Empathy List Archives

LC

Larry Colen

Thu, Nov 23, 2023 9:51 PM

I hope that everyone is enjoying their American day of gluttony. I have a topic of conversation that is about as prone to consensus as family thanksgiving debates about politics or religion should prove as popular with y'all as off topic threads about whisky or an interminable pun thread: gear storage and transport, aka camera bags and related. I will observe that preferences for camera bags, tend to be even more personal than preferences in the bedroom, and one’s individual needs, even more diverse. Hell, my camera bag needs will change dramatically depending on whether I’m driving some place for astrolandscapes, or going for a hike in the woods. So…

Before you tell me what works for you, think about what I say about my needs, and first let me know of what you think would solve my problems, then you can mention why your preference is the one true camera bag.

For many years, I used a Lowepro Fastpak 350, it was big enough to hold all, or then most, of my lenses. Then two things happened, they stopped making them, and I got my K-1. With my K-1 I got a bunch more full frame wider angle of view lenses, many of which are modern designs which are also bigger and heavier. There just wasn’t room in the 350, and I replaced that with a Tenba, which was a bit bigger, and also had external straps for a tripod which worked until I expanded my lens collection even more. Now that bag is just way to effing heavy if I want to be prepared “for whatever”.

Also, my job moved to Riverside (about 400 miles south of my home base in Santa Cruz) and I’m spending most of my time there, where I now need to rethink how I store the gear that I’m not immediately using.

I’ve been muddling along, and yesterday saw an ad for a think tank rolling airporter bag. At first the system looks awesome, if pricey and there’s a Neewer 2 in 1 for less than half the price, that also has backpack straps. But, I really don’t need wheels, and don’t plan to do much flying in the near future anyways. Besides I have a Pelican case, which in many ways is great, but all that protection weighs a lot and takes up a lot of space.

One challenge that I face is that lenses tend to come in three size ranges:

small: classic Pentax primes, and most micro 4/3

Medium: modern primes and classic zooms

Large: modern zooms, and classic telephoto

The challenge is that a camera bag that fits medium/large lenses could carry the small lenses stacked two deep, or stacked over a compartment filled with speedlights etc. but end up with the smaller lenses rattling around loosely.

I have found myself with three systems:

Micro 4/3: I carry my micro 4/3 on my bike. It does better than my phone (though my phone is catching up) and is about half the weight of my APS Pentax.

APS DSLR: My K-3 III makes a great daily driver system. In most shooting situations the results are either indistinquishable from my K-1, or often better. It also has the advantage of the lenses being lighter, and my telephotos have greater reach (yeah I could crop on the K-1 but it still has a faster frame rate, and better autofocus).

Full Frame DSLR: When I need a wider angle of view the K-1 still works better than the K-3III because physics. The K-1 lenses all work on the K-3 III but often at the cost of weighing twice as much.

What I think that I’d like is a few camera bags, one primarily dedicated to each camera body, with the lenses I most use with that body, and some way of storing the rest of my lenses, so that I could pick and choose what I need for that day of shooting, or just pack everything up for a photo trip and carry it fairly securely.

I haven’t found good camera cases for the storage/transport issue, but for a while I was using the old Rigid toolbox system for something similar, and the new boxes seem to be much improved. Not quite Pelican quality, but still fairly weather proof, solid and the smaller box is only $30:
https://www.homedepot.com/p/RIDGID-2-0-Pro-Gear-System-Power-Tool-Case-254069/320483553
I suspect that some well made dividers and padding could turn these into something that would work well, with the cases sorted by use case. One question would be how to make the dividers and padding. As an aside I suspect that there’s a market opportunity for turning these job boxes into photo gear boxes.

My Tenba is pretty good for holding a lot of gear, and will probably continue to be my K-1 bag.

I’ve got an old Lowepro fanny (American not British usage) pack camera bag that nearly works for a hike in the woods with a couple of lenses, but I just can’t get it adjusted so that it doesn’t flop over. I’d love suggestions for a good fanny pack for carrying photo gear. I’d also love suggestions for a good medium sized backpack, that’ll carry a camera body, a variety of lenses, and which I can conveniently carry a tripod on.

I’m not generally a fan of over the shoulder camera bags. I know that they are very popular, and while your kink is OK, it just isn’t my kink.

