Upper Mustang - What Photraphy Gear To Bring

ISO 800, 200 mm, f5.6, 1/3200 sec

Often when browsing websites related to photography or to travel, I will read questions along the line of "I am going to ... what lens should I bring?" or "I am going to ... should I bring my ...?"

My initial reaction typically is "It depends ...".

It depends upon the types of photographs that you typically take or want to take on this trip.

It depends upon the style of photographs that you typically take or the style of photographs that you want to try on your trip.

It depends upon, to a certain extent, the equipment that you already own.

It depends upon how much you can carry or how much you are willing to carry.

It depends upon your travel arrangements and restrictions.

ISO 400, 200 mm, f6.3, 1/250 sec

In late October of last year, I toured Upper Mustang for 15 days.  It was a fabulous journey which I can best summarize as " I was extremely impressed with the raw beauty and magnificence of the scenery and the people. Definitely a destination for photographers or connoisseurs of the exotic."

The following is a list of the gear that I brought, some explanation of why I brought it, and a revised list of what I will be bringing for a return trip..

ITEM	QUANTITY	PACKED
DSLR Full Frame Camera	1	Wear
28-70mm F/2.8 Lens & Hood	1	Wear
85mm F/1.8 Lens & Hood	1	Wear
80-200mm F/2.8 Lens & Hood	1	Wear
Batteries for DSLRs  – 1 camera, 3 loose	4	Wear
CF Cards – 704 GB, 1 in, 6 loose	7	Wear
SD Cards – 928 GB, 1 in, 7 loose	8	Wear
AA Rechargeable Battery	4	Wear
Cell Phone & Charger	1	Travel Vest
GPS Device	1	Travel Vest
Digital Voice Recorder	1	Travel Vest
Tripod and Ball Head (Aluminum)	1	Camera Bag
Filter Pouch/Assort Filters	1	Camera Bag
DSLR Remote Cable Release	1	Camera Bag
DSLR Camera Battery Charger	1	Camera Bag
Headband Flashlight	1	Camera Bag
20mm F/1.8 Lens & Hood	1	Camera Bag
AA/AAA Battery Charger	1	Duffel  Bag
Lens Cleaning Kit	1	Duffel Bag
Power Strip	1	Duffel  Bag
Power Plug Adapters	1	Duffel  Bag

Luggage +  Carry-On is limited to 15Kg, what is in your pockets, on your belt or around your neck does not count.

There are luggage restrictions on the flights to Upper Mustang.  The weight restriction for Thai Airways international flights to Kathmandu for economy class is 30 KG checked baggage.  Flights from Kathmandu to Phohkara are 20 KG for checked baggage for the Yeti Airlines BAE Jetstream 41 aircraft.  The big issue and a definite consideration for your packing is the restriction on the the flights to/from Jomsom (elev. 9,000 ft.).  There is a 15 KG total baggage restriction for those flights - checked baggage plus carry-on can not exceed 15 KG.  What you carry around your neck, in your pockets or strapped on your belt does not count against the allowance.

If you exceed the allowance you will have to pay excess baggage fees.  If you are traveling with others as part of a group, the allowance is distributed against the entire group - if one person is 5 KG over but another member of the group is 5 KG under the allowance, there is not extra baggage fees.  However it is not simply a matter of paying or not paying extra baggage fees.  The aircraft are small, Viking DHC-6-400 Twin Otter of Tara Air, and the due to the elevation of the Jomsom airport, aircraft carrying capacity is a critical consideration.   I do not know, nor would I want to find out, what would happen if  you were at the end of the check-in line and too many people ahead of you had excess baggage checked in.  Flights are limited and often subject to weather delays or even cancellations so catching the next flight is not a simple alternative.

To be honest, our carry-on bags were not measured or weighed.  However, I prefer to follow the rules ahead of time rather than risk "complications" or "issues" while traveling.  I try to eliminate all the stress factors, that I have control over, for traveling.  Each piece of checked baggage was weighed and recorded.

ISO 100, 20 mm, f10, 1/40 sec, tripod

There were many locations where fill flash would have been nice.  However the locations or situations were not conducive to the use of artificial light.  Photographs of people in darkened rooms, people worshiping, people in private moments for this culture are best photographed with available light - using higher ISO settings and/or faster lens.  

ISO 800, 70 mm, f3.2, 1/50 sec

There were many opportunities and situations when I made use of or should have made use of my f1.8 lens.  These were photographs inside of homes, schools, and in museums.

