🎒 The 4 most important items in my mobile camera bag 📷

No, the laptop is not joining me

As I head off to Paris for two weeks of fun and filming new PhotowalksTV episodes (“Photowalks in Paris” has a really nice ring, don’t you think?) the bag 🎒 is already packed with six teeny cameras, cables and other accessories.

As I noted the other day, I’m leaving the big cameras at home, due to concerns about weight and potential theft. I plan on being out from early morning to late at night with cameras running, and want the freeing experience of toiling around with just iPhones, Insta360 and GoPro Hero cameras ready for action.

Many of you have asked, why are you bringing 6 cameras with you to the City of Lights?

Because I have them, they’re tiny and easy to pack. Two iPhones: one will be my main video camera and the other is for stills and timelapses, those quick-paced videos that show the world flying by. I use the GoPro cameras primarily for driving shots on my car, with a wonderful accessory called JAWS that clamps onto windshield wipers, poles, desks and such. Who knows—maybe I’ll be able to clamp it onto the Eiffel Tower? Since I have 2 GoPros, when one goes dead, or memory card is full, I’ll have a fully charged GoPro ready to go.

Ditto for the crazy Insta360 cameras, which have two lenses, and let you choose what’s in front of you and behind. In its software, you can opt for the angle you want to use. You can also go rather crazy with video gimmicks. But what fun gimmicks they are!

Like the GoPro, when full or dead, I’ll have the other ready.

There are 6 cameras in this bag

In packing, however, I found that there were 4 most essential accessories of the modern era. Ready?

• Three variations of the USB cable

• Power brick

• Selfie stick

• iXpand

The power brick is probably the most vital. It gives you extra juice when your phone (or GoPro, or Insta360) runs out. For $20, you can pick up one from Amazon that will give you an extra 8 hours. I’ve got three of them in the bag.

First, you need to charge them up before they can be used, and that requires, at least for my models, a USB-A cable. Then, when I want a charge, for the iPhone, I need the USB-A to Lightning cable. For Galaxy and Pixel phones, you’d want a USB-A to USB-C cable.

This may sound like insane geek talk, but trust me, if you buy the power adapter, you need to know which cables need to be attached.

And I need proper little wall chargers to plug them into the wall.

The SanDisk iXpand is a flash drive (selling for around $60) that connects to iPhones and other models, and lets me back up all the photos and videos being taken on the iPhone. Good for when there’s no wifi!

Finally, what trip is complete without a selfie stick? People make fun of me for waltzing around town with them, but they do the job!

As many of you know, I swear by the Insta360 Selfie Stick that doubles as a four foot tripod. It helps me make steadier video shots on the iPhone for PhotowalksTV, doubles as a cool way to get group shots and self portraits and does wonders when combined with the Insta360 camera, which has software that makes the selfie stick “disappear” Check out the opening scenes of my San Francisco Cable Cars episode to see for yourself.

Insta360 also has a giant version available, and it’s so big it simulates drone shots, without having to fly.

For this shot, I held the camera in the air on Insta360’s stick.

But aren’t selfie sticks illegal? asked my friend Sean. If so, I haven’t gotten the memo. Some European museums apparently frown on selfie stick use inside, (the issue of poking people in the head) but then, I have little desire to shoot inside a crowded museum. I’m very happy with the outside, thank you.

And I don’t think there are any rules about not using selfie sticks on the street. If there are, I’ll just put it away and make do, somehow.

And to answer another frequent question, what about just getting a gimbal like the DJI OM Mobile 6 for steadier video? My experience is that the the gimbal is such a pain to set up and balance, and hard to fit in your pocket, that the minor benefits don’t turn into a positive. I think I just do better with the selfie stick.

By the way, may I say that I absolutely love my Sony A7IV mirrorless camera and the amazing 70-200mm lens. No, the iPhone 14 Pro Max is not as sharp or lovely as the Sony. The A7IV performs better in low light, takes even more awesome portraits, it does many things the iPhone can’t do. But until Netflix gives me a budget to bring along a production crew to Paris for PhotowalksTV, I’m walking the boulevards with an iPhone!

Laptop verdict?

I reached out to many of you last week asking your opinion: laptop or not on the trip?

My concern was weight and potential theft. About half said to skip it, the other half said to bring an iPad and portable keyboard.

“It’s a vacation. Leave it behind.” wrote Lance Ulanoff.

“I would never leave my laptop! I don’t even leave it at home when I go to the grocery store,” said Andria Gutierrez

“If your laptop is like mine, it's a heavy monster and not worth the worry of losing it or getting it stolen or LUGGING it around,” write Leticia Hernandez.

“Since you’ve been extolling the virtues of the iPhone camera, wouldn’t it be easier to leave the laptop and camera bag (heresy, I know) at home and just take the phone, backup batteries, iXpand, and multiple adapters?” Thanks Ellen. That’s exactly what I’m doing.

The verdict is, the laptop ain’t coming. Yes, I love to write, but I’ll just do it on the phone. If you don’t mind, I’ll be taking two weeks off from posting the newsletter. Or, more likely, I might just do a post or two of photos, which are easy to do from the road. And yes, the iPad is coming too, but sans the fancy accessory keyboard.

Here I am from the last trip, circa May, 2017.

Lastly, a word from the wife, on our onetime burger search in Paris.

À Paris: In Search of 🍳Oeuf à Cheval

Au Revoir, see you in November!

Jeff