Monopod

Anouilh

I'm thinking of buying a monopod when am travelling.

Is this a good idea:

http://www.digitalcamerawarehouse.com.au/category587_1.htm

The hand luggage restrictions in airline cabins have me flummoxed at the moment. An evening spent with a weighing scales set at grammes and a measuring tape has been useful. My photography equipment now fits in one North Face featherlight rucksack, which weighs, itself, under 500 grammes.

A steep learning curve has involved working out that a monopod can also double as a walking stick, which is allowed as an extra piece of hand luggage.

Calina

I have, on one occasion, had to check in a monopod as checked luggage, in France, per airport security.

Anouilh

Calina wrote: »

I have, on one occasion, had to check in a monopod as checked luggage, in France, per airport security.

There you have hit on a sore point, Calina.

My last foray through CDG has ensured that France is now bottom of the pile when it comes to "foreign" holidays.

For my current trip we are travelling through Heathrow, encouraged by many sane encounters with "nos amis anglo-saxons".

Calina

Completely different experience. Heathrow made me check in hand luggage for apparently being 1cm too long. It wasn't and the bag included a camera which I had to remove before checking in the bag. I will check in a monopod long before I check in a camera and my experience with security in CDG has always been much better than security in Heathrow.

The airport in question was Rennes.

Anouilh

We got a bit side-lined there.

My original task is to find a monopod that is light and collapsible. There is a good discussion on the Canon site about brands and I picked this one out.

http://www.rei.com/product/745686

Does anyone know if it is a good brand?


I'll probably wait until I reach my destination and buy there, rather than have and extra item to carry.

DotOrg

REI is a great brand but more a hiking brand than anything photo related.

Only issue you may have is it doesn't go to your eye height so any shots, you'll be crouched

and the spike on it means airports won't let it on as a walking stick

Anouilh

I had never thought of a monopod as a possibly dangerous item.

In fact, I seem to be thinking very little about the problems that might arise when moving about with a lot of equipment.

Anouilh

I have got the size problem solved.

One tip...

The straps on camera bags and little additions that add weight can be removed and stored in the checked luggage bag. Although each item may weigh only 200 o 300 grammes, it all adds up.