5 questions to answer before taking your camera overseas

“If I could turn back time” is a famous song. I'm sure you've heard it.

I don't regret much in life, but there are only 3 things I wish I could turn back time on.

Two of them are:

1. Riding the black diamond International DH trail at Mt Buller on an Avanti rim brake XC bike, not jumping off a small drop properly, landing on my head/neck, and ruining my shoulder for a long time.
2. Riding up the Col du Petit-St-Bernard with 8kg of pro camera gear, ruining my QL/shoulder/back forever (I've been to osteos, myos, chiros, Bowen therapists, ARTs, physios: no seems able to fix it. Thankfully surfing helps).

Number 1 was a skill mistake.

These things just happen in life. You roll the dice, and sometimes you lose.

Number 2 was an unforgivable misjudgment and ego-based error. (Ego, as in I thought I was strong enough and indestructible enough to carry an extra 8kg up a 22km climb the day after doing Etape 2009 up the Ventoux.)

Anyway, this is something I don't want you to repeat.

So, having lugged a considerable amount of camera gear around the world on multiple cycling (and snowboarding) adventures, I feel reasonably well qualified to provide some advice to you about taking your camera overseas cycling trip.

5 questions to answer before taking your camera overseas

Here are the things you need to think about before taking all your camera gear overseas.

• What you need the photos for and how high quality photos do you really need?
• Will you be watching an event like the Tour de France?
• Have you got adequate insurance?
• What camera bag to take>
• What kit should you take?

What do you need the photos for

Here's the one thing you need to ask yourself first: what do you need the photos for?

• Business need: If you run a content based business (like I do) and need high-res images, then by all means go for it. Be aware there are some considerations which I've covered below.
• Personal need: If you just want photos for personal memories, stick to a smart phone and point and shoot. Point and shoots are just so good now, that they're more than adequate. And smart phone cameras are just ridiculously good now.
• Photographic quality: I can understand the desire to take a long lens with a good camera body to help ensure crisp, focused photos. So if photographic quality is of utmost importance, do consider taking your DSLR and some glass.

You don't want to be worrying about what lens you have on, light, and whatever else. Unless of course, as I said, you have a business need for it.

I just got back from my honeymoon. We took a dSLR but used it once only, on an elephant trek and that was because Kate had a business need for it (she makes awesome little giftcards: click here to check em out). The rest of the time we took selfies, funny photos, took photos of Russians doing crazy poses, or, we photo-bombed each other.

Here's one. See? Fun.

And what did we need for this? A little Canon IXUS point and shoot, and iPhones.

Photos on Le Tour and Cycling Events

Here's the thing with Le Tour: the best place to watch, and take action photos, is on the climbs.

For spring classics or day races, you'll also probably want to be on a climb.

So if you plan on taking photos from a mountain, you need to consider how you'll get there.

• If you plan on driving up the mountain, you need to be there days beforehand: this isn't ideal.
• If you drive to the base of the mountain and plan on walking up, backpack weight becomes a bit of an issue.
• And if you plan on riding up, be really, really ruthless with how much you carry up.

Remember, taking loads of camera stuff up the mountain is stupid.

Insurance

Insuring $5,000 or more of camera gear is expensive. But, chances are, if you have this sort of gear, you're smart enough to have insurance already. Moreover, this gear is probably covered for overseas travel.

This means you don't need expensive inclusions on your travel insurance.

If your expensive camera gear ISN'T covered by your house and contents, or specialised camera insurance, get some now!

What camera gear to take

If you do take your gear, in my experience you'll want:

• Camera body, possibly a second
• Wide angle lens
• Standard zoom
• Telephoto (L lens in Canon-speak)
• Flash
• Batteries
• Possibly a battery pack/camera grip
• Accessories
• Possibly a tri or monopod

In my experience, though, you probably won't use a lot of the gear.

On Tour stages, you want an telephoto lens to really shoot down the road and get tight on the subjects, like the photo below I took of Voigt, Schleck, Contador and Armstrong.

A zoom lens is handy for most of the other times, with a wide angle being handy in some cases.

I suppose it all depends on your style.

What camera bag should I take?

I really like (and recommend) Lowepro's Compurover AW bag.

In the photo below, I have a Canon 40D, a 70-200 f/4 IS USM L, a 17-55 EF-S f/2.8 IS USM, a 10-20 Sigma and various cables, battery chargers, card readers, lense cleaners etc.

It's got awesome padding, awesome ergonomics, enough room for a camera body, lenses and accessories and a side pocket for a laptop. This makes going through airport security absolutely hassle-free: pull the laptop out from the side sleeve.

The F-Stop Tilopa also is a great bag but doesn't have external laptop access. Its padding and ergonomics also aren't quite as good.

Read my Lowepro Compurover AW review: click here.