It all started with this tiny camera gatchapon I found on my last day in Tokyo.

Why can’t the rest of my photo accessories be this tiny?

13 tiny accessories across 5 categories, (1 of which changed my whole approach to photo editing).

But the first category is already very small:

1. Backup Solutions

My Samsung T7 SSDs, coupled with iCloud and Dropbox, my old backup solution was small enough? That’s until I discovered these tiny Lexar Go USB-C drives. There’s no need for an integrated cable, up to 2TB of storage space, the catch is the speed is USB 3.2 Gen 2, not Thunderbolt (capped at ~1000 MB/s).

What about cases for all the storage media I need while travelling? Due to the ZR, Zf, and DJI Osmo Nano cameras I use to produce the LensLab series, I need CF express Type B, SD, and microSD cards. The slimmest storage case I’ve found for these 3 types of cards is one made by Ruggard. It has capacity for 4 SD, 2 microSD, and 2 CF Express Type B cards, only about as thick as 5-6 credit cards stacked together.

To save space I don’t pack a card-reader. I just rely on in-camera USB-C transfer, but USB-C cables are incredibly confusing with respect to their data transfer speeds and/or charging capabilities. The one I use for data transfer from Kondor Blue. It’s right angle, braided, and light blue in colour, I can tell them apart from other USB-C cables I use for charging at a glance.

I’ll talk about all my charging accessories in a second, but the next category is one I’ve struggled to downsize over the years:

2. Straps and Tripods

I love leather camera straps (I have way too many), at least 1 for each camera to match its aesthetic. I could save space by using Peak design anchors, and sharing one strap across all of my cameras but I’ve never gotten along with that ecosystem. I found their connectors and anchor attachments a bit too bulky, what changed my mind is this.

Tiny metal loops Peak design started adding in their latest strap releases. There’s a bit of plastic that stabilizes the anchors on the metal loop. It’s slim, doesn’t jangle, stays out of the way. It came with my peak design form rope strap, both wrist and neck straps. With smaller slimmer connectors than the previous generation of straps, the whole setup is tiny.

My old travel tripod is the PGYtech Mantis Pod Pro, and while it’s already very small I never used it while traveling. Most of it is plastic, except the ballhead’s made of metal, so it’s quite top heavy? A bit awkward to put in a jacket pocket, or try to squeeze in the side of bags.

I don’t shoot landscapes or astrophotography, I film run and gun video, I don’t even put my camera down much at all while working. So rather than the pgytech on my last trip I ended up using the DJI mini tripod the most. Small enough to always be attached to my camera, I can set it down without thinking.

What does take thought and planning is the next category:

3. Lens cleaning

For all the vintage lenses I pack for travel I need a way to clean them. Lens blowers take up a surprising amount of space? This one from JJC is the smallest and flattest one I’ve seen. The tradeoff is it’s not very powerful. Rather than 1 to 2 blasts of air, you might need 3 or 4, but because of its slim profile it fits into any tech pouch very easily.

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Microfibre cloths are next, to wipe the front of lenses, screens, viewfinders. They already weigh nothing so how do I make them tiny? I put them in different compartments all the time, so they attract too much dust and dirt. I ended up switching to these tiny ones that come with a lanyard and a storage pouch that keeps them clean for a little bit longer. I have one inside my tech pouch, one attached to my keys, just like my next tiny accessory:

This mini torch from O-light. I use it to check for lens smudges late at night, it turns on as soon as it detaches from the base. It’s also magnetic so you can attach it to street signs or lampposts.

Charges via the integrated USB-C plug at the back, no switches, just one 80 lumen intensity, and best of all it’s tiny.

The next category in particular needed shrinking:

4. Charging

My old wall charger was very compact for its time, an Anker 5 port USB charger. Just one USB-C, 4 USB-A, I believe the USB-C was capped at 30W?

My new wall-charger’s from Belkin. Fewer ports, but they’re all USB-C. It also doesn’t have a wall cable to keep the footprint small. With all three ports plugged in they each fast charge between 20-25 watts each, just one port you can charge up to 67 watts. My favourite part’s the USB-ports angle down, which doesn’t put as much pressure on the plug staying in the socket.

My old charging cables were a meter long, also added significant bulk, includes my wife’s apple watch charging puck. So I halved them. USB-C to USB-C, 0.5 meters long, up to 240W charging, just slow data transfer. That’s why they’re grey, the Kondor blue data cables are blue.

I also found this Apple watch charger from Belkin, no cable, just the USB-C plug. It’s tiny

My battery bank solution has one rule: I’m not a fan MagSafe charging. Phones run too hot, and I have to remove the MagSafe wallet on my iPhone to use it. Rather than upgrade My Anker Mag Go powerbank to the slimmer MagSafe Nano, I switched to A Nano powerbank with a built-in connector.

It fits on my phone, on the side of my cameras, 5000 milliamps is enough to recharge a camera battery fully and a phone battery most of the way. The downside is when it’s attached to my phone the whole setup is more awkward to hold, so I stabilized the setup with a Wotancraft wrist strap.

That just leaves one last category, with one final tiny accessory used for the hardest part about travel photography:

5. Editing

I should be out there taking photos rather than in the hotel editing, but with all the work waiting for me back at home some trips’ photos never get edited.

Last trip I switched from my laptop to an IPad Mini for editing. It’s not my final tiny accessory, though it is much more useful than I thought. All my travel photos, about ten thousand from that trip, were culled and edited before I even got home.

Lightroom mobile ran smoothly enough on the gen 7 mini, but what if I could edit on my phone?My iPhone Air uses the A19 pro chip, generations faster than the Mini’s A17 pro. If I can handle the much smaller screen, it could save even more weight. The way I got through thousands of photos while travelling however is using keyboard shortcuts, but Apple doesn’t make keyboard accessories for my phone or the iPad mini?

That brings me to my last tiny accessory - the one that changed my whole approach to editing:

This 8bitdo micro gamepad. Students in my college classes got me on to this (they pair it with the Anki app to use flashcards for studying). One hand on the controller, I mapped shortcuts for rating and rejecting photos, edits vs the geometry panel. The other hand holding the pencil for precise edits on-screen.

I won’t be able to travel with just a phone or ipad anytime soon. Most of my travel is for work - a laptop is must for the software my workplace uses to teach online classes, run teleconferences.

But as long as I can carry it all alongside my cameras I can keep this hobby going.

Hopefully you can keep finding time for photography?

Jack.

I Downsized Every Travel Photo Accessory?

1. Backup Solutions

2. Straps and Tripods

3. Lens cleaning

4. Charging

5. Editing

BUSINESS ENQUIRIES: jack@jackwang.com.au

I Downsized Every Travel Photo Accessory?

1. Backup Solutions

2. Straps and Tripods

3. Lens cleaning

4. Charging

5. Editing

Zf vs ZR: A Day In the Life for Travel

BUSINESS ENQUIRIES: jack@jackwang.com.au