Carry-on Bag - Camera Bag

[boojum]

Cameras: I am pretty much set o the A7 with the 1.8 55 and the 24 - 240, the zoom doing most of the lifting. Second camera? Yeah, the M9 is sweet, so is the M240 and the Q3 is an easy to use. But the X2D consistently does magic with light and color. The X2D is not that big, even with the XCD 55V on it. I'd bring along the 120 3.5. So that would be two cameras. I am just so impressed with what the X2D does that I would like it for its gorgeous subtlety.

But I have a few months to sort this out, too. The A7 is pretty much definite as it does so much and so well. Not perfect but really good. The Q3 is that way but one focal length.

Clothes, two pair of shoes, three trousers and four or five shirts and sets of skivvies and socks, Meds, I take a lot of meds so that gets packed. I have traveled across the country in this little devil and it worked fine with one suitcase and a camera bag. It's a 2001 Honda Insight, 50 - 60 MPG easily.

I will be riding or walking, no hiking. The X2D? With such a sweet camera why leave it at home? I will take my Swiss Army knife, it's on my key chain, and maybe the Opinel just for sentimental sake.

B0000393 Ma charette et moi by West Phalia, on Flickr​

 

[Archiver]

As an addendum, whenever I'm going somewhere, whether it is a grocery trip down the street, birthday, funeral or overseas holiday, my very first thought is, 'what cameras am I taking?' 😄

 

[Archiver]

Cameras: I am pretty much set o the A7 with the 1.8 55 and the 24 - 240, the zoom doing most of the lifting. Second camera? Yeah, the M9 is sweet, so is the M240 and the Q3 is an easy to use. But the X2D consistently does magic with light and color. The X2D is not that big, even with the XCD 55V on it. I'd bring along the 120 3.5. So that would be two cameras. I am just so impressed with what the X2D does that I would like it for its gorgeous subtlety.

Would you consider using the X2D as primary camera, and having smaller/lighter gear as secondary/complementary? If I had access to your collection, I'd think about the X2D as primary and either M body or Sony A7 III with a couple of primes as secondary.

I will be riding or walking, no hiking. The X2D? With such a sweet camera why leave it at home? I will take my Swiss Army knife, it's on my key chain, and maybe the Opinel just for sentimental sake.

Of course, make sure your SAK and Opinel go in your check-in luggage for the flights. You don't want the annoyance of your cutlery being taken from you by luggage inspectors at security.

 

[boojum]

Would you consider using the X2D as primary camera, and having smaller/lighter gear as secondary/complementary? If I had access to your collection, I'd think about the X2D as primary and either M body or Sony A7 III with a couple of primes as secondary.

Of course, make sure your SAK and Opinel go in your check-in luggage for the flights. You don't want the annoyance of your cutlery being taken from you by luggage inspectors at security.

Your gonna pry my Opinel from my cold dead fingers. LMAO Yeah, I'll pack it in my bag. SAK is on key chain and will also be taken off and packed. I'll put a new toothpick in it for the trip. ;o)

 

[boojum]

Would you consider using the X2D as primary camera, and having smaller/lighter gear as secondary/complementary? If I had access to your collection, I'd think about the X2D as primary and either M body or Sony A7 III with a couple of primes as secondary.

Of course, make sure your SAK and Opinel go in your check-in luggage for the flights. You don't want the annoyance of your cutlery being taken from you by luggage inspectors at security.

I agree on the X2D. It just does so much so well and so easily. I can run it full manual or full auto/point and shoot. I'd format the SSD before I left home so I had plenty of storage space. Shooting 14 bit RAW allows faster shooting sequences than 16 bit RAW so that is a thought. 8 bit JPG's are just gorgeous. This one of a boat hull is SOOC and so very nicely described that it is hard to notice that the shot is not that good. I love that camera. ;o)

B0000719 by West Phalia, on Flickr​

 

[boojum]

As an addendum, whenever I'm going somewhere, whether it is a grocery trip down the street, birthday, funeral or overseas holiday, my very first thought is, 'what cameras am I taking?' 😄

Thorsten Overgaard is controversial. But I like his, "Always wear a camera" and when I leave the house I almost always have the camera bag with me. Yeah, I always have a phone but I consider that almost as bad a habit as picking your nose in public. And I cannot take a photo with a camera at home on a shelf.

