I bought a beautiful Kardan Super Color from Ari a while ago and have been trying to come up with a carrying solution. Some would argue that this is not the sort of camera for field work, and I'm inclined to agree, but couldn't resist it. After several months trying to adapt a wheeled suitcase with shoulder strap, I'm about to admit defeat. The whole caboodle, with tripod, weighs 16 kg/40 lb.; imagine what that does to the nerves of the shoulder just standing with it for 10 min., let alone hiking with the damn thing!

I've thought of a proper back pack like the Redwing, with internal cases for lenses etc from Photobackpacker to do the job properly, but there is the problem of what to do with the rail. I had the idea to try and find a rail and cut it down to make a short carrying rail like on the Sinar P or Kardan Color (the Technika-type version), but because of the design of the standards the whole thing still ends up about 9" thick. It was designed for studio use and not meant for backpacking, of course.

There are two other alternatives: i) remove the bellows and rotate the standards so that the whole thing is flat and would fit in an atache case; ii) suspend the camera by its rail upside-down in a deep case, with other gear packed underneath (I did this with a Toyo 810G years ago). I'd still like a backpack solution though, because I'm not getting any younger and understand as the result of this exercise how important it is to have heavy weights like this evenly distributed across hips and shoulders.

I'm wondering if anyone has solved this type of problem successfully, or if there are any good ideas out there.

Many thanks,

Barry.