ISO 800, 85 mm, f1.8, 1/200 sec

ISO 800, 85 mm, f1.8, 1/60 sec

Typically my go-to lens in my work is the 28-70mm f2.8 lens.  Analysis of my Upper Mustang/Nepal photographs confirmed the versatility of this lens.  The breakdown for lens usage on this trip was as follows:

                               28-70mm f2.8 ................65 %
                               80-200mm f2.8...............20%
                               85mm f1.8.......................03%
                               20mm f1.8.......................12%

HDR Photograph - ISO 100, 28 mm, f11, 1/320 sec

A great concern on going off on a "trip of a lifetime" is how much recording media to bring along especially to locations where photography supplies are very difficult if not impossible to find.  Again the answer is "It depends ..."

It depends on what size the files are that you shoot.  If you shoot uncompressed RAW files, you will be taking less, much less, the number of photographs on a media card than if you shoot jpeg files.

ISO 400, 70 mm, f2.8, 1/1000 sec

It also depends on your planned shooting techniques.  If you plan on shooting HDR or bracketed photographs each completed photograph will require 2, 3, 5 or perhaps even 7 separate exposures.  If you are attending an event such as a festival with high energy dancing, you may choose to shoot in burst mode to freeze specific action moments.  These techniques more rapidly fill up media cards.

Based upon my recent experiences in photographing other unique locations such as Angkor Wat, Tonle Sap, Bhutan, and Sapa, I estimated that I would shoot around 1,000 exposures a day.  This was anticipating shooting a combination of HDR, bracket shooting, and normal shooting.  I brought along sufficient media capacity for approximately 15,000 exposures - 15 days @ 1,000 per day.  As it turned out, I actually took 3,618 total exposures - a low of 47 on one day and a high of 561 on one day in Kathmandu.  The bottom line was that with knowledge of my shooting style and goals I was able to estimate my media needs.  There was no stress in having to be concerned during the tour of running out of media capacity or having to ration my shots towards the end to avoid a shortage.

ISO 400, 80 mm, f7.1, 1/1250 sec

Your needs will depend upon your style, and goals.  You will need to go through a similar analysis especially if you are going to a location where additional media is not readily available or you do not intend to bring resources to download and store exposures as your media fills up.

Perhaps I should touch on the subject of backing up your photos as you travel.  There are many recommendations available on the Internet.  Again ... it depends.  I do not.  I do not for a couple of reasons.  The first reason is I choose not to travel with a computer.  I prefer to use my luggage and carry on weight allocations for photography gear.  Secondly. after a full day of intense shooting, I usually am tired and do not want to spend the time and energy to download media cards.  Even using a USB 3.0 card reader, it takes around 30 minutes to download a full card.  Thirdly, I once downloaded some media cards to thumb drives as well as DVDs and it became too confusing.  I very nearly lost some photographs in the ensuing confusion.  I prefer to fill my cards and wait to download the photographs after I return home.

ISO 100, 70 mm, f6.3, 1/320 sec

My camera has a CF card as well as SD card slot.  Based upon my experience last Fall in Nepal and Upper Mustang I will use the SD card in the camera to make an automatic back up copy of each photo that I take on the CF card. The filled SD cards will be stored in my wife's luggage to provide some additional security for my photographs.

ISO 100, 28 mm, f7.1, 1/1000 sec

A rather unusual item that I brought along was a 220v power strip that had 4 outlets.  It was extremely useful.  It had been recommended by the tour operator.  The concern was that at some of the hotel rooms there might not be sufficient free electrical outlets to plug in camera battery chargers, cell phone chargers, computers, AAA/AA battery charger, ...  I found the additional benefit of the power strip, even where there were sufficient outlets, was that it centralized the location for items that needed to be packed each morning.  On tours it is best to simplify your logistics - having only one location to find and retrieve your rechargeable electronics is convenient as well as efficient.

My research indicated that there were three possible types of electrical plugs utilized in Nepal.  I brought along all three types and ended up using two of them.  Another advantage of bringing along a power strip that you know handles all the plugs of your electrical equipment is that you only need one adapter plug to the hotel outlet rather than one for each of your devices or having to complete charging one device before you can charge the next because you have only one adapter plug.

ISO 100, 28 mm, f10, 1/50 sec

Another item that I always take on travels is a journal.  My journal is a Moleskine 3.5"x5.5" hardcover lined paper book.  In my journal I have written specific as well as general information along with cut/paste inserts.

The journal includes specific information for the tour such as tour company contact information, list and email addresses of fellow travelers, tour itinerary, flight information, hotel information, departure baggage and carry-on actual weights, list of medications that I am carrying, sunrise/sunset data for each day and location of the tour, moon rise/moon 45degree/moon set data for each day and location of the tour, list of photography goals for the tour, GPS locations for locations where I will spend the night, and a list of items in my first aid kit (if carrying one).