I am very lucky in that I have some nice lenses, mostly Sonnars. Some classics like the '42 1.5 and that rare Skyllaney Bertele Sonnar and a sweet luck of the draw '57 Jupiter 8. And others, too. Some nice recent Chinese lenses. Sonnar 50mm's cover the 44x33 X2D sensor. So many choices. I think that most of what I shoot will have to be quick so manual focus would be a burden.

First I have to get my doctor's blessing. Bribery is a thought. ;o)

 

[dourbalistar]

I really like my Shimoda Designs Explore v2. I find their pack designs to be very well thought out. I'll reference my post from another backpack thread, but the Urban Explore might fit your needs:

Backpack more focused on daily life less focused on photography needed

Got a new job that will require me to commute into the city via train and subway. Want to have a medium sized backpack to carry my 13" laptop, lunch bag and stuff plus easy access to a small camera and at most one lens. Had a look at the Ona Camps Bay that I really liked the look of, but it...

rangefinderforum.com

 

[boojum]

I really like my Shimoda Designs Explore v2. I find their pack designs to be very well thought out. I'll reference my post from another backpack thread, but the Urban Explore might fit your needs:

Backpack more focused on daily life less focused on photography needed

Got a new job that will require me to commute into the city via train and subway. Want to have a medium sized backpack to carry my 13" laptop, lunch bag and stuff plus easy access to a small camera and at most one lens. Had a look at the Ona Camps Bay that I really liked the look of, but it...

rangefinderforum.com

This looks really cool. Where I am now is with a carry-on to select and an under-seat to select. This Shimoda looks great but just a little more than I want to be carrying around. And I am not sure it would fit under a seat. That is important as carry-on is taken up. And I have a real. old, OD, crap bag that will hold a couple of cameras and still be small. I can load that with some camera gear and stash it in carry-on. This is going to be an exercise in clever packing as much as anything.

But let me keep it on the table as a possibility. I have a lot of time to mull this. And thanks for the tip. I appreciate all the help being offered. Without this help I'd just show up at the airport with a brown paper bag. Well, maybe not that bad but close. You guys have been there and done that so can speak with knowledge. ;o)

 

[p.giannakis]

I use my daughter's backpacks to travel and I use them during my photography excursions. I use the small bag to carry the extra lenses and wrap the cameras in clothes to make sure one doesn't hit the other.

 

[boojum]

I use my daughter's backpacks to travel and I use them during my photography excursions. I use tge small back to carry the extra lenses and wrap them in clothes to make sure one camera doesn't hit the other.

View attachment 4861449

I'll tell you a story I think is funny about camera bags. Years ago when I lived in CA I knew Chuck, a professional photographer. He was a fun guy and solid. He schooled me on batting averages on film. When he started he said he wanted every shot on the roll to be good. As he matured as a pro he was grateful for one on a roll of 36. But the story, he had an M3 that "had never been sullied by color film." LOL He carried it in a WW I gas mask bag. It was just a non-descript brown canvas bag with the M3 inside. No one would dream it was a camera bag, a good camera camera bag. ;o)

 

[Prest_400]

In my pack I now take small, light, foldable bags, usually bought in budget shops in Malaysia for very little. As '38' writes, less is best. In my big pack, two changes of clothing, one extra undies and socks. Almost no cosmetic items. No razors or knives or even wine corkscrews which are seen as dangerous weapons in countries like Indonesia and Malaysia and confiscated. In Asia, anything I need on the spot can be easily bought, at far better prices than in my home country. So what's not to like?

I second this but do check for Murphy's law, when you want it and need it, it might not be so easily available! Arriving in HK I only took my hiking backpack but then wanted the usual small 20L backpack for daily use... Murphy's law that even in trading capital HK we couldn't find a good place for it, so wasted a couple morning hours for an European sports chain to open. Ditto with a tripod for my friend, it took some hunting around!

Your gonna pry my Opinel from my cold dead fingers. LMAO Yeah, I'll pack it in my bag. SAK is on key chain and will also be taken off and packed. I'll put a new toothpick in it for the trip. ;o)

If you are on the non-checked luggage fare aka economy basic in some airlines be aware of not bringing longer knives. In Europe they are 6cm blades limited in carry on.
I loosely want to take a two week asia trip next autumn so I am thinking about this too, and the advantage of the basic no-checked luggage is that fares can be quite cheaper. Then backpacks can be easier to move oneself hopping around compared to rolling luggage.

This looks really cool. Where I am now is with a carry-on to select and an under-seat to select.

