Luminous Landscape Forum
Equipment & Techniques => Beginner's Questions => Topic started by: haring on October 09, 2012, 11:31:44 pm
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What is your recommendation for a large backpack for traveling?
Currently I have the Medium Tenba rolling backpack: http://www.tenba.com/Products/Shooto...ium-Black.aspx
The problem is that it is not comfortable to have it on your back. It is more a rolling back. I would have something which I can carry on my back for an hour without killing me. I shoot a lot of destination weddings and the way I carry my gear is very important.
I want a backpack, which is:
- large
- fits into most airplanes bag compartment
- waterproof, and
- durable.
It doesn't have to have wheels.
Can you recommend me anything?
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I'd suggest looking at LowePro. I've never met a camera bag that carried all that well, but the LowePro bags are better than most.
If you really need waterproofness and durability, nothing beats the combination of a roll-top dry bag inside of a PU-coated haul bag. Of course, if you're only shooting weddings, you'll never need that level of protection. The Lowes should be fine. Most have little rain covers that work well. It would take a crazy amount of weather to wet them out.
Phillip
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I have both LowePro and Thinktank Photo backpacks and prefer the Thinktank Photo bags: more comfortable and for me easier to work out of . You should also look at the Kata Revolver series . I have one to review but haven't tried it yet - just too busy.
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F-Stop makes a great pack. Look at the Loka or Tilopa. Definely rugged, weatherproof, and holds a lot of gear with the X-Large internal camera unit. I've flown a fair bit with my Tilopa with the bulk of my Canon gear and some lighting gear in tow. I've had it as heavy as 40lbs and still snuck it onto a smaller regional jet as a carry-on and fit it in the overhead bin.
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+1 for Fstop
Marc
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The problem with "large backpacks" is that they tempt you to carry too much gear. I don't care how young or fit you are, the more gear you lug around the more you have to deal with and the faster you get tired, distracted and off of your peak performance.
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The problem with "large backpacks" is that they tempt you to carry too much gear. I don't care how young or fit you are, the more gear you lug around the more you have to deal with and the faster you get tired, distracted and off of your peak performance.
Completely Agree with the above.......I use the Guru Gear 30L and Love it as it will hold my Nikon 200-400 and alot of other gear. But, be careful with lots of gear if you are actually going on long hikes.
Enjoy
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The problem with "large backpacks" is that they tempt you to carry too much gear. I don't care how young or fit you are, the more gear you lug around the more you have to deal with and the faster you get tired, distracted and off of your peak performance.
that sooooooo true!!!
when the question is asked about which camera to take on holidays I generally say a good P+S like the G12 or Fuji x10 or x100 even though I have not used the last two :-[
As for the question; I have a smallish [an oldish] one by Vanguard that will hold my 5d2/24-105/70-200 F4 and flash or macro lens. Stuffed if I want to carry more than that these days. Yep; i'm lazy and in love with my little and light canon G12 lol
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Also completely agree. The larger the backpack the more stuff you are tempted to put in it and the heavier it becomes.
My working DSLR kit consists of the Lowepro CompuTrekker Plus AW which packs 2 bodies and 7 lenses and a 1.4x converter, 2 flash heads and Quantum pack as well as a laptop. Part of me wishes it had wheels but then I have a heavy duty luggage cart to carry my clothing bag which is smaller and lighter than my backpack and the camera kit. If it's a long away trip then I have a larger soft sided suitcase that automatically unfolds and clips over a door but also fits well on the luggage cart. Most of the time I try and either work out of a base camp or out of the trunk of a car so the backpack stays behind while I walk about with the two cameras + attached lenses and a fanny pack containing just the things I require.
On the bright side I no longer have to pack a duffle bag full of film! Always fun to manage several hundred rolls of film for a shoot now it's a handful of 32 GB CF cards.
I've owned Tenba and Domke bags and they are also well made and great bags I think you are basically going to have to find something that will hold the gear you must have on your shoot so that is probably going to be the deciding factor. Have a feeling your needs are a bit different than mine as you are probably packing a more involved lighting kit?
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I use the F-stop Satori for backpacking with camera and few lenses. You could fill it to the gills with photo gear, if you needed a portable studio, but then it would be too heavy to be comfortable for any period of time. Mine is loaded with up to 15# camera gear and tripod, approx 20# camping stuff (bag, tent, pad, food and cooking gear, water and filter), for up to 40# total including pack's weight.
F-stop packs come in only one torso length. I had to customize mine a bit, not entirely optimal for my build.
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I don't know how much gear you have, but I just got Lowepro Flipside 400W and it has all the straps, pockets, compartments, slings...everything you need. And it has a raincoat.
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I have the ThinkTank Airport Addicted V 2.0. Warmly recommended! It is well padded, and has a waist-strap (a must for any serious back-pack). It is not as comfortable as a purpose made hiker back-pack, but I found it to be the best camera back-pack, and I am very pleased. I have not tried it in heavy rain over time, but believe it will do fine. It does not have wheels - wheels take up valuable space.
I travel by air often, and sometimes I use the bag partly for camera stuff, partly for other carry-on items. It is about the largest you are allowed to take on-board large aircraft. On some smaller aircraft (smaller than a Boeing 737) it may be too big. The ThinkTank visually looks like a "soft" bag, which makes it less likely to be required to check in than a hard-shell case of the same size. I am talking by experience - my hard-shell case was often subject to careful inspection for size and weight, even if size was within limits for carry-on bags.
Finally, my ThinkTank has a small lap-top case that fits in it's top pocket. This is easy to remove for airport screening, and has saved me a couple of times from having to check in the ThinkTank. Most airlines allow a "personal item" like a laptop in addition to your carry-on. Removing the laptop case makes the ThinkTank slimmer and more easily passable as carry-on. When through the gate, just flip the laptop case back into it's pocket on the ThinkTank.
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Whatever you buy remember you're only allowed 7kg as hand luggage and some airlines actually enforce this rule. I found out the hard way, and a second item that has to go in the airplane belly is taxed as extra luggage and charged for. At the very least have a contingency plan i.e. have something ready to jump in your pockets. Large pockets.