Flying with Tripod as carry on

J Davis

J Davis

Veteran
Any thoughts on what sticks you can carry on when flying?

I'm using 701HDV head with GH1 for this shoot. Also Air France advised me that cabin baggage can be 55cm x 35cm x 25cm which would give me 60cm + lee way on the diagonal. But if I make this investment I would want it to fit most airlines restrictions not just Air France.

My budget for sticks is $200-$300 but would love to hear your thoughts (high cost, low cost whatever)

BTW - this is my first choice (LINK) but I am unsure it would be accepted for carry on
 
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It depends on the people you find on the way to the airplane.

A tripod can be used as a weapon, so i wouldn't recomend you to bring it as a carry on as only option.

That said, i have been able to do so and some times i have arrived to the gate and they tell me i have to check it with the luggage, so they take it from there.
My experience with Air france is that they are rational people so, try but don't count on it.
 
I recently flew El Al and carried a 190CX3. They puzzled over it while it was in the machine — it was stuffed in my backpack — and then asked to see it once it was out. After they knew what it was, they had no problem with me taking it on board. I use a 701HDV with this tripod but didn't have it with me at the time.
 
I recently went through some Tripod research myself. I haven't purchased anything yet, because my research revealed to me that I'd need to spend more than I have right now. I'm solid on my choice though, and plan to make the purchase as soon as I have the funds.

You can see my whole through process over in this thread "Good Tripod Setup for Photo and Video?" but here's what I concluded.

Note: The Feisol legs I have chosen are 3-section with a folded length of 59cm. If the 59cm concerns you, they have a 4-section version that is only 48cm tall when folded. You take a hit on maximum height though -- the 3-section goes to 142cm whilst the 4-section only goes to 138cm. 4cm probably doesn't make a difference for most people, but just so we're clear.

Feisol Tripod Comparison Chart

For legs I am going with Feisol CT-3342. They run about $299 and I've heard really good things about them. Most of the cheap asian legs are made in China, and are Manfrotto design knock-offs. FEISOL is a Taiwanese company, and though there are surely some similarities (Uhh...it's a tripod, there's only so much room for design variation), FEISOL seems to have done their own designs. The #1 complaint I see on the cheap chinese legs is that they are flimsy at the spider -- where the legs come together. The FEISOL tournament legs have a CNC-milled top-plate, should be very solid.

How about a head? Well, as I stated before, I am partial to Manfrotto stuff...having used it in the past, but I'm actually leaning towards the Libec H22 head. Cheaper than the 503HDV, supposedly smoother. The only thing that worries me is lack of adjustable drag, but somebody somewhere said something I thought was pretty profound, something to the effect of "Stop worrying about fixed drag on heads this light. If you want more resistance, just grip the pan-bar closer to the head. Or grab the head itself."

All in all the kit should cost me about $560. That's about 2x what I was planning to spend on a tripod right now but, to be honest, when I started down this path I just didn't realize how much these things cost!

Anyway, that's the verdict. Feel free to chime in if you think that setup sounds good, or if you think it's the worst idea you've ever heard of. Otherwise I'll probably bring this thread back from the dead in 3 or 6 months to say "I got it finally!"

(I'll get a photo head too, that was the original question and topic...but this isn't a photo forum so I'll leave it at that for now)
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I have a pretty small tripod that I frequently take on trips (Slik / Daiwa DST-33) and most of the time they will not allow it past security. I usually just pack it in my suitcase and check it.
 
Careful, if you are unlucky some not-to-bright security officer will think it's a retractable baton and tase you 'just to be sure'.

Jokes aside, if flying internationally you might get through on the first check-in only to have to dump the gear at next airport when transferring if that check-in don't accept bringing it as carry-on. It's often better to have non-fragile gear like tripods in the normal luggage. Or rent/borrow it at the destination instead of dragging big equipment around the world. The one thing that should never ever leave your person is media with shot footage on - be it film rolls, tapes, memory cards, cd-r, dvd-r, harddrives, papyrus scrolls, whatever - don't let it out of your sight until back home and safely backed-up. Over the years I've heard so many horror stories of unique material vanishing without a trace while going back home.
 
Both devices can be used as weapons, so they will most likely be not allowed. Call the TSA first on number from their website to make sure. If you are bringing something like a Joby Gorillapod, that might be different though.
 
Martti Ekstrand said:
Or rent/borrow it at the destination instead of dragging big equipment around the world. The one thing that should never ever leave your person is media with shot footage on - be it film rolls, tapes, memory cards, cd-r, dvd-r, harddrives, papyrus scrolls, whatever - don't let it out of your sight until back home and safely backed-up.
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GH1 and SDHC cards never leave my little backpack. Small town where I'm going will most probably not have a camera store at all.

The Bogen 701HDV is tiny and will fit in my backpack with the cam. Its the sticks that are the problem. I may end up getting a cheap pair to fly with and if I lose them then I gotta live with it and go hand held.

There is an $80 Sherpa sticks that look good (link) but they don't attach easily with bogen heads. Will have to look into that when I have time.
 
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What if you have a $1500 miller? The carbon fiber legs and light head would make it great for traveling and people love to take it...
 
Not to be a whiner but a large part of the HDVSLR mystique is portability. I have a backpack/roller that I really, really, really want to be able to pack the whole she-bang into and carry on. But no, I don't want TSA to steal my tripod or my monopod.
 
Packing sticks in your checked luggage is no guarantee either. Luggage goes missing all the f**ging time, especially when you fly through Heathrow.
Luckily I change in Paris for this one.
 
Martti Ekstrand said:
The one thing that should never ever leave your person is media with shot footage on - be it film rolls, tapes, memory cards, cd-r, dvd-r, harddrives, papyrus scrolls, whatever - don't let it out of your sight until back home and safely backed-up. Over the years I've heard so many horror stories of unique material vanishing without a trace while going back home.
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I don't want to be an alarmist...but I can't agree more with this. Especially especially as this AVCHD footage is so highly compressed, and easy to duplicate. I don't travel to shoot very often, I would not consider myself an expert at /all/, but the last shoot I did go on, that I traveled for, every bit of footage went off the P2 cards onto 2 hard drives. I had the convenience of traveling with a group. Unfortunately they were on a different flight than me, but this worked out better for my data -- I sent one of the hard drives with a member of the group...I wanted to be sure that even if my plane went down, that footage would live on!

2.5" laptop hard drives make GREAT portable backup drives.
 
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