I’ve been flying with digicam gear professionally since 2010. Lately which means a Canon EOS R5, a second physique and a bag of L glass, and that package has been on safari in Uganda, as much as Iceland in winter, and round Europe on extra price range short-haul flights than my shoulders would really like. In all that point nothing has been stolen and I’ve by no means needed to make an insurance coverage declare, which I’d prefer to assume isn’t solely luck.
A few of it’s luck, in fact. A superb pal of mine had his total digicam setup stolen in Barcelona. One other one had their drone confiscated on arrival in Morrocco. So I’m nicely conscious of how shortly it may go incorrect. However most of what retains your gear secure comes all the way down to a small algorithm and habits: what goes within the cabin, how batteries are regulated, what your insurance coverage truly covers, what you’ll want to go away behind, and the way you show your package is yours whenever you carry it dwelling.
In the event you solely take one factor from this web page, make it this: your cameras, lenses and each spare battery journey within the cabin with you. Spare lithium batteries are required to be within the cabin by legislation, and every thing else that’s invaluable or fragile ought to observe them. The element beneath is about making that plan work at an actual airport, with an actual gate agent, on an actual price range airline.
Key Guidelines for Flying with Digital camera Gear
Listed below are the principles that matter most when flying with digicam tools, right as of July 2026. The whole lot on this desk comes from the regulators themselves, and I’ve linked the first sources by way of the remainder of this information so you possibly can test the present wording your self.
Rule
The element
Spare lithium batteries
Cabin baggage solely, by no means within the maintain. This one is legislation, and it applies on each airline.
Batteries as much as 100Wh
No set amount restrict for private use. Practically each digicam battery is on this band.
Batteries over 100Wh as much as 160Wh
Airline approval required, most of two spares per individual.
Batteries over 160Wh
Not allowed in passenger baggage in any respect.
Energy banks
Most of two per passenger, and no recharging them on board. New guidelines since 27 March 2026.
Battery terminals
Should be protected towards brief circuits. Tape, a case or the unique packaging all depend.
Cabin bag weight
Varies enormously by airline: 8kg at Lufthansa, 15kg at easyJet, no weight restrict at Delta. Test yours.
Undeveloped movie
Ask for a hand test. New CT scanners harm movie at any ISO.
Ought to You Test Digital camera Gear or Carry It On?
Carry it on. Of all of the questions on this information, that is the one with a clear reply. Digital camera our bodies, lenses, filters, reminiscence playing cards and batteries all belong within the cabin with you.
For spare batteries you don’t truly get a alternative, as they’re prohibited from checked baggage in all places. For the remainder, it’s about threat. A checked bag will get thrown, stacked, left on tarmac within the rain and infrequently despatched to the incorrect continent, and also you gained’t know something occurred till you’re standing at a carousel a good distance from dwelling. There’s additionally a nasty insurance coverage angle to checked digicam gear, which catches lots of people out and which I’ll come again to.
What can go within the maintain: tripods, gentle stands, chargers, cables and anything that’s heavy, awkward and laborious to steal worth from. The one time I’ve ever been stopped at airport safety with digicam package, it was over a tripod. I ended up strolling again to check-in and placing it within the maintain. Insurance policies on tripods in hand baggage differ by airport and airline, so if yours is full-size, plan for it to journey checked and save your self the stroll when a safety officer decides it might be used as a harmful weapon.
As for the bag itself, I journey with a Peak Design Journey Backpack 45L, having used Peak Design merchandise since 2015. Peak Design sizes it to satisfy worldwide carry-on requirements in its default 35L configuration, and the enlargement zips add one other 10L after I want the room. In the event you’re flying with it expanded, deal with it as a checked bag. The back-panel entry means the principle opening sits towards my again whereas I’m sporting it.
You may test the present value of the Peak Design Journey Backpack on Amazon right here (Test value on Amazon). For extra choices throughout budgets and types, I’ve put collectively a full information to the very best digicam luggage for journey.
