The older I get, the more I wish I could have a zero-gravity zone around my equipment. Multiple trips to the car, and back/shoulder aches when I'm done.

I do a lot of interview shooting in people's houses. I rarely get to see the location before I shoot, so I have to be equipped for most of the common sound/lighting needs.

I've thought of using a luggage cart or handtruck to consolidate things, but then there are obstacles like stairs and narrow doorways. And loading/unloading the cart twice would probably take at least as much time as just carrying things separately.

What's the most efficient approach for you?

P.S. When I'm really lucky, the interviewee will volunteer to help. But I never feel I can ask.

A cart is a must. I have 3 different carts depending on the amount of gear I'll be hauling. At the least, a folding handtruck with pneumatic wheels adds only a few pounds (should you need to haul it upstairs), but will help immensely on those long jaunts through carpeted hallways or bumpy parking lots. It's also quieter, so you're not announcing your presence like a herd of elephants.
The 2nd cart I own is a flatbed type cart with folding handle and wheels. It packs to only 3" tall, but holds a few hundred pounds. This is ideal for my larger pelican cases, sandbags and case lights. It looks like a doorway dolly, and probably could be used as such in a pinch (haven't tried that yet).
Most importantly, I leave my gear in the car as I arrive, do a site inspection (if I've never seen it), and then choose my gear and cart accordingly.

Who makes that flatbed cart, and roughly how much does it weigh?

At least I've learned to go in only with what I definitely need and see what I can leave in the car.

Phil

I have a folding handtruck and a folding cart. The cart is my primary go-to as it loads quickly, folds relatively flat, and I can bungee my gear. The folding hand truck comes in handy for jobs where I have less gear to haul in/out.

Here are some links:

Hand Truck
Wesco Maxi Mover Folding Handtruck 220649 B&H Photo Video

Cart
MultiCart 8-in-1 Equipment Transporters - R12NF All-Terrain

The cart came with pneumatic rear tires but they never seemed able to hold on to air too long so I swapped them out for the hard rubber. Prefer the pneumatics though.

Reed

My camera and lights are in wheeled equipment cases. Would you ignore the wheels and load the cases onto a cart for fewer trips?

Philip,

My 2 cams are in a wheeled case (porta brace). That goes on the cart along with a case with my LED panels, Pelican with wireless, case with audio cables, mics, and field mixer. Sometimes I even add a small playmate cooler with refreshments! Tripods and light stands are bungeed on top.

Generally one trip and just a few minutes to load up. It took a few gigs to work out a system for loading but I am quite happy with this setup.

Oh, and the length of the cart is adjustable. One venue I shoot at 2-3 times a year has a small wheelchair elevator that I use so I set the length of the cart to fit in the lift and have never had to adjust it for other jobs.

One trip instead of 4-5 and it is a lot easier on my back.

Reed

Went to an NPPA seminar years ago where I learned that you can put two pro light's, a tota, an umbrella, an extension cord, and three light stands in a bat bag (like in baseball), and carry the whole kit over your shoulder. The light stands go in the bat compartment, and the lights go where you would put the baseball gloves.

Bought me a bat bag when I got home and threw away my Lowell case, it was the greatest innovation in lighting in 100 years.

I now do mostly corporate work, so I have a rolley cart that fits in ADA accessible spaces (which is everywhere anymore).

I tend to agree with you that loading and unloading a luggage cart is more trouble than it's worth.

I have learned over my career that if I carry half as much crap, the shot doesn't suffer much - it's just faster and easier to load-in and load-out.

Never in a million years would I have thought of a bat bag! That could be a big help to me, and it's only $13 on Amazon.

The guy actually did an hour long seminar. It was called "I don't have time to set up lights".

He advocated keeping your lights on the light stands and putting them in the bag that way. He would literally pull them out, set up the stand, and plug them in. He left the collapsed umbrella on the tota, tilted down (so it would fit in the bag) when travelling. Pull it out, pop out the stand, open the 'brella, plug it in. Swear to God, I saw the guy do a three light setup in three minutes. It looked phenomenal, compared to the "run-and-gun" news crapola I'd been shooting.

At the time, Lowel's came with these useless 9 foot power cables. He showed us how to disassemble the connectors, throw away the cable, go buy a 25' extension cord, hack off one end, put the connector back on, and have a 25' power cable - no more extension cords.

He advocated shopping for extension cords at Christmastime - you can get these extension cords with three outlets on the end. (You can now get these year round.) One less power strip = one less thing to carry = one less thing to lose.

I did the bat-bag thing for a long time, although I found keeping the lights on the stands would beat up my lights too fast - so I kept them in separate compartments (as described above).

Get yourself a multi-cart. They come in a bunch of sizes, and you can get steel or aluminum if you are worried about weight. Any mulitcart can be configured a bunch of ways, from four wheeled flat bed to two wheeled hand truck. Even come with accessories like shelves, laptop mounts, etc.

