On Sun, 29 Nov 1998 21:46:51 -0800, "John Austin" <j_austin@xxxxxxxxxxx> jammed
all night, and by sunrise was overheard remarking:
> Doris Fang wrote:
> >I have a Magnum 35 Lowe-Pro, which holds much more than I want to carry!
> >Also a slightly bigger Tamrac (with that funky horizontal rear
> >zipper/compartment). I can't really walk very far with either, but others
> >might. I use them for portaging huge amounts of gear, and for working from
> >the car, or near it.
> I think it's been mentioned on the list before, and if not, I'm sure you've
> heard Edward Weston's famous quote: "If it's more than 500 feet from the
> car, it's not photogenic!"
Well, there's always the "hire a Sherpa" route someone suggested.
> The older I get, the more I find myself agreeing with that statement.
Well, since I started this bag thread, I should point at my immediate
solution. I did an experiment today. Since we were taking the kids out
(in 70F weather, unusual for near-December in South Jersey) to
"Storybook Land" to see Santa and a really good Christmas light show,
for the whole day, I took my big KIWI bag, lots of gear, and a pair of
2.5lbs wrist weights I use for running, just for fun. I treked around
with it all day. What I learned:
- My wife thinks I'm nuts.
- I really need a 24mm f2.0 Zuiko
- Four bags+ is never enough, anyway.
But I did arrive at my solution. Even though I'm not so old and fairly
fit, between carrying my current gear and perhaps a little more, plus
the occasional kid, I might not want to keep this up indefinitely, more
than a day or two. So the Godzilla-sized LowePro is out.
Next, I got back to the shape. I have always used the traditional
bag-shaped big camera bag, and always got a larger one when this proved
too small. Especially at the "Storybook Land" (where I had never taken
the large bag before), I felt just plain clumsy with it -- things at
that place, more often than not, are on a 7-year-old's scale at best. A
quick turn without the waist-belt on, and I could easily take out a few
small kids.
So I did some thinking, and now I'm leaning toward a LowePro Trim
Trekker. If you don't know this bag, it's a vertical bag, fairly thin,
which can pull out into a backpack. This would have been the prefect one
this situation, it's very unlike anything I have today, and yet it would
house at least a select half ot my gear right now. It also seems to fit
in my big "junk bag", along with tripods and other big, loose stuff, so
I would actually increase the functionality of that bag by adding
compartments, for those "working out of the tailgate" situations.
> It seems that lately I feel I'm out of my mind, what
> with all the stuff I insist on carrying. Perhaps it P&S time. :-)
I do get a bit concerned about carrying too little, though. I get
inclinded to leave a better lens home, "hey, the zoom will cover it", or
just bring the small flash, etc. Sometimes it's a no-brainer -- a trip
to the beach is usually not a big-flash situation, maybe take the 500mm
instead. But sometimes, you just gotta have everything.
Maybe body-building the solution :-)
--
Dave Haynie | V.P. Technology, Met@box Infonet, AG | http://www.metabox.de
Be Dev #2024 | NB851 Powered! | Amiga 2000, 3000, 4000, PIOS One
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