today, I want to share with you 10 practical photography
tips and accessories I use on a regular basis
for both my big photography trips and my everyday photography
I think you're gonna find them very useful
so let's do it
but first, a word from our sponsor... me
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I have a video about it
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and now, let's go back to the video
first tip has to be to have memory cards everywhere
and by everywhere I mean everywhere
I have spare memory cards in all of my camera bags
I have one in my wallet
I have one in the glove compartment in my car
now, they don't have to be the biggest memory cards
they don't have to be the fastest memory cards
they are their just for an emergency, for when you forget your main memory card at home
because if you realize about that soon enough
well, you can always come back and grab it
but if you have to drive an hour an hour and a half to a location
and when you're about to start shooting, when you're about to start taking photos
you realize that there is no memory card in the camera
well, that's not good, a situation we want to avoid
I have a bunch of older 8GB memory cards around that I bought many years ago
now I'm replacing them with 64GB memory cards because they are getting cheaper
this is something that I totally, absolutely, recommend doing
because it can save your shooting really
the second tip is to have plenty of batteries
now I don't go as far as I go with memory cards, but you can if you want to
but because you have to take care of them, you have to make sure that they are fully charged
it's not something that you can just leave in the car and forget about it
now having a few batteries can be hard to manage
because you don't know which ones are charged which ones are empty
I recommend doing two things here
the first one is to use rubber bands to mark which ones are fully charged and ready to go
so you know after a trip which ones need to be charged right away
and the other thing is to number your batteries
use a sticker with some numbers
I have 1-6 and I rotate them in that order
because batteries can go bad if you don't use them every once in a while
so by doing that, I make sure that I'm using them all over time
also, that helps me identify the ones that are going bad, the ones that are starting to die
so if I'm in the field and I see something weird happening with the battery
it dies much faster than the others or whatever
I can take a look at the number, and make a mental note, or a note on my phone as well
to keep an eye on that battery to see if it does that again
because if it does, that is a bad sign
it means that we might need to replace that battery
there are so many things that are out of our control in outdoor photography
so that's why I focus so much in the things that I can control
like not running out of power in the field
that's why I have several of these power banks, of all sizes for different use cases
from very tiny ones just for emergencies when I need to charge my phone
to slightly bigger ones, like this one from Anker
I used this power bank... you might remember, to power my GoPro
while recording in a blizzard in Chicago
I also used this power bank in Norway
to power my camera while I was taking a time lapse of the Northern Lights
this one lasts quite a bit too, it has a capacity of 20,000mAh
but I have bigger power stations
like the one I have in Spain that I brought with me to Norway
that one is pretty big and pretty heavy
but I was powering everything, my laptop, even the instant pot
I was charging my camera battery, the drone, everything
for here, I couldn't bring it with me on the plane of course
so I have this one from a company called Powdeom
this one has a 43,000mAh, so it's just twice as big as the black one
but it has a lot of features that that one does not have
besides the flashlight of course
it has an outlet, as you can see, which is great
it's rated up to a peak of 200 Watts, so that can come very handy
but what I like the most about this battery is two things
the first one is the it can be charged in the car within 5-6 hours
which is great for what I do
I loved being able to charge my battery in Norway
while I was driving around and looking for photos in the field
at the same time I was charging the battery
I can do the same with this one
I have to buy a cable for the car, it didn't come in the box
but still, you have that option right there
of course, it has four USB-A ports and a USB-C
and that USB-C port right there is the key
because with this battery I'm able to charge my MacBook Air up to 3 times
which is so useful when I'm going on a shorter road trip
just a few days on a camping trip or whatever
and I still want to bring my laptop with me to work on the images that I take during that time
or even start editing the videos, or whatever it is
this battery allows me to work at night in the tent, or in the car
it's not as portable as this one of course
but still, it's something that you can just throw in the car and leave it there
because you never know when you are going to need it
I'm gonna leave links to all of the stuff that I'm
gonna be talking about today down below in the description
they are affiliate links, you don't have to use them,
but if you do that will help me out just a little bit
but yeah, this is totally recommended
both batteries for different use cases
I always try to keep my camera within reach
so when I'm walking around town I'll just have it in my hand
or I'll use a sling bag
never a backpack because if I have to take off the backpack
and get the camera out to take the photo
that's probably not going to happen, it's not very likely
I only use my big backpack when I go out on a photography trip or something like that
and I want to carry a lot of lenses
but my camera is never in the backpack
I actually have a PeakDesign capture clip here on the strap of the backpack
I find that very, very useful
because I also have to handle my video camera with a tripod
it's a lot of things to have in my hands
it's great to be able to put the camera away, but still have it within reach for when you need
I shoot in auto, I shoot in Aperture mode
and I use the exposure compensation to change the shutter speed and the ISO
but I leave that decision to the camera, because it usually makes the right choice
so I can focus on the actual composition, on the actual image that I want to create
and I can forget about those things
of course, there are cases where you want to have total control over the settings of your camera
but it's very easy to change
I also have my camera set to continuous shooting
in this case "low"
this camera has two different settings: "high" and "low"
I usually take one photo at a time, but this can be very useful if you run into some wildlife, say
something that is moving and you were not expecting
so you are always ready to take multiple shots at once
or if the weather is horrible
it's very windy, it's raining, it's snowing, whatever it is that might affect the the image
I find it very useful to take 3-4-5 shots of the same composition, of the same scene
just in case one of them is blurry
or one of them has some snow flake in front of the lens, or something like that
another very useful thing that I have here along with my memory card
is this...