Another tip, not really for a main bag, is a foldable backpack. I bought one, 20L generic, that I will use on my next trip as the daypack.

 

[DownUnder]

Take the "big guns" X2D or Q3 for normal-wide and perhaps the smaller format for a telephoto.

I went to Asia with my Fuji 6x9 (big volume), its tons of film, then a m43 with a telephoto and the RX100 as pocket + phone(s).
Never used brand or specific camera bags, just a generic 50L hicking large backpack as carry on (overhead) and then a tote bag as personal item carrying the m43 and telephoto for window vista shots. I put a camera insert to carry it within and avoid banging around; but generally I am not so delicate with the cameras...

Being SE Asia I didn't bring much clothing. Checked in the large 23kg bag however.

You have youth and no doubt endless energy in your favor. If I took all that gear, I would have to hire a porter to carry it for me.

At least the digital era has wised me up about camera gear. Not having to carry film, which with the current lot of air-frying Xray machines in most Asian airports, can be a hazard. For some years in Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia all air travelers exiting those countries had to stand in front of some whizzbang Xray machine that zapped all sorts of lethal rays through us. Thankfully those are no longer used in most of Asia - but now Australia is using them. Go figure.

I've told and retold the stories of my 1980s Asian photo treks so many times, I've now taken a vow to forever keep my mouth shut about those episodes. Suffices to say I've evolved sufficiently to believe that anyone going to Indonesia as I did, with a Nikkormat kit, a Rolleiflex and a Linhof 6x9, three lenses and two film backs, is seriously in need of a few sessions with a psychiatrist.

So did I or didn't I? Only me and the psychiatrist will ever know, and we ain't telling. Or am I...

As the old Buddhist monks say - minimal is marvelable! Or maybe minimous is marvellous! Like maths equations, old sayings are (usually) reversible, if that's what I'm doing with them here. Now I'm confused. As usual.

 

[p.giannakis]

I'll tell you a story I think is funny about camera bags. Years ago when I lived in CA I knew Chuck, a professional photographer. He was a fun guy and solid. He schooled me on batting averages on film. When he started he said he wanted every shot on the roll to be good. As he matured as a pro he was grateful for one on a roll of 36. But the story, he had an M3 that "had never been sullied by color film." LOL He carried it in a WW I gas mask bag. It was just a non-descript brown canvas bag with the M3 inside. No one would dream it was a camera bag, a good camera camera bag. ;o)

I bet it didn't draw any attention. Actually I find small bags like this a very good idea. This Easter i decided to bring two cameras so that I don't have to swap lenses all the time and it was not a good idea. It draws too much attention - one camera and a small canvas (gas mask) bag sounds good.

 

[38Deardorff]

There are so many discreet small bags available on the market.
Gone are the days of bags emblazoned with Nikon, Canon, or scream 'expensive contents' like Billingham or Oberwerth....

 

[Godfrey]

I bet it didn't draw any attention. Actually I find small bags like this a very good idea. This Easter i decided to bring two cameras so that I don't have to swap lenses all the time and it was not a good idea. It draws too much attention - one camera and a small canvas (gas mask) bag sounds good.

Gas mask bags were available as "war surplus" back when I was in high school, for about a dollar and a half. All of the guys on the Photo Staff at my high school used them as their 'daily carry' and 'walking about photo' bags, although neither of those two terms were invented yet. 😉 I had one too but found its flop-over top somewhat annoyingly in the way all the time.

The bag I use today for those purposes is a similar design, patterned after a military canteen bag (Wotancraft canteen bag). (That's the 3.5L version, I have the 2L version, which is a little cheaper and "big enough" for what I want.) Whatever else I'm using to carry the bulk of my camera gear when traveling, I fold this one up and stick it in my bag ... It's what I use to carry what will actually shoot with when I'm out walking. Easily enough for a Leica M and up to two-three lenses, or a Hasselblad with one lens, or my Light L16 plus a Polaroid SX-70 type camera and a couple of packs of film. Plus wallet, keys, sunglasses, phone, and headphones. Very handy and useful. The drawstring closure is usually just left open and folded down inside the bag so I can get to stuff quickly and easily, but closes the bag in case of inclement weather or when i'm on a bus or train to prevent hands (or just the bag tipping over) losing its contents. Very very handy. It's about $100, if I recall correctly.

G

 

[DownUnder]

Visit your local charity shop. You will find a world of useful (and inexpensive) bags you never knew existed.

