Traveling light in Ireland.. (Page 5): I took a power converter with me since all our USA stuff runs on 110v and they have 220. I also took a clear plastic sleeve to protect camera and...

revhen Loc: By the beautiful Hudson

I took a power converter with me since all our USA stuff runs on 110v and they have 220. I also took a clear plastic sleeve to protect camera and lens in the rain. We were VERY fortunate in that we had only 2 days of rain in 2 weeks but Ireland is green for a reason . . . .

Shoot Happens

There are a lot of great comments here. The only things I can add is to bring smaller size memory cards so if one is lost or stolen, you do not lose a ton of images. The second suggestion is to bring a beanbag to use indoors when you need longer exposures. It is easy to make. Fill a plastic zip lock sandwich bag with rice, and then sew it into some kind of cloth. I used denim.
This is the perfect support for your camera when you need a longer exposure, say on the back of a church pew instead of a tripod and it is no larger than a sandwich. I use mine often when I travel as many places do not allow a tripod and getting long exposures or multiple exposures for HDR is not always easy, handheld.

We were in Ireland in May this year and had a great time. Just remember, no one goes to Ireland for the weather because it is very unpredictable. What should have been the nicest month, we were there for the worst weather. It rained every day of our 12 days. We still had a great time.

Enjoy your trip

Joecosentino Loc: Whitesboro, New York

When I travel for leisure I leave the laptop home. I have enough SD cards to use one for each day of the trip. I travel almost monthly doing workshops and have never had an issue with gear being stolen. Tipping the housekeepers daily instead of one tip on departure I think helps.

Like others have said get insurance. I would bring one good mid range lens I use an f4 24 to 120. When I am on vacation. Bring a light tripod and leave the flash behind. Does your SONY have a pop up flash if so use it powered down for fill flash. You can also diffuse it with a tissue or hanky

Have a nice trip
Joe

ddonlewis

Grandma, I lived in Europe for 5 years so the following are some thoughts. I wouldn't worry about daily downloads, but since you are I wouldn't spend the +-$1,500 for an Apple laptop. You can buy an 11 inch PC laptop on Amazon for around $250 that would do great. I would probably have a 3 day rotation with my memory cards if I was really concerned. I think your Sony would be great. I wouldn't bring the bigger/heavier Nikons. On your daily touring I would have probably some type of shoulder money purse under your blouse or jacket. I wouldn't have everything to include purse, cameras etc in a backpack or camera bag. My mother in law had her back pack stolen from under her table in McDonald's in central London, and she lost everything including passport, money, credit cards, cameras etc. I would only carry a credit card and some money on my person in the shoulder purse, and I think you'll find your 18-50/80mm lens will be all you'll need 90+% of the time.

GrandmaG Loc: Flat Rock, MI

Whoops wrote:

First why are you worrying about a notebook/tablet... (show quote)

If I don't need a notebook or a tablet I won't be bringing one. I just want a way to backup my photos, so an external hard drive with a card slot will work. I already have extra cards which are probably bigger than they should be...32 gigabytes. Just got an adaptor for charging the camera batteries. I also read that batterirs cannot be carried lose in either carry-on or checked baggage due to possible fire hazard.

We probably won't use our phones over there...I could care less about emails; but it was suggested to buy a burner phone when we get there for local calls. I will bring my small Kindle, though, for reading on the plane, plus it's my "sleeping pill"!! I have an Ireland guide book to review on the plane, too. I will have already read it by the time we go.

I don't plan to spend a lot of time in our room...that's just for sleeping. We are staying at the Dromoland castle for one night, so I am looking forward to that.

I know 3 cameras were mentioned but we definitely won't be taking all 3, just the little Sony & 35mm f/1.8 lens & one of the DSLRs with 1 or 2 lenses (either the 18-300 or 18-140 and the Tokina 10-16).

