Current Walkabout Gear

Cameras

The collection of camera bodies we’ve appreciated through the years is diverse. In recent years, we have profoundly minimized the amount of gear we carry and use. This has helped us to focus less on the gear and more on the experience so that photographs complement the moments, and are not the purpose of the moments.

But to answer the frequently asked questions about gear, there are three sets of gear with which we travel and the set in use depends entirely on our transportation arrangements! When traveling by car, we take all the gear. By Can-Am Spyder, we take a fair amount of the gear. And when traveling on the Stratoliner Deluxe or airplane, we take the bare minimum.

By far, our favorite travel camera is the iPhone. Our iPhones take photos and videos of everything at every place we visit. Some of the photos end up on this site, but most often it is their metadata that proves most valuable, providing us references to the physical location of photos we capture with our other, geotagging-challenged cameras. Video we publish, however, is almost always captured using an iPhone.

No matter which vehicle is in use, the Fujifilm x100v is always with us, hanging over a shoulder by the thin and simple, Fujifilm-branded, and now well-worn strap.

This camera is a remarkable tool with soul. It forces you to think about the infinite ways to capture an image. You’ll feel the photography experience more than you ever have. And sure, you can always full-auto the thing, but we can assure you that you won’t want to.

The fixed lens of the x100v means you must zoom with your feet to compose each shot, immersing you even further into the walkabout experience.

But the most impactful part of this gear is that it helps to make you a more thoughtful photographer. You’ll want to strive for straight-out-of-camera jpg files and that forces you to slow down, compose, and be creative with the basics of the craft.

Since packing small is always our goal, we have always been huge fans of the smaller size of micro four thirds cameras and lenses. And for our money, the best tools are manufactured by Olympus (now OM Systems).

We have several Olympus cameras that are still in use and a variety of Olympus Pro and Lumix lenses that travel with us too. But the primary micro four thirds device we use is the OM System, OM-1. This device is simply brilliant. There is no shooting situation it can’t handle.

Photographs and videos that we capture from more than about 6 feet above ground are all accomplished with a DJI Mini 3 Pro. Drone photography has finally come to the point where quality and traveling light can happen together. We adore what this thing can do as it provides a unique vision of our walkabouts that would otherwise be completely unnoticed.

We do find that there are many drone flight restrictions in many of the areas we travel. National parks and monuments, State Parks, military bases, wildlife and unique areas, etc, all curtail our permission to fly. And we are too often frustrated when we see others breaking those rules because they are the proof of the need for these restrictions. But whenever it is legally possible and the weather isn’t too crazy, putting a drone in the air offers some fascinating perspectives to our walkabouts.

Accessories

Within all of our 2, 3, and 4-wheeled vehicles, you will also find a small (and growing) collection of Joby GorrillaPods. If you own a camera, you need at least one of these. The only thing they don't do is stand six feet tall! But in most of those circumstances, there always seems to be a suitable tree or a bridge rail or a building or a rock or a flagpole or just about anything that the tripod can stand on, hang from, grip, wrap, hug, or hold to host a camera for a special shot. Buy one now! They are exceptional!

Production

Photographs and videos are almost always prepared for posting to WalkaboutChronicles.com from an Apple MacBook Pro M1 Max with all the bells and whistles. Riding on all of the computing cores of this thing and where our digital photos are developed is Adobe Lightroom Classic. The Walkabout Chronicles Lightroom catalog holds over 350,000 images!

If we are on a walkabout involving an overnight stay somewhere, we usually carry with us an Apple iPad Pro. From there we can use Adobe Lightroom (not Classic) to process images, knowing that they will sync back into Lightroom Classic via the Adobe Creative Cloud.