The new lithium-ion battery ban on passenger aircraft as cargo

Lithium based batteries on commercial passenger aircraft have been regulated since 2008. That year, the U.S. Department of Transportation (US DOT) banned spare lithium based batteries from passengers' checked luggage.

At the end of last month, the US DOT formalized what U.S. based commercial passenger air carriers already had been doing. They banned the “transport of lithium-ion cells or batteries as cargo on passenger aircraft.” ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization) had called for the ban since February, 2016.

U.S. electronic device (including cameras) carry-on ban on flights from 8 Muslim countries is misguided

This week, the U.S. Transportation Safety Administration (TSA), notified airlines that fly from eight Muslim-majority nations, that effective Friday, March 24, passengers would be banned from bringing electronic devices larger than smartphones into airplane cabins on their direct flights to the U.S. from those nations.
Soon afterward, the United Kingdom instituted a similar ban involving some different airlines and countries.

The ban includes:

• Laptops
• E-readers
• Tablets
• Printers
• Electronic games
• Portable DVD players
• Cameras
• Other electronic devices larger than a smartphone

Tripods according to TSA - Straight from D.C.

The rules and regulations about what items may not be carried into scheduled airlines' airplane cabins is definitive. TSA (Transportation Security Administration) lists items in their Prohibited Items List which are definitively banned.

It's to be expected TSA can't list everything which might be a good idea to prohibit. There are far too many items that travelers might take in their carry-ons, to think any group of people could possibly imagine them all or even most.

Unfortunately, when we try to use the list to evaluate if a questionable item would be permitted or prohibited, we find it's virtually impossible to use the list to predict what a TSA TSO (Transportation Safety Officer) will decide.

Don't let passport hell ruin your vacation or kill your business trip

Jon renewed his US passport about a decade ago and happily traveled with it across the globe. Last year, planning a great trip to France, with its myriad of travel photography opportunities, for the summer, six months away, he glanced at his passport to see it still had eleven months before it expired, so he put it away in his desk.

Three months before his trip, by chance, Jon learned his passport needed to be valid for at least six months when he entered France, and an additional three months beyond his planned departure back home. He immediately applied to renew his passport and got it in time. Had he not discovered his passport wouldn't pass French passport rules, his trip would have been over before it started. His lack of knowledge about passport regulations could have cost Jon several thousand dollars.

While US passports for adults are valid for ten years from their date of issue, the problem with trying to maximize one's ten year passport term is that many countries won't let you use your passport as it nears expiration.

Ned's ten favorite smartphone travel apps for 2014

I've tested thousands of travel apps, some of which I've purchased myself, including general travel apps, and specific ones for airlines, trains, rental cars, etc., as well as for cities, countries, and travel destinations, such as national parks and historic sights.

Here are my top ten favorite general travel apps for 2014. I use all these apps personally in travel planning, and/or while away.

10. White Noise — ($1.99: iOS, Android Windows 8) Too much noise coming from outside your room, or even inside it, possibly from another room, a dripping faucet, or a roommate? White Noise can rescue you. The “white noise” it makes can help most travelers get to and stay asleep by blocking distractions. I use the built-in “air conditioner” sound. White Noise also has a built-in clock display which shows through the night, and you can setup alarms to wake you as needed.

Photo Equipment Backpacks Part IV: My Favorite Backpacks

In Part I, of the Photo Equipment Backpack series, I discussed making sure the backpack was properly fitted to ensure the gear inside could be carried comfortably.

In Part II of the series, I discussed the competing needs of in-transit and shooting backpacks, and why those needs have prevented “cross-over” backpack design success, to date.

In Part III of the series I discussed how to ensure photo backpacks will have the required capacity, and what features are essential in quality photo backpacks.

In this conclusion of the Photo Equipment Backpack series, I'll discuss my five favorite backpacks, and why I like them, as well as explain why one of these backpacks is likely the precursor to a truly workable “cross-over” backpack, able to handle both in-transit and shooting uses.