Our coats will have lots of pockets for small things I want to carry with me and the camera stuff will be in my Kelly Moore bag...no purse needed. My husband will have the backpack for use as a carry-on; but I don't plan to use it for sightseeing.

Rathyatra Loc: Southport, United Kingdom

Been to Ireland many times over the years and no problem with security - just be wary if you go to Dublin given the problems with most major cities but otherwise your only problem will be the effects of an abundance of hospitality - at least that is my experience.

Flyerace Loc: Mt Pleasant, WI

Dear GrandmaG,
I travel as often as possible and as far as possible. From extensive experience, leave the laptop at home. You have the viewer in your camera. Use that to make sure your camera and cards are working.

Change your card daily, mark them for quick reference and use your portable backup unit at the end of each day.

Have extra batteries and the charger to keep things in good working order. Make sure you have your lens cleaning cloth in case of damp weather (or a complete downpour) Grab a shower cap to make a quick and easy to store protection device for your camera.

Please enjoy your vacation and relive the wonderful experience when you return. You will appreciate not having to carry the extra weight, and bulk, of the laptop.
Flyerace

John_F Loc: Minneapolis, MN

Although you are leaning to a Mac laptop and whie I won't discourage that, have you given any thought to a iPad Air 2 and the Apple Camera Connection Kit? You can do all the Interneting and Emailing on the iPad and picture transfer is easy, either by connecting the a6000 to the iPad or connecting the flash memory card to the iPad. The only hitch is to make sure you pics do not go to the free 5 GB iCloud level - it will fill up very fast. Take lots of flash memory cards to preserve your pictures. Have you checked out Ireland's AC power mains voltages so to bring the correct voltage converters for your battery recharging needs. To conserve the a6000 battery life make sure you have Airplane Mode 'enabled.'

John_F Loc: Minneapolis, MN

One trick for labelling memory cards is for the first picture to be a shot of the face of a digital wrist watch that shows date and time. Then you don't have write anything down. If the card has more than one-days worth of pictures, then I take a shot of the wristwatch first each morning.

londonfire Loc: NY to NC

John_F wrote:

One trick for labelling memory cards is for the first picture to be a shot of the face of a digital wrist watch that shows date and time. Then you don't have write anything down. If the card has more than one-days worth of pictures, then I take a shot of the wristwatch first each morning.

That's a good hint and also taking a pic of an index card with your contact info in case the camera gets lost and winds up in the hands of an honest person.

jaycoffman Loc: San Diego

I agree with everyone--less is more. Ireland is as modern as the U.S. and one of our best friends so much travel should be as easy as most places in the U.S. and easier than some as there is general good will toward us and you should be delighted to find that in many ways they are way more advanced than the U.S.

Camera. Think about what kind of pictures you want. If it's mainly travel journal pics then you D7100 and one zoom lens should be enough. (I use my D7100 with a Tamron l6-300 lens for all my travel.) If you are worried about backup just set the D7100 to put images on both cards and keep them in separate places. Use smaller cards so you don't have to rely on one card to capture everything. If you do specialty photography then just take the minimum to accomplish that.

I agree with others--no laptop as it takes way too much time and effort to secure and transport. Smart phone and/or tablet would be more than enough for communication and navigation. I stopped carrying my laptop years ago and haven't missed it at all.

Clothing. Four changes for two weeks seems almost excessive unless you have needs for different types of clothing (formal, sports, hiking, etc.). I'd stick with wearing one, one emergency set in backpack you (or spouse) carry and two in checked with one good water repellant coat and hat.

Ugly American. Don't worry too much about this--it's true that in some countries Americans (and Germans) are somewhat laughed at because of our peculiar choices of clothing--specially big old white running shoes and white socks. But a really friendly and accepting attitude as you interact with locals (as well as a little research into their habits) will overcome event white shoes.

