Working on a plan……..

Jack Graham and I have been talking, this past week, about strategies for how to get our gear to the in to field.  When we arrive on location how to manage carrying it!  The problem is you pack everything you think you might possibly need on an extened trip, to a far way location and then when you get there it’s too much to carry in-the-field, everyday!!!!!  I’m no longer in my forties!

We have both been doing something similar to this “current” possible solution but I thought I might share what has been working for me “for now”  I say current and for now because, well, you know, I’m still a member in good standing of the “Bag of the Month Club”,  a dues paying member!!!!

So the top picture is currently how I am getting it all to the location, the Think Tank Airport Advantage rolling bag.  It is designed with mirrorless gear in mind, meaning the bag is not as deep as the other bags designed for full frame DSLRs.  This is great roller, made very well of great materials and very thoughtfully designed for mirroless gear!  This rolling bag is great for airports and having to shlep all your gear from gate to gate, oh joy!  By-the-way I am drivng to all my events this fall and just came back from the Maine event in June and drove to and from Maine to it, I hate flying and have vowed to never fly again unless there is simply no other choice!

My current field kit includes a pair of camera bodies and just four lenses, three zooms and a fast potrait lens.  With these lenses I can cover from 15mm to over 600mm with the inclusion of a very small Fujifilm 1.4 teleconverter!  I also never travel without my DJI Mini II drone which requires a controller and spare batteries and a mini iPad to see what I’m photographing or doing a video of.

Once on location I move the 70-300 and 10-24 into a very small Domke bag for just walking around.  I simply carry the X-T4 with the 16-80 on a strap around my neck!  The drone and the rest of my gear is still safely in the rolling bag in the SUV, until needed.

Because I haven’t bought a new camera bag in a month and Guru Gear is back in business making a bag that is designed for mirrorless, I ordered the new Kiboko V 2.0 16 L bag to see if I like it.  The former Guru Gear bags were exceptionally well made and I loved them, but were designed for big DSLRs and my Fujifilm gear seemed to disappear in the deep equipment slots.  The bag comes with a 30 day money back gurantee, so I will quickly see if it might serve as a car trip replacement for the Think Tank roller, we’ll see and I will report back to you on that!!  I hope the build quality is as good as the former bags from Guru Gear!   I’m figuring that it ill hold everything that is in the rolling bag, but……….. we will see!  I tried to get a Mindshift Backlite 26L, but with the international shipping issues, they are getting hard to secure!

Stay tuned for more adventures from Jack and I!!!!

Blessings,

the pilgrim