Show Me Your Bag!

[Mr. Pickles]

What if I use a photo vest the majority of the time? My bag (not the wife) hasn't left the house in probably 6 months, but my vest has, and it will again this weekend when I do my duty in NOLA...

[JDArt]

Do you mean shoulder bag or backpack? Every time I try to increase the amount I can carry by buying a larger bag, I fail, in that larger bags just get too heavy. I always return to the lowepro mini-trekker, slimming down my equipment to fit what I can actually carry for decent distances. Even when I'm carrying a big lens by hand, the rest of the stuff goes in the mini trekker.

[JKSeidel]

Hi,
Here is my main bag (opened and closed. It is a Lowepro Nature Trekker AW II. A large bag, but I tend to be out quite a bit and feel the need to carry most of my gear with me. Whenever I leave something out to opt for a smaller, lighter bag ... I wind up needing/wanting what I've left behind (Murphy's Law, Corollary 3). Some of my gear was in my car, in another bag. Otherwise the one side would have two more lenses, a backup body, and some filters. Hard to see, but my flash lies in the bottom slot. The second section (not shown) holds a space blanket (in the field reflector), a notepad, assorted bits of rope/twine, tie-downs, clips, assorted sized baggies (weatherproofing), and a rain poncho.

[mikej]

I have the LowePro Photo Trekker AW backpack, which will carry just about everything I want to take with me. It weights over 35 pounds when I do though. The main problem I found when I went on hikes with it, was not the weight so much, it sits pretty comforatably on my back, but the mear job of taking it off and putting it back on. Not being as in shape as some people, after hiking a couple of miles, espesically if I am going up some of the hills we have around here, I don't seem to have the energy to take the pack off very often to swap lenses or get anything else that I can't carry in my pockets. I know this was limiting my picture taking, but my body has a mind of it's own sometimes. So I got the waist pack by LowePro Orion AW. I found this is great to keep my most used equipment where I can get to it without taking off the pack unless I have too. I've since started just wearing the Orion AW as it will hold my 1DMKII with lens, an extra lens, memory, extra battery, filters, small cotton towel, clean poop bags (I'm a dog person but they make good emergency rain covers for equipment) and a few other odds and ends. If I put the 1DMKII around my neck, then I can put another lens in the bag. This lets me carry my 24-70 2.8L, 70-200 2.8L IS and 100-400 4.5/5.6L lenses, with one of those lenses on the camera. My tripod I usually carry tucked under my arm and even if the camera is attached, the strap is still around my neck.

Around this part of the country, most hiking I have done, either it's just stopped raining, it is raining or it's going to rain. So the ground and surrounding area is either muddy and wet. I've started carrying a nylon sheet that I can use as a ground cover which gives me a place to lay my backpack and kneel down on if need be.

I have found that there is no one solution to carrying camera equipment. At least not for those of us that have more equipment than we know what to do with.

I don't have pictures of all of this, but I have one of what I use to use back in my film days. Here is that one if it will help:



Mike

[ellette]

I just ordered the lowepro computrekker AW (not the plus and not the rolling one...the cheapest of the three). It isn't because I need to keep a computer with me at all times. Heck, the laptop I have doesn't even work and I'm not trying to stick my huge old PC in there , but I ordered it because I need to carry a diaper, wipes, hand sanitizer, sunscreen (usually...not right now, at the moment we more need rust repellant), band-aids, a snack for the boys, and eventually will need to carry a few 8x10 pictures with me when I go to the hospital and I like to keep everything in one spot if I can. I don't want to end up having to carry a purse AND a camera backpack AND my son, so I am hoping that I can use the computer section for the diaper and wipes and maybe a couple other things. We'll see how it works. I looked into the ones that are split in 1/2 with the top being for stuff like I need to carry but they wouldn't hold as much camera equipment and most didn't have a tri-pod attachment and the only way I'm going to end up using my tri-pod is if I have somewhere I can easily stash it on my pack.

Sara

[mikej]

I had a big soft side camera back that I carried my RB-67 in as well as diapers, formula, wipes and other stuff for awhile when my daughter was born. It made it easier for me to carry my camera with me where ever I went... although it did raise a few eyebrows from the non-photographers when we had to get stuff out and my camera came out with the baby stuff and caused even higher eyebrows with the photography people or when I was shooting, when the baby stuff came out with the camera and my daughter wasn't with me.

Mike

[ellette]

Originally Posted by Mike Jordan

I had a big soft side camera back that I carried my RB-67 in as well as diapers, formula, wipes and other stuff for awhile when my daughter was born.* It made it easier for me to carry my camera with me where ever I went... although it did raise a few eyebrows from the non-photographers when we had to get stuff out and my camera came out with the baby stuff and caused even higher eyebrows with the photography people or when I was shooting, when the baby stuff came out with the camera and my daughter wasn't with me.

