I like to travel and whenever possible, I like to take my camera with me. Preferably not just one body and one lens but enough equipment to be creative. I think I found the perfect travel companion with the Think Tank Airport Essentials backpack.
The Airport Essentials is a bag small enough to be considered a personal item (at least in my opinion and I see other people carrying bigger bags) so I can take it with my carryon case on a plane. Therefore, if I like to shoot when I travel, I just have to grab one extra piece of luggage to carryon.
I also like to bring a tripod which fits perfectly into my carryon case. So I am all set with gear.
So why is this case so perfect? I can pack a full frame body and 5 lensed plus all the accessories I need. It even has room for my iPad and 15in MacBook PRO. No matter what I am shooting, I have all the gear I need.
All my gear, packed into one compact backpack.
The backpack and all my gear
I can pack my Nikon D810 body and the following lenses:
Nikon 14-24mm f2.8 / 24-70mm f2.8 / 70-200mm f2.8 / 28-300mm f3.5-5.6
Sigma 8mm f3.5
Since I enjoy panorama photography, I also like to bring some basic equipment for shooting panos.
This is my Nodal Ninja Ultimate R1 pano head with bracket for the Sigma 8mm fisheye lens. This setup is used to shoot full spherical panoramas.
This is my Really Right Stuff rail system on top of the RR ball head from my tripod. This system is used for shooting cylindrical panos. I can rotate the lens around the nodal point.
Finally; I also have all the necessary equipment for long exposures. From ND filters to a remote control timer. Everything fits into this bag.
No matter wether I shoot travel, landscape, pano or anything else. This bag holds it all and I can use it as a personal item on most airlines (based on my experience). How cool is that?
Oh and my the way, if I really need to pack a punch and bring all my gear on a domestic flight, I'll ditch the carry on case and bring my Think Tank Airport Security V 2.0. along. Now I can carry on everything except the kitchen sink. Hello Nikon 200-400 f4.0, here we go.
Hope you enjoyed this post. Please follow me on social media and contact me with any questions or comments.