Help with "hauling" gear

I am interested to learn how others handle moving their heavy gear from one shooting location to another. Specifically big lens and tripod. I am not a large person and recently found it very difficult to haul my 500 lens, tripod and camera from one site to another over rough trails and/or boulders. Initially I tried leaving the lens and camera attached to the tripod, closing the tripod and hauling it all on my shoulder. This weight really "over balanced" me and also I ended up with huge bruises on my shoulder and arm. Next I tried taking the setup apart and carrying the lens by the strap over my left shoulder, camera in my right vest pocket and tripod over my right shoulder. This was much easier to carry but resulted in getting dust spots on the sensor early in the day after a few moves. How do you all handle this transport problem? I certainly am going to build in some serious padding into the shoulders of my photo vest and also put some padding on the top sections of the legs of my tripod before the next venture! And also get a better strap for the 500 lens. Maybe the "upstrap". Anyone have experience with that strap?
Thanks so much for any suggestions!

I always re-pack everything carefully into a backpack before hauling to a new location of any distance. I have had and heard of too many horror stories of cameras separating from tripods, lenses from cameras, and things accidentally hitting rocks, trees, or other bits of equipment on momentary loss of balance. Better safe than sorry.

Guy

I agree with Guy. The lens especially needs to be in a well padded backpack. I too have seen some seriously bad things happen when people tried to hike with a big lens attached to a tripod on their shoulder, rifle style. A possible option might be to get a very small golf type cart with big wheels and push/pull it along? Finally, there might be another option for you. If you use Nikon system, there is the very good Nikon 200-400mm f4 lens. While it is big, it's nowhere near as big as a 500mm f4, and gives outstanding results. It seems to be on it's way to becomming a favorite in that price range.


Kent in SD

Another vote for not carrying the assembled setup over your shoulder. We've lost a fair amount of gear due to falls (people tripping over it on locations shoots, drops from heights while on industrial shoots, and more), and security is a top priority. Our insurance is good, but it can never compensate for the sickening sound of metal, glass and plastic shattering.

I bought a long camera strap (Tamrac N-5059) and replaced the lens strap on my 500 with that. It's a tangle hazard sometimes, but on short hops between locations I leave the camera attached to the lens, then slip my head and shoulder through the lens strap. With the lens hood reversed the combo isn't too bulky, and the longer strap allows the camera and lens to ride on my side while the weight is better distributed than with a short strap. There's extra security in also having your head through the strap.

I'm like Guy on longer moves, securely stowing everything in a pack. It eases things a bit to extend one leg of your tripod and use it as a "walking stick" for balance when necessary. When will one of the tripod companies wise up and make one leg on a tripod removable for use as a walking stick?????

I often carry my camera attached to tripod over my shoulder, never had any issues, although I will admit that I always take the big lens off and put on my 50 as it is a lot lighter and it's easier to carry the big lens in the backpack. ....................J

Moving short distances on decent trails, I'll occasionally leave the camera/lens on the tripod, but only if I'm shooting with a smaller lens. I wouldn't go that route with a 500mm lens. Even with an 80-200, which is a fairly large lens, I don't do that. When I do move around that way, I hold the camera and lens and leave the tripod legs sticking out behind me. That's not too bad for maybe a 1/2 mile or so, then it gets old.

The rest of the time, I pack it all up.

Grace the answer is going to be different for different people depending on their abilities and what exactly is being carried. One ought to have some kind of pack to generally move gear around. There are times when one is just going to be moving short distances where that will just be too much a nuisance to break gear down and store it safely only to be faced with unpacking and reassemble in short order. Thus every photography needs to have a way to do that at whatever comfortable level of difficulty that might be for themselves. For some folk, that may mean any time they have to go off easy paths and trails anything more than short distance, the gear ought to go back into a protective gear carrying system. For others it might be whenever the terrain gets very difficult to navigate or becomes inefficient due to distance. One thing to do regarding shoulder soreness is of course to use some padding. Not something you are likely to find as an off the shelf product, however making something that fits atop one's shoulder to help broaden the distribution of pressing forces ought to be trivial. Personally I'm just a slight 5'6" 130 pounder though carrry huge weights both backpacking and when carrying my usual 30 or so pounds of day hiking camera gear. I'll carry my tripod with view camera on my shoulder across a lot of places ordinary people of decent coordination would avoid. But that is a skill I've developed over long years. But that is dangerous and eventually the odds caught up with me a few years ago when a lens popped off my camera after a restraining screw had unknowingly gotten loose. A sobering $900 pain it was. ...David

