Custom Camera Bag

[asysin2leads]

Ok, I would like to get this pack picture below and make it into a camera bag. Where is the best place to buy extra padding to make a custom interior and what is the best course of action? I would like to make the interior customizable so when I get more lenses, I can accomodate them. Thanks.

[gryphonslair99]

Don't know that you can. Most bag manufactures design the interior padding for each bag. I have never seen anything that lets you design your own.

[asysin2leads]

I have access to a sewing machine that is a heavy duty one that is used to sew tarps together. I would be able to remove the inner compartments of the bag and make sure the seams are secure. Just thought I'd throw that out for ideas. Thanks.

Kevin

[cyclohexane]

I think Domke sells packages of padded dividers you can use to make your own bags, but their dividers aren't the best-quality. I've had to repair the one that came with my Domke F-3X at least once without subjecting it to heavy use.

Personally, I'd just protect the camera, lenses, etc. in lens pouches, wraps, such as the ones made by Pelican (they do make nice soft pouches), ThinkTank, Lowepro, Tamrac, etc. I've used clothing to protect cameras and lenses with success as well.

If you really want the dividers, you could get a ThinkTank bag or two... they come with so many dividers that you'll have a ton left over; Thinktank pads their bags with this sort of pile-liner material that sticks to the male end of velcro anywhere, so you can just sew that to the inside of the bag and get away sticking the dividers anywhere. You wouldn't have to sew down female velcro either.

[brian.austin]

Or you could get a regular camera backpack and sew camo material on it.

[gryphonslair99]

How about something like this. Much easier.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/cont...goryNavigation

[drumsergeant]

Kevin:

Tamrac has a couple of new bags of a similar nature. Camo and all. You might find that an easier route than making your own.

Bill

[sleepersinc]

I don't think Kevin's point here is to have a bag with camo print on the outside, ok, maybe a small part of it, but I think he prefers the bag's construction and usability more than the bags available out there. I was am in the same boat Kevin.
I can't find a bag that has room for my photo gear and some extras (cloths, laptop, whatever) in case I go on a weekend trip.

I have a Quantary backpack that I bought about a month ago for about 100 bucks (its already torn) and just sew its padding and guts into a combat backpack like yours. I like that the bag is canvas, so it won't fall apart like the other bags. I just have to add some canvas strips to the base and walls of the bag to reinforce the pressure points.
I have not seen any kits available that let us do what we want to do, so we just have to piece them togather.

[sleepersinc]

Oh, one more thing about our choice of bags, after playing with my alice pack, I have found that accessing my gear can be an issue, especially if I put some other things above the camera gear, so I don't know how to deal with that issue yet.
Tel me if you have found any solutions
cheers

[Scoril0]

http://www.seattlefabrics.com/

no affiliation. I've been looking for places to buy ripstop and other technical fabrics an I stumbled across this site.

[20DNewbie]

It'll be interesting to see how this works out for you. I picked up a Camelbak BFM with the same intentions, photo gear in the main compartment with regular supplies and such in the lid and exterior sections.

Realizing I'm a complete hack with a sewing machine I tried thick foam sheets with only marginal success. Another option I thought of was to get some of the pluck foam from Pelican which will most likely be my next endeavor when my current ruck falls apart(at current rate should probably be within the next six months or so).

Good luck in sorting it out.

[palakaboy]

try out diamondbacktactical.com

they're 3day pack w/ optics upgrade is right up your alley.

i personally run with the lightfighter RAID pack. the internal pockets and retainers work well. i placed a smaller camera bag inside to seperate the gear...

here's a few pics of my set up.








there are a couple of advantages as to why i use milspec gear.

1. expandable- moreso that any camera bag that i've seen. imagine running out of room and only shelling 30 more dollars to add on to your bag when you get that one lens that doesn't fit inside.

2. rugged- made of denier 1000d nylon- abrasion and water proof, along with flash fire proof material.


on my last hike i was able to fit 1 d60, 1 d70s. 2 18-55mm kit lenses, 1 50 mm 1.8f, 1 70-300mm lens, 1 wool jacket, 1 MRE, 2 bottles of h20, a large set of filters,1 radio, 1 large tripod, 1 rocket blower, an e2 cleaning bottle with swabs, 1 midsized laptop with charger and a gorillapod, extra set of SD and CF cards.

here's a better view of the internal pockets and how a d70s with 18-55 lens looks. it actually fits.

[richardpcrowe]

I just did a Google search using the parameters "camo camera bag" and got several hits.

[S_Egbert]

Kevin, you might look at this , and you can get the camera block separately.
Kata bags used to sell padding kits but it looks like they have been discontinued.

[badpickev]

tenba used to sell extra dividers for their bags. you might find some there.