TSA policy change affects Tripods in carry-on

TSA Administrator John Pistole, speaking at a conference in New York on March 5, 2013, announced a major policy change for carry-on items beginning April 25, 2013. While it doesn't name tripods themselves, it clearly implies a change in attitude toward them being taken into airplane cabins in the US.

The details of the policy change were detailed in a statement on TSA's website. In the statement on Changes to the Prohibited Items List it says,

“Through TSA’s layered approach to security, and to align more closely with International Civil Aviation Organization standards, effective April 25, 2013 TSA will allow knives that do not lock, and have blades that are 2.36 inches or 6 centimeters or less in length and are less than 1/2 inch in width, novelty-sized and toy bats, billiard cues, ski poles, hockey sticks, lacrosse sticks and two golf clubs as part of their carry-on baggage. This is part of an overall Risk-Based Security approach, which allows Transportation Security Officers to better focus their efforts on finding higher threat items such as explosives.”

Photo Equipment Backpacks Part II: In-transit vs. Shooting Use

When advising photographers about backpacks, I've often found they've neglected to consider how well the backpack fits when making their choice.

I'm constantly saying, “A photo equipment backpack, first and foremost, must be designed as a great backpack, with a well designed harness, and must fit its user properly.”

In Part I of my “Photo Equipment Backpacks” series I discussed the importance of having a backpack fit well to ensure one's photo gear can be carried in it comfortably.

How it's used, is equally important. The two major uses of photo gear backpacks, are in-transit and shooting.

In-transit backpacks are designed to maximize the amount of photo and related gear they can carry, often including laptop computers and tablets. In-transit backpacks need to carry the photographer's total kit chosen for each journey. When out shooting, the in-transit backpack provides safe storage for gear not needed that day.

Shooting backpacks are designed to carry the photo gear needed for a day's shooting, while simultaneously carrying the non-photo gear needed for the day, including food, drink, clothing and emergency items. Photographers' daily shooting needs can change substantially, as one visits different venues with divergent shooting opportunities.

Let's look at the competing needs of in-transit and shooting backpack designs.

Camera Gear, Tripods, TSA, and the Airlines

TSA's (US Transportation Security Administration) website used to state, “You may carry on one (1) bag of photographic equipment in addition to one (1) carry-on and one (1) personal item through the screening checkpoint. The additional bag must conform to your air carrier’s carry-on restriction for size and weight.”

The problem is, since TSA was created, that was never true, nor is it today.

On both US domestic and international scheduled commercial flights, you are allowed no more than one carry-on and one personal item. The airlines haven't, nor do they expect to in the future, permit a third carry-on.

Choosing photography equipment bags for travel - Part I

Lately I've been getting many queries about choosing bags for travel for photography gear.

There are two major domains in which photographers, much like all travelers, carry their gear on trips; “in-transit,” and during shooting. In Part I, below, I discuss the problems of “in-transit” travel, which affects how you pack for your trip. In Part II, I'll discuss bags for carrying your gear while “in-transit.” In Part III, I'll discuss carrying your gear while shooting.

Whether traveling by bus, train, ship or plane the issues of “in-transit” travel are similar. When traveling solely by car, the traveler is restrained only by the car's capacity and the traveler's personal convenience, so I'm won't concern myself with auto “in-transit” issues.

By “in-transit” I mean when you are traveling from home to a destination, between destinations, or returning home at the end of a trip.

Five photography gear carry-on myths busted!

Travelers have told me TSA says photographers are allowed an extra carry-on if it's filled with nothing but photographic equipment. Others have said putting your photo gear in your checked-in luggage is no big deal, as the airlines will reimburse its loss in case it's lost or damaged.

A wildlife photography enthusiast I know told me just a few months ago, he was told air travelers could carry their tripod on the outside of their photography bag on the plane with no problem.

Another traveler told me that the weight limits on carry-on luggage doesn't apply if it's all photography gear.

Each of those statements are myths. Some may have some truth in them, but generally, none are true.

How to travel with a tripod and carry it daily.

Traveling with a tripod is easy, except perhaps when traveling by air where you're limited on the amount of luggage you can take.

