How do you carry DSLR with normal kit as well?

[Macaroon]

I'm looking for ideas on how to carry my camera kit alongside the usual overnighter/hike stuff, and ideally keep it where and how it can be quickly and easily accessed for that opportunity
that otherwise gets missed.

I'm using a D40 at the moment which will next week be replaced by either a D90 or a D7000, ideally the latter if I can find one at the right price; I've just started teaching myself and have quickly outgrown the D40 and the terrible kit lens (18-55mm) that came with it. I've bought a 35mm prime lens and am hoping to soon get the 18-105mm, which is by all accounts a much better lens altogether, so you have an idea of what I'll be carrying.

At the moment I'm using a 511 Rush 12 pack, which just does the job, but it's a squeeze and the new gear will be a fair bit bulkier; I'd like to try a Lowepro Slingshot, but that'll only work
if I just take camera kit and forget the usual camp stuff. What do you folks use to get around this?

Also any comments or suggestions on the equipment choices would be welcome, as I'm still a week or so away from buying anything........

 

[Arya]

I've padded a thigh pouch intended for empty cartridges. Works wonderfully and saves both space and my back

 

[Bishop]

The wife just badgers me into being her gear sherpa
Alternatively how about adding a chest pack/rig to your existing backpack?

 

[brancho]

My advice is upgrade to a smaller camera those DSLR things are a lot weight for no gain mostly.

My Olympus kit is tiny by comparison.

 

[Macaroon]

My advice is upgrade to a smaller camera those DSLR things are a lot weight for no gain mostly.

My Olympus kit is tiny by comparison.

My problem with that solution (and you're correct, it's a potentially good solution) is twofold; firstly, the small kit that's good is very expensive from what I see of the market. I can get the DSLR I want with very few shutter actuations for less than £300, and the lenses I'd like to evaluate are fairly cheap and there's a vast choice to experiment with until I settle on what suits best.

Also, being closer to 70 than 60 and having had a fair bit of hand surgery over the past few years the bigger cameras are a fair bit easier to use and to hold steady for me; I'd also be reluctant to relinquish the viewfinder,
as I find the lcd screens much harder to use. If I had greater resources I'd give the smaller stuff a try but it would be a very expensive mistake if it didn't work for me..........

A chest pack of some sort is what seems most likely to be the way forward, I use a Ribz pack quite a lot and like it, but I'll need to make, or have made, something along those lines that'll fit the camera stuff.

Thanks for the responses so far, I'm always looking for new ideas and advice!

 

[kaiAnderson]

My wife has a DLR and so of course im tasked with carrying it. i use a LowePro backpack that has a compartment for the camera and bits and another comaprtment for other stuff.

 

[Arya]

If you look at my left leg (I am the green one) you can see how I carry mine I carry both my DSLR and my videocamera in it.
I also use this when on horseback.

Blåsjø38 by Lykketrollet, on Flickr

 

[sunndog]

looking at those leg pouches. What about those new issue gasmask bags? They are only £10-£15 i think so a cheap way to try it out maybe

 

[sunndog]

These ones

https://www.google.co.uk/aclk?sa=L&...EwiQvvOOvNfOAhWMAsAKHX-uDQQQ2CkIjwEwAA&adurl=

 

[beachlover]

Like you, I still use a DSLR. I treat it like any other. It if kit that needs easy access and a bit of protection from wet and trauma. I've no idea what pack you use but a DSLR in a top loading camera pouch (I use the old CCS ones) will fit in a PLCE side pouch and as long as you aren't too clumsy (I usually am and still haven't had any dramas) a camera like my Nikon D3200 fits in a side pocket of a Karrimor Sabre 35, both with or without a dry bag of the weather dictates.
I've also tried a couple of packs that are side opening such as the Lowe Airzone models, a Kifaru Urban Zippy and presently my main pack which is an Exped Thunder. This allows a top loading pouch to be placed opposite the opening for easy access, with the rest of your kit packed around it. Accessories and lenses go in other pouches and pockets. In short, I've found it's just a matter of treating it like any other bit of kit and prioritising accordingly.
The most helpful tip I picked up from someone here or on BB was to get a pair of quick release wrist straps for the camera and attach it to the rucksack straps via mini carabiners, which leaves your hands free and ready access to the camera.

 

[Quixoticgeek]

I carry my Fuji XT1 in a lowe pro pouch clipped between the two shoulder straps as a sort of chest rig. It took me a little fettling, with a couple of dyneema loops to get it in the right position, but unless you are well endowed in the chest department, you won't have the same issue. This allows me to have really easy access to the camera when I need it. I found I wasn't taking enough pictures when it was in my pack, and a waist belt mount was either too low so bounced when I walked if on the front, or made me so wide I didn't fit through gates and the like. This approach has worked really well.

If I just have my PLCE side pocket day pack on day walks, then I will tend to have the camera out of a bag, on a JOBi strap thingy, which I wear under my pack.

It took me years to settle on this solution and it seems to work. That said, when I fell over on a hike last November, as I went down the camera kinda came up, and smacked me in the nose. I've since rejigged the straps so it can't do that. But it's something to be aware of.

J

 

[Macaroon]

I'll be very careful of my nose then, J!

Hanging from the front seems to be the way to go, when I've settled on the final choice of lens I'll get a Lowepro fitted jobby for it, then it can be hung with/without protection as needed. I just couldn't walk where I do with anything strapped to my thigh, I spend a lot of time bush-bashing and the brambles hereabouts eat kit and people alike, nothing lasts long in it except my oilcloth chaps.

