Yet another bag question

[david911]

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Assume a kit of M11 + 3 lenses.

When you travel by air, obviously you need to take your camera equipment as carry on. I also need to take a 16" MacBook Pro, a couple of books, and other essentials.

Do you look for a carry-on that contains your normal walking around camera bag and your additional stuff? Or do you wrap up the gear separately and then put your normal camera bag in your luggage? Or do you just use a super-large bag and then walk around with it mostly empty when you get to your destination?

Thoughts appreciated.

 

 

[drew.saunders]

At your destination, will the laptop be part of your walking around setup? I'm assuming no, but if it is, most camera backpacks have laptop sleeves. 

I can fit my M6TTL, with either a 35mm or 50mm on it, then the 35 or 50 in one of the two lens areas, plus a 24mm and 90/2.8 "fat" on top of each other in the 3rd lens area (the 24mm is in a pouch). It's cozy, but it all fits, including 2 rolls of film and an external viewfinder for the 24. That then goes in the bottom of my carry on. Mostly, I travel with my Fuji kit these days in a Thinktank Retrospective 5, which is larger, but works the same, it goes in the carry on, then the whole camera bag is taken out for walking around. Anyway, a small-ish bag should fit well enough within your carry on bag, and then your cameras are double-protected, plus the camera bag is ready to go.

[rich_]

I wrap up my camera and stick it in my regular carry on. I'm not taking photos at the airport or on the commute each side, so it's far more efficient for me to pack this way. 

[RobW0]

I am traveling right now with M11-D 35mm APO, Q3 and 75mm APO, 50mm APO and 21mm SEM in Wotancraft 7L bag. I put it in my Thule roller with some cloths and a few other thing. I also have a Thule boarding bag that I have my laptop and some other things in. The boarding bag goes under the seat and the roller goes in the overhead. I also have the 3.5L Wotancraft in my checked bag to use as a small carry bag when needed. 

[Derbyshire Man]

I've got a small lowe pro rucksack that fits under the seat. Camera bodies and most/all of the lenses go in that. Laptop fits in too. In doesn't go in the overhead locker or leave my sight!

If additional lenses, above the ones on the cameras and in the bag, they go into the hold luggage, obviously only voigtlanders are going in there! The voigtlanders are in the bags that I typically use on the trip when I'm out photographing ie Domkef5 or Wotancraft 7L and Bellroy 2.5L hip (which carries spare lenses on a big photo day out) all packed away in the suitcase which is tagged and locked. Chargers, leads and assorted accessories/junk also in the suitcase.

[nameBrandon]

I use a peak design everyday 20L (the Luigi model.. 😆) to transport the gear, my 16" macbook pro and my 12" or whatever it is iPad. Then the bag I will be using on-location I pack clothes into to utilize space efficiently, and put that in my luggage. Typically this is a smaller bag, as I'm not intending to carry everything I bring with me on any single outing.

With the peak design bag, I put the iPad in the top compartment, and the macbook pro in the laptop area. There is still a ton of room left in the top compartment after the ipad, could easily fit a couple paperback books..or as we do here in 2020's.. an e-reader.

Edited December 21, 2024 by nameBrandon

[DigitalHeMan]

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If I'm traveling with a check-in suitcase I'm likely also to be traveling with a laptop etc. So I remove the insert from my Hadley Pro, put the empty bag in my check-in suitcase, and put the bag insert in my laptop rucksack (which has two main compartments, one for the laptop and the other for 'stuff'. That provides enough protection for the gear, and I can also get my other stuff in there - headphones, cables etc.

[Eclectic Man]

19 hours ago, rich_ said:

I wrap up my camera and stick it in my regular carry on. I'm not taking photos at the airport or on the commute each side, so it's far more efficient for me to pack this way. 

Not an 'M' photographer, but I took a flight to Africa for a trek up Kilimanjaro.  I had a window seat and superb views of Mt Kenya.  So if travelling on holiday, always have your / a camera at hand.  Of course, when I travelled to Iceland recently I took loads of photos a the airport and on flight only for the SD card to break, losing all access to the images 🙁

[rich_]

Makes sense. I bet those photos were beautiful! I usually just wrap my camera in a t shirt in my backpack so in that example I could always grab it to take that mountain shot! But usually my trips are rather boring between the US and UK, or domestic a few hours west of NYC!

