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Camera Backpack

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Dave Blackham

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Any one seen a big camera backpack capable of carrying Epic Rigged with an HJ18 and convertor on it. Its intended for wildlife filming and needs to be left in as near rigged configuration as possible whilst carrying.

Im not sure the portabrace HK 1 is deep enough.

thanks,

Dave
 
Awesome pack, Jamie. The video demonstration on the website shows just how much room is in there.
 
Dave, this is really a difficult questions unless you give a detailed description of the environment you'r shooting and your needs. I shoot wildlife and natural history all over the world, and primarily Africa. I do a lot of day trip shoots, but also a lot of 8-14 expedition type stuff. I have a lot of options, each for a specific purpose. I have Fstop Gear, Pelican, Petrol, Lowpro, and a great tactical company called Max_Expedition. They are not camera gear stuff, but they have great pockets etc that fit camera gear nicely and rig for the hardcore outdoor filmmaker.

First because most backpacks do not fit a built epic with any sort of a rig. Best I've come up with a 2 part setup, I use a FSTOPGEAR, and anyone in adventure shooting will tall you this is the pack. I know several people who have them. I've owned them all, and I swear by the tilopia. It's super comfortable, very comparable to any well made climbing packs. I pack most of my gear in medium to large ICU and that gives me space for my rain gear etc, food, water bladder etc. For the camera itself, I often carry in a scaled-down setup. I use a v-mount battery, but pull it off to pack it. I use a Max Expedition JUMBO versipack for the camera. Another of those incredible kit items.

I'll use this on Kilimanjaro for an 8 day shoot there I'm doing for a series I'm doing.


http://www.maxpedition.com/store/pc/MONGO-VERSIPACK-59p1332.htm

Edit: If you hike more then 8-10 km, or up any mountain, go with FSTOP over the low pro people have recommended. I have both, and the Low pro collects dust. The low pro is great for getting around the city or the odd day out in the bush etc, but it's not rugged, practical, or comfortable for serious outdoor work.
 
Mark Whatmore said:
Hi Dave, have you looked at the ThinkTank Airport range - very solid, well built and maybe big enough for your needs.
http://www.thinktankphoto.com/
Click to expand...

ThinkTank Airport range holds a huge amount, comes with loads of dividers as standard and is very well made. But its strap system isn't great and only suitable for the shortest hikes. I think of them as great for city/urban carry where most of the time you can put it in a vehicle! Probably one the best for space to volume ratio, so they have their place.

I would have gone for Lowepro over ThinkTank for wildlife, as their strap design, back system and comfort are great, although their outboard accessory design is not. But now that Peter and Michael have introduced me to the F-stop system I'd not heard of, I may have a new favourite design.
 
Thanks for the links guys. Im going through them with the DoP.

For our needs the back pack needs to be big with rear or font access to load the camera in rigged (so far as possible).
 
Matt Hall said:
Awesome pack, Jamie. The video demonstration on the website shows just how much room is in there.
Click to expand...
it is very comfortable and has so many pockets, i can never remember what i put in there. I have carried a tripod, monopod, and a 3 foot slider on the outside of the pack at one time.
 
I own the Kata hb-207 and it's incredibly well made, rugged and roomy. Can carry a rigged out Scarlet, batteries, lenses, audio gear, hard drives and 17" laptop. It's a mobile production unit in backpack form. Plus it fits in most overhead compartments. (Watch out on those puddle jumpers though.) I've had mine for 2 years and it still looks like new.
 
I too own the Kata 207, and also the larger VB 510 that will carry a fully figged Epic with a an Optimo rouge mounted -- or of course Nikon or Canon zooms. I agree with earlier comments re Lowe Pro -- they make great bags (I own a couple) but Kata is much more adjustable, comfortable and lighter and while I'm not an expedition climber, I would say the Kata line of backpacks made specifically for camera gear, are of expedition quality. I would highly recommend checking them out. I own over a dozen different Kata bags, use them on a daily basis, have never yet had a failure and my 15 year old bags are still in service and still look great. The other advantage is they are "low profile" and don't send out valuable photo gear signals. They build stuff for the Israeli military so you know they've got to be tough and have military specs in mind.
 
Kata are very well made, but seem a bit lacking in small accessory pockets for my personal needs.

The yellow interiors are great for interior visibility though.
 
Sup Dave,
I feel like ive owned every bag imaginable and settled on two companies that serve me very well. For mobile off road applications use these guys http://www.guragear.com/ check out the kiboko 30L, there isnt another backpack on the market that can take as much gear as this thing. Its a smart design, light, rugged, and airline overhead compatible. For when theres no offroading involved our epics travel in Think tank Airport Security V2 which are also carry on compliant on most airlines, on the small domestic planes you have to make sure you board the plane early and be the jerk that puts their bag in the overhead sideways but its $75k in equipment so you do what you gotta do. It easily fits into the overheads on any international flight and doesnt draw too much attention to itself when coming in and out of countries like China on the down low. 10/10 for THINK TANK and GURA GEAR
 
FWIW - I'm not a fan of any of the so-called "camera" packs - too much padding and not really easily stuffed into an overhead bin. I recently travelled with a new Everki Titan backpack with a fully kitted Epic, bricks fit in the side pockets (just) and a 17" laptop. No problems with TSA or airlines.
 
Ron Lagerlof said:
FWIW - I'm not a fan of any of the so-called "camera" packs - too much padding and not really easily stuffed into an overhead bin. I recently travelled with a new Everki Titan backpack with a fully kitted Epic, bricks fit in the side pockets (just) and a 17" laptop. No problems with TSA or airlines.
Click to expand...

Any Pics Ron? just checked it out but wondering just how you packed it.
 
Maybe look into the HK2? I have f stop bags and if I want to bring the epic and a 300mm lens, you have to tear the camera down to a point that it takes too long to setup again on the next shot. I shoot mostly action sports and it seems to be pretty industry standard to split between an fstop and hk2. With the hk1 and 2 you should be able to have a mostly assembled camera and lens stored inside.
 
Think Tank is definitely the way to go. But I am not sure about the backpack route. I would try and get something that also has wheels on it. Having travelled back from Rwanda with all my Red kit loaded onto my Petrol backpack, after three transfers and 15 hours, my back was absolutely gone. So wheels where you can and a backpack is you need to go where your 4x4 can't take you. Lesson learnt...
 
I forgot about getting TO the location. I just pack the back pack in my duffle (the extra large north face base camp duffle) and use a pelican 1510 with the trekpak system and an fstop bag as my plane setup. That way I have something with wheels on it for the airport and when I get to the location I have a bigger camera bag.
 
Thanks for all of the suggestions. Theres some really nice small back packs here. We cant find anything big enough for a rigged Epic with an HJ18 and HDx35 on it, what we are planning to do is use a back pack frame with a custom routed foam pack and cover, we can build some packets and accessory compartments in to it too. We can then use an off the shelf back pack for additional lenses, batteries and accessories.

Its not intended as a shipping back for air travel only for use getting around remote locations.

Ill post some photos when we have this built.
 
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