Lets see how you store your gear! [Archive] - Large Format Photography Forum

FredrickSummers

30-Jul-2016, 17:09

Post images of however/wherever you store your camera(s), lenses, etc.

I recrently moved my office/lab to a room in our basement. I have less overall space as I'm sharing the room with my wife, but I do now have my developing and everything in one room and a bathroom I will be converting to a dark room, so plus and minus. I have been storing it in an old chinahutch with a rechargable silica thing, but that cabinet will not fit in my new place, so I'm looking at a dry box or something.

I'm curious what your storage looks like :)

And go...

31-Jul-2016, 18:56

FredrickSummers

31-Jul-2016, 20:36

I would not store gear in a darkroom as it's apt to get water / humidity damage of some sort.

No pix, but I have a rolling tool cabinet like a mechanic would use to keep most of my lenses and cameras in, except for the gear I'm using which is in a bag ready to go. It's in my garage which has a dehumidifier running so my other tools and car don't rust out.

I wouldn't store anything in the dark room, humidity and chemicals at the lest. I was trying for a thread like the photo sharing and "post your LF camera" but apparently there isn't any interest.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

NedL

31-Jul-2016, 20:54

Too embarrassing to show. My camera is sitting on the floor in my study with a garbage bag over it to keep the dust off. Tripod is leaning in the corner. Little knapsack with everything I need is next to it, except the film holders are in the dark closet where I load them. At least when I want to go, everything is right there together ready to just grab and go. I need to figure out something better :rolleyes:

Tin Can

31-Jul-2016, 21:28

Mine looks like tool boxes. I used to sell Snap-On.

StoneNYC

31-Jul-2016, 23:18

Pelican rolling case or Photobackpacker backpack.

Jim Andrada

1-Aug-2016, 00:05

All of the above! A couple of lenses under the paperwork on my desk (although I now have a dedicated lens drawer) the Technika on top of a file cabinet, the 5 x 7 and 8 x 10 Linhofs on top of a steel shelf in another room,the Harrison changing tent under one of my wife's grand pianos where it's easy for the cat to take a nap in it on occasion. Film in the garage freezer, whereabouts of my Protar casket set and my 305 mm Repro-Claron unknown at the moment, etc etc etc.

Drew Bedo

1-Aug-2016, 05:38

Photo gearthat is used is kept in used "catalog" cases or hard shell computer cases bought at the GoodWill thrift store, The shooting kit(s) live in camera bags as complete grab-n-go shooting outfits. Everything sits slightly off the floor under the cloths hanging on my side of a very small so called "walk-in" closet.

A few heirloom or legacy cameras are in a small display case in a living aea of the house: A Kodak Primo 4x5, A Leica M-3 and a Rolliflex. All were given to me by my wife's Grandfather. There are a few others that are somewhat less note worthy. A few have been slightly used. None are particularly desirable to collectors. All are either shooters or decorators.

DrTang

1-Aug-2016, 07:09

oh man

a ton of stuff in my studio.. maybe 8 or 9 cameras and a dozen or so lenses

then there is a display case in my living room for all my display cameras and lenses AND about 6 big lenses I use..but not too much

then a big closet in my bedroom with a ton of other cameras and accessories I use, but not a lot (canon screwmount rangefinders, stereo cameras and such) and about 8 tripods that aren't in the studio

around the house..on coffee tables, etc are various projects and such

nope..not married (anymore)

tgtaylor

1-Aug-2016, 09:03

All of my cameras and lens are stored in waterproof or aluminum cases with desiccant. The first thing I do when I purchase a camera, binoculars, telescope, etc., is to buy a hard case to house and transport it in. If you don't, it will look like crap in short order.

Thomas

Alan Gales

1-Aug-2016, 09:06

Hahahahahahah! My wife would kill me if I showed you pics!

