Packing in hard cases for multi-day hikes?

sealedglass

I'm preparing for a string of multi-day camping hikes around the Pacific Northwest and wanted to get some thoughts and advice on packing in the camera gear. I'll be bringing my D90 w/ battery pack and two batteries, 50mm, and 16-85mm zoom, and eventually a smaller fisheye. I normally carry the body and lenses in a Lowepro sling pack, weighs about 10lbs, and works great for all types of city walking and light day hikes. I also just purchased a Gregory Z65 multi-day pack for all my gear (camera and everything else you need when camping for a few days).

For my test hikes I've been putting the entire Lowepro sling bag inside the Gregory. It fits, but it's a tight fit. The benefit of this solution is protection for the gear and I can bring in all my accessories, the negatives are more weight with the sling and it takes up so much room, probably 60% of the Gregory, leaving my hiking partners to carry most of the food, tents, etc, just so I can shoot. I'm considering a few alternatives:

1) Replacing the Lowepro bag with hard shell cases for the Nikon body+50mm lens and one each for the 16-85mm and fisheye. I could stuff the hard shell cases inbetween clothing for protection (and easy access, although I would still have to take the pack off). How padded are these types of cases?

2) Upgrading to the Gregory Palisade 80 and keeping everything in the Lowepro bag, stuffed inside the Palisade. This does add a good of weight, thought, but I can basically bring everything I would need.

3) Looking for a new camera bag that I can strap to my chest and wear in front of me, which would keep all the gear out of my primary hiking pack. This would still be more total weight but it would keep the camera at the ready without requiring me to stop and take the pack off to get the body or swap lenses.

I'm mostly considering option #1, so if you have any suggestions on what brand hard shell cases to get for the body and lenses please let me know. Option #3 is also a nice alternative for keeping everything easily accessible. I've heard from friends that Lowe Alpine used to make a chest carrying case but I can't find one on their site today.

I've read a few good posts here about packing light (and not bringing the dSLR, which isn't an option since these trips are built around shooting remote locations) but nothing about how to pack in a good bit of gear for a multi-day hike.

All feedback much appreciated. Thanks!

Art Scott

sealedglass wrote:

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takes up so much room, probably 60% of the Gregory, leaving my hiking partners to carry most of the food, tents, etc, just so I can shoot. I'm considering a few alternatives:

1) Replacing the Lowepro bag with hard shell cases for the Nikon body+50mm lens and one each for the 16-85mm and fisheye. I could stuff the hard shell cases inbetween clothing for protection (and easy access, although I would still have to take the pack off). How padded are these types of cases?

doesn't really seem viable and would be too much trouble to get at equipment when needed...............

2) Upgrading to the Gregory Palisade 80 and keeping everything in the Lowepro bag, stuffed inside the Palisade. This does add a good of weight, thought, but I can basically bring everything I would need.

might be the best idea so far..........but still hard to get at for needed equipment..............


3) Looking for a new camera bag that I can strap to my chest and wear in front of me, which would keep all the gear out of my primary hiking pack. This would still be more total weight but it would keep the camera at the ready without requiring me to stop and take the pack off to get the body or swap lenses.

I made a harness system out of a Military Pistol belt (new model with closure like lowe pro packs have) and matching suspenders total so far less than $20....added to that is 2 LowePro 75AW toploader bags......this gives the use of my hands are free and the bags hang one on each side for balance......also the military suspenders will work underneath another pack and not dig in and put the hurt on your body...there is a lot of room in the Toploader 75 AW's......I can get NikonD300 with MB-D10 battery grip and a18-200VR lens and could have room under it for another small lens.....then the pocket in the top of it can holder lens cleaners, filters and such......the middle pocket for larger stuff and in the very bottom pocket I can get at least 8 batteries...............this way all equipment is accessable without removal of any packs.....the most costly part is the LowePro 75AW's....I found mine on sell on ebay and got lucky.....I got both for under $100.......they retail for a lot more than that.



I'm mostly considering option #1, so if you have any suggestions on what brand hard shell cases to get for the body and lenses please let me know. Option #3 is also a nice alternative for keeping everything easily accessible. I've heard from friends that Lowe Alpine used to make a chest carrying case but I can't find one on their site today.

My 75AW's came with a shoulder strap and a chest harness strap, which i found to be uncomfortable to wear....that pushed to make the Pistol Belt harness mentioned above............


I've read a few good posts here about packing light (and not bringing the dSLR, which isn't an option since these trips are built around shooting remote locations) but nothing about how to pack in a good bit of gear for a multi-day hike.

HIRE A SHERPA OR 2:D:D:D

All feedback much appreciated. Thanks!

suggestions above in bold

rainbow

Weight and volume are the most important considerations when backpacking. The only reason to take the sling pack is if you have to make day hikes from your base camp (but even then, you could use the Gregory).