The Cabin Bag Weight Lure
Your bag suits the sizer, you’ve adopted all the recommendation about carrying your package into the cabin, after which the agent at a European gate places it on a scale. A digicam physique, three or 4 lenses and a laptop computer is 8 to 10kg earlier than you’ve packed a single pair of socks.
There’s no single quantity to pack to, as a result of the bounds are all over. Lufthansa permits 8kg within the cabin (55 x 40 x 23cm). Ryanair’s Precedence cabin bag is 10kg (55 x 40 x 20cm), whereas its free under-seat bag (40 x 30 x 20cm) has no acknowledged weight restrict in any respect. easyJet permits a remarkably beneficiant 15kg, certified with “so long as you possibly can carry and carry it your self”. British Airways publishes its personal allowances on ba.com, they usually’re value checking immediately earlier than you ebook.
Cross the Atlantic and it’s a distinct query altogether. Delta publishes dimensions (22 x 14 x 9 inches, 45 linear inches complete) and no weight restrict in anyway, which is broadly the US sample.
European carriers weigh your cabin bag, US carriers measure it, and the distinction between 8kg at Lufthansa and 15kg at easyJet is the distinction between leaving a lens at dwelling and packing freely. Test the quantity in your particular airline and fare sort, then pack to the bottom restrict in your itinerary.
For what it’s value, I’ve by no means truly been pulled up on weight at a gate, and that’s principally due to that final behavior. However in case you are standing there with an chubby bag, you have got extra choices than paying the price:
Put on the load. Put the digicam round your neck and the heaviest lens in a jacket pocket, as a result of nothing you’re sporting goes on the size.
Use your private merchandise. Most fares embody a small second bag, and a physique and a lens in an under-seat bag takes 2kg out of the principle one.
Pay for precedence or an additional bag prematurely. It’s normally fairly a bit cheaper on-line than on the gate, and on a gear-heavy journey it’s usually the proper name anyway.
The wearable choice is why I’ve had a SCOTTeVEST journey vest since 2012. It’s basically a wearable digicam bag, with pockets that can swallow a lens, a battery pouch and a good quantity of dignity. You may test the newest value on Amazon right here, or purchase direct from SCOTTeVEST.
Yet another factor for the sixty seconds when a full flight means your cabin bag will get gate-checked into the maintain: take the batteries out first. The UK CAA is specific that in case your cabin bag is moved to the maintain earlier than boarding, lithium batteries and units want to return out and stick with you. Digital camera round your neck, batteries in a pocket, and let the remainder of the bag go.
Lithium Battery Guidelines for Flying
Battery guidelines really feel like essentially the most intimidating a part of flying with digicam gear, however the system is definitely fairly smart as soon as you already know it. The watt-hour bands hint again to a single ICAO rulebook and are the identical within the US, the UK and the EU. What varies is amount, and that’s the place a brand new rule arrived in March 2026.
The Watt-Hour Bands
Each lithium battery has a watt-hour score printed on it someplace. In the event you can solely discover volts and amp-hours, multiply them collectively to get watt-hours.
As much as 100Wh, the FAA units no amount restrict for batteries carried for private use, and customary digicam batteries are nowhere close to the road anyway. Over 100Wh and as much as 160Wh, you want airline approval and also you’re restricted to 2 spares per individual. Over 160Wh, batteries are forbidden from passenger baggage solely and journey as harmful items cargo, which in observe solely impacts massive video and broadcast batteries.
Two common guidelines sit on high of the bands. First, each spare battery flies within the cabin. The CAA’s packing steering places it plainly: by no means pack them in checked baggage, they’ll overheat and trigger a fireplace. Second, the regulator’s flooring shouldn’t be your airline’s ceiling. The FAA notes that airways “could have stricter amount and Wh limits”, no matter watt-hour capability, so a fast take a look at your service’s harmful items web page is well worth the two minutes.
The New Energy Financial institution Guidelines (Since 27 March 2026)
From 27 March 2026, below new ICAO restrictions, you possibly can carry a most of two energy banks per passenger no matter their measurement, you will need to not recharge them on board, and also you shouldn’t use them to cost different units through the flight both.