My 8x10 is in my wheeled cordera tool bag in our bedroom along with other gear. My tripods are in my bedroom closet. I have some equipment both on and in a cabinet in the dining room. I've got a Mamiya C220f and a C220 sitting on my computer desk right now. I've got equipment at the end of our couch in the living room in the corner of the room. On our landing going down to the basement I have two cases containing my Novatron studios lights.

Yes, my wife is a saint! ;)

Ari

1-Aug-2016, 13:33

I just got a big shelving unit, 36"x24"x72", so I can finally keep all the photo gear in one place. It's great not having things scattered around the house or on the floor.
Backpack, hard cases and shoulder bags are in various states of use, some bags are empty (I like photo bags), and odds and ends are in small plastic containers.

Jac@stafford.net

1-Aug-2016, 13:42

My wife and I have a room in the basement in which we have a floor-model dehumidifier. We keep it below 40% humidity, and below 70° F. Has not disappointed us for eighteen years.

seezee

1-Aug-2016, 15:02

Everywhere. I've got studio & lighting gear on shelves in both bedrooms, a C-stand in the dining room, cameras, lenses, and accessories on the bookshelves or hanging from hooks in the living room, in camera bags, in cabinets, and in drawers. Chems in the bath cabinet and in the future darkroom (a connecting breezeway from the house to the garage). Enlarger, sink, glassware, & big trays in the future darkroom. LF camera usually on the tripod in the dining room along with a len + board & Packard shutter.

During the week the dining room is a studio, so right now it has a background & lights/reflectors set up along with the LF camera.

Luis-F-S

1-Aug-2016, 15:47

Most of it is kept in a 25 CF safe in a climate controlled room with a very significant alarm system. There are two more shelves below the ones shown. A few other view cameras (Sinars) are in a loft closet. Any questions?

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Jody_S

1-Aug-2016, 16:21

As my gear mutated and reproduced (GAS? Don't know what that means...) I slowly took over the entire 2nd floor of the house. My wife sends guests up there to look now and then, when she wants to prove I'm a lunatic.

John Kasaian

1-Aug-2016, 18:11

Mostly in original cases(Deardorff V8, Folmer & Schwing Banquet, Graflex and Ansco Vulcanoids) A couple of GI surplus canvas 5 gallon water cooler bags and some plastic storage bins (not Rubbermaid but similar) for the rest(each format, 4x5& 5x7, 8x10 and 12x20 has a box, so do the enlargers. Anything that doesn't have a home lives in a filing cabinet. Oh, and there is one cannibal box (actually a large heavy waxed cardboard box with a tight fitting lid---chicken used to come in them and my butcher would save the boxes for me---excellent for camping!) Old leaky film holders and other stuff rest there until donor parts are needed.

profvandegraf

2-Aug-2016, 07:53

Drew Bedo

2-Aug-2016, 10:06

Right now some gear is spread over a table in our sun room and the rest is in plastic bins from Home Depot. I am Looking for a better storage solution, I find the bins make it difficult to find the gear I'm looking for at any given time.

You must have quite a bit or—stuff.

Just my suggestion;

Sort format specific stuff by format.

sort non-format specific stuff by function.

As noted above, my gear is pre-packed in format specific shooting kits like a "prepper" wouldo pack a "go-bag" for emergencies.

Greg

2-Aug-2016, 14:21

First off live in southern New England. Constructed a large room in the basement. Waterproofed the concrete walls then normal 2x4 wood construction. Insulated walls. Covered with waterproof sheetrock. Hung ceiling. 1/3 of the room a darkroom, 1/3 of the room storage shelves, and the other 1/3 work benches.

For equipment storage open shelving and metal KOBALT shelving units (with doors). Each camera system is stored in it's own large case. 35mm, FX, 120, and 4x5 in Gura or ThinkTank backpacks. Whole plate, 8x10, and 11x14 in Pelican plastic cases or old cases (made for the Sinar Norma) with custom fitted interiors. Insides padded with OEM soft separators or custom compartments padded with the dense foam sheets made for placing on a concrete floor.

Tripods storred on the wall horizontally resting on garage plastic coated heavy duty hooks.