ISO 800, 80 mm, f7.1, 1/250 sec

My journal which is used for more than one tour also contains general useful information such as list along with serial numbers of my photography gear as well as electronic gear, tips for shooting fireworks, a list of shot capacity for my media cards for each of my DSLRs along with total capacity and calculated daily average capacity. calculated exposure times when using ND or combination of ND filters, instructions for Waypoints, Routes, and Tracks for GPS Unit, instructions on how to use GPS Unit for daily tracks without it drawing a straight line, "Key Settings for Sunset", "Reflection Photography Tips", "Shooting the Moon Tips", "Hyperfocal Focusing", "Travel Photo Tips", "Camera Custom Settings, and "Clear Crowds with Long Exposure".

My purpose in having the journal is to have a convenient and centralized location for important information.  This reduces the time and stress of searching for specific information throughout the tour.  If it is not in my journal, I don't have it and most likely do not need it.

ISO 800, 80 mm, f7.1, 1/1000 sec

Previously I used to maintain a diary for each day of the journey in my journal.  I have now found that it is much too difficult to maintain a written diary.  On my next journey in October, I will maintain an oral journal for each day using a very small solid state voice recorder - much quicker than writing neatly in my journal.



My camera does not geo-tag my photographs.  Prior to last year, I would go on Google Maps through Lightroom and manually tag each photo.  It was cumbersome and very time consuming.  Out of 80,000 photographs I was unable to locate 2,000.  Now with the GPS Unit geo-tagging is much more efficient, much quicker, and more accurate as well elevation is now available.  I find the GPS/map data extremely useful for identifying locations such as place names, identifying road names, and names of sites.  Using GPS in conjunction with Lightroom, means that I no longer have the burden as well as distraction of noting and recording, or trying to, in the journal locations where photographs are being taken. 

ISO 800, 20 mm, f1.8, 1/10 sec, tripod

For our return to Upper Mustang/Nepal, I will be taking the following gear based upon my perceived needs and lessons learned from my Fall 2017 tour.  What should you bring?  It depends ...

The following photographic equipment that I will bring on my return to Upper Mustang.

ITEM	QUANTITY
DSLR Camera	1
28-70mm F/2.8 Lens & Hood	1
85mm F/1.8 Lens & Hood	1
80-200mm F/2.8 Lens & Hood	1
Batteries DSLR – 1 camera, 3 loose	4
CF Cards – 704 GB, 1 in, 6 loose	7
SD Cards – 928 GB, 1 in, 7 loose	8
AA Rechargeable Battery	4
Cell Phone & Charger	1
GPS Device	1
Digital Voice Recorder	1
Tripod and Ball Head (new - carbon fiber, travel style)	1
Filter Pouch/Assort Filters	1
DSLR Remote Cable Release	1
DSLR Camera Battery Charger	1
Headband Flashlight	1
20mm F/1.8 Lens & Hood	1
AA/AAA Battery Charger	1
Lens Cleaning Kit	1
Power Strip	1
Power Plug Adapters	1

Yes, it is the same as I brought on my last journey to Upper Mustang with a couple of refinements.  I will bring a lightweight carbon fiber and ball head travel combo on my return and my cell phone is now a smartphone.

My new carbon fiber tripod/ball head combo is one half the weight of my old combo and perhaps just as importantly folds up to only 17 inches (44  cm) - definitely more convenient for touring.

I now have a smartphone.  Internet access is available in Upper Mustang.  WiFi access was available in just about all the hotels (tea houses) that we stayed at as well as restaurants.  My observations were that the Internet access was at times spotty and more often - slow.  The big issue was "electrical power".  Many of the places that we visited were off the "grid".  Electrical power came from private or "municipal" solar cells which charged batteries.  Inverters convert the battery DC power to AC 220v power.  Power is required to run the  routers which provide the WiFi access. Power would be available around 6:00 PM and the batteries would be discharged around 10:00 PM or perhaps 11:00 PM.  I am not sure when the power went out since I was in bed by no later than 9:00PM.  Whenever I got up to go to the bathroom (many times due to effects of high altitude medicine - Diamox) I would find that the lights and my battery charger were no longer working.

For my upcoming trip, Internet and being "connected" is not an issue for me.  However the smartphone has applications which will help me.  I have a Geotag app which works as a good back up to my GPS device.  My smartphone also has an app called, Photopills, which is extremely helpful for planning shots with Sun, Moon, Milky Way, etc - info specific to your location or planned location.