I'm four days out from my trip.
Since I'm traveling via corporate jet, luggage size is something to be mindful of. Usually, I'd just dump all my stuff into one suitcase and call it a day. No such luck this time around. I'm looking at one roll-aboard, backpack, and my camera bag.
Ah, yes, my camera bag. Let's talk about that for a moment, shall we?
First off, let me just say that I think all of us, regardless of what business we're in, are in the wrong business. We should all make camera bags. "Pricey" is a word not to be used loosely when discussing camera bags, and this one was no exception. After tax, this Tamrac CyberPro Express was in the neighborhood of $350.00. It's what I wanted, though. In truth, it's what I needed. The bag I'd been using had a shoulder strap, but no wheels. I suppose I could've dragged it through airports but, really, that's a little tacky. So I bought this new one.
My first use of it, interestingly enough, was not as a camera bag, but as a suitcase. I took all of the dividers out before traveling to a guitar show in Texas last month. It worked really well for that and, admittedly, I was somewhat smug in my quick admiration of myself for having purchased a dual-purpose bag. What I failed to consider, however, was that I must now convert it back to a camera bag for this trip, and that will be no small feat.
Now, such a task would probably seem simple enough, at least to the layman, or to anyone who has never removed the dividers from inside a new camera bag and then tried to replace them. You see, the dividers are held in with velcro, and a lot of it. And it's strong. This isn't your garden-variety "got it down at Wal-Mart" velcro. This is, like, aerospace velcro. I've always heard that, after a nuclear war, only cockroaches and Twinkies will survive. Well, add another item to the list: the industrial strength aerospace velcro found in camera bags.
So began the task of configuring the NASA-approved velcro dividers into something that would work for me. I need to be able to carry not only camera gear, but computer gear, as well. It took some time, but I actually got a very usable configuration in place. Below are two pictures. The first photo is with all of the dividers removed; that smugness-inducing brainstorm I had a few weeks ago. The second photo is with some of the dividers put back into the bag, and some gear put into it:
Since I'm traveling via corporate jet, luggage size is something to be mindful of. Usually, I'd just dump all my stuff into one suitcase and call it a day. No such luck this time around. I'm looking at one roll-aboard, backpack, and my camera bag.
Ah, yes, my camera bag. Let's talk about that for a moment, shall we?
First off, let me just say that I think all of us, regardless of what business we're in, are in the wrong business. We should all make camera bags. "Pricey" is a word not to be used loosely when discussing camera bags, and this one was no exception. After tax, this Tamrac CyberPro Express was in the neighborhood of $350.00. It's what I wanted, though. In truth, it's what I needed. The bag I'd been using had a shoulder strap, but no wheels. I suppose I could've dragged it through airports but, really, that's a little tacky. So I bought this new one.
My first use of it, interestingly enough, was not as a camera bag, but as a suitcase. I took all of the dividers out before traveling to a guitar show in Texas last month. It worked really well for that and, admittedly, I was somewhat smug in my quick admiration of myself for having purchased a dual-purpose bag. What I failed to consider, however, was that I must now convert it back to a camera bag for this trip, and that will be no small feat.
Now, such a task would probably seem simple enough, at least to the layman, or to anyone who has never removed the dividers from inside a new camera bag and then tried to replace them. You see, the dividers are held in with velcro, and a lot of it. And it's strong. This isn't your garden-variety "got it down at Wal-Mart" velcro. This is, like, aerospace velcro. I've always heard that, after a nuclear war, only cockroaches and Twinkies will survive. Well, add another item to the list: the industrial strength aerospace velcro found in camera bags.
So began the task of configuring the NASA-approved velcro dividers into something that would work for me. I need to be able to carry not only camera gear, but computer gear, as well. It took some time, but I actually got a very usable configuration in place. Below are two pictures. The first photo is with all of the dividers removed; that smugness-inducing brainstorm I had a few weeks ago. The second photo is with some of the dividers put back into the bag, and some gear put into it:
It now holds the following:
- Canon 40D (with BG-E2N battery grip)
- Sigma 17-70mm
- Sigma 50-500mm
- Magellan GPS
- Tripod ring for 50-500mm
- Travel tripod
- Red "POD" (essentially a bean bag tripod)
- Energy bar for when I have to lift the Sigma 50-500mm
- Laptop
- Wireless mouse
- Power cords for laptop
- Canon G12
- Memory card reader
Now, even with all of that, I still have some room left over. I figure I may do a little shopping in St. John's, considering that I've not been there before and, let's be honest here, I don't know when I'm going back. Since I may need a little extra room, this configuration should work pretty well.
I'm all smiles right now...
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