[charlesphoto99]

I use a ThinkTank PhotoCross (10 or 13, though I think 10). Fits my camera and lenses and laptop, headphones and book. Goes under the seat, M with a 28 mounted if I want to take any photos on the plane. I use a MacBook Air when traveling - for a 16" I would assume the 13 would be best.

In my checked suitcase (or carry on if doing that) I will typically have a small 3.5 or 2L bag that I fill with socks etc and then use at my destination for just carrying around the camera and lenses. 

[DadDadDaddyo]

I've had good performance over the years from several bags from the Tenba Cooper line. A couple of their larger bags from the line have room in the back for a Microsoft Surface Pro, my traveling PC of choice. It'll accommodate an M Series body and a bunch of lenses, or two M series bodies and several lenses. Obviously a camera bag if you look, but somehow still doesn't scream "camera gear".

Once wherever I'm going, a small Lowepro belt pack comes out of my suitcase. It will hold a lens or two and a couple of batteries. Just a camera in a half case round my neck or over a shoulder: can't stand being loaded down. 

[setuporg]

I've spent a lot of time experimenting with various bag configurations to achieve the goal of the OP, 

(1) an encasing bag for carryon with

(2) an enclosed walk-about photo bag.

First of all, there exist a family of products that do exactly that, making a modular system comprised of both (1) and (2).

Boundary Supply makes two kinds: the Prima system and the Errant Pro backpacks.  Both have a side flap that allows for getting to the camera while inserted in the photo bag that is inside the backpack.  Errant Pro allows for several different inserts.  There's a cube that has rigid sides and there's a whole inner backpack that could be taken out!  A risk with with layout is that if you forget to zip up the side flap and fling on the backpack, the content of the camera bag could fly out.

The problem with these is the photo bags are pretty basic and insufficient compared to eg Billingham ones.  When browsing Amazon, I've stumbled upon a cheap modular backpack, containing a puny photo bag.  Then I swapped the puny bag with a small Billingham!  This works for transporting a laptop and the photo bag in one carryon, which counts on the airlines.

I'd much rather see a Billingham-made or similar complete system where a top-shelf photo bag is attached to a world-class carryon in a way that allows access to the camera in the bag, as Boundary does.

[david911]

Thanks everyone, lots to think about.

Although I really like the idea of putting the camera bag inside another bag, it would certainly be heavier to carry through the airport than just using a set of padded containers within the carry on, and checking the walk around bag in your luggage (packed with clothes for space saving).

[setuporg]

10 minutes ago, david911 said:

Thanks everyone, lots to think about.

Although I really like the idea of putting the camera bag inside another bag, it would certainly be heavier to carry through the airport than just using a set of padded containers within the carry on, and checking the walk around bag in your luggage (packed with clothes for space saving).

That only works if you do check in bags.  However on most business trips you don't want to do that, to minimize the risk of loss or delay, having to collect the bags, etc.  So the need still applies in the carryon-only configuration.

[david911]

I agree, but no more business trips for me! 😀

[iDont]

I got myself a Oberweth Matterhorn which includes a laptop compartment. Whole bag is padded and comes with a nice padded organizer as well for different lenses etc. 

You can checkout the Everest variant for a bigger sized bag which fits upto a 16inch laptop. 
 

Pricey but its full leather, and like the Leica, made in Germany. 😉

[stefanusj]

currently, i use wotancraft Messenger bag Salt & Pepper, but it only can hold Macbook Pro / air 14".

[pippy]

On 12/20/2024 at 6:46 PM, david911 said:

...Do you look for a carry-on that contains your normal walking around camera bag and your additional stuff?...

^This^

I have a camera bag which is as small as possible for my usual camera-carry-stuff which I have packed with this kit and this bag itself goes into a small suitcase which has my laptop and paraphernalia.

Works well for me.

Philip.

[setuporg]

I'm now tempted to put a very small Billingham in a very large Billingham now.  The very large one has a 16" laptop compartment.

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[jakontil]

46 minutes ago, setuporg said:

I'm now tempted to put a very small Billingham in a very large Billingham now.  The very large one has a 16" laptop compartment.

I have the billingham digital, small enough to fit in my backpack and lightweights for carryon