Meaning digicam batteries and energy banks are now not handled the identical approach. Your spare digicam batteries don’t have any regulator amount cap for private use; your energy banks at the moment are capped at two. The watt-hour bands stay the identical in all places, however energy financial institution amount and in-flight charging are the place your airline and route now matter, so test earlier than you fly, particularly on long-haul connections by way of totally different jurisdictions.
The facility financial institution I journey with is the INIU P63, which at 92.5Wh sits below the 100Wh line whereas nonetheless recharging a mirrorless physique a number of instances over. It nonetheless counts as one in every of my two.
You may test its present value on Amazon right here (Test value on Amazon). I’ve coated how I select and pack chargers and batteries in additional element in my journey pictures package, and there’s a full roundup of the very best energy banks for journey if yours is due for substitute.
Defending Battery Terminals
The rule right here is an end result, not a technique. ICAO and the CAA require spare batteries to be “individually protected in order to forestall brief circuits”. Taping over the terminals satisfies that, however so does a case or the unique retail packaging, so that you don’t should fly with sticky tape on £80 digicam batteries.
A small case is the tidy reply, and it solves the finding-things downside at safety too. One thing like this JJC battery and card case holds digicam batteries and reminiscence playing cards in a single field JJC calls shockproof, with every battery in its personal slot to allow them to’t contact one another.
You may test the present value on Amazon right here (Test value on Amazon).
When you’re at it, test the situation of what you’re packing. The CAA additionally requires units to be shielded from by accident switching on, and a broken, swollen or overheating battery shouldn’t fly in any respect. Bin it earlier than you allow and purchase a substitute on the different finish.
Digital camera Gear and Airport Safety
Digital cameras undergo airport scanners with no particular dealing with. You’ll discover loads of fear on-line about X-rays and digicam sensors, however the precise warnings from the individuals who would know, which is to say the TSA, Kodak and Ilford, are all about undeveloped movie. TSA’s screening steering singles out movie particularly; there’s no equal warning for digital sensors or reminiscence playing cards from any of them.
In observe, the security-lane issues with digicam gear are extra mundane: a bag so densely packed the operator can’t learn the scan, batteries buried below every thing else, and the tripod query I coated earlier. Pack so the electronics can come out shortly, maintain batteries and playing cards in a single place, and also you’ll clear most lanes with out a secondary search.
Movie and CT Scanners: The Outdated Recommendation Is Now Unsuitable
In the event you shoot movie, the principles modified below everybody’s toes.
The previous recommendation stated hand-luggage X-ray machines had been secure for movie beneath about ISO 800. That was true for the older machines. Ilford confirms standard cabin scanners had been secure for every thing besides its quickest movie, Delta 3200. However airports have been changing these machines with CT scanners, and Ilford’s steering on these is blunt: they’re “unsafe for any of our ILFORD and KENTMERE movie merchandise no matter ISO velocity score”. Kodak agrees, warning the newer scanners “will fog and damage unprocessed movie of any velocity, whether or not uncovered or not”.
CT scanners are already broadly deployed throughout US airports and are spreading within the UK, so you can’t assume the machine in entrance of you is the previous form. The ISO 800 rule of thumb belongs to a earlier era of {hardware}. Deal with each lane as a CT lane.
The repair is a hand test. Within the US, that is truly what the TSA recommends: take undeveloped movie to the checkpoint and ask for a hand inspection. Within the UK and Europe there’s no revealed equal proper, so that you’re counting on the goodwill of safety workers. Ilford’s personal recommendation is that the majority airports will do it however that it “varies between airports and nations”, and Kodak notes there’s no assure your request shall be granted. Kodak’s sensible ideas elevate your odds significantly: carry movie in clear resealable luggage so it’s straightforward to examine, and convey a altering bag so an inspector can test inside light-sealed gadgets with out ruining something.
Two extra movie guidelines. By no means put movie in checked baggage, because the maintain scanners are extra highly effective than the cabin ones and Ilford recommends towards it outright. And purchase or develop regionally the place you possibly can, as a result of each cross by way of a scanner compounds.
I haven’t flown with movie for years. The final hand test I keep in mind asking for was in about 1995, coming dwelling from a six-week household safari with rolls of it in my bag, and the machines have modified fully since. The producer steering above is what I’d observe at present.
Defending Your Photographs in Transit
Your gear is insured and replaceable. The images in your playing cards are neither, in order that they get their very own guidelines.
Reminiscence playing cards journey within the cabin, full cease, and ideally cut up throughout locations: playing cards in use with the digicam, stuffed playing cards in a case in a distinct pocket or bag. In case your digicam has twin card slots, use them. My R5 writes to each playing cards directly, so a card failure or a snatched bag doesn’t routinely imply misplaced images.
Then again up as you go. On longer journeys I copy playing cards to a laptop computer or transportable SSD every night, and let something vital sync to cloud storage each time the wifi is nice sufficient. It’s a five-minute behavior that has to repay solely as soon as to justify itself, and don’t format playing cards till the copies exist in two locations. See my information to photograph backup for my full course of.
In the event you’re selecting playing cards, my information to the very best reminiscence playing cards for pictures covers speeds and reliability intimately.
Retaining Digital camera Gear Secure from Theft
My pal’s Barcelona theft took his entire setup in a single go: bag, our bodies, lenses, every thing. That’s the sample with digicam theft. No one steals one lens; they take the bag. So most of what works is in regards to the bag.
Preserve it on you or connected to one thing. In cafés and eating places, the strap goes round a chair leg or my knee, not over the again of the chair. On trains, it stays at my toes fairly than within the overhead rack, and I by no means go away gear seen in a parked automobile. That final one issues twice over, since a automobile window is affordable to interrupt and, as you’ll see within the insurance coverage part, an unattended-vehicle clause could imply the loss is solely yours.
A bag that doesn’t promote itself helps too. Digital camera luggage that seem like digicam luggage are a purchasing record to the incorrect pair of eyes, which is one purpose I lean towards low-key designs. Taping over logos is generally theatre, however selecting a bag with out OBVIOUS CAMERA BRAND written throughout it’s free.
For lodge rooms with out a secure, and for wherever you must briefly step away, a cable lock turns a two-second seize into a loud job with witnesses. It gained’t cease a thief with instruments and time, however that’s not the thief you’re normally up towards. One thing like this Lewis N. Clark retractable cable lock provides you a 30-inch braided metal cable and a resettable mixture, which is sufficient to loop a bag to a railing or a chair leg.
You may test its present value on Amazon right here (Test value on Amazon).
I additionally maintain a tracker within the digicam bag (ours are Samsung SmartTags, since we’re an Android family). A tracker gained’t stop a theft, however it modifications the primary hour afterwards from guesswork to a map pin, and it’s equally helpful when an airline mislays a checked tripod. I’ve in contrast the choices in my information to the very best baggage trackers for journey.
Lastly, spend ten minutes earlier than you allow photographing your package, its serial numbers and its receipts, and put the lot in a cloud folder. It prices nothing, and it’s the distinction between a imprecise police report and a selected one. The identical folder does double responsibility at customs, which is arising shortly.
Insuring Digital camera Gear for Journey
Our digicam package is insured by way of our dwelling coverage fairly than by way of journey insurance coverage, and that wasn’t an accident. When you learn what journey insurance policies truly say about cameras, it’s usually the conclusion they themselves level you to.
Right here’s the road that satisfied me the business agrees. True Traveller’s personal coverage wording says gadgets of worth “could also be extra appropriately coated below a family All Dangers Part or a separate All Dangers coverage the place the complete substitute worth could also be insured”. When a journey insurer suggests a distinct product in your digicam, take the trace.
The structural downside is that journey insurance policies deal with photographic tools as a “invaluable”, and valuables get capped twice: as soon as per merchandise, and once more as a mixed valuables complete.
The per-item numbers differ by coverage fairly than being one revealed determine, so that you’ll have to learn your personal Abstract of Cowl as a substitute of trusting a comparability web site.
The place numbers are revealed, they’re small. True Traveller’s gadget add-on covers £450 per gadget on its customary coverage, or £750 on its high tier, for a most of three gadgets. Staysure’s complete baggage limits run from £300 on Fundamental to £2,500 on Complete and £5,000 on Signature, with a £100 sub-limit for telephones exhibiting the overall home model.
Set any of that towards an expert physique and lens value £2,000 to £4,000, and Staysure’s Fundamental baggage restrict wouldn’t change one in every of my lenses.
So no matter coverage you maintain, these are the 4 clauses that resolve whether or not you’re truly coated:
The only-item restrict. Discover the per-item cap and evaluate it to your most costly physique or lens.
The property complete. Add up your package and evaluate it to the mixed cap, which is normally a lot decrease than the headline baggage determine.
The unattended and car wording. Many losses occur from vehicles and baggage racks, precisely the place cowl is usually excluded or restricted.
Whether or not you’ve ever been paid. Aaduki, a specialist photographic insurer, attracts the road at “any type of cost in your providers” as the purpose the place you need to contemplate skilled cowl. In the event you’ve ever bought a print or shot a marriage for cash, learn your coverage wording with that sentence in thoughts.
And one exclusion earns a particular point out as a result of it connects straight again to the gate-check downside. photoGuard, one other specialist insurer, excludes “theft of an insured merchandise while below the duty of a transport supplier”. Learn that twice: cowl can vanish within the maintain, at precisely the second a gate agent makes you test the bag. So if a bag does should go, take the batteries and the digicam out first, and {photograph} what’s left inside it earlier than you hand it over.
I’ve by no means needed to make a declare on our coverage for digicam gear, and I’d prefer to maintain it that approach, so I deal with insurance coverage because the backstop fairly than the plan. For the broader query of selecting a coverage within the first place, see our journey insurance coverage information for UK travellers.
Bringing Digital camera Gear House: Customs and Proof of Possession
There’s a quiet nervousness that comes with carrying a number of thousand kilos of package by way of the “nothing to declare” channel: will anybody consider I owned all this earlier than I left? The excellent news is that each the US and the UK have boring, free-of-drama solutions, and neither includes shopping for something.
In the event you’re a US resident, the device is CBP Kind 4457. Earlier than you fly, you carry your gear to a CBP workplace, an officer compares the gadgets towards the shape and indicators it, and that’s your proof of prior possession on each future re-entry. Finishing it’s, in CBP’s personal phrases, strictly voluntary, the certificates isn’t transferable, and it stays legitimate “for so long as the doc is legible”.
In the event you’re returning to the UK or EU with your personal gear, you’re coated by Returned Items Aid, which relieves each import responsibility and VAT. The circumstances are that the products come again inside 3 years, that the exporter and importer are the identical individual, and that they return in an unaltered state. Servicing and repairs are high-quality, however the items “can’t have been upgraded to extend their worth”, which accommodates an actual lure for photographers: a lens serviced overseas comes dwelling free, a physique upgraded overseas is a brand new import.
There’s no financial threshold to fret about; the gate is time, id and situation. And for those who’re ever requested to proof any of it, invoices and receipts depend as various proof of export, which is exactly why that cloud folder of receipts and serial numbers from the theft part earns its place.
You may additionally run into mentions of the ATA carnet, a customs doc for briefly importing skilled tools. For a private package, you don’t want one: the London Chamber of Commerce prices £215 plus VAT to subject one for members (£355 plus VAT in any other case), on high of a safety bond scaled to your gear’s worth, locations and journey size, all to unravel an issue Returned Items Aid solves for nothing. The carnet exists for “skilled tools used overseas below private supervision”, which means a working professional on a business shoot with a flight case, and if that’s you, you have already got a manufacturing supervisor who is aware of about carnets.
