How To Carry Camera?

[Dennis Vogel]

What is the recommended way to carry a DSLR with lens attached in a bag?

1. Vertical, lens down?
2. Vertical, lens up?
3. Horizontal with cam and lens resting on a horizontal surface?
4. Something else?

The reason I ask is that most camera bags I see are designed to hold a camera vertically with the lens down. Or at least that's how they are shown in diagrams showing the bags in use.

What is the consensus here?

D

[Sareesh Sudhakaran]

If the bag is vertical, it makes sense to have the lens pointing down, especially if its a telephoto lens.

If the bag is horizontal (like a shoulder Bag), then necessity requires the lens and camera be horizontal, with the base either pointing down or sideways.

If the bag is square or circular, any configuration is safe as long as there's padding all around.

When in doubt, follow the manufacturer's design. The idea is to keep things from bouncing around. The orientation of the camera does not matter. Think about this: Even if your camera is oriented in a particular manner inside the bag, what happens when the bag is flipped?

I personally like the Thinktank Retro series.

[Lee Mullen]

What about using a camcorder bag?

[Chris Soucy]

Sorry, Sareesh, I have to disagree.

(The following assumes that you are using a properly padded and designed stills camera bag from someone who knows how to make them, like Lowe, et al) .

Always, always, always carry the camera either on it's back, the largest square area of body to any ground forces that may be applied if dropped (the most likely sceaario) or lying horizontal, if you must.

The latter does mean that a serious drop could rip the lens mount off the camera (very not good), the former that it could, well,................. I've done about 50,000 miles with a brace of cameras and lenses, and boy, I'm pretty agricultural with my gear, and ain't lost a single unit yet.

Never, ever, carry a camera and lens system, lens down in a bag. It hits the ground, what takes the hit?

The lens will be demolished, and take the camera mount with it, because there is simply not enough square inches of camera/ lens/ padding to soak up the blow.

Just my HO.


CS

[Jon Fairhurst]

Then again, a well-padded bag will have a given design. For instance, many have the camera pointing down, but the body is supported. Unless the lens extends all the way to the bottom of the bag, there will be dead space and padding before the lens would make any contact.

Personally, I like using a backpack. When it's on my back, I have no worries about dropping it. I'm more worried about damaging the camera when out of the bag, rather than in. When the camera is inside the bag, I'm more worried about theft than damage.

I've got the LowePro Fasttrack 250. It (barely) fits under an airline seat, so I can keep my eyes (or feet) on the equipment. It has side access to the camera, so I can get it without fully removing the backpack. And then I can shoot without setting my equipment down. I'd like to get a belly back as well, where I can keep media and batteries as well as one alternate lens and filters. That would let me maintain the camera and have one alternate lens while standing or walking.

In that particular backpack, the lens faces the center of the bottom section, so it can never land lens first. But this is of secondary concern for me compared to theft.

[Warren Kawamoto]

When I pack a bag, the question I ask is: What would happen if I dropped the bag? Is there sufficient padding on the bottom to prevent damage? If yes, then all is good. If no, then rethink about what needs to be padded.

[Sareesh Sudhakaran]

Guys...you are assuming the bag will always fall face up. What if the bag falls the other way around? Then the lens that is pointed up is suddenly pointing down.

Also, to add to what I've said: Try to get the softest bag. The harder the bag, the more force is transferred to the equipment inside. Think how sneakers work.

The top manufacturers know this, and have found a good balance between softness, weight and strength. However, when one buys the top-of-the-line product with a lot of padding, rain protection and slots, the weight of the bag is suddenly too much.

[Jon Fairhurst]

I don't know about the soft bag thing. My pelican cases are pretty hard, and with enough foam, the equipment is protected. I think the key is the thickness of the soft stuff.

[Steve Game]

It doesn't matter which way round the camera is when the bag impacts the ground. What matters is the amount of compliance in the bag's support before the camera fully compresses the padding. The bag must provide a progressive resistance to the payload, (in this case the camera) allowing it to decelerate over a longer period of time.
As Jon says, the best systems have a foam barrier between the hard case which will take a very high shock, and the payload. The heavier the camera, the stiffer the foam needs to be. If there is a smaller point of contact between the payload and the foam the foam either needs to be thicker or stiffer at that point. If the camera back, being largely flat is pressing against the foam, it is possible that the support given will be too stiff and too much of the shock will be transmitted through it.
In an ideal system, the maximum designed shock level will give the same load deflection into the supporting foam whichever direction it is from and however the camera is oriented.

Steve

[Michael Wisniewski]

Personally, I like to live a little dangerously, so I carry my cameras accordingly. If there isn't a risk of your camera being completely demolished at any given moment, I would suggest maybe you're not working hard enough to hold it properly.

[John Wiley]

Haha Michael, I kind of like your attitude. Besides, insurance is a great way to get your camera replaced at a low cost!

For my DSLR's, I have a backpack with 1-2 bodies and 3-4 lenses, including a 70-200. If I drop it, something expensive is gonna get broken no matter which way it goes. A hard case is great for protection from impact but usually takes up a lot more space and weight, which means that when dealing with airline baggage limits you will often be pleading a... um... hard case.

Personally, I believe insurance and common sense are your best protection!

[Jon Fairhurst]

Along these lines, I'd like to get a "modular" neck strap. For shooting photos, I highly recommend a strap. Nothing hits the ground that way. But for video, a strap often gets in the way and might even rattle. A quick-release strap would need rubber or padded joints so when the strap is off, the moving camera is silent.

[Buba Kastorski]

i often shoot with two cameras at the same time, camcorder and DSLR, when I don't shoot with DSLR it's on the Spider, when it's in the bag, i always dismount the lens and put the caps on, then it doesn't matter if the camera in horizontal or vertical position as long as it's not loose between the pads.

[Sareesh Sudhakaran]

Originally Posted by Jon Fairhurst

My pelican cases are pretty hard, and with enough foam, the equipment is protected. I think the key is the thickness of the soft stuff.

I get my hard cases made locally, and the manufacturer once told me if my hard case fell and broke open, it's a good thing - because the force has been absorbed by the case and has not been transferred to the camera. If the case is super strong and does not break, the force has to be transferred somewhere, and it winds up being transferred to the camera.

The only thing that prevents this is the quality and thickness of the foam. This is where Pelican seems to have got it right.

[Mike Watson]

Originally Posted by Jon Fairhurst

Personally, I like using a backpack. When it's on my back, I have no worries about dropping it. I'm more worried about damaging the camera when out of the bag, rather than in. When the camera is inside the bag, I'm more worried about theft than damage.

Having just moved over from a 5D, I'm giving up my backpack and going back to a more traditional vidcam bag. I liked the backpack, but I had several near-miss heart attacks with the zipper zipped halfway on the backpack, and someone attempting to pick it up, wherein everything (the camera, the lenses) would fall out and clatter to the ground. Like I say, I was able to stop the incident before it happened, but too much risk for me. Someone inadvertently picks up my shoulder bag, the zipper is on the top. No problem.