Another Bag question

[Tim Gray]

My current travel process is more or less as follows:

1.  1d3 and the 100-400 in a lowepro toploader
2.  24-105 with it's own lowepro case and the 16-35 and a second lens - possible the sigma 14, or 50mm 1.4 or lens baby in a second lowepro case, and a 100-400 also in its own lowepro case in a light backpack, with some miscellaneous stuff  (which could go in check baggage) including:
   angle finder
   Acratek levelling base and pano rail
   battery
   remote release
   memory card wallett
   hyperdrive storage

Note, at this point I don't travel with a notebook, but that's going to change

I'm looking for the lightest option to add a second series 1 body and a notebook.
I'm thinking I could get the 2 bodies and the 70-200 and 100-400 in one case (probably dropping their individual cases) and keep it under 10 kg (22lbs).  Then the rest could go in a light backpack with a notebook (14" under 6 lbs).

If I keep the individual cases the lightest option (I'm joking a bit here) would be to put them all in a tough garbage bag  Actually, now that I've made the point in jest, might not be a bad idea - you'd not run afoul of the dimension restrictions with a plastic bag

In any event, I'd keep the individual cases stuffed with clothing in my checked bag - I use a lowepro belt system in the field...

Any ideas to reconfigure and keep it to 2 bags, each less than 10 kg?

What if I added a 300 2.8 into the mix?  (I currently have a Kinesis bag that holds the lens, with an extender and body attached..)

Thanks.

[John Camp]

Tim,

I have more bags than anyone on the planet, and given your situation, I think you might want to take a look at the Moose Peterson bags here:

http://www.moosepeterson.com/gear/index.html

I have not used one because other people have said that they don't have much padding (maybe none), and I like some padding because I'm a klutz. The minimal padding is apparently an effort to do exactly what you need, i.e. provide the largest carry-on bags with the least weight. In effect, your high-tech camera-specialized garbage bag. Moose says that he's traveled lots of miles with the things, and never a problem. Of course, what else would he say? 8-)

I've carried laptops for more miles than I care to recall, and guess what? Lighter is better. You can cut a lot of weight off that 6 pounds you're talking about, although you'll give up screen size and perhaps some other functions. If you're stuck using Mac, then you're stuck. If you can use Windows, Sony has some really good, really small laptops complete with DVD burners and reasonable hard drives. They are not much good, however, for heavy-duty word processing.

Speaking of which, when I travel, I now carry a lightweight keypoard and mouse in my checked baggage. It's all on wheels, so I don't really have to deal with the weight too much, and a keyboard makes a big difference. I've also bought keyboards when I'm going to a city with easy access to a computer store, and simply tossed them when I left. You can get a keyboard for $30, which is small change compared to an airline ticket.

JC