If you are carrying lots of gear a good heavy duty padded waist belt is an absolute must. I just got myself a Lowepro Vertex 200AW it is superb. The waist belt transfers the weight to your pelvis and there is very little weight on your shoulders.
I can easily carry 2DSLRs + accessories + 6 lenses + flash + laptop + tripod and I sometimes event manage to squeze in a 35mm body when necessary + some filme although that usually means leaving a lens behind. BTW one of the lenses is the Sigma 50-500 aka the Bigma. Fully loaded the whole rig weighs in at around 15Kg and while lugging that weight around for a long trek will definitely eat in to your energy reserves it remains comfortable. One suggestion get a couple of lens bags that attach to the waist belt and while trekking keep your 2 favourite lenses in them this makes rapid lens changes possible without needing to take the backpack off. Regards Patrick On Nov 3, 2007 4:18 PM, Scott Loveless <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Hey, gang! > > This is yet another "tell me what to buy" inquiry. I'm looking for a > back pack to lug my gear around. Until recently I had been happy with > shoulder bags, but the death march up Grandfather mountain last spring > convinced me otherwise. I'm looking for something with padded straps. > Chest and waist straps would be nice, too. Lash points for accessory > bags and a tripod are a must. The pack should be able to accommodate > the following three loading scenarios (one at a time, of course): > 1. 35mm rig. Two bodies, 3 or 4 lenses, gadgets (filters, etc.) and a > whole lotta film. > 2. P645 and 3 or 4 lenses, more gadgets, lots of film and between 2 and > 4 film inserts. > 3. 4x5 field camera (OK, it's really a Crown Graphic with all the extra > crap stripped off), 6 to 12 film holders, up to 2 additional lenses (I > only have one right now), light meter, 35mm body and one zoom lens. > > My current front-runner is the f.64 BP (not the BPX). I think this bag > may do the trick, especially if I add a couple pouches for film. Plus, > it comes with two pouches for 4x5 holders. > > http://www.f64camerabag.com/backpacks.html > http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=91692&is=REG > > Any thoughts? I'd love to hear them. Thanks! > > -- > Scott Loveless > http://www.twosixteen.com/fivetoedsloth/ > > -- > PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List > [email protected] > http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net > to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow > the directions. > -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
