Assuming you have these in place, but a few things I've found useful: lens wipes, rain jacket for camera, remote shutter release, small headlamp for night shots. I also have started carrying a flattenable smaller camera bag or equivalent for days when I only want to carry the camera with an extra battery. My photo backpack is overkill on those days - I have a camera case that looks sort of like a purse with the liner that folds flat and then the case does as well - and it fits in the suitcase easily.
What fun to be planning a photo trip!
I would take more than one extra battery. My camera is pretty good with battery life, but I've been known to go through 2 or 3 in a day when sightseeing. I also agree with Taffy about the rain cover for your camera.
I have a gorilla pod but I'm seriously considering the splat, particularly for the Olympus 4/3...and I'm travelling to the UK in October so yeah, interested in this as well.
definitely you need a rainjacket in fall. Don’t know where you go but in fall it could be cold in mountain countries, like Switzerland. Maybe a rainjacket for the camera. Olympus can handle rain I Discovery in Alaska. But I think that is all to have fun and a lot of memories later on.
Serious answer time.
Do you have a way or feel the need to have a way to back up your photos from the SD cards? (I take a travel hard drive when going on important trips where I would be upset if I lost them). If you're taking a laptop with a temp Lightroom catalogue, remember to update any presets, keywords, import profiles you might want from your 'live' catalogue. I export my keywords to Dropbox so I can grab a recent copy from anywhere I have internet.
Think about charging and cables. If you are taking an external charger, make sure you have a spare cable - or at least an alternate cable that would enable you to charge the battery in-camera. If it's microUSB, they aren't hard to get hold of anywhere, but it's useful to have something like an Arkin Chargekey on your keyring for emergencies. Remember to actually test it works with your camera. Not all cables can transmit enough umph to actually charge the battery.
I'd also heartily recommend USB extension cables. I have a 2m coiled one in practically every bag I own. ;) They are handy for phones as well as camera stuff. Lots of hotels have USB wall sockets now, so long charging cables or extensions are useful things to throw in the suitcase.
Do you want to geotag your photos? I have a geologger that I wear around my neck/clip onto my bag when we go away. I have it set to really a low logging rate (like once every few mins) and then when I get home I can pull the log off the device and geotag the photos in Lightroom (I still strongly prefer Jeffrey Friedl's plugin for this - http://regex.info/blog/lightroom-goodies/gps - to Lightroom's own attempt). I never have to remember where I took a pic. :) You can do this via a phone app too but that's a bit battery draining. My current GPS gadget is a GPS 860E - no idea if they are still available.
Lastly, consider putting a locked/protected picture on all your SD cards of your name and contact details (ones that will work where you are going!). If you lose your camera, it makes it easy for people to find you.
tx @taffy !! and oh yes - i think i recall you mentioning lens wipes before... definitely need to look into that... out of curiosity, what do you use for a rain cover for your camera? i used to have one for my dslr, but it was a bit bulky... mind you, my olympus and two of the lenses are weather sealed, so it shouldn't be a huge issue, but i'm curious nonetheless...
@graemestevens i have a love/hate relationship with the gorilla pod... not sure why, but i find it rather frustrating and at this point i almost never bother to pull it out...
@tstb13 tx Tina... i'm not too worried about the cold... the trip will likely involve hiking or at any rate a lot of walking so that should help keep me warm :)
@humphreyhippo you lost me at "travel hard drive" ;p confession time, i almost never remember to keyword in LR and at this point i think i've completely forgotten how! and while i have heard of dropbox, i've never used it... in any event, i am unlikely to travel with the laptop... i'll look into the other things though... i never heard of a geologger... i'm kind of intrigued... i never can remember anything so always helpful to have a device do it for you :) tx!!!!
@northy My backup drive is like this one: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Transcend-Military-Grade-Shock-Resistance-Portable/dp/B005MNGQ6C
But I have a bit of a faff getting photos on there via a RAVPower Filehub & an iPad so I only bother on big holidays where I'd be upset if the cards corrupted and I don't have the laptop for backups.
I keep meaning to check if the drives with built-in card readers have improved. They were overpriced and underperforming last time I took a serious look.
