PHOTOGRAPHY GADGETS
travel essentials
My favorite hobby used to be photography, but when that transitioned into my full time job my new favorite hobby became trawling the internet for handy photography gadgets. I know that staying up until 3am down the rabbit hole of AliExpress isn’t what most people do for fun so I’ve put together this collection. If you want to impress your photographer buddy with an innovative and impressive gift that won’t break the bank, then you’re in the right place!
THE GRENADE – Air pump for sensor cleaning
If you have dust spots on your sensor they will show up on your images as dark dots. The higher your aperture, the more they will show. I usually shoot surfing at around f/8 and for slow shutter images and landscapes even higher, so it’s essential to keep my sensor clean. Trying to remove dust spots in post is a major pain in the ass.
I’m a sucker for anything military themed so I had to have this grenade styled air pump. It’ also more powerful than others I’ve tried. You just need to give your it a quick squeeze while pointing at your cameras sensor and it’ll give a swift blast of air to help move any dust. Hold your camera with the sensor facing toward the floor so hopefully that dust will make it out of your shutter and be gone forever!
Dust can easily get on your sensor when you’re changing lenses so I always have one of these grenade air pumps in my camera bag.
I got mine from Aliexpress here.
MEMORY CARD CASE – Waterproof protection for CF, SD & Micro SD cards.
I love these card cases. They’re waterproof and shockproof. You can fit either 8 x SD cards or 4 x CF cards inside and it’ll keep those precious little guys super safe. Here’s a tip, once you’ve filled a card, put it back in the case upside down so then it’s easy to work out which cards are empty and which are good to go. They’re available in a bunch of different colours so it’s easy to distinguish between different projects you’ve shot.
I got from Aliexpress here.
Also available on Amazon here.
CAMO SOLAR PANEL – 20W foldable solar panel
Searching for a portable solar panel online can be mighty confusing. There’s so many options and different specs available, but when I stumbled across this Boguang solar panel, I knew the search was over. Not because Boguang is a reputable brand (pretty sure it isn’t) but because it was the first one I’d found that was available in camo. So basically I took a wild uneducated guess and based my purchase solely on aesthetics. But it turned out to be epic. It has a couple of USB outputs and when the suns out I can charge my phone and 2 camera batteries at the same time using this dual USB charger. Even if it’s cloudy it’ll charge one piece of equipment fine. When I’m out shooting I’ll leave the solar panel on my dashboard and get it juicing up a power-bank for future use, I mean if the suns out there giving away all this power for free, you might as well grab it right?
I got mine from Aliexpress here. There’s also a desert camo option.
UNIVERSAL CAMERA STRAPS
These straps are the perfect way to customise your camera. Also helps you feel slightly more superior to any other photographer who is just using the standard strap that came with their camera. If you own multiple camera bodies of the same or similar models having a unique strap on each is an easy way to quickly identify which camera is which.
I got mine from Aliexpress here.
USB DUAL BATTERY CHARGER
USB battery chargers are a game changer. The wall charger that comes with your camera can only charge one battery at a time, if you have multiple batteries to charge for a shoot the next day you’ll need to wake up in the middle of the night and change over batteries. These dual chargers are so cheap that I’d recommend picking up a couple, then you can put 4 batteries on charge and sleep well knowing that when you get up in the morning they’ll all be fully juiced up. There’s so many more options to charge your batteries on the go. I’ll charge mine via the cigarette lighter in my car with USB adapter, via a power bank in my camera bag or via a solar panel when I’m off the grid. You can get dual USB battery chargers for most models.
Sony NZ FZ100 (A7III, A7RIII, A9) Available from Aliexpress here.
Also available on Amazon here.
Sony NP-FW50 (A6500, A6300, A6000) Available from Aliexpress here.
Sony NP-BX1 (RX100 series) Available from Aliexpress here
CABLE & GADGET ORGANISER
When I’m travelling nothing pains my OCD more than a bag full of tangled cords. There’s something extremely satisfying about having all your gear neatly organised and just packing all my cords, cables, headphones, batteries and other miscellaneous fiddly bits and pieces into this case just soothes my soul.
I got mine from Aliexpress here.
WATERPROOF STORAGE BOX
I spend a lot of time in, on and around the water. Not the ideal environment for delicate electronic equipment. My favourite local surf spot requires jet ski transportation. I may or may not have fallen off the back of the ski on several occasions. I pack all my gear into this epic Need Essentials drybag, but I like to have multiple lines of defence against salty H2O, so I throw my phone and camera batteries into this waterproof case. The offensive orange colour is super handy incase you take a spill and your gear goes full yard sale. Orange will be easy to spot as your precious cargo is washing up onto the beach.
I got mine from Aliexpress here.
RAIN COVER – Camo moisture protection for your camera
I’ve witnessed photographers at wet events using plastic bags to try keep their cameras dry. Peasants! This rain cover will not only keep your camera dry, but your hands dry too. I’ve shot in heavy rain with this cover on and my gear has stayed bone dry. If you’re not tough enough to rock the camo cover, it’s also available in black.
I got mine from Aliexpress here.
150W INVERTER – Charge via your vehicles cigarette lighter
This little inverter is an amazingly handy gadget for the traveling photographer. For larger electronics like a laptop or drone battery you won’t be able to charge via USB. But his inverter magically transforms your vehicles cigarette lighter into a powerpoint. Rated 150W and provides more than enough power to charge my Macbook Pro or DJI Mavic 2 Pro battery while on the road. It also has a USB output so you can still keep your phone powered up at the same time. I only ever use this inverter while driving otherwise it’s likely to drain your car battery.
I got mine from Aliexpress here.