When I travel I like to live dangerously. I take only one camera. Mine are checked every couple of years, so I know they are (mostly) reliable, but like their owner a few of mine are distinctly vintage and prone to sudden expiration.

This happened to me some years ago in Sarawak, at an isolated location where I couldn't access a fast repair. I found a small camera shop, a computerised fast printing outlet with a selection of used gear, and I went in to find out if anyone could do anything to bring my Nikon D*** (I won't give a number) back to life.

They said no, but they had a Nikon D90 with a kit lens on the shelf gathering dust for quite some time, and even with a Chinese owner who was one of the Asian world's hardest bargainers to deal with, I was able to negotiate an acceptable price for it. The owner kindly loaned me a fully charged battery for it (the one in the camera was long out of juice) so I could go out and keep photographing for the day. Which I did.

All my photos came out half a stop under so I had a shipload of post processing on my hands. The photos were meant for stock and I bit the bullet and did the basic needful to > 200 images, which used up valuable time I will never again be able to reclaim. I submitted the images to a publisher who liked them but alas, the project they had in mind was given the chop and in the end they didn't buy the photos.

We live and we learn. I sold that D90 for three times what I paid for it, so my day wasn't a total loss.

What this has to do with bags, well - as I wrote in my lead paragraph, go to any charity shop and check out the bags they have. In AUS they average $3-$4 per bag and many are as new. Now and then I cop a find, usually Lowepros but now and then I land a real bargain. Just before the Covid debacle I scored a small but still sturdy Billingham, very dirty and torn in a few places. A little work on it at home and my SO now uses it to carry around the - can you guess? - D90, not the one bought in Sarawak but my first ever digi SLR, now 17 years long in the tooth but still making excellent images.

 

[boojum]

Visit your local charity shop. You will find a world of useful (and mostly inexpensive) bags you never knew existed.

When I travel I like to live dangerously. So I take only one camera. Mine are checked every year so I know they are 9mostly) reliable, but like their owner some are distinctly vintage and prone to sudden expiration. This did happen to me some years ago in Sarawak, at an isolated location so I couldn't access a fast repair. As it turned out there was a small camera shop (mostly a computerised fast printing outlet but with a small selection of used gear) nearby and I went in to find out if anyone could do anything to bring my Nikon D(I won't give a number) back to life. They said no, but they did have a venerable Nikon D90 with a kit lens on the shelf. It has sat gathering dust for quite some time and even with a Chinese owner who must be the world's hardest bargainers to deal with, I was able to negotiate an acceptable price for it. The owner even kindly loaned me a fully charged battery for it (the one in the camera was long out of juice) so I could go out and keep photographing for the day. Which I did.

Should I say it, all my photos came out half a stop under so I had a considerable work load of post processing on my hands. The photos were meant for stock so I faithfully put in the time to do the basic needful to > 200 images, which used up valuable time I will never again be able to reclaim. I submitted the images to a publisher who liked them but alas, the project they had in mind gut the chop and they didn't buy the photos.

We live and we learn. I sold that D90 for three times what I paid for it, so my day wasn't a complete loss.

What this has to do with bags, well - as I wrote in my lead paragraph, go to any charity shop and check out the bags they have. In AUS they average $3-$4 per bag and many are as new. Now and then I cop a real find, usually Lowepros but now and then I land a real bargain. Just before the Covid debacle I scored a small but still sturdy Billingham, very dirty and torn in places. A little work on it at home and my SO now uses it to carry around the - can you guess? - D90, not the one bought in Sarawak but my first ever digiSLR, now 17 years long in the tooth but still making excellent images.

We are mostly loggers and fisher folk out here. We do have a charity store or two, and a big Goodwill. I can check all of them. I am not hopeful but "one never knows do one?"

 

[DownUnder]

Cameras: I am pretty much set o the A7 with the 1.8 55 and the 24 - 240, the zoom doing most of the lifting. Second camera? Yeah, the M9 is sweet, so is the M240 and the Q3 is an easy to use. But the X2D consistently does magic with light and color. The X2D is not that big, even with the XCD 55V on it. I'd bring along the 120 3.5. So that would be two cameras. I am just so impressed with what the X2D does that I would like it for its gorgeous subtlety.

But I have a few months to sort this out, too. The A7 is pretty much definite as it does so much and so well. Not perfect but really good. The Q3 is that way but one focal length.

