What piece of Photography Equipment you would not want to live without?

[Forgiss - Sean Nel]

We are aiming to be travelling soon, and as weight is an issue (the bags, not mine) we were wondering what to take and what to leave.

Which got me wondering, What is the one piece of photographic equipment you will not leave home without?

Mine is the the Velbon Elcarmaigne 530 Carbon Fibre Travel Tripod. It's a carbon fibre tripod with a three way head, BUT without a quick-release plate (so nothing to leave in an airport) carries a true 4kg in weight and only weighs 1.7kg

Folded up it's only about 60cm tall, so fits in most bags without a problem!

If I think about general day to day use, I think my most coveted piece of Photographic Equipment is my Pantone/Colourvision Spyder for Calibrating our Screens! Can't live without it!

So what is yours?

[N.M.]

If I'm just going into the bush down the road, definately my Colt 45, sawn-off gattling gun, and 60mm patmor

[Roberto]

Absolute minimum!

I went overseas once, took everything and ended up using not even half of what I took!

[N.M.]

My eyesight. Yep, that's it.

[Texasbelle]

My compact, charger and gorilla pod
Unless one is travelling for a specific shoot in mind, then pack for that and the maybe's.
It is a bit like going camping

[James Mitchell]

Polarising filter - you'll probably be out in midday sun a lot.
Flash - You may be inside dark buildings, in which case the polariser won't be much use.
Extra Batteries and memory cards - all the great shots because of the polariser and flash means you will probably need these!

Whatever you end up taking, have fun!

[Jaco de Klerk]

camera

[Geurt]

Grey matter?!

[Henk Coetzee]

If I'm travelling for work, with photography as a sideline I have taught myself to travel light. Last year I travelled to Europe twice and each time took a body with one lens (once a 35mm f2 and the other time a 16-45mm f4). Found this much less stressfull than having lots of gear to look after, keep track of, decide which to use and so on.

The 35mm took me back to my youth when all I had was a fast 50 on 35mm film.

[Wikus Visser]

Tripod, definately. Went on the Orange river rafting for three days, and everyone laughed at my tripod, but looking back, that was a good choice to take.

[bloomy]

tripod for me