One thing I forgot to mention. Since the tripods/lightstands are often too long for lugging on a cart or to heavy to lug over the shoulder, I also own two rolling golf cases. One is a soft case about 5ft tall that holds about a dozen light stands and a tripod, with exterior pockets for cables. The other is an ATA rated hard case that better for airplane usage. It easily holds a Sachtler tripod and 4 lightstands. You can pad the interior with foam so that nothing rattles around or gets banged up. Both of these were purchased via Craigslist and I paid between $50 and $100.
Amazon has great deals on these hand trucks:
Magna Cart Ideal Hand Truck - Amazon.com

Magna Cart Flatform 4- Wheeled Hand Truck - Amazon.com

Occasionally, I've seen these at Costco for even less.

I got my hard-sided golf bag from the Salvation Army for $20. I can put the tripod, three (aluminum) stands and a 25' extension cord in it and it comes in at 49.5 pounds - a half pound short of extra charge on the airlines. My tripod is significantly less beat up since I got this hard case.

I bought a Rubbermaid cart in a pinch for $70 at Home Depot. It folds down and carries up to 500 lbs I think. It works great, I lay my light kit case down first (which extends over) and stack everything on top. I use bungies to hold everything on. Rubbermaid Commercial Products, 500 lb. Capacity Triple Trolley Hand Truck, FG4401-20BLA at The Home Depot - Mobile (http://m.homedepot.com/p/Rubbermaid-Commercial-Products-500-lb-Capacity-Triple-Trolley-Hand-Truck-FG4401-20BLA/100207528/) I've carted this thing all over the place, it works great. It's not that large so you can jam it in a car pretty easy and it's very light. Worked well in NYC where I barely could shove one more thing in a taxi.

I've also used the Harbor Freight $50 hand trucks. Not bad either. 24 " x 36 " Folding Platform Truck (http://www.harborfreight.com/24-x-36-folding-platform-truck-68894.html)

Perhaps I'm lucky in shooting for local TV news inasmuch as a) I don't have time to load and unload a cart and b) we VJs have minimal kit allocated to us anyway, namely a Sony Z5, tripod and a few mics.

So I sling the camera on the tripod over my shoulder (ensuring it's locked on!), stick a bag of mics over the other shoulder and head into the interview.

If lighting is needed - what a rare treat and such a shame we're only issued two rather rubbish LED toplights - then they go in the mic bag and I grab a stand in my right hand.

We were issued with small trolleys initially but everyone found them too much of a nuisance to pull stuff around on, over pavements, up stairs etc etc

Regards
David

I use a few different sized generic suitcases w/rollers depending on the shoot complexity. I live in a city where I take a taxi to every shoot and every thing needs to quickly fit in the back seat or trunk.

They stack inside each other easily when not in use. They're cheap.

My basic kit: The smallest suitcase can fit my
- rails/monitor/cam accessories
- three 4 CFL bulb soft boxes or three red heads w/stands,
- grip accessories/gels
- audio rec, boom/mic, lab
- laptop
- ac cables/electric stuff

My tripod, camera bag and glider get attached to outside of the case.

Its big, but easily manageable.

Absolutely love our Mumticart RT12, but these wide bungee straps really take the cake for best investment to transport gear: Keeper, 48 in. Flat Bungee Cord Ultra in Orange and Black, 06118 at The Home Depot - Mobile (http://m.homedepot.com/p/Keeper-48-in-Flat-Bungee-Cord-Ultra-in-Orange-and-Black-06118/203529337/)

Good ideas here, but I face a couple of issues that there's probably no solution for:

I'm driving a Toyota Highlander and I load the equipment in the back. That means lifting fairly heavy stuff up to belly-button height. I've considered a ramp, but if I have to park on a city street, it's unlikely I'll have enough room in back to use it.

Also, stairs. The more stuff I have with me, the more I have to carry upstairs. That can be really tough lifting, and sometimes dangerous if the stairs are old, narrow, creaky wooden ones.

I bought an aluminum hand truck at Home Depot. It's either a 2 wheeled hand truck or lays down to a 4 wheeld cart. I had a guy weld a small 6" x 8" piece between the back wheels (when in it's in the cart mode). This lets me stand my tripod and some light stands between the handles instead of trying to balance them on top of the gear. A small bungy cord holds them in place. Total cost was about $250.

Another vote for the Multicart with the largest solid rubber wheels available; they never let you down and push with less resistance than pneumatic. The shelves are a must have, doubling the working area of the cart and providing a great surface for audio bag, monitor, computer etc. The ability to go short or long with the shelf is handy as well and I often secure an umbrella to the cart which people really appreciate here in FL.

mb

Mark, the multipart = the Rock n Roller? What do you think is the smallest practical size for 2 cases, 3 light stands, and a tripod?

The longest piece is one of the light stands, at 42", but I guess it could extend beyond the front.

