My Traveling Transmit Kit

A few weeks ago I ran across a huge structure fire. Traffic was backed up because it was near the intersection of two major roads. I parked about a half mile away and walked to a parking lot across from the fire. Only a few fire trucks were there, and the police hadn’t arrived yet to cordon off the area. My plan was to get some early shots and get out.

The first part of the plan worked perfectly. The second caused all sorts of problems. I had already called the photo desk of the local paper, and was cleared to send my pictures. But I only had my camera and phone. I didn’t like the way the phone pictures were coming out, and knew the DSLR pictures would be the good ones. The problem was that my laptop was at home. So by the time I walked back to the car, fought through traffic, took the long way around the traffic, got home and sent the pictures, the photographer from the paper had his pictures uploaded already.

Getting scooped is like getting punched. It hurts even if you’re expecting it. So I decided that putting together a “emergency transmit kit” would help prevent this in the future.

Thankfully it’s not hard to connect my decrepit old iPhone 5 to my cameras. A small kit with cables and adapters fits nicely into a portable hard drive case. I’ll post the Amazon links to everything in my kit below.

First up is a generic hard drive case. It’s nothing special, except for being the right size.

I like it for the color. Black cases can be hard to find.

Everything fits, and I should probably add some index cards and a pen.

It all fits almost too well.

Here’s the heart of the kit. The Apple cable and the matching USB cables for my cameras. I’ve also thrown in a few ways to power everything because I had the room.

Everything from my transmit kit.

Left to right:

The case:

Usage

The Apple adapter plugs into my iPhone then I use the USB-A to USB Mini-B 3.0 cable to connect to my Canon 7D Mark II. If I need to connect to my Canon SL1, I use the Lightning/Micro USB cable with the USB mini-to-micro adapter.

Once connected I can import my selected photos to the iPhone’s camera roll, and then email them from there. So if I have mobile data or wifi, I can transmit from anywhere.

Ever since the iOS 9.1 update, iPhones have been able to use this adapter just like iPads.

Other stuff

Power adapters: to charge the backup battery and phone from either the wall or a car. Having power is also a great way to meet people and make friends.

Backup battery: for when there’s not a wall outlet or car around. I like this one because it has a flashlight built in. Always have light.

Square credit card reader: it’s here mostly because it fits. But there are times when being able to take a payment on the spot comes in handy.

Compact flash card case: to safely store a filled camera card or other small items. I might toss a Exacto knife blade in this to have sharp edge handy. I don’t keep an extra card here because those stay with the cameras.

The Lightning/Micro USB cable (along with the mini-USB adapter) fits just about everything. Plus it’s a charge cable for the backup battery.

Overall I’m happy with my “oh sh!t gotta transmit” kit. It’s not much more to carry and it solves a multitude of problems.