Tripod for hiking

All the funky stuff which turns your 550 gramme DSLR into a 5 kilo bag...
mvanrheenen

Re: Tripod for hiking

Unread post by mvanrheenen »

Hi Birma,

I'll keep you all updated about the search for a bag. To be honest, I think it will be a multiple bag solution.

Thanks!
mvanrheenen

Re: Tripod for hiking

Unread post by mvanrheenen »

Hello all,

I've been busy solving the puzzle called "Finding a way to carry everything I need without straining my shoulders".

Simply put, it comes down to distributing my gear and personal stuff in such a way that I can take everything I need on my hiking trips and not strain my shoulders too much.

My gear consists of:

Camera: 500 grams
Lenses: 1125 grams
Tripod: 2400 grams
Head: 600 grams
Misc gear (filters, batteries etc): ~400 grams

This totals to about 5 kg, without other hiking equipment.

What I did was make a shift with what I can do to distribute the weight with the tools at hand. For one of the lenses I have a lenscase which I can securely strap to a belt. Furthermore, I have a little beltpack in which I can carry the tripod head and some misc gear. This is about 1 kg of weight less on my shoulders and leaves about 4 kg to carry on my back, with most of the weight from the tripod.

Now for the rest of the weight. I was thinking of buying another lenscase which I can strap on my belt. This would shave of another 450 grams of weight off my back. This would leave around 3,5 kg of gear for my back.

With this in mind, I was thinking about buying a small, lightweight backpack in which I can securely transport my camera, lenses, tripod head, misc gear and some personal stuff like my medicine and travelpapers from A to B by plain or car. The lens cases and tripod I can take with me as part of my checked baggage when traveling by plane or in the trunk when traveling by car.

When hiking, it needs to be able to mount my tripod and securely pack my camera and my zoom lens for hiking. The other parts will be in the lens cases and beltpack. Besides my gear, I want to be able to fit misc hiking stuff in or on the bag. Think about maps, small first aid kit, water, food and clothing. This looks like a lot off stuff and it is, but bear in mind I never go hiking without company who only carries a Nex 5!

So, I've narrowed it down to a few candidates, one of which is the Kata 3n1-10 convertible backpack + tripod mount expansion. This bagpack is small, lightweight (900 grams empty), can carry a camera with 3 lenses (1 mounted), has a rain cover and has room for some personal stuff. With the tripod expansion, I could carry a tripod on it as well.

As far as I can see now, it's the smallest bag I can find which can carry a tripod in the middle of the bag. Furthermore, it's reasonally priced.

For a lenscase, I've found the Lowepro cases to be quite good. Adding a DIY secure attachment to my belt and raincover would be sufficient enough to get me through most situations.

I mentioned the Kata bag as I'm going to test it at a local dealer pretty soon.

If someone has another good idea, I'm allways open to suggestions!

Thanks for reading again :-)

Mark
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artington
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Joined: Sun Jan 11, 2009 5:22 pm

Re: Tripod for hiking

Unread post by artington »

Has anyone tried one of these? Seems to tick all the boxes. Comes with its own ball-head and bag too.

http://www.3leggedthing.com/carbon-fibe ... x1kit.html
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