A Magliner Gemini Jr convertible hand cart.

That Magliner looks good but it's heavy for me to lift comfortably into the SUV. I'd say 25 lbs. is about the max.

Swear by these:

Kart-A-Bag Welcomes You! (http://www.kart-a-bag.com/)

Remin Kart-A-Bag Tri-Kart 800 - Amazon.com


Have filmed all over the world using them. Have used them for the last fifteen years or so and would hate to live without them. Very strong and well made, can carry 330lbs and can be steered with just a couple of fingers when using the lock-down rear wheels. No need to balance as it justs sits there waiting to be pushed or pulled.

For certain stairs you can use it In two wheel mode with the rear wheels locked up as it actually has stair slider rails in the back of it.

Folds down pretty compact for vehicle or flight stowage. There is also a carry bag available from Remin for these Tri-Karts. Many camera crews use them over here. I love 'em!

Chris Young
CYV Productions
Sydney

I'm not sure I could live without my Tri-Kart 800. nearly 10 years of use and it's still going strong.

Curious about the carry bag (I never bought one back then) t noticed that on-line store is throwing a 404 error.

Hope it's just temporary.

Hmm! See what you mean. Tried sending them an alert email but that link also appears to be down. Anyone local over there care to give them a call and let them know?

B&H carry the Tri-Kart and the carry bag.

remin tri_kart 800| B&H Photo Video (http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search?Ntt=remin+tri_kart+800&N=0&InitialSearch=yes&sts=ta).

I'm fairly budget-minded when it comes to investing hard-earned dollars into cases for my gear, but I've found a few "bargain items" enhance the more expensive solutions.

First, I'm a die-hard fan of Pelican cases. I have 3 sizes - one for a pair of LED light heads, one for my Z5 video kit, and one for my DSLR kit. All have wheels and dividers, and all can easily be re-configured for each shoot.

Second, I have an SKB molded golf transport case with wheels. It's large enough for a tripod, 4 light stands, mic boom and backdrop. Works well when traveling by air.

Third, don't overlook home improvement centers like Home Depot or Lowe's. Check out the Husky zippered bags in this 3-pack organizer Husky 3-Pack Organizer-82010N11 at The Home Depot (http://www.homedepot.com/p/t/203224325?catalogId=10053&langId=-1&storeId=10051&N=5yc1vZc2g6&R=203224325)
and the 12-inch tote bag perfect for a 150 watt head and grip gear Husky 12 in. Tool Bag-81632N09 at The Home Depot (http://www.homedepot.com/p/t/202018017?catalogId=10053&langId=-1&storeId=10051&N=5yc1vZc2g6Z1z0x0wqZrd&R=202018017)

Fourth, I found some small transparent acrylic organizer boxes with compartments at The Container Store. I have batteries in one, and all my mic accessories in another.

Mark, the multipart = the Rock n Roller? What do you think is the smallest practical size for 2 cases, 3 light stands, and a tripod?

The longest piece is one of the light stands, at 42", but I guess it could extend beyond the front.

Yes Philip, they are one and the same. B&H doesn't show the shelf which I always use but it is 28" in short mode and 50" when the R12 is fully extended and you add the shelf extension. I would definitely go for the R12 as it has the best wheels. Might be more than you need but I have never said "I wish this thing carried less stuff"

MultiCart 8-in-1 Equipment Transporters - R12NF All-Terrain

There are a couple cases that have made my life easier. First the Kata LW-97W PL. I can get my tripod, two light stands, and and LED softlight kit, and a couple days worth of clothes and get under the 50 lb. weight limit for flying. If I don't need to worry about weight I can get more lighting gear and an additional stand in there too. For almost all purposes I can make this work. And having this plus my wheeled camera bag makes it easy to move quickly.

When I need more gear I take my Porter Case with me. It is basically a case that converts into a cart. I can stack up whatever I need on top of it and don't need to bring a separate cart. Important when flying.
Porter Case, Inc. (http://portercase.com)

That Porter Case is an idea I've had rattling around in my head, but didn't know existed. (Top of case=cart platform.) Could never think of a way to make it work reliably with a regular case+cart, but I'm happy to know it exists.

The older I get, the more I wish I could have a zero-gravity zone around my equipment. Multiple trips to the car, and back/shoulder aches when I'm done.
Be happy you have a car. I'm lugging my equipment around on public transport :/

"Carp Trolleys" of varying weights and designs if on this side of the Atlantic. Even took one with me to Brazil last year but left it behind 'cos those cheapskates at Air France wanted 100 Euro each way.

Ron

Multicart R12 and the trunk of my '09 Malibu. It fits EXACTLY. Also notice those great little orange straps from Home Depot holding it all on there!

I'll probably do an extended version of it soon, but check out the pictures of my 5 camera shoot backpack. (http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/spc-single-person-crew/515470-urban-taxi-subway-kit-challenge.html#post1788217)