Incessantly Requested Questions About Travelling with Digital camera Gear
These are the questions I’m requested most frequently about transferring digicam package world wide. If yours isn’t right here, pop it within the feedback and I’ll do my finest to reply.
Can you’re taking digicam gear in hand baggage?
Sure, and you need to. Cameras, lenses, reminiscence playing cards and batteries all belong within the cabin, and spare lithium batteries are literally required to be there, as they’re banned from checked baggage worldwide.
The sensible restrict is weight fairly than permission. European carriers can cap cabin luggage as little as 8kg, which a digicam bag reaches shortly, so test your airline’s quantity earlier than you pack.
What number of spare digicam batteries are you able to tackle a airplane?
For traditional digicam batteries below 100Wh, regulators set no mounted amount restrict so long as they’re in your private use. They have to be in your cabin bag with the terminals protected towards brief circuits.
Particular person airways can and do set stricter caps, so for those who’re planning to fly with an enormous stack of spares, test your service’s harmful items web page first. Batteries between 100Wh and 160Wh are restricted to 2 spares and wish airline approval.
What number of energy banks are you able to tackle a airplane?
Two per passenger, below ICAO guidelines that took impact on 27 March 2026, no matter their capability. They need to journey within the cabin, you possibly can’t recharge them through the flight, and also you shouldn’t use them to cost different units on board both.
Something over 160Wh doesn’t fly in passenger baggage in any respect, and 100 to 160Wh models want airline approval.
Do airport scanners harm digital cameras or reminiscence playing cards?
The scanner warnings that exist from TSA, Kodak and Ilford all concern undeveloped movie, not digital tools. There’s no producer or regulator warning about airport scanners harming digital sensors or reminiscence playing cards.
I nonetheless suggest playing cards journey in your cabin bag, however that’s about theft and loss fairly than scanners.
Can you’re taking a tripod in hand baggage?
Typically, and that’s the issue: it varies by airport and airline, and safety has the ultimate say on the day. I’ve been made to return and test mine precisely as soon as, which was as soon as greater than I’d deliberate for.
In case your tripod is full-size, the dependable plan is to pack it in checked baggage. A small tabletop tripod not often raises an eyebrow.
Will I’ve to pay import responsibility by myself digicam gear after I come dwelling?
Not for those who can present it’s yours. UK and EU residents are coated by Returned Items Aid, which waives responsibility and VAT by yourself tools returning inside 3 years in unaltered situation. US residents can register gear on CBP Kind 4457 earlier than departure for a similar peace of thoughts.
In each instances, receipts, invoices and serial numbers are your proof, so maintain copies in a cloud folder you possibly can open on the desk.
Does journey insurance coverage cowl digicam tools?
Often sure, however with caps that fall nicely wanting skilled package. Journey insurance policies class cameras as valuables, with per-item and total-valuables limits which are usually within the a whole bunch of kilos, and exclusions for unattended gadgets, automobiles and equipment in an airline’s care.
Test the single-item restrict, the property complete, the unattended wording, and whether or not any paid work voids your cowl. For a digicam value hundreds, a house contents coverage with all-risks cowl away from dwelling is usually the higher instrument.
Can you’re taking digicam movie by way of airport safety?
Sure, however don’t let it undergo the newer CT scanners, which Ilford and Kodak each affirm will harm unprocessed movie at any ISO. Ask for a hand test as a substitute. Within the US the TSA explicitly recommends requesting one; elsewhere it’s on the discretion of safety workers, so enable additional time.
Carry movie in clear resealable luggage to make inspection straightforward, and by no means put it in checked baggage, the place the scanners are stronger nonetheless.
Additional Studying
This information is about transferring your package; these are the companion guides for selecting and utilizing it.
And for those who’d prefer to get higher use out of the gear you’re now transporting so rigorously, my on-line journey pictures course covers every thing from digicam fundamentals to post-processing.
Secure travels, and will your bag all the time be below the restrict! In the event you’ve received a query about travelling with digicam gear that I haven’t coated, pop it within the feedback beneath and I’ll do my finest to assist.