--
Larry Colen
lrc@red4est.com sent from ret13est

I hope that everyone is enjoying their American day of gluttony. I have a topic of conversation that is about as prone to consensus as family thanksgiving debates about politics or religion should prove as popular with y'all as off topic threads about whisky or an interminable pun thread: gear storage and transport, aka camera bags and related. I will observe that preferences for camera bags, tend to be even more personal than preferences in the bedroom, and one’s individual needs, even more diverse. Hell, my camera bag needs will change dramatically depending on whether I’m driving some place for astrolandscapes, or going for a hike in the woods. So… Before you tell me what works for you, think about what I say about my needs, and first let me know of what you think would solve my problems, then you can mention why your preference is the one true camera bag. For many years, I used a Lowepro Fastpak 350, it was big enough to hold all, or then most, of my lenses. Then two things happened, they stopped making them, and I got my K-1. With my K-1 I got a bunch more full frame wider angle of view lenses, many of which are modern designs which are also bigger and heavier. There just wasn’t room in the 350, and I replaced that with a Tenba, which was a bit bigger, and also had external straps for a tripod which worked until I expanded my lens collection even more. Now that bag is just way to effing heavy if I want to be prepared “for whatever”. Also, my job moved to Riverside (about 400 miles south of my home base in Santa Cruz) and I’m spending most of my time there, where I now need to rethink how I store the gear that I’m not immediately using. I’ve been muddling along, and yesterday saw an ad for a think tank rolling airporter bag. At first the system looks awesome, if pricey and there’s a Neewer 2 in 1 for less than half the price, that also has backpack straps. But, I really don’t need wheels, and don’t plan to do much flying in the near future anyways. Besides I have a Pelican case, which in many ways is great, but all that protection weighs a lot and takes up a lot of space. One challenge that I face is that lenses tend to come in three size ranges: small: classic Pentax primes, and most micro 4/3 Medium: modern primes and classic zooms Large: modern zooms, and classic telephoto The challenge is that a camera bag that fits medium/large lenses could carry the small lenses stacked two deep, or stacked over a compartment filled with speedlights etc. but end up with the smaller lenses rattling around loosely. I have found myself with three systems: Micro 4/3: I carry my micro 4/3 on my bike. It does better than my phone (though my phone is catching up) and is about half the weight of my APS Pentax. APS DSLR: My K-3 III makes a great daily driver system. In most shooting situations the results are either indistinquishable from my K-1, or often better. It also has the advantage of the lenses being lighter, and my telephotos have greater reach (yeah I could crop on the K-1 but it still has a faster frame rate, and better autofocus). Full Frame DSLR: When I need a wider angle of view the K-1 still works better than the K-3III because physics. The K-1 lenses all work on the K-3 III but often at the cost of weighing twice as much. What I think that I’d like is a few camera bags, one primarily dedicated to each camera body, with the lenses I most use with that body, and some way of storing the rest of my lenses, so that I could pick and choose what I need for that day of shooting, or just pack everything up for a photo trip and carry it fairly securely. I haven’t found good camera cases for the storage/transport issue, but for a while I was using the old Rigid toolbox system for something similar, and the new boxes seem to be much improved. Not quite Pelican quality, but still fairly weather proof, solid and the smaller box is only $30: https://www.homedepot.com/p/RIDGID-2-0-Pro-Gear-System-Power-Tool-Case-254069/320483553 I suspect that some well made dividers and padding could turn these into something that would work well, with the cases sorted by use case. One question would be how to make the dividers and padding. As an aside I suspect that there’s a market opportunity for turning these job boxes into photo gear boxes. My Tenba is pretty good for holding a lot of gear, and will probably continue to be my K-1 bag. I’ve got an old Lowepro fanny (American not British usage) pack camera bag that nearly works for a hike in the woods with a couple of lenses, but I just can’t get it adjusted so that it doesn’t flop over. I’d love suggestions for a good fanny pack for carrying photo gear. I’d also love suggestions for a good medium sized backpack, that’ll carry a camera body, a variety of lenses, and which I can conveniently carry a tripod on. I’m not generally a fan of over the shoulder camera bags. I know that they are very popular, and while your kink is OK, it just isn’t my kink. -- Larry Colen lrc@red4est.com sent from ret13est

JS

John Sessoms

Thu, Nov 23, 2023 11:08 PM

Well, FWIW, I'm still using the Lowepro Mini Trekker AW.

I've used it since the days I mostly carried only 3 lenses - Tokina
28-70 f/2.8; Tokina 80-200 f/2.8 and Sigma 300 f/2.8 plus one body (K10D
or K20D) with the other carried on my sling with FA-50 f/1.4 mounted

... or alternatively with the other body carried on the sling with the
28-70 f/2.8 mounted & the FA-50 f/1.4 in the bag.

Plus a Sigma 1.4 tele-converter, strobe, spare batteries, chargers & a
few other accessories.

[... and later the K-3 & K20D ... and later still the K-1/K-3 and most
recently K-1/K-3 with the IR converted K20D - 1 in the bag, 1 on the
sling & the K20D on a neck strap]

If I need to carry any more than that I have the Lowepro Nature Trekker
AW II.

Haven't thought about looking for another bag for a while, but I might
get a Lowepro CompuTrekker AW - just looking at them it seems to be the
same as my workhorse Mini Trekker, but with room for a laptop.

I also HAVE the Lowepro Fastpak 350 - got it real cheap from Tiger
Direct when they had a retail store in the area. Didn't take too long to
figure out WHY it was so cheap - didn't have enough carrying capacity to
be useful.

You do realize that IF you could find a general purpose, all-around bag
suitable for EVERY occasion, it wouldn't be an unending quest.

Had a GREAT Thanksgiving. Everything I cooked WORKED.

I've still got leftovers to pack away, just as soon as I take a nap ...

On 11/23/2023 4:51 PM, Larry Colen wrote: