Tips on travelling with gear?

[EDV]

Hey guys,

Just wondering how some of you travel abroad with pro gear. I went to Peru last year ( from Australia ) and they made me pay a $200 tax to enter the country with my Miller DS-10 tripod. They asked me if I was a journalist, I said no because I didn't have a work visa ( I was there on holidays ) but perhaps I should have said yes. I was also carrying a semi-pro cam on a Pelican carry case, but they overlooked that one. I am now looking to travel to the Philippines with the Miller DS-10 and a large Pelican carry case filled with cam + lenses.
I do not want to pay $200 + in taxes again! What can I do to lower the risk? My ambition is to travel all over the world with my gear... but not go broke in the process!

thanks in advance,

EDV

 

[Bruce Foreman]

Hey guys,
I do not want to pay $200 + in taxes again! What can I do to lower the risk? My ambition is to travel all over the world with my gear... but not go broke in the process!

EDV

You might look at what many others are doing. For travels and some assignments they are switching to small less noticeable gear, like the Panasonic GH2. Sky News is using these on "sensitive" assignments where they might even be turned away with "pro" gear. Not too long ago the Chinese had a few cities in Tibet "locked down" because of religious protest activity. The Sky News team got through all military and police checkpoints because they "looked like tourists" and not journalists.

As far as I know they were the only ones to get video out.

You can look "innocuous" with this kind of gear, get by with a much smaller "travel" tripod and still get super video.