Travelling equipment Q's
 

I'm heading to Asia at the end of summer and wanted to be prepared for traveling:

1a) I was interested in a hand strap... particularly the Camdapter one. Any chance I can use the Manfrotto adapter from Camdapter with the R-strap?

2) the 190XB I own is way too heavy to travel on foot with for long periods of time. the 682B seems to be the obvious choice but i've read more than once that it's not very stable. Plus it doesn't seem all that light. Recently I came across the Horusbennu MP-4500ST which CheesyCam has claimed to be quite sturdy from a glance at the trade show. This seems to be a good weight for traveling. I plan to use the 498RC2 on either one. Any suggestions?

3) the KATA bag I have is great for slinging around 1 body+ lens, maybe an extra lens and a flash, but anything over that is quite demanding on the shoulders because of the straps. I need a weather-proof one with a laptop compartment and a tripod holder but light and comfortable. I won't be carrying the laptop with me except for on the plane/train. I'm looking at the:
a) Kata DR-466I-BB
- concerned about tripod on the side; (the Kata's Bumblebee-222UL was just too $$)
b) Tenba Shootout Medium
- not too keen on the looks
c) Tamrac Aero 80 + S-113 Cam-Lock Cinch Straps
- concerned about the cinch strap tripod holder system; love the weight
d) Tamrac Evolution 8
- easy access from both side; double the weight of the Aero 80

4) What are some good portable card reader+hard-drive transfer devices? They seem kind of expensive for what they are housing... I guess I am looking for an enclosure that can offload pictures from an SDHC (or CF if possible) card but pick the 2.5" hdd myself? At least I will have 3+ warranty on the 2.5" drive.

Also looking to add a grip, two more batteries (have two), and 1-2 extreme 16gb SDHC. Your input is greatly appreciated. TIA

Don't bring a tripod. Do you really need it?

Don't be a victim of gear paralysis.

i was thinking the tripod would be the last thing to take off that list. i just want to be prepared but light since i wouldn't be going back to some of these places. but ur the resident expert in traveling ... what are some of the must have things you bring?

you can always improvise to make up for a tripod.
if you really need it / have a handicap, the gorillapod can work in a pinch.

Unless the location/focus of your shooting absolutely requires tripod, I'd say leave it. Google "bean bag" to DIY one yourself. I bought one in Taiwan and it can substitute tripod most of the time.

Get the gears that would cover 80% of the situations and improvise on ways to cover the next 10~15%.

My usual travel gear is one wide (28mm or wider), one fast (F1.4) and one 85mm/105mm to travel in a bag that just enough to contain all of them. In long trips, you would appreciate how giving up 5% of possible pics in exchange of 40% weight reduction.

A couple of tips that I can think of, is bean bags for tripod and a plastic bag in your bag to cover bad weather.

I had the KATA backpack with me during my travel earlier this year to Asia and Australia. Great bag as it's pretty durable with multiple seperate compartments but quite limited in terms of camera storage space especially if you have a bigger lens or camera body. It's also a little cumbersome at times when you have limited time to snap a shot but the camera is in your backpack.

I was debating on a tripod before my travel and I was glad I didn't bring one. It wouldn't feel like I was travelling if I had brought all my gears with me. You can always improvise with your surroundings and as someone mentioned above gorillapod will serve you well if you insist on having one.