Travelling to Australia With a Medium Format Camera

[Masuro]

This July I will be travelling from Korea to Australia and staying for one month. I have three cameras; Nikon D70, Nikon FM3a, and Contax 645. I have three lenses for the Nikon equipment and just the 80mm lens for the Contax. I would like to have the Contax with me because medium format is good but, on the other hand, it is heavy and I'm not sure how much fun it would be to carry to and around Australia. Does anyone have any experience travelling with medium format equipment? The purpose of travelling to Australia is to see a friend and to do some sightseeing with my wife and friend. I'm leaning towards just taking the D70 and the FM3a but I would like to hear from other members about their 'medium format + long trip' experiences.

 

[Kevin Caulfield]

Hi Masuro. I've travelled frequently within Australia with MF equipment. Your biggest hassle is with security at airports, but generally it is not too much of a problem.

 

[roteague]

I travel to Australia with a large format camera, every year. Don't worry about it. The only hassle you will have is the limited amount of carry on luggage you are allowed. Qantas only allows 7k, both domestic and international.

 

[Mick Fagan]

You may, depending on which part of Australia you are travelling in, have problems finding 120 film. I assume you would be bringing film with you, as I would, if I visited Korea.

Medium format isn't a problem, having just one lens would be good as you won't be tempted to carry around lots of heavy lenses.

Are you travelling inland, or staying near the coast?

Mick.

 

[Ian Grant]

Like Roteague I travel with large format equipment, sure the baggage restrictions are a problem.

Take the MF in your hold or hand baggage, I always travel with a coat its storm proof, despite living in a region with little rain , but I can stick my 35mm size cameras and lenses in the pockets, with no questions asked.

Ian

 

[Nick Zentena]

Like Roteague I travel with large format equipment, sure the baggage restrictions are a problem.

Don't they allow a camera bag?

FWIW Air Canada IIRC allows a 10kg camera bag in addition to a 10kg carry on. Plus the checked baggage.

I thought all airlines had similar limits. :confused:

 

[Ian Grant]

No Nick

Here in Europe its one carry on bag and quite restrictive in size, since last year. I travel frequently and its a problem. 5kg carry on !!!!

Ian

Don't they allow a camera bag?

FWIW Air Canada IIRC allows a 10kg camera bag in addition to a 10kg carry on. Plus the checked baggage.

I thought all airlines had similar limits. :confused:

 

[Nick Zentena]

Yikes. An empty bag is most of that 5kg.

 

[Ole]

Here in Europe its one carry on bag and quite restrictive in size, since last year. I travel frequently and its a problem. 5kg carry on !!!!

I'm getting really good at pretending that my 12kg camera bag is light as a feather!

 

[Ian Grant]

So am I Ole

Remarkable what pockets hold !!!!

Ian

 

[Masuro]

I'm not worried about the airlines so much (I'm travelling China Air and I've seen some big camera bags go on airplanes here) as carting the equipment around once I'm in Australia. My friend there has a small car and he has a tripod and cameras as well. I'm just worried it will be a big hassle to bring it around with me.
I'll be staying mostly near Brisbane and the coast. We might go as far as Darwin for a day or two. My friend checked the price of 120mm film for me and it's twice as expensive so I will have to bring it with me if I bring the Contax.

 

[roteague]

Don't they allow a camera bag?

FWIW Air Canada IIRC allows a 10kg camera bag in addition to a 10kg carry on. Plus the checked baggage.

I thought all airlines had similar limits. :confused:

Qantas only allows 7kg and they enforce that rule. One of the reasons I'm flying to Australia on Air Pacific this year.

 

[rootberry]

Just to post my experience, since it applies to this situation. I just returned from a trip to australia (from athens,Georgia) and I managed to take all of these things on ALL the planes I was on (there were 9 of them):
Kelty Redwing with Photobackpacker system
Wehman 8x10
Fujinon-W 300mm
Pentax Spotmeter
darkcloth
6 holders
3 filters
PDA, loupe, notebook, etc

All of the above was in one bag! I had all of this in my laptop case:

17" macbook pro
3 boxes of Fp4 (25sheets)
2 books
batteries
Sony PSP (useless gadget)

I was never once hassled about my carry on. Noone ever weighed it at all, because it did not LOOK big. I saw other people trying to carry on what looked to me like standard hard shell suitcases. These peoples bags were weighed at the gate only because they looked oversized. Keep in mind that I flew Delta twice, Air New Zealand 4 times, and Qantas twice as well. You will have no problem at all getting MF gear through IMO. The problem I had was with Xrays, all three airlines would not hand check my film, they made me get it xray'd every time.

Sorry for the rant! Have a great trip to aussieland, I sure did. I also hope that you have more photography success than I did, so far only 2 negatives weren't ruined somehow =(

 

[copake_ham]

From reading this it seems that Quantas is following the European "rules" regarding carry-on and then going further overboard.

My wife was just over to London and Geneva this past week and she had the usual two carry-ons leaving NYC. She realized (kind of in a "duh" moment since she goes regularly) that coming back through Heathrow outbound from there they only permit one (she was able to "consolidate"). At least through Heathrow she didn't have to deal with a weight limit like it seems Quantas in OZ is "enforcing" - just the limit of one C-O. Kind of odd that BA didn't care that you had two C-O's going to GB but didn't warn you that you can only have one C-O coming back! :rolleyes:

Anyway, to get to the OT of the OP:

1) How often do you plan to go back to OZ?

