overseas travel

AlmaVideo

AlmaVideo

Active member
I'm going to Argentina in March (airlines). Does anyone know how to find out about restrictions, precautions, hassles involved in taking hpx170 and accessories? Bringing the stuff back into USA?
 
If you check it it should not be a problem. I have flown with my hvx in the planes belly to Uk (in a pelican case of course). The only restriction is lithium ion batts, but dont tell anyone and you should be fine. (especially because anyone's checked laptop has a much bigger lithium ion batt.) Comming home from Canada I kept it with me and had no probelms. I would imagine tripods and light kits with sharp edges might be a problem. Call your airline and they should be able to give you specifics over the phone.
 
a lot of folks will disagree with checking your gear. but i agree with richter. ive traveled all over the world over the last 12 years or so (and to some pretty sketchy south american destinations) and 99% of the time i checked my gear. only thing i ever lost was a firewire cable that the security guys crimped (i suppose when they opened and closed a case).

ive said it before, and i know it may sound like holistic horsecrap. but i keep my karma pretty clean and choose to let the airlines do their job and not worry. so your own mileage may vary

if youre not carrying a a large amount of gear, you can just say on the forms that youre on vacation, or tourist and you generally wont get any hassles...
 
It OK to check it if you don't mind if it is not there or not working at the other end. Just ask, what will I do without it? If you have a backup, then it's OK, just collect the insurance and buy a new one. If you have no backup, it can be awkward. So if it is a gig, then that's an issue, if it is vacation, well, it isn't that big a deal.
I personally don't like having certain types of gear exposed to temperature extremes, as well.
 
I have a shock watch sticker on my case. It has never been tripped by airport handlers. As for temp, its not really a problem unless theirs a lot of moisture. Even when not flying I keep one of those moisture absorption packets in the case. If you worried about checking the cam, then take the cam on board and just check all the rest of the gear. My pelican case is a little big for carry on so i can't use it for carry on. (medium pelican cases are around 100 bucks...good investment) On a domestic short flight I would take it on board in a normal camera bag. On an international flight I just dont want to have to worry about it through security and waiting for the flight. I was doing some free taping for a non profit in the uK once and brought my hvx200. Pretty bad weather on the wayi n and we ended up circling for a while in the air. Al the turbulance and still my cam made it there with no problems.
 
I travel three or four times a year to international destinations around the world and always carry my mission critical equipment with me in a backpack for my laptop and portable drives and a rolling Pelican 1510. I guess I have flown enough to know that even with "good" karma getting damaged equipment or equipment not showing up is going to happen at some point. I check all my tripods, lighting equipment, cables, matteboxes, and other misc equipment. Security isn't an issue if you are just upfront with them and let them know you have camera equipment and you are going to said country to tape x,y, or z. If you have ever seen how they handle baggage (even plane side checked baggage), then you can only imagine what happens out of view. Which is also why they tell you not to check anything valuable or delicate. Just my experience and my opinion. Nothing worse than getting to your country, being tired, hungry, jet lagged and fighting with the airlines to get your luggage that is in another country... Oh and just as an fyi: lithium Ion batteries are not allowed to be in your checked, but most smaller pro-sumer camera batteries are under the maximum limit.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top