Mike

Yeah, I figure if I have my camera with me wherever I go, I'll be more likely to get pictures I want and since I don't have to worry about paying for developing film now, I can shoot like crazy anywhere. If I had to do two separate bags I'd be more likely to not take my camera because I wouldn't want to haul the camera everywhere and certainly wouldn't want to leave it in the car, so it would end up staying home. I think pretty much everyone who knows me knows I'm a mom, so they won't look at me weird if they see me pull out a diaper from a camera bag, and they all know about what I'm wanting to do with the camera, so though they might think I'm silly taking it everywhere with me, they won't be surprised. I think it is a little easier for a mom to get away with stuffing a diaper and stuff in with something very non-diaper bag like than it is for a dad because everyone assumes moms will have that stuff SOMEWHERE on their person. Heck, you all the time can tell moms in the check out lines in the store, they are the ones swaying as if they are holding a baby but aren't.

Sara

[JKSeidel]

Originally Posted by ellette

they won't look at me weird if they see me pull out a diaper from a camera bag,

Just tell them it's a new type of sensor cleaner. Given the witchery surrounding that topic ... many will probably believe you.

[ellette]

Originally Posted by JKSeidel

Just tell them it's a new type of sensor cleaner. Given the witchery surrounding that topic ... many will probably believe you.*

I think they'd probably believe it more easily if I was carting one of the cloth diapers I have for my son rather than the disposable type with an elephant on it.

Sara

[mikej]

Jared, just think how many CF cards he could cary. 4 in the pouch and one in the mouth ready to hand off to you. You might have to wipe a little slober off, but hey! You'll have the diapers in the bag to do that.

When you get him set up, be sure and post a picture.

Mike

[ellette]

Originally Posted by bauerman

I really like the idea of the combined diaper/camera bag - as my wife is being induced with our second child on Thursday!* I will have to re-read Mike's and Sara's posts again to get the best ideas in that area!*

Sara - would love for you to post a pic of your new bag as well - these backpack bags seem to be the way to go if you have a bit of equipment that you want to carry at one time......

Jared

When I get it, I'll post a picture of it. Till then, you can check it out on B&H just do a search for lowepro computrekker and it is the cheapest of the three that pops up. Are you on pins and needles waiting for Thursday? We will want to hear how it goes (or I will at any rate...almost became a CNM but didn't like the hours you have to keep...ie., whenever a baby decides to show up, you have to work) but then won't much expect to hear from you for a while other than to post a few pictures now and then.

Sara

[Rense]

See

Rense

[RobAmy]

I use the lowpro lens trekker 600aw for my 600mm with the mk11n attached. I also carry my 180mm in a side pouch. I carry both 1.4x and 2x extenders in another pouch. My flash and better beamer are in the bags attached front pocket. I have a mesh water bottle holder on the waist belt. and some times my binoculars. I take either the tripod or monopod but never both. I usally have all this in the bag when I go distances but sometimes I will carry the 300mm 2.8 with the mkIIn attached and leave the 600mm in the bag so I am ready for those quick grab shots. When I get where I want I then switch lenses, I set up the 600mm and the 300mm goes in the bag. This has worked very nice for me.

[mikej]

I ran across one I took a few months ago of my LowPro Trekker II AW. It's missing a couple of things, like the 24-70 2.8L lens I'm taking the picture with and it was a quick picture, but here it is. That is a 100-400 4.5/5.6L in the lens bag up top.



Mike

[Rense]

Originally Posted by bauerman

Thanks for your pic Rense - looks like you have a good setup - what would you estimate the weight to be of that bag you show fully loaded?

11.5 kg including two fully shot cf-cards* :

[mikej]

Yes, Jared, I'm pretty happy with it. It fits well and has good balance, even loaded with 35 pounds of camera equipment. What isn't shown here is the pockets in the top cover and on the outside of the cover. There are pouches on the side where you can put your tripod legs, but I use them to hold bottles of water and I carry my tripod. LowePro's bags are well made. The AW version has a waterproof cover that is tucked into the bottom (adds padding down there too) that is brought up like a shower cap to cover the whole bag for really wet conditions. My waist pack also has this feature.

The one down side to the backpack is that it has so much room that I can fill it to point that I can't carry it. My wife made the mistake of trying to pick it up once. I'm glad she didn't swing it off the table first. It didn't lift very far.

If you look at pricing on these, check out the Canadian stores that sell them new on E-bay. Henry's and one other one I can never remember but has a shark for a logo. I've bought from both and they were a lot cheaper than B&H and only took an extra day or two to get here coming from Canada. I don't remember how much I saved for the 3 LowePro bags I've bought, but it was enough to get even me to buy from them rather than B&H.

Mike

[ellette]

I never did post a picture of my bag. It is the sort that has a space for a laptop as well as the space for the camera goodies. It normally has the camera with my 17-40 attached to it and then the 50mm which is what is on my camera right now (it is the only lens that the close-up attachment fits) is in the bag too. The diffuser obviously takes up a heck of a lot of room...and not much less when it is broken down. I'll probably end up stashing it somewhere else eventually...stick it in its own bag and hang it off the outside or something, I don't know.