If you're traveling by car, train or ship, get a good tripod bag, preferably padded, in case the tripod/bag gets dropped or accidentally roughly handled. You can carry the tripod on the back of your backpack, however, while that's a great way to take your tripod while hiking, I personally don't believe it's ideal when traveling by car or ship. I strongly suggest a tight fitting bag too.

Another reason to use a separate bag is while you're away from your stateroom, or hotel room, during those times you don't plan to use the tripod, you can store it out of sight in the bag. When traveling with the tripod bag, it can be used to carry your tripod for your shooting.

When traveling by air, you have to take into account your luggage limitations. For the most part, you can count on a bag of checked-luggage, a carry-on bag and a personal bag. According to the airline, location, etc. you may be restricted in the number and weight of both your checked-in luggage and your carry-ons.

Is the iPad a road warrior's dream come true?

Air travel seems more difficult everyday. Like many business travelers, I’ve been looking for a small, lightweight, but high functioning combination electronic travel entertainment and computing device. For me, netbooks are definitely not the answer.

Last week I watched Steve Jobs introduce the Apple iPad with great anticipation. For the last several days I've analyzed how well the iPad might fulfill my needs as a business traveler. The iPad is built for travel.

It’s face is 9.56” by 7.47”, just a half inch thick and weighs no more than 1.6 pounds. It has a beautiful LED-backlit glossy Multi-Touch 9.7” 1024x768 pixels at 132 PPI screen. It comes in 16GB, 32GB, or 64GB flash drive models.

What is the perfect camera/equipment bag for travel?

I can answer that question which was recently posed on one of the larger Internet photography forums, quite succinctly. "It doesn't exist."

We all travel to many varied destinations, under such diverse circumstances that there is no single bag which fits everyone, or even anyone, every time.

I did some research before setting out to write this article. There are many categories of camera/equipment bags. The main ones are: shoulder bags, backpacks & daypacks, sling bags, belt systems, hip/waist packs, briefcases, satchels, and rolling bags. At B&H Photo-Video's web site, a brief survey shows they carry 592 shoulder bags and 256 backpacks for cameras and accessories. That makes 848 camera bags when I stopped counting, and I wasn't even close to half-way through all their bag choices.

When I finished counting my camera/equipment bags, it totaled 12 which include: shoulder bags, backpacks, belt systems, waist bags, a brief case, and a satchel. Some were used for a while, then discarded when they didn't meet my needs, and are now used only for storage, but I do use 2 backpacks, a belt system, and a satchel regularly, chosen mostly, at this point, according to where I'm going and what equipment I'm carrying.

Photographers have varied bag purposes, equipment, body types, and travel destination requirements. I've found that these four factors are the main ones in determining the bag(s) needed for any particular journey. I regularly use 4 different bags for my travels, according to the those four factors.

1. Bag Purpose — When I travel, I often have two diverse needs for a camera bag which must be fulfilled on a trip; hauling equipment to and from airports and hotels, as well as carrying equipment while taking photographs so they are readily accessible. In airports and hotels my equipment needs to be secure and safe, protected from the elements and potential shock or breakage, in a bag which meets the requirements of government security and airline rules. When actually hauling my equipment while taking photographs, protection from rain, dirt, wind, etc. continues to be important, but now fast access becomes critical.
2. Equipment — I don't know about you, but I travel with at least one DSLR camera body with zoom lens attached, plus a wide angle zoom, and a super zoom telephoto at a minimum. In addition, I bring along a portable battery powered hard drive, memory chips, a flash, flash bracket and cable, cable release, filters, all kinds of other accessories, plus my laptop and its accessories. They all have to make it on my trip, and some need to be carried during the shoots.
3. Body Type — I'm not a big person, and I'm not twenty any longer, but I'm in good shape. I've gotten to the point where I haul around a lot of gear and aggregately it's not exactly light. As a result, I prefer to spread the weight on my body, so most of the time when I travel, I use a backpack from airport to hotel, etc., and a belt system while shooting. I occasionally use a satchel when I'm on a day trip, and most of the time will not actually be carrying equipment, or at least not much equipment. My main problem with shoulder bags, sling bags, brief cases, and satchels is they rest all their weight on one shoulder. Other bags use more body to spread their weight. That being said, many photographers love shoulder bags for their ease of equipment access and capacity.
   
