What camera bag for month-long backpacking?

[mpenza]

Road RUnner seems more catered to photography gear than other stuff like clothes.

If you want a bigger capacity for carrying non-photography stuff, the Orion Aw may be a good alternative. You can't carry as much equipment though and there's no wheels.

http://www.lowepro.com/pages/series/trekking/orionaw.htm

Lowepro's highly popular, convertible beltpack/backpack for active, outdoor SLR photographers -- a regular on Everest, the winner of an Industrial Design Excellence Award and a legend around the world.

 

[ericp]

I've just re-read your original posting, and should remind you ... buy travel insurance that includes equipment. Especially to New Zealand (worst is Auckland). Ask me how I know

I've been on 3 types of trips :

1. Leisure with family : priority is having fun, so a P&S is the way to go. Light, so you can stick it in your pocket. Have one with good, bright lens so that you can shoot good pics at night, and zoom with your feet.

2. Opportunistic on business trips : For this I bring a prosumer digital (for me, it's a Fuji 6900Z) ... enough controls and zooming that allows me a certain amount of flexibility and creativity.

3. Pure shooting : Lowepro backpack with multiple SLR bodies and backup digital, multiple lenses, a couple of hundred rolls of slide film, multiple memory cards.

Note that with option 3, you are a "hot" target for thieves. So you have to be extra careful. A friend of mine got to a South American airport in the beginning of a shooting trip, put his gear down for 2 seconds while putting his bag into a cab, and it disappeared. And he thought he was travelling light with only 3 bags ... lesson learnt was that you have to have a death grip on your equipment bag at all times ...

Sh*t happens, so if you get hit, make sure you're adequately covered, report it, get new gear, and enjoy the rest of the trip. If they ruin your trip, they would have achieved double their objective.

Regards,
Eric

 

[tert]

Originally posted by ericp
I've just re-read your original posting, and should remind you ... buy travel insurance that includes equipment. Especially to New Zealand (worst is Auckland). Ask me how I know

I've been on 3 types of trips :

1. Leisure with family : priority is having fun, so a P&S is the way to go. Light, so you can stick it in your pocket. Have one with good, bright lens so that you can shoot good pics at night, and zoom with your feet.

2. Opportunistic on business trips : For this I bring a prosumer digital (for me, it's a Fuji 6900Z) ... enough controls and zooming that allows me a certain amount of flexibility and creativity.

3. Pure shooting : Lowepro backpack with multiple SLR bodies and backup digital, multiple lenses, a couple of hundred rolls of slide film, multiple memory cards.

Note that with option 3, you are a "hot" target for thieves. So you have to be extra careful. A friend of mine got to a South American airport in the beginning of a shooting trip, put his gear down for 2 seconds while putting his bag into a cab, and it disappeared. And he thought he was travelling light with only 3 bags ... lesson learnt was that you have to have a death grip on your equipment bag at all times ...

Sh*t happens, so if you get hit, make sure you're adequately covered, report it, get new gear, and enjoy the rest of the trip. If they ruin your trip, they would have achieved double their objective.

Regards,
Eric

OT: Just some questions regarding the insurance

what kind of insurances provides coverage for loss/thief/damage of camera equipment?

will the general travel insurance by NTUC do?

would i need to document and account for all the equipment that i would be bringing for my trip; pictures, serial number?

Sorry Larry, disrupting your thread. Dun sit on me plllleeeeaaassseee!

 

[cyberkinetic]

I went on a Malaysia-Thailand backpack trip last yr with a 60L backpack and a Orion Trekker + Nova 3.

Kindda kiasu.. anyway, while on the move, the trekker stays in the backpack while the Nova3 is attached to the shoulder straps via those cheapo carabiner hooks. Which means easy access to camera(EOS300 with 28-90mm). The trekker is not wasting space as the top compartment was filled with my clothings and the rest of the camera stuff is still being kept in the bottom compartment. Only kept an additional roll of film + cleaning kit on the nova3 when travelling.

Once settled down at each point, that's when the swapping takes place, off goes the Nova3 and I'll switch over to the Trekker as a day pack to move around. With a poncho, camelbak and some snacks in the top compartment.

Might seems a hassle and leh chey, but quite acceptable to me... and oh, forgot to mention... the only pain in the butt is the tripod... no complaints abt bag/camera weight.. but the tripod.. !@$##^... can't do without it, but with it... arrggghhh... HEAVY!!!

 

[Larry]

Originally posted by tert
Sorry Larry, disrupting your thread. Dun sit on me plllleeeeaaassseee!

/me rush towards tert with a battle cry and all my considerable bulk...

just kidding.

thanks every1 for all the comments and advice. was thinking about it and gyjoe's right actually - NZ and Silk Road are 2 very different locations. for NZ i'll probably be driving around, so i won't that that much worry about travelling light. Silk Road is another matter, but from the looks of things i won't be able to leave for a extended backpacking trip anyway.

i might be going to Cambodia for a week though, so suggestions are still welcome. going to Phnom Penh and then to Angkor Wat... but it's still in planning stage.

