Traveling with photo gear and all of
these kinds of batteries how are you
gonna get them on the plane.
I'll talk about it on today's episode of
Hey everybody welcome back,
of course here I am David Bergman,
answering your photography questions.
Don't forget to go to askDavidBergman.com
there's a form there you can submit,
ask your own questions, and I will answer the
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Today I've got a question from Samuel I,
and he asked -
Can I carry my Explorer 600Pro on an
airplane in my carry-on bag>
What's the best way to travel with it?
Alright traveling with camera gear...
now here's the thing I have to make the
necessary disclaimer that what I'm going
to talk about today these are the rules
as of now, this is early 2020, and they do
change, and it's airline to airline, and
this is also in the United States only.
This is definitely different in other
countries, and again from airline to
airline everything can change, so as of
now that's my disclaimer.
These are the rules,
make sure you check any official
websites for updated info, alright so
having said that, what I try to do is
whenever possible I carry on anything
that's really fragile, so that means
things like camera bodies, lenses,
computers and things like that.
They all go in one of my Think Tank roller bags.
Look I figured that checked bags get
tossed around a lot more, and things like
carefully calibrated optics and spinning
hard drives really might not fare too
well underneath the plane.
I also want to make sure that I carry on
the bare minimums to do the job,
in case my checked bag gets lost in transit.
If you're only bringing on one studio light,
like the flashpoint you mentioned, if
it'll fit in your bag with the rest of
your gear, then I would definitely carry it on.
I'd leave checked baggage for
things that are less valuable like bulky
items - like light stands, and tripods,
and even battery chargers, as long as they
don't have a battery in them like those
power banks for your phone, but just
simple chargers with no batteries.
You can absolutely check those underneath
the plane, and I do, I also check things
like clothes and toiletries.
The thought process is that,
if the checked bag is lost or stolen,
I'm not gonna get hurt too much right?
I can go without a change
of clothes for a day, and I can always
buy a new toothbrush if I have to, but I
need my photo gear to do the job at hand.
Now let's talk about batteries,
since the FAA and TSA,
have some special rules for those.
They implemented a lot of new rules after
those incidents a few years ago which
with damaged cellphone batteries
catching fire during flight, the FAA
prefers whenever possible that you carry
on all batteries.
If something goes wrong, the flight crew
will have much easier access to the
problem if it's inside the cabin and not
underneath in your checked bag.
However anything that's installed
inside the equipment can go in your
checked or carry-on bag, no problem.
So that means the batteries for your
cameras and speed lights and even that
big studio light are okay, as long as
it's already installed in the device.
I've flown with three or four big studio
lights, and they're just too big and
heavy to carry on the plane.
So I use a solid padded case like the Think Tank
photo manager series, and just check it
to my destination.
I'm gonna put a link down below to all this
stuff if you want to check out those cases.
Now as for spare batteries that aren't
pre-installed that aren't already
installed in the gear, that's where it
gets a bit tricky, regular dry cell
batteries like double A's and nine volts
are fine in your carry-on or your check bag.
Those aren't what they're worried
about, ideally you would keep them in
their original packaging, you know if you
just throw them together in a bag that's
a much higher risk of them touching each
other and shorting out, but the type of
batteries that the FAA is really worried
about the most are batteries like
lithium ion, or lithium polymer, the
lithium ion ones are often used in our
cameras and lights, while the lighter
weight lipo batteries might be used in
things like drones.
Now again batteries that are already
installed are fine, and your check bag or
carry on even inside a drone, but spare
lithium batteries you cannot check those
at all, so if you want to bring an extra
battery, an extra battery for that big
studio light, you're gonna have to carry
it on, it's still best if it's in the
original packaging, or separated in a
case with the contacts covered using the
original protective plastic, you can also
put electrical tape over the terminals,
or put them in individual ziplock bags.
You want to make sure that the contacts
from separate batteries can't touch each
other, which could of course cause a
spark or fire.
Now look you can carry out
as many of those batteries as you want,
as long as they're less than 100 watt
hours, that's the magical number 100 watt hours.
The physical size doesn't matter,
it's just the watt hours and the numbers,
usually printed right on the outside of
most modern lithium batteries, if it
doesn't say, you could do some math and
multiply the volts by the amp hours.
Which is Ah...
if it says Mah that's milliamp hours, you
just divide that by a 1,000 first.
Sorry I didn't tell you there was gonna
be math involved, but at the airline's
discretion anything over a 100 watt
hours - between a 100 and a 160 watt
hours, can be brought on board,
but it's at the airline's discretion and
some of them require a separate waiver
in advance, so check with your airline.
There's also a hard limit of two per
person, if it's between a 100 and 160,
even if the airlines give you permission.
Now anything over 160 watt
hours cannot be brought on board at all,
under any circumstance, so you just can't fly with
them, leave them at home, the odds are if
you have something that powerful you
probably know it.
Most consumer electronics are going to fall well under
that limit, but double check to be sure.
That Explorer 600 Pro you asked about
uses a battery that's just under 75 watt
hours, so you can bring as many of those
on as you want, up to the carry-on limit
allowed by the airline of course some
battery companies even have documents
you can print out, and show to TSA or the
airlines if they question whether it's
okay to bring that gear on the plane as
long as they're less than 100 watt hours
you're gonna be just fine.
Also don't forget if you have to gate
check your bag, you're going to need to
pull out any spare batteries and take
them on board with you, now look the
rules keep changing and there are some
other restrictions for other kinds of
batteries like recall batteries.
If you're bringing batteries for sale and
they're not just for personal use, and on
and on and on, so it's important to check
before you fly.
If you're doing a big commercial shoot,
and need a lot of gear,
another option is to rent what you need
on the other side.
I've done that a bunch of times,
it's so much easier just to
travel with cameras and lenses without
worrying about all the lighting and hardware.
Most major cities have
professional rental houses for big
lighting - like Adorama Rentals if you're
coming here to New York City.
Now look at the end of the day the
airlines can deny you boarding for almost
any reason, and TSA let's be fair they're just trying to
keep us safe.
If you go out of your way
to make it clear that you understand the
rules and are abiding by them,
then you probably won't have any issues.
Thanks Samuel for asking that question.
It was a lot of information,
but I hope that helps.
Again if you have your own photo
questions go to askDavidBergman.com
Submit the form there, and I'll do my
best to answer them.
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workshop called 'Shoot From The Pit'.
Go to shootfromthepit.com
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