Finally, PRACTICE. Before you leave be sure to try carrying around your checked bag, your carryall (and coat if you're using it as a carryall) and purse/small bag to see how it works. My sister took everything including the kitchen sink (I think) to Paris and it was a disaster. The rest of us had to carry her stuff because she also has a bad back, bad knee and insisted on wearing hight heal shoes. Talk about a disaster.) The easier you can move about the easier it will be to meet people, see the scenery and to get great pictures to remember the trip and to share with friends. Hope you have a wonderful experience.

revhen Loc: By the beautiful Hudson

Gee. What a mistake I made. Used only one SD card in my camera for the whole trip but carried another just in case. And I don't remember carrying extra batteries on board in my camera case with my camera.

jaycoffman Loc: San Diego

Thanks--the index card is something I never thought of but it worth it as it could save a trip.

le boecere

GrandmaG wrote:

We are planning a two-week trip to Ireland in May. It will be a vacation of a lifetime so I don't want to spoil it by taking too much. We will be driving ourselves around the Emerald Isle and staying mostly in B & B's, one night in a castle, and a side trip to London.

My pictures are more important than clothes and my camera equipment will most likely be with me at all times, due to my paranoia of something being stolen. I plan on putting my Sony a6000, with it's two lenses, flash unit, & misc. accessories in a Kelly Moore bag along with other "purse" stuff. I will wear it UNDER a light coat with lots of zippered pockets. I don't think that I will bring a separate purse. I will have a lot of memory cards and a pelican case stored in my jacket. I measured the bag and I can get an 11" MacBook Air or a 12" MacBook in with the camera stuff. Neither has an SD card reader, so I would have to bring the camera cable to download a copy of the pictures to the MacBook and an extra copy to a small external drive that is to be kept separate from everything else. I have several questions:

I don't have a MacBook yet and it's main purpose will be to review and download pictures taken each day. I'm leaning towards the MacBook Air but the price range is from $900 to $1650 depending on what you add to it. I will definitely upgrade the RAM to 8 GB for $100 but is 256 GB storage with a 512 GB Flash drive needed (standard is 126 GB storage and 256 Flash Drive)? Those two upgrades add $500 to the price. I do think that $150 more for a better processor is worthwhile (from a 1.6 GHz i5 to a 2.2 GHz i7).

1. So which notebook with what additions is advisable? I would like to be able to do some light editing while on the road, so the computer would have to be able to handle some software for that (maybe not Lightroom, but perhaps something like Snapseed or Picasso).

2. I want to bring my Nikon D7100 also but perhaps the D5000 with an 18-300 lens that my husband has would be a better option. He can put it in the backpack along with our meds and a change of clothes for both of us in case our luggage gets lost in transit. Or should we forget the D5000 and just bring the D7100 instead or is the Sony a6000 going to be enough? I'm not really comfortable with just one camera. What if it fails, is dropped, gets lost or is stolen?

I know I am probably being paranoid but I've heard so many bad stories. I already told my husband that he can only take one suitcase and one carry-on. Believe it or not, he takes more clothes than I do. I think 4 outfits is plenty, with extra sweaters to layer in and a decent jacket and a great pair of shoes. That way, there will plenty of room for souvenirs!!!

We are planning a two-week trip to Ireland in May.... (show quote)

Not "traveling", but am 1000 miles from home for Christmas with family (son and lighting fast granddaughter). Am shooting both indoors and out, day and night, (including bright sun and lotsa snow scenes).

FWIW; any doubts I may have had about traveling with the a6000 have vanished ~ it's light, compact, quick, and can do more than I know how to do (yet). What I do have doubts about is my selection of lenses. Next trip, I'll think more about lenses and batteries and extra cards.

le boecere

GrandmaG wrote:

If I don't need a notebook or a tablet I won't be ... (show quote)

"Amen" on your 35mm f/1.8 ~ I'm thinkin' it would have been better than the 50mm f/1.8 I have with me ~ and, maybe better than the Zeiss 24 (which I didn't bring).