 

[morganoh]

Can I hav just one recommendation for you?

The bags that all the members has recommended required you to spend at least $80 to $100/200++++

Go to Sports Connection and buy a tatonka paded case for only $19..
You can fit this into your backpack (usually theres a bottom comparment for large backpacks and you can use that area for your cameras)

I had use it on all my backpacks and also the wonder weenie.

The case is good for my 10D with 28-80L attached, EF20-35, EF75-300, EF50 & Metz 54MZ n somemore space for blower and films.

Morgan

 

[Goldmember]

Originally posted by ericp
buy travel insurance that includes equipment.

does the equipment insurance cover stolen or damage equipment ???

 

[tert]

Originally posted by Goldmember
does the equipment insurance cover stolen or damage equipment ???

OT a bit. Just got off the line with the insurers. NTUC to be specific.

Standard travel insurance covers personal effects, baggage. Camera equipment is considered as personal effects, together with laptops and the likes. For my policy, the claim limit is $1000 per laptop and $500 per item or per set. I'm sure the claim limit varies according to premium but i chose the cheapest.

The classification of "set" is really ambigious, and i suspect its not going to be adequate. My guess is a set COULD consist of the camera body, a lens and a flash, rather than being classified as 3 items.

In event of loss, thief etc, you would need to present a police report (if lost or stolen) or a hotel management report (saying that the item was lost in their premises) to facilitate claim.

/tert diving back quickly into his hole to avoid "The Green, Mean Incredible Bulk" for disrupting his thread again.

 

[Larry]

Originally posted by tert
/tert diving back quickly into his hole to avoid "The Green, Mean Incredible Bulk" for disrupting his thread again.

"aarrrrggggggghhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!"

just kidding... but why am i green? last time i checked i was a nice pasty white.

tert, thanks for the info actually. i was comtemplating insurance IF i go to cambodia. but then $500 per item doesn't really cover the cost of my stuff, and i think you need to back it up with receipts right?

 

[ericp]

Re: insurance, Tert has done a good job of quoting the relevant parts.

I'd add one more thing ... make sure you can find receipts for the more valuable items. And ensure that you have a police report no matter what happens ... even if item's lost from a hotel, make a police report anyway.

Larry, apologize that this has "mutated" into an insurance thread, but hopefully what we're discussing is useful to you.

 

[Larry]

Originally posted by ericp
Larry, apologize that this has "mutated" into an insurance thread, but hopefully what we're discussing is useful to you.

oh definitely it's useful info no matter what. i certainly need to consider the value of my gear when travelling overseas, considering they're not cheap either.

and as for the bags, i'll probably have to still look around for options, but for now chances are i'll use the option of a large-capacity backpack and shove in a smaller cam bag, to use as a daybag. but ideas still welcome.

 

[ericp]

Not trying to do another mutation on this thread again, but cute kid on your avatar

 

[Larry]

Originally posted by ericp
Not trying to do another mutation on this thread again, but cute kid on your avatar

kekeke, thanks, but not my kid. my gf's baby nephew.

 

[hazardman]

Originally posted by tert
For my policy, the claim limit is $1000 per laptop and $500 per item or per set. I'm sure the claim limit varies according to premium but i chose the cheapest.

Sorry to OT, but tert wat's e insurance premium payment like? How much for e cheapest and wat's e duration blah blah.

 

[kng]

Originally posted by tert
The classification of "set" is really ambigious, and i suspect its not going to be adequate. My guess is a set COULD consist of the camera body, a lens and a flash, rather than being classified as 3 items.

I understand that for almost every insurer, this is true - ie. each lens/flash is NOT considered a separate item. As such, the $500 limit won't go v far in covering your equipment. For those with serious equipment, you may want to check around - i've heard of specific camera insurance - an insurance broker may be the best person to speak to cos this ain't a typical retail product.

You definitely need the original receipts to make a claim and preferably a police report, or at the v least, some form of documentary report (eg. hotel report etc).

 

[darr]

there are specialised photogear backpack. but i really dont like them because too much space spent on cushion support. from my experiences its really redundant for backpacking.

what i do is just use a regular backpack and strap a Toploader AW65 to the hipbelt for snapshooting. Other gear I will pack inside. if you really want to backpack, then bring light gear only. you dont need a super lens or ultrafast body, i don't even bring a tripod along, a superclamp is far more versatile and usable.

 

[darr]

and bring a lot of silical gel, or reheat if u want.

if u go temperate countries rem to double seal with ziplog over the night, else foggin inside the lens will be problematic.

 

[hazardman]

Originally posted by darr
i don't even bring a tripod along, a superclamp is far more versatile and usable. [/B]

Superclamp? wat kinda superclamp u tokin bout? superclamp is juz 1 big jawhead clamp.. how to be versatile?