Ric Kasnoff Streamlines His Gear for Travel

Professional photographer Ric Kasnoff, very often travels around the world for his work. Recently he went on a personal challenge to simplify the baggage and equipment he takes with him so it will all safely travel with him with minimal extra baggage fees from the airlines. To do this, he needed to put together a kit of essential equipment (full photo and video setup) so he would have everything he needed to get the job done – but still fit in a small amount of luggage space.

One piece of gear Ric was looking for was a compact should rig. He met up with technical consultant Mark Blaker at PhotoPlus to discuss his needs. As he writes in his blog:

I was already familiar with [Genus] through my use of their amazing “Fader ND” variable ND filter. After looking at a prototype of a Genus Tech field rig that they were about to release, I fell in instant lust… Small and light, it was more of a gunstock-type device than a traditional shoulder rig, developed especially for the HD-SLR market. Traditional 15mm rods, adjustable hand grips and a special HD-SLR base plate formed the core of the rig, while a seemingly infinitely adjustable shoulder/chest piece provided another point of contact and stabilization.

Mounting a D7000 fitted with the gold-standard Zacuto Z finder Pro3 loupe and their very cool Bravo follow focus gave me yet another point of contact — four points, to be exact. But the entire setup was still lightweight and, when all the pieces were assembled, very sturdy. Better yet, when it was broken down, it was equivalent to the size of a Quantum Trio Speedlight and a 2×2 battery pack in my camera bag. I wanted one.

Although the projected release date for the prototype was to be well after my PhotoSafari to Japan, the kind folks at Genus Tech decided that the unit needed to be “field tested” some more and arranged for me to get a pre-production test unit before my trip.

Read about the rest of Ric’s super kits (he actually made 3 kits, each for different types of journeys) and his quest for the right equipment on his blog: rickasnoff.com.