When you’re travelling, you want to keep your kit bag as light as possible. However, that doesn’t mean that you can’t equip yourself with a few extra accessories to help you along your photographic journey.

Here’s some small accessories that you should think about packing in your suitcase this year.

Travel Tripod

Depending on the type of photography you do, you may want to consider a travel tripod. You’ve got a couple of options – there are lightweight, carbon-fibre tripods which are great for landscape photographers who don’t want a heavy bag – but are still reasonably cumbersome.

On the other hand, you could look for a table top tripod, or one which fits to other surfaces. This helps to stabilise your camera, and although it’s not as flexible as a full-sized tripod, you can get some great landscape shots and night-time shots with a small piece of kit.

Look for one which has enough load weight to support your camera, whether that’s a compact or a DSLR and lens combination. Prices range from around £12 up to just shy of £40, depending on specification.

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Essential guide to tripods

Power Bank and Batteries

One of the biggest problems travel photographers have is running out battery power when they can’t get to a power source. You could buy extra batteries, or you could carry a power bank to charge on the go.

Not all power banks will be compatible with all cameras – look for cameras that offer USB charging as a specification. To get an idea of how well your camera battery will last, check the official CIPA rating in the specifications list.

Also remember to pack travel power adaptors in your main bag so that you can charge up your cameras and power banks when you get back to your hotel room.

Wireless Card Readers

What could be better than sharing your latest travel shot, directly from the scene? If you have a camera that doesn’t include Wi-Fi connectivity, you won’t be able to do that straightaway. Why wait until you get home to the rain when you can use a wireless card reader to transfer images across to a tablet or mobile phone for quick uploading to social networking sites.

You can pick these up relatively cheaply, and they’re a small enough size to pack into a pocket of a camera bag.

Wireless Memory Card

An even better space saver is a Wi-Fi equipped memory card. These cards can be used as normal memory cards, but allow your camera to create its own wireless network which you can connect to with your smartphone or tablet.

A popular brand is Eye-Fi, but you need to make sure that your camera is compatible with wireless cards before you buy one.

Portable hard drives

Reduce the risk of losing your precious holiday pictures by regularly backing them up. When you’re travelling, a small and lightweight portable hard drive can be used to back up your shots without needing its own power source, and can fit in your camera or computer bag.

You can either go for a hard drive which has a built in memory card reader for very quick and simple transfer, or you can use one which plugs into your computer.

Read more:

Essential guide: Hard drives and storage

Messenger Bag

When you’re travelling and spotting shots as you move around, you don’t want your camera gear to be strapped into a backpack that you have to take off and undo every time you want to use your camera. It’s also likely you’ll be travelling pretty lightweight, which makes a messenger-style the bag the perfect choice.

Look for one which has a top opening so you can quickly grab your gear, but also try to find one which has a secure fastening to prevent thieves.

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Messenger Bags Roundup