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Thread: Packing lensboards and lenses

  1. #1

    Packing lensboards and lenses

    I am putting together my new kit for a 4x5 Toyo field camera (the CF which folds flat). None of my lenses will fit in the folded camera. So, having to transport them separately I am thinking of leaving the lenses affixed to the lenboards (one each).

    I was wondering if that was indeed what others did, and if so, how do you pack them? Special kind of "cradles" or simply foam inserts in a hard case? What about in a backpack???... How does that work--even for one lens/board at a time?

  2. #2

    Join Date
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    Re: Packing lensboards and lenses

    That's standard, each lens having its own lensboard. How they're packed in backpacks varies quite a lot. My backpack is pretty much thin cloth with a rectangular interior. So, I fill this with foam and have cutouts for the camera, lenses, accessories, etc. There are also lenswraps one can get. Some current backpacks have compartments, so one could put the camera and accessories in one compartment and all the lenses in a different compartment. Take a look at www.photobackpacker.com to see an interesting system.

    Depending on the size (how large) of lensboards for a given camera, some photographers get a reducing, adaptor lensboard. For example, many camera makers provide a reduction lensboard to Technika 4x5 boards, which are conveniently small. One would never want to have separate lensboards for each lens for a 171mm Arca Swiss camera. That's a huge lensboard, and the different lensboards would take up all the available room in a backpack. So, Arca provides reduction lensboards for their 6x9 camera lensboards and for the Linhof Technika lensboards. One leaves the reduction lensboard on the camera, and the much smaller Technika boards clamp onto that reduction lensboard.
    Last edited by neil poulsen; 12-Jul-2010 at 03:27.

  3. #3

    Re: Packing lensboards and lenses

    I usually adjust the foam dividers so that squares are created to hold the lenses snug. When I travel by airline, I place each lens in a Ziplock bag to avoid accumulating dust. If I am doing an urban location shoot, sometimes I use a Nikon soft bag for a large format lens; these are the types that were made originally for 35mm format lenses.

    Ciao!

    Gordon Moat Photography

  4. #4

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    Re: Packing lensboards and lenses

    I took my lenses shopping at the grocery store and bought each of them a plastic freezer container, trying them on for size before I bought them. They keep my lenses safe, and I can toss in a dessicant canister, too.

    I must admit: it was Richard Ritter's idea, as most of my good ones are. But it works really well.
    Bruce Barlow
    author of "Finely Focused" and "Exercises in Photographic Composition"
    www.brucewbarlow.com

  5. #5
    ki6mf's Avatar
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    Nov 2007
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    Austin, TX
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    Re: Packing lensboards and lenses

    I have the Photobackpacker units. I use an Adorama photo backpacks for every day use. The Adorama cost $79.00 and works as well as the $250+ brand name units. I have seen comparable units to Adorama on Amazon too.
    Wally Brooks

    Everything is Analog!
    Any Fool Can Shoot Digital!
    Any Coward can shoot a zoom! Use primes and get closer.

  6. #6
    Drew Wiley
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    Re: Packing lensboards and lenses

    I simply use a Ziploc bag, then place this inside a bubble-wrap envelope. After that, it's a matter of how I travel, but a pouch in a backpack is typical.

  7. #7

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    Re: Packing lensboards and lenses

    Quote Originally Posted by Bruce Barlow View Post
    I took my lenses shopping at the grocery store and bought each of them a plastic freezer container, trying them on for size before I bought them. They keep my lenses safe, and I can toss in a dessicant canister, too.

    I must admit: it was Richard Ritter's idea, as most of my good ones are. But it works really well.
    You can do this very well with Lock&Lock plastic boxes (or similar as the firms with this type of lock are many now). They are absolutely airtight and watertight, firm enough to protect the lens, lightweight and made in many sizes and forms - for single or multiple lenses in them.

  8. #8

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    Re: Packing lensboards and lenses

    I built a longish, rectangular box, with dividers, out of foam-core, with a lid hinged with aluminum tape (the stuff furnace guys use on ducts). Some velcro keeps the lid closed. My three lenses slide in vertically, in their lensboards, with cable releases attached. The box weighs virtually nothing, and the space taken up in my backpack is fairly minimal. It seems to keep out most dust, and is rigid enough that I don't worry. Originally, this was a prototype, as I was planning on building a "real" one out of plexi, but it worked out so well that I never tackled something more "permanent".

  9. #9
    wclavey's Avatar
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    Sep 2006
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    Houston, TX
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    Re: Packing lensboards and lenses

    A fly fishing reel case is padded (~12"x5"x5"), with adjustable padded inserts, and holds 3 lenses mounted on their lensboards nicely. That goes in my Kelty backpack which is just a large open space. The reel case includes a nice interior zipper pocket for index cards with DoF tables, reciprocity times, etc.

  10. #10
    Octogenarian
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    Re: Packing lensboards and lenses

    I wrap each lens, mounted on it's lens board, in a Domke wrap.

    Then, merely stow them, along with the camera, in a suitable size Domke carrying bag.

    Check out the huge selection of Domke bags at B&H Photo.

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