Clothes, two pair of shoes, three trousers and four or five shirts and sets of skivvies and socks, Meds, I take a lot of meds so that gets packed. I have traveled across the country in this little devil and it worked fine with one suitcase and a camera bag. It's a 2001 Honda Insight, 50 - 60 MPG easily.

I will be riding or walking, no hiking. The X2D? With such a sweet camera why leave it at home? I will take my Swiss Army knife, it's on my key chain, and maybe the Opinel just for sentimental sake.

B0000393 Ma charette et moi by West Phalia, on Flickr​

A charette, et quoi?

What a gorgeous small car. I've never seen such a lute dinky little thing on the road.

It reminds me of some of the hard top roadsters sold to motoring enthusiasts in Europe in the 1930s and postwar until about 1960, when sadly, most of the unusual cars manufactured in Eastern Europe somehow got taken off the roads, at least in Canada where I was living at the time It may well be that the raw salt that gets scattered on the roads to melt the ice in winter, ate their suspensions out. This happened to a 1961 Peugeot 403 I bought in 1965 with 8000 miles on the odometer. Rust holes in the floor and the unitised suspension got salted out and fell apart. The car had to be taken off the road in 1967. I sold it for parts for $50 but then I had paid only $500 for it and I got 20,000 miles out of it, so no economic loss for me

60 mpg? The brain boggles! That 403 used to give me 30+ miles to the gallon, and that was going uphill a lot.

Good image btw. Is that you at the wheel, or am I seeing a ghost shadow driver?

 

[Godfrey]

A charette, et quoi?

What a gorgeous small car. I've never seen such a lute dinky little thing on the road.

It reminds me of some of the hard top roadsters sold to motoring enthusiasts in Europe in the 1930s and postwar until about 1960, when sadly, most of the unusual cars manufactured in Eastern Europe somehow got taken off the roads, at least in Canada where I was living at the time It may well be that the raw salt that gets scattered on the roads to melt the ice in winter, ate their suspensions out. This happened to a 1961 Peugeot 403 I bought in 1965 with 8000 miles on the odometer. Rust holes in the floor and the unitised suspension got salted out and fell apart. The car had to be taken off the road in 1967. I sold it for parts for $50 but then I had paid only $500 for it and I got 20,000 miles out of it, so no economic loss for me

60 mpg? The brain boggles! That 403 used to give me 30+ miles to the gallon, and that was going uphill a lot.

Good image btw. Is that you at the wheel, or am I seeing a ghost shadow driver?

Interesting that you'd never seen one of those cars before... That's a Honda Insight, one of the first Honda hybrid powertrain cars on the market circa 1999 or so. I nearly bought one of those instead of the Toyota Prius in 2006 as I felt the Prius powertrain was more advanced/sophisticated. But I'd have enjoyed the Insight ... it's smaller and sportier in feel.

(I bought the Prius and drove it for about 75,000 miles. It averaged ~44 mpg over that time. I sold it to a friend of mine when I bought my first Mercedes SLK (a bright yellow 2000 SLK230) in 2012 ... She still has the Prius, still uses it every day; it's now run nearly 400,000 miles. Fuel economy has remained exceptional. 🙂 )

G

 

[boojum]

A charette, et quoi?

What a gorgeous small car. I've never seen such a lute dinky little thing on the road.

It reminds me of some of the hard top roadsters sold to motoring enthusiasts in Europe in the 1930s and postwar until about 1960, when sadly, most of the unusual cars manufactured in Eastern Europe somehow got taken off the roads, at least in Canada where I was living at the time It may well be that the raw salt that gets scattered on the roads to melt the ice in winter, ate their suspensions out. This happened to a 1961 Peugeot 403 I bought in 1965 with 8000 miles on the odometer. Rust holes in the floor and the unitised suspension got salted out and fell apart. The car had to be taken off the road in 1967. I sold it for parts for $50 but then I had paid only $500 for it and I got 20,000 miles out of it, so no economic loss for me

60 mpg? The brain boggles! That 403 used to give me 30+ miles to the gallon, and that was going uphill a lot.

Good image btw. Is that you at the wheel, or am I seeing a ghost shadow driver?

The Insight gets 60 MPG easily. The folks who try get 80 - 85. It has "Lean Burn" where it will switch the stochaic ratio from 14/1 to 21 - 23/1. It is a three cylinder engine with electric motor boost. It is tiny but comfortable with plenty of luggage room. Seating for two only. They were great cars.

"Charette" is French-Canadian for "voiture." I kind of like it.