I just got a new bag to accommodate my new camera. I plan to get one more lens (I swear, just one more…) But that’d make it a little problematic to fit everything in the camera part of the bag.
I have it in my mind, and always have, to store the camera in the bag with the lens attached to it, so I can pull it out and shoot. But from what I’ve seen, the people who travel with a good amount of gear always put the lens on when they get to the place. I hate that idea…
So I wonder, how often do you switch around the dividers in your bag? Do I need to change my thinking? Enlighten me please!
I moved the dividers in my bag for the first time ever (well, besides the initial setup) when I was traveling recently. My brain seized up when I realized the gear I was taking was smaller than my usual gear and would move around. A bolt from the heavens struck my head in the form of an idea: move the dividers.
Usually my bag just has my macro setup in it, and I don’t use it for anything else except for rare occasions when I’m traveling. If I had to move around the dividers to accommodate different setups more than once per month, I’d probably consider getting another bag.
Well I just bought a 16-300mm Sigma lens for my Canon R7 so I don’t have this problem when I go travelling. I will leave all my lenses at home and just fly off to Africa for a three week camping safari with just one lens and my sleeping bag.
Back to topic… So far, not really. All of my equipment is still roughly the same size and when I leave stuff at home, I usually pad the empty space with some stuff like tissues (especially allergy season )
Quite often. In my usual bag, I stack vertically in the center space my long zoom and above it the camera with the “general-purpose” lens. But if I go somewhere and know that I’m more likely to use the long zoom, it comes attached to the camera and the GP lens is at the bottom of the bag, with the divider moved up.
I’ve always done this. Having said that, having the right lens on for whatever I shoot first is a bit of a crap shoot, so I often wind up changing in the field.
I try hard to create a versatile layout that minimizes the likelihood of needing to rearrange it because it’s a monumental pain in the azz. Something I have found helpful is to cut pieces of corrugated cardboard to resemble the dividers and use those to work out the layout more easily. Then just switch from cardboard to divider one by one once you are happy.
I think I made one minor change to the layout my 18L bag once. My new 40L bag hasn’t been reconfigured from my original layout. I might alter the layout so that the body can be on a telephoto as well as on any of the smaller lenses, but I’m not in a rush to do that.
Him. Interesting. I find that I usually have the right lens on, at least for the start of things. Usually scout an area pretty well before getting there, so I have an idea of what is there, what the surrounds are, and generally what sort of shot I want.
I have been switching to a longer lens about mid shoot lately, but I’ve been putting more efforts into thinking about the relationship of the objects in my photos, so do I want this thing to look likes its all alone (wide angle) or do I want to pull the background closer (telephoto).
I have one divider that’s anchored on one side only, so it can be flipped “open” or “closed” depending on the lens on the camera. One other lens will move from one compartment to another as well. Other than that, it stays static and there’s always a lens on the camera. I don’t have a ton of gear but the bag is packed more tightly and compactly than most of what I see, for example, in YouTube videos.
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