Grace, I make my judgement based on what my subject is and how far I am going. If I am shooting wildlife and I could see anything at any time I'll typically leave my 600 and body on the tripod and just collapse the tripod legs and put it over my shoulder. If I am moving to another location and don't expect to stop much in between then by all means I pack it in the backpack. It is much easier to travel at a faster pace and much more comfortable with it in the pack. I would also say that If I am shooting wildlife I'm usually moving at a much slower pace and stopping more often so it is easier to just leave it on the tripod.

How I handle moving heavy gear from one location to another is simple. I don't own any heavy gear incl. tripod.

I have had lens plate screws come loose (lens just whacked me but didn't fall off) and since that time I've resorted to using lock-tite when attaching the plates to the collars. The Wimberley and Kirk quick disconnects seem to hold pretty well, but I've been fooled by them too thinking something was snugly locked in place when it was not. I will carry a short distance over my shoulder, but you can bet the camera strap will be around my neck when I do. Otherwise, it's back in the Lens Trekker (perfect for a 500 or 600 f/4 with the body attached) you go. I'll carry the pod and head over my shoulder with the camera attached to the lense in the trekker. It doesn't take that long to shed the pack and put things back together. When the lens and camera cost as much as a nice used car...

I use a backpack that tranfers the weight to my hips with a well designed hip strap. The shoulder straps are adjusted so there is little or no weight actually resting on the shoulders. For long hikes this is much more comfortable that carrying the weight on the shoulders, either in or out of a camera bag.

I've wondered about this also. I decided to purchase a scope and add digiscoping to my options. But to haul the scope and a camera is too much. Would a small cart be a good idea? the problem with foldable luggage carts is that the wheels are too small and have no suspension. Here is what i've found online -

The sherpa looks the most interesting. LG

http://www.sherpacart.com/
http://www.wheelpacker.com/default.asp?page=axn
http://www.roleez-wheels.com/beach-carts.php (see the beach cart)
http://www.comforthouse.com/utilitycarts.html
http://www.themule.com/homepage.php
http://www.mackspw.com/item.asp?im=REDC1&d=RIVERS_EDGE_GAME_CARRIER

I can see where wheels would be useful on streets and improved trails. And you're right- the bigger the wheels, the rougher the terrain you might be able to negotiate. The best wheels I've found for use on rough ground are on my bike, with camera gear in the saddlebags. I've walked it into places I wouldn't try to ride, but it's sure nice to climb on and start peddling on the long trips back to the truck.

We have wheeled cases on our bigger camera setups and especially the heavier light kits, and they're sincere backsavers. We only use them in urban settings, but when we need them, we really need them.

I've gone a different way entirely. Because of the weight of the 500 plus tripod plus flash gear plus shorter lenses plus spare batteries plus lunch plus thermos plus... (get the picture?) I now use a baby jogger type baby buggy. The 500 on the camera body fits well into the area where some folks carry babies (imagine using a camera carrier for children ), the tripod goes along the side of the frame with a strap, and the rest of my gear gets put in the bottom cargo area or in the pouch on the back. The whole thing collapses pretty flat once the wheels are off so it goes in the trunk of the car without any problem. My buggy has 16" wheels so it goes over the usual irregularities on trails without any problems.

I don't think this would be an idea solution for steep terrain but it works very well on the flats or rolling trails and paths. The really nice thing with this setup is that you can easily bring along gear you might not need but would like to have just in case without creating any extra physical discomfort.

Good idea Ed, and I happen to know where I can get one cheap (free)!

interesting Ed. I didn't think of that one. However, the cost of the sherpa cart is about $150 and to buy a new baby jogger is $250-$300. The one big difference other than cost is that the baby jogger has a suspension system. Do you think the baby jogger is worth the difference? I did a web search on the sherpa cart and there was a discussion on photo.net where several of the large format camera users were using the Sherpa and seemed to like it. LG

Ed, that is a GREAT idea. Thank you! I bet you can find used baby joggers in the classifieds and/or Good Will too.