4. Travel Destination Requirements —If I'm traveling to a city, I need my bags to withstand their environment, but if I'm traveling to a rain forest, or perhaps white water rafting, I have a completely different set of requirements which includes the need for being waterproof, not just water resistant.

All the bags do have some common requirements. The bags must,

• have the capacity to carry the required equipment.
• have a high quality to handle the rigors of travel.
• have strong zippers able with withstand the torture of use during travel.
• be protective of the gear through shock-absorbing, water resistant materials.
• meet carry-on requirements of airlines if used for that purpose.
• have customizable organization in the case of backpacks and other bags, or have enough variety of modules to carry gear in the case of belt systems.
• have rain protection built into the bag which can be used as needed.
• have the capability of carrying drinking water while traveling.

Each photographer has to carefully determine their own bag requirements to find their perfect bags.

Air Travel — Tripods and Monopods — Carry-on or Checked-in

It's extremely rare for me to travel without either my monopod and/or tripod. With today's air travel carry-on rules, and their inconsistent interpretation and enforcement, it's hard to know where to pack one's monopod or tripod.

At this point, TSA and other countries' security agencies are not permitting monopods in carry-on bags. TSA has told me that it's a stick or weapon to them. My advice, if you want to bring your monopod when you fly, is to pack it in your checked-in luggage.

Tripods, on the other hand, usually may be taken into the cabin in your carry-on, or packed in your checked-in luggage.

The choice of where to pack my tripod, has more to do with how long I'm going to be traveling, and what I need to pack in my carry-on bags, than convenience or any other factor.

When packing one's belongings, air travelers must understand airlines' rules and liability limits. In the words of US Airways, as an example,

"US Airways assumes no liability for valuable/commercial items including but not limited to: money, negotiable papers, securities, irreplaceable business documents, books, manuscripts, publications, photographic or electronic equipment, musical instruments, jewelry, silverware, precious metals, furs, antiques, artifacts, paintings and other works of art, lifesaving medication, and samples."

and in addition,

"Total liability for provable direct or consequential damages resulting from the loss, delay, or damage to baggage in US Airways’ custody is limited as follows:
A. for travel wholly between U.S. points, to $3300 per customer
B. for most international travel (including domestic portions of international journeys), to $9.07 per pound ($20 per kilo) for checked baggage and $400 per customer for unchecked baggage in the custody/control of the carrier." (If your one checked-in bag weighs the maximum of 50 lbs, the maximum liability coverage offered is $453.50.)

The airlines are telling us all, don't pack anything of value, or what you can't afford to loose, in your checked-in luggage.

In the US and most of the world, you're allowed a single carry-on bag, plus a personal bag. I carry a roller bag which meets the maximum size general standard of 22"x14"x9" (56cm x 36cm x 23cm). This standard does vary to an extent, but I've flown all over the world with my carry-on roller bag and it's been allowed everywhere.

My personal bag is a backpack, in particular the Lowepro CompuTrekker AW Plus, in which I take my electronics, my camera gear, and my laptop.

In my roller bag, I pack, at a minimum, any other valuables I have, my medications, toilet articles, and a complete change of clothes, including shoes or sneaks.

If I'm going to be away for a weekend, I usually only use carry-on, and can attach my tripod to the bag, or pack it inside it. It's usually attached to the outside of the bag. If I'm going away for a longer time, I take a single checked-in bag and pack my tripod in the checked-in bag. When I pack the tripod in the checked-in luggage, I remove its ball head which I pack in my back-pack.

While I haven't had the problem myself, I have heard from other photographers who travel with their tripods that every once in a while, they have been forced to check-in their tripod when they tried to carry it on the plane. It becomes a target for theft at that point, and if not in a padded bag may be seriously damaged. Ask to "gate check" the tripod at that point, as it will be less likely to be stolen that way.

So, to enjoy taking those nighttime or sunrise/sunset photos, and others, with your tripod or monopod, I suggest, if at all possible, to put it in your checked-in luggage.