+1 on using standard luggage, why advertise the contents? Thieves are not restricted to baggage handlers!
On a trip to Bali back in the late 90s my dive gear was packed in a branded dive bag and I had my camera gear in a yellow UK hard case (that had dive stickers on it), that resulted in strict search of my bags by customs and an attempt to extract some money from me, I played stupid and told the guy I had no cash only credit cards and managed to walk out without paying anything.
Nowadays my camera gear is well protected in black Lowe Pro (might still be obvious though) rucksack as carry on, along with housing and strobes in a carry on wheeled case.
The only other issue I had was when leaving Jordan at Amman airport when the security wanted to confiscate my spare Nikon camera batteries as well as all of my re-chargeable Eneloop batteries for my strobes. Needless to say this did not happen after I asked them to call the Emirates Airlines station manager.
On a trip to Bali back in the late 90s my dive gear was packed in a branded dive bag and I had my camera gear in a yellow UK hard case (that had dive stickers on it), that resulted in strict search of my bags by customs and an attempt to extract some money from me, I played stupid and told the guy I had no cash only credit cards and managed to walk out without paying anything.
Nowadays my camera gear is well protected in black Lowe Pro (might still be obvious though) rucksack as carry on, along with housing and strobes in a carry on wheeled case.
The only other issue I had was when leaving Jordan at Amman airport when the security wanted to confiscate my spare Nikon camera batteries as well as all of my re-chargeable Eneloop batteries for my strobes. Needless to say this did not happen after I asked them to call the Emirates Airlines station manager.