Over 95% of all equipment in hard cases, camera backpacks, or in plastic Sterilite cases (Walmart) with matching tops. Vacuum the floors once every 2 weeks and everything remains relatively dust free.

Room temperature in the summer a constant 70 degrees. In the dead of winter never gets below 60 degrees. Have a small space heater that I can preheat the room up with but almost never do.

Humidity in the cold months between 45-50%. In the warm months have a dehumidifier which keeps the room between 50-55%. Print Platinum/Palladium so consistent humidity important to me. When I use the darkroom end of the room, always wipe down the sink when done. Never have had problems with increased humidity even after using the darkroom for a full day.

Only problem I have had with my storage is on hot very humid days in the summer with condensation forming on the equipment when I take it outside. If I know that will be using a system the next day, will take it upstairs (room temperature 74 degrees) and leave the case out open overnight.

Moopheus

2-Aug-2016, 15:25

My Wista and Speed Graphic are on the lower shelf.

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Corran

2-Aug-2016, 19:41

Currently all my cameras save my DSLR are in various boxes.

My new place has an awesome basement and I am building a 16ft. floor-to-ceiling shelving unit. Had to bug out for a business trip so I will finish when I get home but this is the WIP:

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Kevin Crisp

3-Aug-2016, 08:26

I guess I'm dealing with this is the forbidden manner. I do store all my equipment in my darkroom, on the wall opposite the wet side, in metal office supply type cabinets on shelves out in the open (lots of lenses and 35 mm gear) or in camera bags on the bottom floor of the cabinets. (4x5, 5x7, 4x10 outfits.) The metal floors of the cabinets are sealed so that even 3 " of water would not get in. I did put in a floor drain in case of a disaster during washing, and all water is shut off when processing is over. Humidity is virtually always in the 38 to 45% range, temps can be as low as 55 and stay above 85 for several months at a time unless I pre-cool the darkroom with the AC before working for a day. It does get warm in the summer because this is So. Cal. and there are also two fridges in there for film and paper and they put out heat. The insulation is R19 but without the AC running it will eventually get hot in there. The builder claimed no AC would be necessary since that insulation would keep it cool all year long and he was very wrong about that.

The wet and dry sides are separated by a large heavy table that holds the enlargers, so a "spill" reaching the storage side really isn't possible.

I don't leave any standing liquid anywhere in the darkroom after the work is done. I have never had any problem whatsoever with corrosion or fungus, with the exception of fungus in lens I have purchased used. But they came that way, I cleaned them out and had no problems. I do keep all the enlarger lenses in plastic bins with desiccants. I also keep a desiccant in the SL66 bag. None of the LF lenses are confined with desiccants.

I concede that this may not be ideal, but there wasn't room in the house for storage so I added room for that when designing the darkroom. It has worked out fine for me, in our weather.

redrockcoulee

3-Aug-2016, 09:16

We keep the camera gear in the camera bags we use when out shooting. In a closet in a spare bedroom we set up shelves and but the bags on the shelf. But humidity is not a problem as Medicine Hat is in a semi arid climate and in the winter with dry air going through a natural gas furnace the RH indoors is probably in the single digits and maybe even in the low ones at that. Below the bottom shelf are the tripods. In the winter bags with film holders are also stored there but in the summer I take them and the paper from the darkroom and put them in the basement.

Some times I think if I put desiccants in a bag the air would suck moisture out of them :)

DrTang

3-Aug-2016, 10:29

My Wista and Speed Graphic are on the lower shelf.

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argh! - liquids on top of cameras?

that looks like a situation waiting to happen

obscura.lucida

8-Aug-2016, 15:44

Not the most elegant solution: but I store my gear in one of these plastic Sterilite-brand bins that have a gasket-lined cover. With a bunch of desiccant packets in there, these bins, I find, do a good job in maintaining a protected and dry environment for my gear. In each bin, I also throw in a color-coded humidity indicator card, which I position in such a way that it can be easily seen without having to open up the bin. The card might very well be overkill, but I figure better to have another layer of safety especially during the hot, humid summers we get here in the East Coast.

