Is it advisable to bring a camera grip when travelling to China?

Question

I'm heading out to Beijing, China for a week-long trip and I'm trying to figure out how I should pack my gear.

Will a battery grip on a 5D Classic attract too much attention as a tourist?

My general concerns are about the travel safety.

Answer 1

China is huge. China is so huge that two cities can seem to be two different countries.

This means Chinese do travel to other cities as "tourists" too. I am from Hong Kong, so I am a Chinese too. So being in China I think I can offer some good insight.

Fact is, Chinese who travel to other cities as tourists are often the more wealthy ones, and enjoy a so called "luxurious" lifestyle. As Hong Kong is a huge attraction to many, I see Chinese tourists every single day, and most of the time, they are equipped with a Canon 5D Mark II.

They are not photographers, they simply bought it because they can afford it and it has good image quality, the just use it as a point and shoot with live view. They will use the neck strap and an L lens for the easily recognizable red lines.

So why so much background information? Because most will recognize these expensive cameras by the Canon red neck strap and red ring on an L lens.

You can expect to see many 5D Mark II around you in famous attractions. So as long as you stay alert and stay safe, a battery grip will hardly make any difference.

The best thing you can do to reduce attention is to remove the neckstrap, or use a black strap without the red line. and you can use a marker pen to paint the red ring of an L lens black if you are willing to go this far.

Finally some general travelling tips:

if you can, don't use a camera bag, use an ordinary bag with protective inserts dress normal so you will not be recognized as a professional photographer