[bluebug32]

I was given an SLR and I need a good case for it. Many seem to have too many pockets. I have an extra 40-150 lens for it. Other than that, I just need to pack some cards and perhaps the charger. Any ideas? I'm looking for small, somewhat weatherproof and fairly inexpensive. It'll be used mostly for hiking and travel.

 

[Transcend]

Get the tiny lowepro digital backpack AW i think it is called. TAZ on here has one. They also make even smaller ones than that in waist belt, shoulder and top loader formats.

 

[bluebug32]

Get the tiny lowepro digital backpack AW i think it is called. TAZ on here has one. They also make even smaller ones than that in waist belt, shoulder and top loader formats.

Thanks...just not sure if I want a backpack when traveling abroad. I'll look into the others though

 

[narlus]

as opposed to a beltpak? or a shoulder pak?

go to a store and see the bags for yrself, and which fit the best.

i got a lowe mini trekker AW which can hold crap load of stuff, but it feels very comfy to me. not the sort of thing i'd ever want to take on a bike trip, but hiking w/ it would be no problem, and i plan on walking around Rome w/ it strapped to my back.

 

[BuddhaRoadkill]

Take your pick.

I've got the small reporter and it's served me well.

 

[bluebug32]

as opposed to a beltpak? or a shoulder pak?

go to a store and see the bags for yrself, and which fit the best.

i got a lowe mini trekker AW which can hold crap load of stuff, but it feels very comfy to me. not the sort of thing i'd ever want to take on a bike trip, but hiking w/ it would be no problem, and i plan on walking around Rome w/ it strapped to my back.

I'm going to South America and the Galapagos later this year and I'm worried about security with something on my back (though it is more comfortable and a shoulder bag hurts after a day of lugging it around). I don't know if I'm being overly protective. Does anyone use a beltpak? Are they comfy?

 

[narlus]

what size and how many lenses are you looking to bring? and why would a backpack be less secure? if someone is trying to unzip it and get at the contents while you are wearing it, you're gonna know.

 

[binary visions]

what size and how many lenses are you looking to bring?

SLR and <snip> an extra 40-150 lens for it. Other than that, I just need to pack some cards and perhaps the charger.

If you're really worried about security, you could buy a simple carabeaner (spelling?), especially one with a screw-style locking mechanism, and clamp it onto the zippers. That would allow you easy access but make it difficult to unzip without you knowing about it.

I'd go with a backpack, shoulder bags suck for long distances. Don't own any camera-specific backpacks though, so I can't help much with brands. I'd go see some in person - that's the kind of thing that can be comfortable for some people and uncomfortable for others.

 

[biggins]

i just use the Lowe Pro TLZ mini. holds a few cards and an extra battery as well as a polarizing filter a lens cloth and my camera. It works well for me. I just keep my 18-55 lens on the camera.when i am hiking with it i drop it into my backpack and call it good.if you arent carrying a pile of lenses and crap like that then you dont need all that backpack stuff it'll just make traveling more difficult.

 

[biggins]

If you're really worried about security, you could buy a simple carabeaner (spelling?), especially one with a screw-style locking mechanism, and clamp it onto the zippers. That would allow you easy access but make it difficult to unzip without you knowing about it.

I'd go with a backpack, shoulder bags suck for long distances. Don't own any camera-specific backpacks though, so I can't help much with brands. I'd go see some in person - that's the kind of thing that can be comfortable for some people and uncomfortable for others.

i can only stand the shoulder strap if it is a single camera/single lens over the shoulder kind of case. for the long haul and lots of gear you certainly would want the backpack style.

 

[narlus]

does the 150mm zoom extend, or is it fixed length? that and the camera body sound like they are the two largest components which the bag must accomodate (btw, bring a charger plus any necessary adapters and at least one extra battery, and enough storage if you can't dump them to a PC)

 

[biggins]

does the 150mm zoom extend, or is it fixed length? that and the camera body sound like they are the two largest components which the bag must accomodate (btw, bring a charger plus any necessary adapters and at least one extra battery, and enough storage if you can't dump them to a PC)

yeah the backup storage is nice. i need to get something smaller to dump cards on. right now i carry my laptop if i know i will be maxing out all my cards and shooting RAW all the time certainly makes that a possibility.

