Air Travel with Photo Gear Post 9/11

[Cliff3]

FWIW, my tripod has traveled to SE Asia and Australia in my checked luggage. I think the resale market on tripods and ballheads is kind of limited, even for ones that sell for a combined $1000 like mine. Plus they're kind of hard for an employee to sneak out of their work area (is that a tripod in your pocket or are you just glad to see me?).

 

[Ruahrc]

I dunno about carrying on a tripod, particularly a large one. I have always put my tripod in my checked luggage when I have flown, because I don't want to get to the security area/gate and have someone complain and make me check it. If I check it outright, at least I can put it inside my luggage where there's some protection. I wouldn't want to check a tripod "naked".

I agree with cliff re: "security through obscurity". I am also pretty sure the vast majority of people who see a tripod cannot identify it as being particularly valuable. Most people probably assume all tripods are in the $50-100 range, and have little clue to identify one from another. For just about everyone save dedicated photographers, seeing the name Gitzo, Markins, Manfrotto, Feisol, etc means absolutely nothing to them. I know it's not the best philosophy, but is there really an alternative?

I have heard of people getting by with smaller tripods which they can fit entirely inside a carryon, however again this can be up to the discretion of the TSA agent who sees your bag in the x-ray.

I have installed spikes on my tripod instead of the rubber feet and I'm pretty sure if I tried to carry it on I would get grief about it being a "weapon", particularly when you can't even bring box cutters or plastic knives onboard...

 

[coachingguy]

iPad, Camera TSA oh my!

I'm bringing my 50D, some lenses and my iPad and camera adapter kit to Chicago, has anyone else had issues with the iPad?

Thanks

Coachingguy

 

[Chip NoVaMac]

How about travel with tripods? Going DTW to BNA (Detroit to Nashville) this Sunday, back Friday.

I'm taking my FEISOL CT-3441S tripod with me, any issues from TSA?

Given that your tripod is one of those "travel sized" ones - there should be no issues in bringing it on in your carry-on bag. The fun begins IF there is a heightened alert that is not made public - then all bets are off. But so far I have not heard of any of my customers talk about hassles with a tripod so far (work in a camera shop).

Haven't had any troubles with my Gitzo Traveler series as carry-on in that fashion. Though if I have checked bags - I put in there.

<Since this thread is again brought back; I will add a few thoughts on the older posts.>

Thanks a lot for all the info. It's great to ask a question of you folk and receive
thoughtful replies. I had this vision of some clam handed TSA guy pulling the lens off my camera and looking through it. Silly me.

I now know to just relax and get ready for my trip.

Dale

Again depending on the security level at the time (sometimes not made public); be prepared for that sort of thing. Doesn't happen often; but does happen. There was a heightened alert out Las Vegas like at Xmas 2003 IIRC. Got caught in it. They checked every lens, camera, and electronic device I had. Selected at random I was told.

The one caveat to the above is if you're leaving and returning to the US. If you have expensive stuff customs will sometimes ask where you bought it because they want you to pay taxes on it. On my way back from Tokyo (interestingly enough, on my way in I wasn't even stopped) it was just simple questions. Did you buy any of this in Tokyo, what's the value, etc... A friend of mines dad does a lot of travel photography and brings cases of kit and always brings all his receipts to avoid customs hassle on his way back into the country. In this case, I think it depends on just how much stuff you have, ie, a camera and a few lens shouldn't be an issue.

On my way into Jamaica I got fully shaken down and had to pay $50 in 'duty fees.' Although, I didn't just have a camera and had a bunch of other stuff that they wanted to say I was trying to sell (he specifically pointed out that I had more than 1 camera lens so obviously I was selling them /sigh). Anyways, long story short it was a shakedown and I just had to negotiate what I was going to pay. Third world countries FTW! lol

To this point go to the Customs Office before you leave and register ALL of the gear you bring with you.

 

[Designer Dale]

Hi. I have updated the title of this thread to draw on the wider topic of traveling by air with photo gear.

Dale

 

[JoshBoy]

I travel all over the world for work, my camera never leaves my side nor the lenses. UI never have an issue at all.

 

[mtbdudex]

Thx everyone for comments, rather than start a new travel thread I did a search and used this one.

Based on feedback, I'll put the tripod inside my carry on small suitcase which gets stowed in overhead bin, and my camera/lens/laptop will be in my travel backpack, which is small enough to stow under the seat.
(I don't want to pay $25 baggage check in fee)

 

[luminosity]

Please don't be stupid and check any expensive lenses. Always take them with you. My old 24-70 was stolen from the man who bought it from me, and it was taken from his checked baggage.

I checked my F5, but it didn't have a lens and probably didn't garner much attention.

 

[epicwelshman]

I routinely travel with two DSLRs and an assortment of lenses in my carryon. Occasionally my bag is swabbed for chemical residue, but it never takes long and is never a hassle.

 

[odinsride]

Apparently external hard drives, with their circuit boards and accompanying wires, screamed "bomb!" to the X-Ray machine operator, and my bag was subsequently taken over to a table, opened, and swabbed. The sample was placed in some sort of chemical analysis machine to verify that I didn't have a bag full of C4 or anthrax, or whatever they look for (and surprise! It didn't).

It was a while ago and I can't remember the airport, which I'm sure makes the anecdote all the more believable.

I don't know if that is better or worse than the time I tried to sneak a large bag of chips (crisps) in my coat into a movie theater and the police there thought I had a bomb.

"He's got Sun Chips!"
"Sweet mother of God! Drop him!"

I guess I was lucky to walk away with only a stern lecture about 9/11.

I second this - have been stopped many times and asked to open my bags because of small external HDs (used to travel weekly so it happened at least once a month)

I also once got asked to open my bag for my iPad which had just come out a couple days before, so TSA had no idea what it was at first.

 

[Phrasikleia]

Please don't be stupid and check any expensive lenses. Always take them with you. My old 24-70 was stolen from the man who bought it from me, and it was taken from his checked baggage.

I checked my F5, but it didn't have a lens and probably didn't garner much attention.

I often have no choice because of carry-on weight limits and the large amount of gear I need to bring with me. I travel with almost no extra clothing packed (it's mostly gear), which actually makes padding all of the gear something of an issue. I've had to check lenses on my last six or eight flights. So far they've always been there to greet me on the other side, but I worry about them during the entire journey.

I routinely travel with two DSLRs and an assortment of lenses in my carryon. Occasionally my bag is swabbed for chemical residue, but it never takes long and is never a hassle.

My photo backpack almost always gets swabbed on flights headed into the United States. And they very often ask me to remove a lens cap so that they can look through the lens of a camera. They also ask that the cameras be turned on sometimes.

I second this - have been stopped many times and asked to open my bags because of small external HDs (used to travel weekly so it happened at least once a month)

That used to happen to me a lot too, but in the last maybe two years, airport security people seem to have figured out how to identify a hard drive. They're much more interested in the camera bodies these days.