I've been thinking...
I have 5 of these, but I've been thinking about buying more
because they are great, much more useful than I thought at first
it's hard to take it out, but I guess that's a good sign,
because it's not supposed to be taken out
this is an Apple Airtag
I have one in each of my camera bags
I also have one in my car
anything that is important and that I want to track
these are great, because even though they are not a guarantee that you're not gonna lose something
they give you a little bit of peace of mind
when I traveled across Norway last year, I forgot my spare car key
so I had one of those apple tags in the keychain
so if I lost, or if I dropped the keys somewhere, while hiking or whatever
at least, I could know... more or less, where that happened
so I could go back and find it
thankfully, nothing happened
of course, nothing happens when you have insurance or when you have a tracking device like this
it always happens when you don't have any of those things
I've also been thinking about ways to attach one to my camera without it being obvious
because the use case there would be against theft
that is not the main reason why I have an Apple Airtag in my bags, though
it's for traveling, for when I'm traveling
you see, a few months ago Rachel flew from the US to Norway, to meet me there
the airline lost her bag, and she had one of those airtags in her suitcase
she was able to track the suitcase at all times
she knew better than the airline itself where it was
she had to actually let them know where it was
and then we were able to track the actual delivery as well of the suitcase there in Norway
we knew when we could expect it to arrive
so that was incredibly useful, and that's why I'm thinking about buying another 5
because you never know when they are gonna come very handy
another thing I like to do is to have backups or plan Bs for everything
just in case, because you never know when something is going to go wrong
so of course, that applies to cameras
I upgraded my video camera to a full frame, I have an a74 now
at the beginning, I didn't regret it
but it was heavier and bigger than my aps-c camera that I used to have for video
it was kind of annoying
but when this camera broke down in Norway, the monitor stopped working
and that was kind of a big deal for me because
I use the viewfinder and the monitor a lot for my photography
I was able to use the A74 as if it was this one, with all of my full frame lenses
I was getting the same performance
that is more relevant when you are traveling in a different country
I did not know where to go in northern Norway to get my camera fixed
or in the worst case scenario, get a new camera
so I ended up buying a cable, I fixed it myself
I have a video too
I had to wait a month month and a half for that cable to arrive from China
of course, I shipped it to Spain
because I was not going to be waiting around in the same place in Norway
for a month and a half until the cable got there
so I just kept shooting with my a74 and with this one, with the a7r II, interchangeably
because I could use both, so it was great to have that back up, plan B
very, very important
I don't have a backup or a plan B for it, is this air blower
these sensors are very prone to getting dust when you switch lenses
this is the only safe way to get rid of that dust
if I lose it on a photography trip like that one
well, that would be very bad news as well
so I need a second unit of this one
one thing I've realized over the years is that the perfect camera does not exist
so instead of chasing, instead of pursuing the one camera, the one lens that can do everything
I think it's just better to have different setups for different situations
to have the right tool for the job
it's like asking: what's better, a pickup truck or a compact car?
well, it depends on what you are doing, on what you want to do with it
if you have a farm and if you live in the country, maybe a pickup truck is better
but if you live in a city, and you're commuting into downtown every day,
the compact car is the better solution
well, photography is the same
for years, I decided to stay in the middle lane
I didn't want a pickup truck, and I didn't want a compact car either
so I shot with an aps-c system
now, I have a different approach
I went for that pickup plus compact car
that's why I have a bigger, heavier camera, full frame camera
and a compact camera for when the situation calls for it
so if I'm going on a road trip across Norway and I'm
shooting most of my photography within 1-2 miles from the car
I want to have a bigger and better camera
but if I go on a hike, like I did a few years ago
I did the Camino, I hiked for 130 miles carrying a lot of clothes and a lot of food
this was not an option
so that's why I brought with me this compact camera
that took no space and weighed nothing
it was the perfect tool for that job
so yeah, that's it
that's all the tips I wanted to share with you
hopefully this video was not too long and it was useful
and you got something that can help you in your future photography trips
thank you so much for watching
and see you in the next one!