BootsnAll Travel Community

Alright So I know these questions have been tackled elsewhere but since technology changes pretty quickly and bags come and go I decided to dredge these up again, so here goes...

I am a semi-pro (shoot pro but don't make 50% of my income from photography) shooting Canon 5d with likely two lenses, light meter, just couple of filters and small p&s canon digital.

I shoot full size RAW files with my 5D which is a big file just under 12 mp each shot.

Planning a RTW early to middle of next year but struggling to find way to transport my gear as well as to store the images I am shooting.

Here are my thoughts and please add on or suggest ideas where you see fit.

1) Bag issue - Want to use a bag that can hold all my gear easily but not bulky enough to be a burden. I would like to carry-on all my gear but I am leaning away from a backpack as I will already have one for my clothes. I have heard a lot of good things about the Crumpler Bags any users out there have experience with these?

2) Storage of photos- any thoughts? I can bring a cheap laptop but the weight is a pain and it adds to the size of the bag I will need to get for my gear. I can bring a portable USB HD that can transfer photos to it w/out a laptop but since I won't be able to physically see the photos it makes me nervous. Or I can bring both and carry 45 pounds of camera gear everywhere I go.
Was looking at Simple Tech Portable Hard Drive as a standalone storage unit using Aleratec USB Copy Cruiser Plus to transfer files w/out a laptop.

I don't think uploading or burning CD's/DVD's in internet cafe's is feasible with the image sizes I am working with.

Sorry about the long drawn out questions but I want to see if anyone out there has any suggestions or has dealt with this type of issue and what they did or are doing.

I'm in the middle of a RTW now and take lots of photos. Here is what I've been doing.

Bag - I use a Tamarac Expidition 7. I currently carry my Nikon D200 and a Sony HC7 video camera. I currently have only one lens for my D200, 18-200mm VR lens, but I will probably get a second one. My bag is usually about 12kg when I get it weighed at airports. That includes my laptop.

Storage - I have a MacBook Pro with 120gb drive, an old iPod with 40gb drive. I will download on a regular basis to my laptop and archive files on my iPod. I also burn everything to DVD and send it back home. When I know the files made it home, I delete it from my iPod. I never have more than 10-20gb on my laptop or iPod at a time, but I could do more if I needed to.

I burn all the DVD with my laptop and upload to Flickr only a few images which I find worth showing.

I shoot everything in RAW.

I also have a Manfroto carbon tripod with a ball head. I carry that in my main bag when going through airports and strap it to my camera bag when walking about.

I put a greater priority on my camera equipment than I do my clothes

Thanks CaesarRomanus. Glad to see someone who is mid-RTW with some sound advice. I am worried about carrying all that gear but it appears as usual I may just have to suck it up. I also agree to burning a DVD to send home....great idea!

I like the crumpler aesthetic as well, but it screams money and "i have expensive things inside" to me.

I'm trying to find the most boring bag as possible!!

FYI, I am completely redoing my bags when I get to Australia.

My current bag is nice, but too big. It is hard to carry a big camera bag and a backpack.

I'm going to get a smaller, shoulder camera bag which I can put inside a backpack.