Do you need the 50 mm since it is covered by the zoom (I am assuming landscape shots)? If not, then you mostly have a body with a mounted lens. You can hang this around your neck (and I believe there are harnesses available to keep it from bouncing) if shooting while hiking or put it into the pack surrounded by clothes, which probably cushions as well as most camera bags. You can even wrap it in your sleeping bag, though quick access would not be present. Soft camera cases with foam would add additional protection, or perhaps just foam wrapping or sleeves.

Again, minimizing weight is critical to your enjoyment of the hike. Do not take this lightly...

sealedglass

Thanks for all the feedback. To answer the question on the zoom vs. fixed 50mm, the 50mm is a fast 1.4 lens so it's perfect for portrait-esque and evening/campfire shots. And the zoom is just so flexible for any shooting in the field. If I had to drop a pound or two in gear and only bring one lens it would definitely be the zoom. Decisions, decisions.

Since I typically don't keep the camera out while walking/hiking it's not a super big issue to keep it packed away in my primary pack. I imagine I'll end up going with a combo solution: upgrading to the Palisade 80 and also getting hard shell cases. The 80 also has a nice detachable day pack that would be great for the gear once I'm settled in a location.

The sherpa idea is hands-down the best one I've heard. If only...

cmason

OK when I go hiking with my gear, I usually pack my 40D, 2-3 lenses, flash and other bits. I pack all of this in my Osprey Stratos day back, plus lunch, water, etc. My Lowepro camera backpack (Computrekker) does not work, because 1) it holds just camera gear and 2) it is a crappy backpack.

However, I have found that packing gear in other bags, etc simply adds weight, and makes it hard to get out of the day pack. So I pack all my lenses in Lowepro lens cases, such as this: Lowepro 1N. The camera body I wrap in a Optech wrap, or a Zing case, which allows me to protect the body with a lens attached. I dont package the flash, usually that is surrounded by a jacket or sweater anyway.

This allows me to pack the gear around the day pack to better distribute the weight, as well as get to the bits I need when I need them. Everything is protected and this saves space and weight.

sealedglass

Pack Solution
Thanks again for all the feedback. I went with a combo solution: upgraded to the Gregory's Palisade 80 pack and bought a Crumplerbags 5 Million Dollar Home bag. It's small enough to fit on top of everything in the Palisade or during dry weather and easy conditions I can strap it to the top on the outside of the bag or wrap it around my front for easy access. It will hold body+lens, an extra lens, flash, and critical accessories (filters, lens cleaner, remote, etc). Or I can carry 3 lenses and no flash. It does a bit of weight but worth it for the flexibility and compactness.

I'm taking it out next weekend so I'll make a note to update the thread (or write a separate review) for how well it holds up in the wild.

Gary Peterson Photography

You ignored the obvious solution.....

sealedglass wrote:

Thanks again for all the feedback. I went with a combo solution: upgraded to the Gregory's Palisade 80 pack and bought a Crumplerbags 5 Million Dollar Home bag. It's small enough to fit on top of everything in the Palisade or during dry weather and easy conditions I can strap it to the top on the outside of the bag or wrap it around my front for easy access. It will hold body+lens, an extra lens, flash, and critical accessories (filters, lens cleaner, remote, etc). Or I can carry 3 lenses and no flash. It does a bit of weight but worth it for the flexibility and compactness.

I'm taking it out next weekend so I'll make a note to update the thread (or write a separate review) for how well it holds up in the wild.

Llamas! Let them do all the work for you!

sealedglass

The Postmortem Review
After weeks of testing, here's the ultimate result put to a real test last weekend:

http://bit.ly/t6nJP (Sealed Glass blog)

This setup does have some downsides that I didn't cover in the blog post. The gear is less protected from a tumble in this setup; if I fall backwards the Crumpler takes the brunt of that. There's also no good way to shoot while hiking because I can't easily access the gear. And finally, the weight: it's not trivial to hike in for 6+ miles with ~40lbs on your back, but the camera really didn't impact it that drastically for that amount of distance (and things were much lighter coming back out). But these issues are just part of backpacking. Having an external bag was worth it for day hikes from the campsite, where packing in individual lens cases wouldn't have helped there.

Thanks again for all the suggestions.

PS: Yes, llamas are definitely the way to go for packing in more gear and for longer trips. The Ingalls trail is also a horse trail and I passed a caravan coming in as I was heading out. They looked so much more comfortable and relaxed than I did, as I was hiking out a sweaty mess covered by a dripping parka.

ziggy53

Alan,

Thanks for the update. I'm glad you survived and I'm hoping you got some decent images. (I'll take a look after a bit.)

I guess a following question would be, "would you do anything differently if you do this again?"

sealedglass

Ziggy,

Good question, but probably nothing major. Next time I'll go out with only one lens, or possibly pack my non-essential photo gear in my Gregory pack (filters, cleaners, extra batter) because it's not stuff I need to fill the Crumpler with.

Not related to gear but I'll also try to take more time to shoot on the hike rather than just at the destination. Turns out I missed some excellent raging river scenery because I was so focused on hiking in and out. I need to stop and smell...er, shoot...the roses, as they say.

But overall this outfit worked really well for a backpacking and camping destination trip.