How to Get the Most Out of Your Camera Bag – digitalcameras.ie

As a photographer who frequently travels, one among my greatest quests isn’t the seek for the right shot – it’s the seek for the right digital camera bag. In case you’ve ever bought a digital camera bag (or two, or ten), then I’m guessing you understand what I’m speaking about.

With each bag or backpack I’ve ever owned, the inner dividers by no means appear to suit my gear completely. They create compartments which can be both too small to carry my lenses or so massive that my lenses always shift round. The outcome tends to be lots of wasted house within the bag, gear that’s not completely safe, and gut-wrenching selections over which lenses to go away behind.

Now, I do have lots of gear; once I journey, I usually like to hold a full-frame digital camera physique, a flash, a set of 4×5 glass filters, a 14-24mm lens, a 16-35mm lens, a 24-120mm lens, an 80-400mm lens, a 105mm macro lens, and a 24mm f/1.4 lens. (Sure, I do know there are redundancies, however every lens has a transparent function!)

Relying on the kind of pictures you love to do, you could not carry fairly a lot. Nonetheless, a poorly packed digital camera bag continues to be an issue you’ll be able to – and certain will – face.

So what’s the answer? Under, I clarify my method to optimizing my digital camera bag house – and I supply a step-by-step course of for packing your digital camera bag extra successfully.

My easy methodology for successfully packing my digital camera gear, defined

After I was first attempting to determine pack my digital camera bag successfully, I assumed the answer is likely to be to eliminate the dividers, as they appeared to be inflicting most (or all?) of my issues.

In fact, I couldn’t simply take away the dividers and let my gear roll round. I wanted a approach to pad my gear – luggage get swung round, put down, picked up, and banged into. The gear strikes inside it, and with out that padding, it’ll ultimately undergo injury.

One choice I attempted for padding my valuable cameras and lenses was wraps. There are a number of manufacturers that make wraps particularly for digital camera gear; these are available in various sizes to suit completely different items of kit. Right here’s one among my digital camera luggage – a ThinkTank Airport mannequin – with the dividers fully eliminated and the wraps added:

The issue was, nonetheless, that once I went to rewrap my cameras and lenses, it took an excessive amount of time. In case you’re a photographer who makes use of only one or two foremost lenses, you don’t usually change gear, and/otherwise you work in a slower-paced setting, possibly it may work, nevertheless it wasn’t proper for me. Plus, I didn’t love the wraps I attempted, so I ultimately went again to the dividers.

Just a few years glided by, and I begrudgingly continued to make use of my dividers. However I just lately took a number of journeys the place I simply couldn’t get the dividers configured correctly, and I had to decide on one thing to go away behind. Normally, it meant going with no lens I assumed I wouldn’t want – but ultimately, I at all times ended up wishing I had introduced the lens alongside. As you’ll be able to most likely think about, this sucked.

Ultimately, I’d had sufficient. I went to my native digital camera retailer, and I thought-about the issue once more. This time, I discovered myself watching neoprene lens pouches. Neoprene pouches present padding and are available in varied sizes to suit every lens in my equipment, however they’re not too comfortable, and so they’re not overly massive, both.

I performed round with the pouches, and I discovered that I may place lenses and cameras within the bag towards one another. The neoprene is usually 4-5mm thick, so two pouches facet by facet have about as a lot thickness because the velcro dividers and subsequently present ample assist.

So I bought sufficient neoprene pouches, and I pulled all the velcro dividers out of my backpack. From there, I discovered I may match all the pieces fairly properly, together with my 80-400mm lens.

Nonetheless, I did discover that, after carrying the backpack whereas mountaineering, my gear didn’t at all times maintain its place – the gadgets tended to settle to the underside, which made it troublesome to search out issues once I opened it. I placed on my problem-solving hat, went again to the drafting board, and I lastly settled on a hybrid answer that works extraordinarily properly.

On the backside of the backpack, I place my 80-400mm lens with no pouch. Then I add a full-width divider, which runs throughout the size of the backpack to guard the 80-400mm lens.

Subsequent, I add three lenses in neoprene pouches. Above that, I add a second full-width divider, which leaves me with a big compartment for my remaining lenses (in neoprene pouches), in addition to my filters and a few smaller equipment like lens cloths. On one facet of the massive compartment, I exploit a smaller velcro divider to deal with my digital camera.

Right here’s your entire setup in motion:

I acknowledge that you simply doubtless don’t have the identical gear as I do. However I feel this common method – the place you employ some, however not all, of your digital camera bag’s dividers, and also you place any neighboring lenses in neoprene pouches – can work for a complete lot of individuals.

In case you assume my method may gain advantage you, right here’s how I like to recommend you configure and pack your digital camera luggage:

Tips on how to optimize your digital camera backpack

Utilizing this methodology to pack your complete gear bag is fairly simple. Right here’s the four-step course of:

1. First, decide which lenses you’ll need to retailer in neoprene pouches and which lenses you’ll preserve in their very own compartments. This can rely upon the gear you could have, however your shorter and medium-sized lenses are good candidates for pouches, whereas your longest lenses can doubtless slot in their very own compartments.
2. Second, measure every lens you propose to retailer in a pouch, then order your pouches. You’ll need to make sure the pouch interiors are a couple of half-inch bigger than the lens. (I exploit the LensCoat Lens Pouches.) The great thing about the pouches is that if I determine to take away a lens from the bag, it can nonetheless be protected against bumps and drops.
3. Third, take into account whether or not your digital camera wants a neoprene pouch. Relying on the way you prepare issues, this is likely to be obligatory. (I exploit the LensCoat Physique Bag pouches for cameras). Select the one that most closely fits your digital camera.
4. Lastly, take away all however the full-width dividers in your digital camera bag, taking care to fill full-width compartments with both lengthy lenses or a number of shorter lenses (with their pouches on). Think about the place you may match equipment, and in case you run into house points, you’ll be able to at all times take away further dividers or add sectional dividers again if wanted.

By the best way: I bought a silver Sharpie marker and a few stencils from a craft retailer to label the skin of every pouch for straightforward identification. This may be useful when it’s good to shortly discover a particular lens and also you don’t need to waste time peeking in several pouches.

Now it’s your flip to configure your digital camera backpack!

This method to packing my digital camera bag has made an enormous distinction, and I extremely suggest you strive it for your self.

Even with all my gear necessities, I discover that I can match extra into the digital camera bag if wanted, just because I’m not restricted to what the dividers will enable me to do. It’s nonetheless not the ever-elusive “excellent digital camera bag” that each photographer I do know is looking for, however for me, it’s only a bit nearer.

What do you assume? What’s your preferrred digital camera bag? Have you ever provide you with some other creative options to this problem? Do share your ideas within the feedback beneath!