 

[bluebug32]

does the 150mm zoom extend, or is it fixed length? that and the camera body sound like they are the two largest components which the bag must accomodate (btw, bring a charger plus any necessary adapters and at least one extra battery, and enough storage if you can't dump them to a PC)

It extends and I'm planning on bringing 3 gig of cards with me. Everything I've heard about the Galapagos says to that you have to double what you originally plan to take because you'll want to shoot everything.

I touble fitting the 40-150 lens in many cases when it's attached to the camera body.

 

[mr2monster]

I'd need more than 3 gigs...

If you have an iPod you can transfer your pics to it via a little usb adapter. I used that on numerous occasions and it works really well. no need to buy another portable storage device.

 

[Transcend]

I have a stealth reporter 300 on a waist belt deluxe, along with 2 big glass canisters. It is fairly comfy, and I can get the shoulder straps for the belt if i want as well. I use it when hiking a race course where i need to carry an extra body, 1 or 2 extra lenses, flashes, pocket wizards, batteries etc.

My advice, get more cards. I have 10g and counting and it doesn't seem like enough at time. Of course, my camera spits out 10-12mb images.

 

[binary visions]

3gb is not even close to enough storage space. Galapagos and South America? I'd probably end up with 3gb in the first two days. 3000mb (which it isn't, it's much less, more like 2,700mb), will let you take 600 5megabyte jpeg images. 600.

I took a thousand pictures when I went to Bermuda for a week, and there's not even a lot of interesting wildlife on Bermuda.

 

[narlus]

man, there seems to be a flurry of activity on CF cards...buy.com is too busy to even search, and newegg is sold out of the 2GB one i wanted.

hopefully 2GB a day will be ok, as i can dump them to my bro-in-law's mac each day.

 

[bluebug32]

I have a stealth reporter 300 on a waist belt deluxe

I have a stupid question, but does it attatch through a belt loop? If so, isn't that kind of heavy? I don't want to accidently mood the South Americans.

 

[bluebug32]

oops, I meant "moon". Trying to do too many things at once!

Where's the cheapest place online to pick up extra cards?

 

[narlus]

buy.com had a pretty good deal w/ either a rebate and/or coupon, where i could get a 2GB kingston elite for about $55.

 

[Transcend]

No the wasit belt deluxe is a huge backbrace lookin thing from lowepro, seriously, take a look at their website.

I can post a picture in a bit if you want.

 

[bluebug32]

No the wasit belt deluxe is a huge backbrace lookin thing from lowepro, seriously, take a look at their website.

I can post a picture in a bit if you want.

Thanks, I will. I've had trouble finding these in stores to try out and haven't found a store with good selection.

 

[biggins]

you should look into one of those cards that is a mini hard drive. they are 4 gigs or so.i dont know about the writing speed on them though but if you arent taking action shots it really doesnt matter.

 

[narlus]

you can get a 4GB solid state card now; i'd stay away from drive-based storage.

 

[mr2monster]

you should look into one of those cards that is a mini hard drive. they are 4 gigs or so.i dont know about the writing speed on them though but if you arent taking action shots it really doesnt matter.

Beware, microdrives only work on certain cameras... Generally the newer stuff can do them, but if it's an older DSLR then you probably should stay clear of microdrives. just check and make sure whatever cam you have accepts that type of CF

I'm tellin you... the iPod is the way to go(unless you dont have one yet). Carry your 3 GB of cards, shoot for the day, come back to wherever you're staying and dump them onto your iPod. Go back out and shoot the next day with your 3GB. The adapter is only like 15 bucks.

 

[bluebug32]

Beware, microdrives only work on certain cameras... Generally the newer stuff can do them, but if it's an older DSLR then you probably should stay clear of microdrives. just check and make sure whatever cam you have accepts that type of CF

I'm tellin you... the iPod is the way to go(unless you dont have one yet). Carry your 3 GB of cards, shoot for the day, come back to wherever you're staying and dump them onto your iPod. Go back out and shoot the next day with your 3GB. The adapter is only like 15 bucks.