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valdormar

11-Aug-2016, 01:22

I store my Deardorff 8x10 kit in a Pelican 1650 with Pick n Pluck Foam.

• Deardorff 8x10 "hidden under the camera is the 4x loupe and flash sync cords".
• KODAK COMMERCIAL EKTAR LENS 14" mounted on 6x6 wood lens board.
• Rodenstock Apo Sironar-N 240mm MC" mounted on 6x6 wood lens board.
• 4 8x10 film holders " = 8 frames"
• 2 Shutter release cables.
• 1 metal 6x6 lens board.
• 1 Large tripod plate.

http://www.hauslendale.com/Pelican/Pelican1650.jpg

___

I store my 645DF+ Digital Medium Format kit in a Pelican 1600 with Pick n Pluck Foam.

• 645DF+ Camera Body
• Credo Digital Back "attached to camera body"
• 120mm macro lens
• 150mm portrait lens
• 80mm LS lens
• V-Grip Air
• 3 Digital back batteries
• 2 Camera body batteries
• 2 Battery chargers
• 2 Battery charger A/C cords
• 2 lens filters
• Color Checker Passport
• USB Software Drive
• Camera Strap
• Extra lens caps
• Digital back caps

http://www.hauslendale.com/Pelican/Pelican1600.jpg

____

I keep both cases just setting around the house in various places.

http://www.hauslendale.com/Pelican/Pelican1600_Pelican1650.jpg

neil poulsen

14-Aug-2016, 16:11

I did the following for storing gear several years ago, and it's worked out quite well. Since it involved some construction, I posted the idea in the DYI forum.

http://www.largeformatphotography.info/forum/showthread.php?132780-Closet-Storage-Idea

DennisD

14-Aug-2016, 16:46

I've stayed away from the "pick and pluck" material if it comes into direct contact with cameras and lenses.

I know this material is convenient to use and has become standard, but not for me.

In the past I've found tiny pieces or flakes of the pick and pluck foam material getting into places it shouldn't be -- such as on a bayonet mount, inside a lens opening, or in the mirror box of a medium format camera. This concern is greater for smaller format cameras or items with mechanisms, I.e. Shutters, etc. - perhaps not as much with larger format cameras that can be blown out easily.

If I'm using a case with foam material, I'll first put valued items in a thin plastic bag.

Another concern about foam materials is that some do not age well (over years), lose their sponginess, and decompose. For that reason, nothing should ever be stored long term in foam without adequate protection, if at all.

Lastly, years ago, I found that the foam interior of a camera case reacted with the varnish on my Deardorff camera. This caused the varnish to soften and imprint the foam at the points of contact.

That's my experience.

Corran

14-Aug-2016, 19:02

Finished the shelving in my basement. Got most of the cameras/lenses unpacked and next up will be accessories, cases, and various other things. Loving my new place, hopefully I can get the darkroom running soon and get back to shooting film.

http://www.oceanstarproductions.com/photosharing/DSC_9599s.jpg

Tin Can

14-Aug-2016, 19:05

That's fantastic.

Just think, you called me a hoarder 4 years ago!

All good! :)

Finished the shelving in my basement. Got most of the cameras/lenses unpacked and next up will be accessories, cases, and various other things. Loving my new place, hopefully I can get the darkroom running soon and get back to shooting film.

http://www.oceanstarproductions.com/photosharing/DSC_9599s.jpg

DennisD

14-Aug-2016, 19:09

Beautiful ! Good wishes in your new place.

May you fill those empty shelf spaces !

Corran

14-Aug-2016, 19:20

LOL Randy, yeah my bad! But...everything gets used more or less! I just like lenses a little too much.

Thanks Dennis.

