Hands down best is a kiraru backframe and/or backpack. VERY comfortable, can used to haul VERY heavy loads. I have one and it's everything it's advertised to be. Follow the links below to see for yourself.
http://www.kifaru.net/haulfame.HTM
http://www.kifaru.net/MGcargoC.htm
You don't consider using a cart as a valuable solution.
Before excluding it completely, have a look at this thread I posted five weeks ago.
The solution of a light cart with large inflatable wheels might be taken into account, before buying a heavy backpack.
I got a tubular aluminum backpack from from Strebor a while back that would be able to hold 150# + and it is the ticket. For a guy your size, this is clearly what you need. IMHO the key to getting the 12x20 off of the road is to start with your favorite lens, get a lightweight View Camera nylon dark cloth, and keep your other accessories to a minimum. I put two film holders in Strebor septums (keep the dust out, are dark inside and have convenient handles for carrying in your hands). That leaves the tripod - preferably carbon fiber.
The problem with a cart is that you cannot go into any wilderness area with them in any way shape or form and they also do not work so well on anything but flat ground. In certain instances they can work (and I have one for those), but I just got back from a trip to Montana where I was packing my 8x10, six holders, three lenses and a tripod and found the key to successful packing is to make sure that you do not have the shoulder straps digging into your shoulders, but the majority of the weight on your hips so make sure that you get your pack straps properly adjusted.
In a perfect world, all of your photographs would be two steps away from your tail gate. While there are some that use that as a criteria for making a photograph, I find that scouting ahead for where you would carry a ULF camera takes extra time, but is a requirement. Expend your personal resources wisely when getting your camera to where you need to secure the image.
Cheers!
To Michael Kadillak :
"The problem with a cart is that you cannot go into any wilderness area with them in any way shape or form and they also do not work so well on anything but flat ground."
I totally disagree with this assertion.
It depends on the kind of wheels you use. Golf or luggage carts don't have large wheels, because they are mostly used in airports and railway stations.
The baby stroller I adapted for carrying LF photo gear has three 12,2in. large wheels, equipped with 2in. inflatable tires mounted on shock absorbers.
Of course, no hill-climbing or river-crossing, but I use the stroller in forests, muddy underwood ways, and cross-country walks, and I have no problems.
Yes Jean, it all depends upon your reference point. We have numerous wilderness areas here in Colorado and since that is where I usually like to shoot because of the obvious lack of people and vehicles, you only have two choices. Horses if they are allowed or backpacks.
I have a wheeled cart (only 15" wheels) and aside from the occasional trip where I have really good conditions for using them, I find the difficulty with getting to where I need to outweights the struggle and lord knows that I have tried many times as the thought of a heavy backpack is not exactly a day at the beach. Maybe it is the fact that I tromp around is some of the nastiest up and down country with downfall and skinny trails everywhere and go considerable distances. Last weekend I was in the Bob Marshall Wilderness area in Montana and aside from a hand full of backpack campers and a string of pack horses, I had the place to myself. But climbing over 1,000 ft in a mile in rigorous mountain backcountry is not something that you can take lightly. When it really gets rough or when I will be out in the boonies for a week or so, I have a cross buck saddle and a set of custom made panniers that I can put on a pack horse. I know other guys that use lammas for their back country adventures.
If a wheeled cart works for you or anyone else, by all means that is fabulous. I am simply pointing out that for those of us that need to push the envelope in our endevours there is an alternative even with large cameras.
Whatever works baby....
Cheers!
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