I use Dropbox as a lazy way to get things from my PC to my phone/iPad. It comes in quite handy sometimes. :)
BTW, on the battery front, remember to check your airline's rules. Quite a few don't like them going in the hold anymore and limit the number you can take in hand luggage. Make sure spare ones are in some sort of case or otherwise separated so the contacts are protected.
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What fun to be planning a photo trip!
I’m heading to Europe in 3 weeks and not even considered s tripod nor heard of a splat! Maybe I need one!
I'll go away now. ;)
Do you have a way or feel the need to have a way to back up your photos from the SD cards? (I take a travel hard drive when going on important trips where I would be upset if I lost them). If you're taking a laptop with a temp Lightroom catalogue, remember to update any presets, keywords, import profiles you might want from your 'live' catalogue. I export my keywords to Dropbox so I can grab a recent copy from anywhere I have internet.
Think about charging and cables. If you are taking an external charger, make sure you have a spare cable - or at least an alternate cable that would enable you to charge the battery in-camera. If it's microUSB, they aren't hard to get hold of anywhere, but it's useful to have something like an Arkin Chargekey on your keyring for emergencies. Remember to actually test it works with your camera. Not all cables can transmit enough umph to actually charge the battery.
I'd also heartily recommend USB extension cables. I have a 2m coiled one in practically every bag I own. ;) They are handy for phones as well as camera stuff. Lots of hotels have USB wall sockets now, so long charging cables or extensions are useful things to throw in the suitcase.
Do you want to geotag your photos? I have a geologger that I wear around my neck/clip onto my bag when we go away. I have it set to really a low logging rate (like once every few mins) and then when I get home I can pull the log off the device and geotag the photos in Lightroom (I still strongly prefer Jeffrey Friedl's plugin for this - http://regex.info/blog/lightroom-goodies/gps - to Lightroom's own attempt). I never have to remember where I took a pic. :) You can do this via a phone app too but that's a bit battery draining. My current GPS gadget is a GPS 860E - no idea if they are still available.
Lastly, consider putting a locked/protected picture on all your SD cards of your name and contact details (ones that will work where you are going!). If you lose your camera, it makes it easy for people to find you.
@homeschoolmom another battery makes sense... tx!
@graemestevens i have a love/hate relationship with the gorilla pod... not sure why, but i find it rather frustrating and at this point i almost never bother to pull it out...
@tstb13 tx Tina... i'm not too worried about the cold... the trip will likely involve hiking or at any rate a lot of walking so that should help keep me warm :)
@humphreyhippo you lost me at "travel hard drive" ;p confession time, i almost never remember to keyword in LR and at this point i think i've completely forgotten how! and while i have heard of dropbox, i've never used it... in any event, i am unlikely to travel with the laptop... i'll look into the other things though... i never heard of a geologger... i'm kind of intrigued... i never can remember anything so always helpful to have a device do it for you :) tx!!!!
For the rain jacket, I don't know the brand but it's basically a plastic bag with a hood for a long lens, like this one: https://smile.amazon.com/Movo-Pack-Clear-Cover-Camera/dp/B01IMI9P52/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?ie=UTF8&qid=1534473633&sr=8-1-spons&keywords=camera+rain+sleeve&psc=1
I also have a heavy duty canvas one sort of like this one - https://smile.amazon.com/Altura-Photo-Professional-Cover-Cameras/dp/B004AH10K8/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1534473633&sr=8-4&keywords=camera+rain+sleeve&dpID=515HSCckQjL&preST=_SY300_QL70_&dpSrc=srch - but find most of the time if it needs something that heavy duty, I'm likely not wanting to be out in that weather! I also have been told to use a ziplock bag, but I think the rain jacket works well.
But I have a bit of a faff getting photos on there via a RAVPower Filehub & an iPad so I only bother on big holidays where I'd be upset if the cards corrupted and I don't have the laptop for backups.
I keep meaning to check if the drives with built-in card readers have improved. They were overpriced and underperforming last time I took a serious look.
I use Dropbox as a lazy way to get things from my PC to my phone/iPad. It comes in quite handy sometimes. :)
BTW, on the battery front, remember to check your airline's rules. Quite a few don't like them going in the hold anymore and limit the number you can take in hand luggage. Make sure spare ones are in some sort of case or otherwise separated so the contacts are protected.