2) How much do you enjoy MF?

Honestly answer those two questions and that will determine whether you carry the Contax to OZ or not.

 

[Masuro]

This will probably be my only trip to Australia and while I do enjoy medium format very much, I'm not travelling alone on a photo trip. There are three other people that will be travelling with me and I'm not sure what their tolerance is for waiting for photographers to set up shots. On the other hand, the Contax 645 can be used like a 35mm camera. Ugh, what a decision.

 

[alan c. davis]

Mate, once you've seen and touched the red earth and felt the sun on your back of our little bit of paradise in the South Seas (where things are right most of the time), I guarantee it won't be your only trip. Bring the MF stuff. Personally, I've never had problems getting my film handchecked. Just ask politely and if they hedge a little, tell them it's expensive pro film. And whatever you do, try to camp out in the outback somewhere. Bushcamping is part of the great Aussie experience.

 

[Roger Hicks]

I'm not worried about the airlines so much (I'm travelling China Air and I've seen some big camera bags go on airplanes here) ...

I do not wish to be alarmist, but you also have to get that bag on the 'plane on your return trip (and possibly if you change planes en route). It's not just the airline that sets the standard, or, more accurately, that enforces it or fails to enforce it. I had a Tenba backpack that was no problem except in ONE airport -- somewhere I don't go often, like Finland, and then it was only in transit. I'd endorse the comments of those who say they can make heavy bags look light, so I'd worry a lot more about oversize than overweight. You can put stuff in your pockets/round your neck to reduce weight, but you can't lop bits off the bag.

Cheers,

Roger

 

[Nicole]

I'm getting really good at pretending that my 12kg camera bag is light as a feather!

Ole, as a pilot I can advise you that if everyone "snuck in" a few extra kilos and more, that aircraft may just not quite make it off the ground in time at the end of the runway.

 

[Tony Egan]

I recently travelled Jetstar to NZ (the cheap and more restrictive Qantas line) and got away with a waist-bag holding an XPan and 2 lenses and backpack with a Mamiya 7, 2 lenses and 60 rolls of film. I casually held a jacket in front of my body to disguise the waistpack and they didn't bother to weigh the backpack. Remember 120 film is in plastic reels so buy a big pair of cargo pants and stuff them in your trouser pockets or in your jacket pockets. They should not make the detectors go off even if on your body. You can also stuff lens, light meters etc in your pockets if weight becomes an issue.

The silly thing is if you check in with a friend they can mind your stuff while you check in the suitcase and once you have a boarding pass you can get your backpack again and head off to immigration/security. No one seems to care any more at that point as long as it is not oversize. Not to mention I weigh about 80kg and end up sitting next to a guy well over 100kg!

 

[Roger Hicks]

Ole, as a pilot I can advise you that if everyone "snuck in" a few extra kilos and more, that aircraft may just not quite make it off the ground in time at the end of the runway.

Dear Nicole,

Your expertise is no doubt greater than mine, but surely the point is that few people do, and that they are balanced out by those who carry very little (I have flown in both catagories); that there are no checks on body weight; and that with most transatlantic flights, there is next to no limit on checked baggage weight anyway, given that it's essentially a size limit. In other words, isn't this something of a red herring except on a fully booked flight where everyone is personally overweight (100 Kg+) and already at the limits of their baggage weight allowances?

Cheers,

Roger

 

[Nicole]

In other words, isn't this something of a red herring except on a fully booked flight where everyone is personally overweight (100 Kg+) and already at the limits of their baggage weight allowances?

Hi Roger, in today's society this may not be too difficult to achieve.

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

There's major overbooking going on in general these days. The _New York Times_ had an article a few weeks ago about this, and one of the points that it made was that it's much harder lately to find people who will volunteer to be bumped, because they may not get rescheduled for weeks.

That said, a medium format camera with one lens really strikes me as no big deal. I travel with 4x5" and larger often. If you're at your limit of creative packing, leave one of the Nikon bodies at home and consider the Contax your backup.

 

[poutnik]

Dear Nicole,

Your expertise is no doubt greater than mine, but surely the point is that few people do, and that they are balanced out by those who carry very little (I have flown in both catagories); that there are no checks on body weight; and that with most transatlantic flights, there is next to no limit on checked baggage weight anyway, given that it's essentially a size limit. In other words, isn't this something of a red herring except on a fully booked flight where everyone is personally overweight (100 Kg+) and already at the limits of their baggage weight allowances?

Cheers,

Roger

From my experience, it's something like the weight limit in elevator. It states for example 250kg and 3 persons, but the ropes holding the elevator (and the joints/bolts) are designed to bear around 8-10times that amount. In airplanes, the leeway surely is not that large, but it has to be designed with some leeway. As you said, the chance of all passengers weighing 100kg is not nill, so can not be discarded when designing...

 

[Nicole]

I should've known this would be taken far too seriously. Masura, bring what you can carry. A big country deserves a big camera.

 

[Ole]

Ole, as a pilot I can advise you that if everyone "snuck in" a few extra kilos and more, that aircraft may just not quite make it off the ground in time at the end of the runway.

With the "local" small aircraft, they check the actual weight of the loaded craft before takeoff.

In a similar vein the "average passenger weight" on the offshore helicopter filghts was upgraded by 10kg a few years ago. that was possibly to avoid the "Danish model", where the passengers are also weighed...