I don't have an Ipod. The camera I have just came out a few months ago, so my guess is that it can handle the newer stuff.

 

[justsomeguy]

Re: micro-drives.

My older (five year old) DSLR handles them fine but they are less reliable than solid state and with the prices of solid state being so low now (relative to where they were in the past) I wouldn't buy another micro drive.

Lexar's WA cards (I only have the 80x) are also faster but since I rarely fill the buffer it's not that big of a deal for me.

 

[Transcend]

Re: micro-drives.

My older (five year old) DSLR handles them fine but they are less reliable than solid state and with the prices of solid state being so low now (relative to where they were in the past) I wouldn't buy another micro drive.

Lexar's WA cards (I only have the 80x) are also faster but since I rarely fill the buffer it's not that big of a deal for me.

What he said. Stay away from microdrives, they use more power and are prone to failing. If you drop one, you may very well lose everythign on it. You can get 2/4 or even 8gb CF cards now if you want.

I personally use a ton of Sandisk Ultra 2 2gb and 1gb cards. They can be had really cheap now. Remember more small cards is better then fewer big cards as a card failure or loss doesn't mean your whole trip is lost.

 

[bluebug32]

Remember more small cards is better then fewer big cards as a card failure or loss doesn't mean your whole trip is lost.

Exactly. I'm so excited because it's a really great camera and I can't wait to photograph all those boobies









Birds that is.

 

[binary visions]

Boobies!

 

[maxyedor]

I'm going to South America and the Galapagos later this year and I'm worried about security with something on my back (though it is more comfortable and a shoulder bag hurts after a day of lugging it around). I don't know if I'm being overly protective. Does anyone use a beltpak? Are they comfy?

If that's the case, check out the stuff from Crumpler, sorry I don't have a link but google will, they look like normal backpacks not camaer bags and some of them have the access to your camera in funky spots that make theft nearly impossible. They are a little pricey compared to the LowPros but you'll only ever have to buy one.

 

[maxyedor]

you should look into one of those cards that is a mini hard drive. they are 4 gigs or so.i dont know about the writing speed on them though but if you arent taking action shots it really doesnt matter.

As others have stated those aren't a great idea. They are slow, wich may not be a horrible thing, but they are also very fragile. Flash cards are very durrable (I just pulled one out of my washing machine, it's Tide clean, but still works great) you would hat for your gear to get jostled in the airplane on the flight home and destroy 4gb of vacation pictures.

 

[ito]

I'd need more than 3 gigs...

If you have an iPod you can transfer your pics to it via a little usb adapter. I used that on numerous occasions and it works really well. no need to buy another portable storage device.

From what I've heard the download rate on those is terrible and they really drain the battery on the ipod and camera. If you go straight back to the hotel that is fine as you can wait, but this is a better option if you will be away from a recharge station for a while.

http://www.wolverinedata.com/

The Flashpack is one of the coolest things I've seen lately. Good battery life, much faster data transfer than an iPod setup, doesn't drain the camera battery. If you don't want to carry a laptop and don't already have an iPod this is a great option for data transfer in the field.

When I go out shooting I plan on a flashpack, a 1gb card and a smaller card as a backup while the 1gb is downloading.

For a pack I really dig the holster style. I recently started using a Tamrac Tele-Zoom pac ( http://www.tamrac.com/welcome.htm ) as a belt holster. I attach it to my camelback and have no problem with it being on my waist strap. I tend to hike off the trail a lot when shooting and having a shoulder strap was annoying and I have yet to find a compact camera backpack that will also hold food and water (if you know of one let me know). Also a backpack makes it hard to get at the camera without stopping and much harder to change lenses without stopping. Plus it is never in the way like a shoulder strap bag is and it doesn't seem to unbalance me or hurt my shoulder when hiking all day with it.

Plus with a pair of carabiners you can easily make it a chest holster when backpacking. Well, that is my 2 cents.

The Ito