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Your Oh Sh!t Kit
June 28th, 2009
It happens. You’re doing just fine, trip’s going well, you’re rocking the assignment, and then it happens. The camera breaks, the lens hood snaps, the time/date battery you forgot your camera even had dies. In some cases the only solution is a replacement, in which case you’ll be kicking yourself that you left that second body at home. And in some cases you just need a little advance preparation. So in addition to bringing redundant gear, consider a contingency kit.
I just got back from London Drugs, picking up new date/time batteries. My 5D takes one kind (CR 2016) while my 5D2 takes another (CR 1616), so I bought one more of each and stuffed them into my emergency crap-hits-fan kit. They’re easily available and cost about $6 each. Here. In the middle of nowhere you won’t find them for any price. What else is in there?
Crazy glue, duct tape, dental floss, zip ties
Small first aid kit, tylenol, advil, anti-nauseant
Time/date batteries and the tiny screwdriver you’ll need to replace the darn thing.
Spare eyeglasses in hardshell case
Small packet of toilet paper
Leatherman tool
Corkscrew
Wrench for tripod
Spare lens cloth
A couple granola bars
Sharpie marker
Safety pins
I carry this in a pouch I bought in Kathmandu, bring it on every assignment and innevitably use it for something I never anticipated. Still it’s small, doesn’t take much space, but when you’re in the middle of Timbuktu and you can’t find a CR2016 lithium cell, you’ll wish you’d planned ahead. Take some time before your next travel gig or wedding shoot to consider an Oh Sh!t kit. Yours will look different than mine, what matters is that you anticipate the small things that could prevent a an assignment from going well.
What’s in yours?
Funny you should post this today. Yesterday I went on a photowalk, and didn’t want to carry my big bag, so I switched to my small shoulder bag.
Wouldn’t you know it, I forgot to pack an extra memory card and hadn’t put the card back in the camera.
Luckily a friend had a spare body that I was able to use.
LOL at the corkscrew… I thought I was one of the few. I had to find and buy one in Chicago in winter. Sawing kit? Hey… I come from an italian family. They take a sawing kit everywhere.
I meant sewing kit…
Swiss pocket knive, leatherman, spare memory card & batteries in all bags and more.
An a cheap address for batteries: http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.832
Never hurts to be prepared. So there’s a cordless drill and army spade in the back of the car…
Just curious, but in what Oh Sh!t moment will a Sharpie come to the rescue? I’ve never thought of carrying one. However, knowing you, there must be a good reason to throw it in the bag.
@ jeffrey – LOL. No idea. It just wound up in there. But it weighs nothing and if I don’t put it in there one day my life will depend upon it! Similarily the corkscrew.
funny about the corkscrew – it’s amazing how often you want to drink that bottle of wine.
My oh $h!t kit is maintaining cool and calm when the kit hits the fan. It’s being creative and making compromises when the stuff that should work one way, doesn’t (just take the damn picture! It’s better than no picture at all.)
Would you believe I carry a spare inner-tube in mine? Of course if you get a flat on your Six Foot Unicycle, not having a spare tube is a real downer… Oh wait… I thought I was commenting on the blog of Dave’s former career as an entertainer… Oops…
Pepto-bismol…
Oh… You had that already…
+1 on the Leatherman! Mine has tightened tripod screws, those stupid screws under the rubber on a Canon 70-200 that seem to always want to come loose, fixed the arm on my sunglasses, cut gaffer tape and cinefoil in the studio, those things are invaluable. Just one thing to remember if you travel a lot, don’t forget to take it out of your camera bag if you intend on carrying it on…I know of a few Leathermen who have met their demise that way…
I’ve had one of these for years as well. Mine’s the smallest Kinetics (like pelican) hard case. It’s got a leatherman, o-rings (for diving) Paracetamol, Asprin, Imodium, a jar lid wrench (for removing stuck filters) jewlers screwdriver, various coin batteries, silicon grease(again for diving) cable ties, a phone home card and $100 US folded up real small.
I can’t count the number of times this kit has saved my butt.
Gordon
corkscrew!!!!hmmm never though abt that
… all that, and a flashlight, cuz when Murphy hits the fan, it’s all going to happen at night in a place with no electricity
Good post, I’ve got some of the items you listed aswell. Didn’t think about the time/date batteries though, need to get me one of those!
Anyway, the tiny screwdriver and the wrench: aren’t they already on your Leatherman? My Charge XTi has a tiny screwdriver, and most of the Leathermans have a wrench.
Oh by the way, I’d add a small sewing kit with a couple of needles and strong thread to your kit. As well as some length of 550 para cord.
Useful when one of your straps broke down.
[...] caught me by surprise. I was reading pixelated image about creating a “Oh Sh!t Kit” and he talked about having replacement clock batteries. For some reason, I had never thought [...]
PS. I noticed that you didn’t just slap the text on that bag, you tried to get the text to match the shape of the bag. Well done. Er, wait. Or you are testing out that new embroidery machine for a side line business: New WTF! Oh Sh!t bags.
how did you read my mind? I was just talking to someone over the weekend about needing something like this for my tech gear stuff.. where can I get a bag like this ?
Just unpacked mine from South Africa, put the Krazy Glue (I believe it’s spelled with a ‘k’) and duct tape away, and thought of you, oh travel mentor!
When was the last time your clock battery failed you? I’d be worried they would be so old by the time you used them they would also be dead. By the way, I keep an extra CF card in my battery grip.
A small roll of black double-sided Velcro® can be a lifesaver. Fastens lots of things to lots of other things. (Most recently snipped off a piece to keep my hair out of my eyes when I had forgotten my hair clip and my camera bag closed when I popped the zipper)
Love this. And the graphic? Brilliant.
[...] duChemin: Your Oh Sh!t Kit. You do carry one, right? Another thing I always carry in my car — a supply of water; if [...]