Thanks for all the useful tips, folks

 

[Johnnyboy1971]

I carry my DSLR in one of the Lowepro gear slingers around the front of my body when I have a pack on but recently switched back to my Canon G10. Quite a large body but easy to hold and some great features.

 

[baggins]

i have the same problem, with my nikonD7000 + a 300mmf2.8 lens and x2 converter. overall it is a large piece of kit to lug about, but i like the clarity and the colour. Have looked at the socket and ball attachments that pro users have on heir belts, with a view to modding them to hang of my hip belt. a decent rain cover keeps it all dry and it is there when you need it.

 

[brancho]

My problem with that solution (and you're correct, it's a potentially good solution) is twofold; firstly, the small kit that's good is very expensive from what I see of the market. I can get the DSLR I want with very few shutter actuations for less than £300, and the lenses I'd like to evaluate are fairly cheap and there's a vast choice to experiment with until I settle on what suits best.

Also, being closer to 70 than 60 and having had a fair bit of hand surgery over the past few years the bigger cameras are a fair bit easier to use and to hold steady for me; I'd also be reluctant to relinquish the viewfinder,
as I find the lcd screens much harder to use. If I had greater resources I'd give the smaller stuff a try but it would be a very expensive mistake if it didn't work for me..........

A chest pack of some sort is what seems most likely to be the way forward, I use a Ribz pack quite a lot and like it, but I'll need to make, or have made, something along those lines that'll fit the camera stuff.

Thanks for the responses so far, I'm always looking for new ideas and advice!

The viewfinder EVF on a decent CSC camera is as good if not better than most (except the top end models)non full frame DSLR's.

They do not need to be that expensive this includes a battery grip http://www.ffordes.com/product/16082216465781

They are about the size an old SLR

E-M5II compared to OM2sp 2 by Alf Branch, on Flickr


They are well worth a look in a shop at least all my photos are shot with a CSC or compact camera I do not need bulk and weight of a DSLR.

 

[Macaroon]

Thanks for taking the time, Alf, I am going to explore all avenues but I'm on a very limited budget and have inherited a Nikon D4, which is as new but out of the ark even for a beginner like me. I also have two decent prime lenses for the Nikon DX system and a kit lens, so the way forward, in immediate terms, would seem to be getting a used D7000 with a low shutter count and a decent warranty and then make use of the lenses and other ancillary kit I have that suits that system.

Looking to the future, however, nothing is set in stone and I intend to explore all the options available, including those you post above. I will get to a large shop with a good stock sometime soon and get some of this kit in the hand and see what might suit in the future when I feel it's time to move onwards and (hopefully) upwards!

 

[brancho]

Thanks for taking the time, Alf, I am going to explore all avenues but I'm on a very limited budget and have inherited a Nikon D4, which is as new but out of the ark even for a beginner like me. I also have two decent prime lenses for the Nikon DX system and a kit lens, so the way forward, in immediate terms, would seem to be getting a used D7000 with a low shutter count and a decent warranty and then make use of the lenses and other ancillary kit I have that suits that system.

Looking to the future, however, nothing is set in stone and I intend to explore all the options available, including those you post above. I will get to a large shop with a good stock sometime soon and get some of this kit in the hand and see what might suit in the future when I feel it's time to move onwards and (hopefully) upwards!

I presume you mean a D40 a D4 (£4800) is top pro model that has just been superceded.

It is worth looking at least and if you feel the D7000 is best for you then good.
What type of thing are you shooting?

 

[brancho]

You can try one of these

http://www.wexphotographic.com/buy-...duct=1572424&gclid=cnbew5ja384cfreegwodg7omya

 

[Macaroon]

Oh Hell!............Of course it's a D40!

The D7000 seems to me to be the lowest camera in the range that has the facilities to enable me to experiment in ways that don't seem possible on the D40; you have to go into the menu for a lot of things whereas the 7000 has a lot more dedicated controls where you can get to them "on the fly", so to speak; the double exposure doesn't work very well on the D40 and you can't bracket easily, if at all. The lcd screen is not up to much, and neither is the viewfinder ( I wear glasses and find the viewfinder very awkward to use ), all these and some other issues have been addressed to a greater or lesser extent on the D7000. I did think for a time that a D90 might do the job but from what I read the D7000 is light years ahead in ways I hadn't even thought of; apparently the autofocus is a real eye opener for anybody who hasn't used any better that the D40, and the used price is not massively greater for the better camera.

I'm shooting everything and anything at the moment, I spend almost all of my time where I live up on the high woodland on the Welsh side of the Lower Wye Valley, and there's no shortage of subject matter hereabouts.
So, a bit of landscape, plants and animals, a bit of portraiture when there's a willing subject around. Busy learning that a lot of the things I thought I'd want to photograph are just cliched, that simple is almost always better and that the camera doesn't take the shot, you do. I've spent a bit of time reading about the classic rules of composition, a lot about the physics of light; turned all my preconceptions on their heads!

The biggest and most amazing thing I've learned so far is just what an unbelievably sophisticated thing the human eye is, especially when allied to a decent human brain

 

[brancho]

You can adjust the viewfinder to use without glasses with most interchangable lens cameras

http://www.manualslib.com/manual/855744/Nikon-D700.html?page=71