Hi all,

I'm a freelance stock photographer (among other things!) and have been wrestling with my kit over the last few weeks. I've planned a few wild camp hiking trips with the main aim being to get some great stock shots. First off; I tried getting everything into my 35 litre Crag Hoppers sack which was fine until I added the camera kit!
After a dry run (actually it was a cold and wet run) in the Preseli hills last month, I decided some drastic action was needed if future trips were going to be successful and enjoyable.

Photo kit consists of a Canon 5D with grip (could loose the grip but don't want too, it's my luxury item!)
Canon L series lenses; 17-40, 24-105 IS, 70-200 IS.
Manfrotto 190x with hydrostatic QR ball head.
Couple of extra filters, shutter release, batteries, memory etc. All is essential kit for the images I take and it weighs in at about 6.2 kg's which means I have to be fairly spartan with everything else.

In the last couple of weeks I’ve replaced my 35 litre pack with a Berghaus C7 series 1 65+10 litre pack which is comfy loaded up to about 13kg’s.

I keep the valuable camera kit in a Lowepro off trail 2 belt pack to protect it. This fits nicely into the base compartment of the C7. The low weight distribution is also a bonus, especially when walking near cliff edges! The tripod is strapped across the base of the pack too.

I’m planning on doing trips in stages of 2 to 3 nights to keep things manageable.

Other kit includes:?Ultra lightweight Marmot Atom Reg sleeping bag.?Vaude Taurus II?Minimal clothing; but not that minimal that I’m gonna offend anyone!

Do you carry heavy camera or video gear when hiking? If so, what sorts of kit carrying solutions have you come up with?

Cheers,
Ben

We have a couple of LowePro rucsacs with the sock and straps for trippids but tbh they're not comfortable when fully laden and there's not much room for more than you'd need on a day trip.

For expeds we cut down on lenses and then stick everything in a drybag in the rucsac. The trippid has to go where you'd put trekking poles on the side and fastened down by the compression straps.

We split up the weight seeing as the camera kit weighs so much! It seems more difficult if you're flying solo...if Lord of the Crinkles is about he'll be able to tell you what he does if he is solo...and he takes a panoramic camera up. I do believe that he also uses a drybag.

Lowe Alpine Snowpeak 50 litre sac takes all camping or bivi gear, food and water, Fuji GX617 with 90mm & 180mm lenses, lightmeter, usually 7 propacks of RVP50, a couple of nd grads and other bits and pieces. Manfrotto Carbon tripod with ball head straps to outside of pack with feet in wand pockets. (I really don't like the idea of suspending your tripod under your sac. Potentially dangerous, IMO. Sorry!). I don't use camera bags of any kind 'cos I hate them. Camera gear is contained in lightweight Exped drybags of varying colours and sizes so that I know what is inside. But that's just me.


I'm a freelance stock photographer

What's one of them, then? ;)

My tripod goes in the wand pockets of my deuter ACT Lite 45L and held in place by the side compression straps. I have to remember it's there and not let the sack drop when I take it off. The downside is that its a Manfrotto 055Pro with a ball head and it weighs a ton. Not something I would take for an extended excursion. What about a beanbag?

Everything else gets kept in a tamrac shoulder bag and kept dry in an exped bag. Time consuming but it's not worth damaging the kit to save a couple of minutes.

I use my Crumpler dedicated camera backpack to take 20D, BP, 50, 14-40L, 100-400 and the usual filters but although one of the most comfortable sacs I've ever worn that combi doesn't leave much room for the usual mountain necessities; so I take my wife; she carries the rest.
The Crumpler gives great protection but it's not light. I leave the tripod and use a monopod or a featherweight cushion on a boulder.
I don't think there's a remotely perfect answer to this problem, you take the gear, you sweat.

Fencer, nice one! I've got a Crumpler pack too (zoomiverse) for single days out ~ I find it better than the LowePro packs which I've used in the past. Will run your plan by the other half, at a distance!

Thanks to everyone so far, there's some top tips here...

BP,
I've just had a look at the Crumpler website, a strange experience in itself, and Opulent Rooster XL might be of interest- it's half camera pack half other. It gives dimensions, fairly big but no volume as far as I can see. Trouble still is going to be weight if you're trying to get both lots of gear in the one sac.
You could ask Colin Prior's advice; I'm sure he's had the same problem.

I have a Crumpler daybag (cute styling!)but they don't give a waterproof seal round the opening and the fabric isn't waterproof either. Big drawback.

You're right ~ I usually carry a bin bag just in case the heavans open.

Fencer; I'm a big fan of Colin's work. Saw him talk at Focus recently. He was saying he has all sorts of problems carrying kit because not only does he have the Canon 1ds mk2 kit to carry, which is heavy in itself, he also carries quite a bit of film kit (I think for pano and large format work). Should have asked at the time but it didn't occur to me.

Crinkles; nice gallery, do you get many in print?

<waits for the fun to start>

;o)

Crinkles; nice gallery, do you get many in print?


If I didn't, I wouldn't eat. ;) ;)








<waits for the fun to start>



Stoppit, you......

<prods LotC>

What's with the code?

What's with the code?

No code, BP! Some of us have been hanging around OM for quite a while and know each other well. The banter often leaves newbies a bit.....confused. Good luck with your snapping. :)

Thanks Crinkles, was wondering if I'd lost it for a while ;-)

Will get some images up in the gallery soon...

BP, it's just when you said Crinkles; nice gallery, do you get many in print?

It's what he does for a living...

Pelli Cases are quite good.

Cheers Pussy Cat ~ all makes sense now.