FredrickSummers

15-Aug-2016, 05:08

Pali K

15-Aug-2016, 07:43

Wowzie that is awesome Bryan! And thank you posting this so I can show it to my wife whenever she tells me that my photography stuff is getting out of control. And Dennis is spot on that you have some empty space that needs filling :)

Pali

stawastawa

15-Aug-2016, 08:18

My LF kit is in the bag, When I backpack the little blue case I made from a camping mat is all the protection it gets.
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Then my day to day gear goes on these shelves, each system its own shelf. Bottom shelf has film, filters, cleaning supplies, and miscellany.
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And I have boxes in the basement and gear on the floor that is seeing use / hasn't found a home yet. ... ^.^
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Corran, do you do any moisture mitigation? I like those crates at lower left, did you get them somewhere where I could get some too? =)

Corran

15-Aug-2016, 08:38

Okay I admit I might have a problem...

Nicholas - I just got those crates, they were at Home Depot for about $8.50 each if I remember. I am currently thinking about buying a dehumidifier for this area.

Corran

15-Aug-2016, 12:04

Update on the crates - they were actually $10.97, whoops.

I found that they store film holders well. Plenty of space for 8x10 holders and a box or two of film on the side or other accessories, or, two rows of 4x5 holders. I took some basic wood and cut a 12" divider and screwed it into the bottom of the crate.

I always hated how I stored my holders, usually just piled up in a big tower, so this works way better. We also bought a larger crate made specifically for vinyl records, surprising to find in a home improvement store.

http://www.oceanstarproductions.com/photosharing/filmholders-crate.jpg

Ari

15-Aug-2016, 19:11

I had bags strewn all over the house, accessories in various drawers and on assorted shelves, it was a mess.
Home is also work, my office does extra duty as stockroom, darkroom, repair shop, product photography studio and general storage room, so it was time to do something.
A shelving unit bought from Home Depot turned out to be extra deep and extra sturdy, so I put all my photo stuff on this unit.
I packed the gear in assorted bags and cases, labeled it, and there it stays until I need it.
The two bottom shelves hold 8x10 camera/lenses, 4x5 camera lenses, lighting scrims and an empty Pelican 1510.
The top shelves have a couple of MF and digital cameras, cable releases, loupes, etc and film holders.
Very top is frames and old portfolios.
It does feel good to have everything in one place, and finally organized.

https://c7.staticflickr.com/9/8756/28727430390_e51aa8aa9c_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/KLxAcY)

Drew Bedo

16-Aug-2016, 05:57

[QUOTE=stawastawa;1345565]My LF kit is in the bag, When I backpack the little blue case I made from a camping mat is all the protection it gets.
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Army surplus closed cell foam and a hot glue gun. . . . .

When I first started using LF it was on a shoe-string budget. We celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary with a trip to the Grand Canyon. All my photo grar had been living in a wheeled computer case. Good enough for at home or around town, but I needed a backpack. The solution was to cut up a backpacking sleeping pad into layers that filled an inexpensive book bag and cut out hioles for the pre-anniversary Speed Graphic beater and a few film holders.

Worked pretty well.

stawastawa

16-Aug-2016, 07:28

Drew, I have not had issues with my little case. The camping mat is very ridged, no glue in this so I dont worry about busted seams. I do worry that something could crush the glass, one day I will add a ridged backing to minimize that danger.
I really need a case for my lens though - but that is a different topic than the OP's.

profvandegraf

16-Aug-2016, 07:52

This thread has inspired me to get more organized. I purchased a set of used Barrister shelves, the modular kind with glass doors. I think they will work very well to keep dust off my gear with the added bonus of being able to see what is in a given cabinet. I will post pictures later today.

T

diversey

16-Aug-2016, 08:43

Very impressive!
Is it a good idea to store them in basement?

Finished the shelving in my basement. Got most of the cameras/lenses unpacked and next up will be accessories, cases, and various other things. Loving my new place, hopefully I can get the darkroom running soon and get back to shooting film.

http://www.oceanstarproductions.com/photosharing/DSC_9599s.jpg