holiday shots though. Want to get those shots but the place is too crowded....get up early...use a ND filter and use long exposure moving people will not show up. In a dull light building set your camera up on a tripod use long exposure and walk around firing your flash manually. As long as you keep moving and not wearing white you wont appear in the shot. I will see how much case room I have later in the week.
Saturday I roused the girls early as we were heading to London and I was not sure what lay ahead. We had a beautiful blue sky in Retford, itr was cold but we had got no snow. The television reports of Snow in London and the closing of the airports was a worry. As far as we could tell the A1 was uneffected to off we set. We had to drop Pam at Dagenham to stay with friends and we would be staying in Hemel Hempstead.
Our trip to Dagenham ws uneventful we made good time and whilst there was a blanket of snow on the fields the road was uneffected. Whilst having the mandatory cup of tea with Pam's friend she was staying with the snow began to fall. We decided to make tracks this is when the fun began we experienced a heavy snow fall in making our way to Hemel Hempstead. The snow fall was 4 inches (100cm) this caused mayhem on the roads. Trucks jacknifed, cars abandoned, meant the M14 and M25 were a mess. We set out at 1.15pm and finally after stop start driving, 10 and 20 MPH driving we arrived at our accommodation at Hemel Hempstead around 6pm. We then had the challenge of finding something open for dinner as shops had closed early people were snow bound could not make it to work, or some get home from work. I know a lot of you think a white christmas is great, it however brings with it so much disruption. I took a few photos with my iPhone. My camera was in its bag in the boot, quite frankly my mission was to get there and I did not want to risk getting out of the car and falling on the icy road to get it. Today, Sunday as I write this, it has not snowed over night and hopefully will get out to explore and take photos, it is also supposed to be sunny, however extremely cold and now we have to watch for ice on the roads. Find out what trains are running etc..so more fun.
Okay I have an iPhone and as the young kids abandon them for the Nokia N8 and other windows phones or Android phones, I will stick with mine and upgrade to another iPhone when my contract runs out. It has numerous applications that makes a Photographers job easy. The first Application you need is Photocalc. This program has Depth of Field calculator, Flash Exposure calculator so you can work with using your flash guide number, the aperture, the iso the power and the distance. A solar calculator for sunrise and sunset times. It allows you set the options with your own Camera and has a handy reference section.
Ayetides is another handy application and allows you to get the tidal predictions for over 10,000 locations all over the world. It also has sunrise, sunset as well as the moon phases. This program costs about $13 but does not need the internet connection for it's data.
Easy Release allows photographers and models to complete a release on the spot. Signing on the touch screen( a Stylus would be handy) then emailing it to both model and photographer in a PDF format.
Strobox is a handy app that lets you draw lighting diagrams on your iPhone...pity I didn't use it at a recent Studio Workshop with Creative Photo Workshops.
LightmeterPro emulates a real light meter using the camera of the iPhone, you can set ISO sensitivity and type of exposure a priority of time or Shutter speed.
Kindle for iPhone is another great app download a book from Amazon to read or as a reference resource. DSLR Remote Pro is another app that lets you lets you control your DSLR camera through your iPhone, including LiveView. You require you camera tethered to your computer and using your WiFi network can use your phone to control the camera. Of course there are numerous applications using the iPhone camera. Like Photoshop Express, Vint shift, Camera Bag, Hipstamatic.Dash of Color,Best Camera, DoFMeter just to name a few.
I use Smugmug to house my images and there is even an app called smugwallet that allows me to sync my iPhone with my photo library on smugmug. So the iPhone these days is the swiss army knife of today. Of course you can still phone friends, send texts and use the built in camera. I would not be without mine!
