how do you store and organize your extra equipment

[Liquid Artist]

I know that the title may sound like the most stupid question of the year but I just bought a bunch of new ( to me ) gear.

It seems like The lady I bought it from was finding more and more equipment until I arrived.

I didn't think much of it until I arrived at my moms house, where my darkroom is and I store some of my less loved camera equipment before I realized that I have extension backs for one camera here, a tripod there, and I myself am starting to loose track of my LF gear.

I do plan on selling some, but I had better get a handle on this soon.

So I am wondering how others keep their gear organized without renting a warehouse.

[Two23]

Simple. If I can't find something, I buy another one.;)


Kent in SD

[Luis-F-S]

Lenses are in a safe, cameras are either in the safe, darkroom, or library. Tripods are in the darkroom and library.

[jp]

for reasons of moisture or water damage, I don't store any cameras or lenses in the darkroom.

I've got a couple fishing reel cases and a tool cart for lens/camera storage.

[John Kasaian]

I load up storage boxes and label them 4x5, 5x7, 8x10, 12x20, film developing, printing, etc....the black and yellow ones from Costco when they have them on sale hold a lot.

[LabRat]

A tall locking file cabinet is good for parts, accys, lenses, backs etc... Cases and footlockers are good for longer term gear storage, and you can download into bags, smaller cases, etc when ready to go shooting...

Having a spare closet is a good thing...

Storing stuff where it can get too hot, cold, damp, dry, dusty, lost are to be avoided... Something that does not trap moisture inside and can breathe a little will help prevent mold/fungus or excessive outgassing of synthetic materials...

Steve K

[Liquid Artist]

Thanks for all the answers, and good ideas everyone

Kent, I like your answer the best, however some of my gear appears to be rare or at least hard to find,

I think the filing cabinet is the best real life idea Steve,

Luis, the lens safe idea sounds good. I am wondering if a gun safe would have vents. They should be readily available in my moms town with several people giving up hunting and their gun collections.

jP,
Fishing reel cases are ideal for my job. Working on the road driving bus or trucks.

And John,
That is exactly how I store my darkroom supplies.

[Drew Bedo]

The cameras that I use are packed in camera bags along with the accessories that are needed to shoot with (loupe, meter, dark cloth, film holders etc.) My 4x5 kit is in an old LowePro "Magnum 35" shoulder bag. The 8x10 Kodak 2D is in an older model LowePro backpack (super Trekker AW). These are grab-n-go kits that lack only fresh film loaded in film holders. Tripods are strapped to the bags. These bags are kept in my cloths closet under the sport coasts, shirts and pants.

Lighting equipment and other stuff lives in hard shell lapp-top computer bags, also in that closet. Cameras and other gear that is not often used is stored in small cabinets; available but out of sight.

All my bags and cases were bought used.

[Drew Bedo]

A friend with a different combination of family obligations, living space and personal resources holds most of his extensive collection of lenses, camera bodies and other LF gear in two large tool storage cabinets. Made of heavy gauge metal, with deep and shallow drawers on casters; they can be moved around his open-plan loft style space and they are lockable

[William Whitaker]

I rent a storage room, then forget what's in there.

[Tin Can]

I also hide gear from myself. I am constantly discovering fresh toys.

Today it is a Big Shot with old Fujiroid in it, One shot left, so I put in a Magic Cube and pointed it at a print.

Never saw this effect...unretouched iPhone copy

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1810/42924623131_5bbb0e6524_z.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/28p6UZa)Green Girl (https://flic.kr/p/28p6UZa) by TIN CAN COLLEGE (https://www.flickr.com/photos/tincancollege/), on Flickr

[Michael Graves]

I went to a university surplus auction a few years back and bought 4 6'6" tall 28 inch wide oak storage cabinets with doors for $22.00 each. That worked for a while, until I needed more space.

[Vaughn]

Alas, organized I am not. Most of the time various formats live in their packs, semi-ready to use and stashed where ever in the house, Ries tripod propped up by the front door. But there is a 5x7 sitting on my desk along with rolls of 120 waiting to be developed, my Pentax Digital Spot Meter is around here somewhere, and 20 8x10 film holders are on the floor getting dusty. Shame!

[mdarnton]

I store my stuff in kits, thought that might be only in a box. Holders are cheap so I have enough to keep each kit ready to go. The rare times when I want a lens in two kits, I buy a duplicate lens. Since I prefer old Wollensak and Ilex lenses, this doesn't break the bank. So I have three 90mm WA Raptars..... cheaper than a single Super Angulon, and I don't need to switch lens boards around all of the time!

[tgtaylor]

If you don't protect it, it goes to pot fast. So the first thing I do when I buy equipment is to buy good hard cases to store it in when not in use. All of my cameras and lens are stored in Pelican type cases in a corner of a walk-in closet and chemistry on two rows of the shelving. Film up to 4x5 is stored in the refrigerator in a Kodak cooler-type film case that I found in a used bin for $5, or on the top shelf of the wine cooler until opened after which it is stored under ambient conditions in the closet. 8x10 film is stored on the top shelf of the refrigerator along with 11x14 RA-4 paper. B&W paper is stored under ambient conditions in the closet. Even the big Meade telescope and 16x70 binoculars have their own hard cases. I like my gear and do my best to keep it looking good.

Thomas

[Tin Can]

I have some in cases, or boxes, or tool chests or anywhere else.

I want to make it hard to steal it all quickly.

My friend's father hid his best Leicas inside a piano.

I told him to look there, just because it made a logical place...

[StuartR]

I have a studio, and a portion is usually in bags ready to go, as it is a pain to fully pack and fully put away a kit every time I use it. But for things I am not using a lot at any given time, I store them either on shelves in a cabinet, or in a drawer. I took the padded divider from an unused pelican case and just put it in the drawer...that made a quick and easy way to separate and protect a lot of gear in a drawer, and it is less fussy than having a pelican case stashed somewhere that you either have to look at, or drag out and open every time you need something.

[fotopfw]

I store the 4x5" Sinar in it's Sinar rolling hard case, with all the lenses, I have to add film holders to it in a separate bag. The 8x10" has it's own case, from Think Tank. Film holders for 8x10" are in a separate bag. Both cases are to heavy to carry more then en few yards, so obviously, the case stays in the car, and from that I pick what I need for that shooting occasion. It goes in a backpack mostly.

[John Kasaian]

My Nikon SLR kit is still in an Igloo Playmate cooler, The Rollei TLR kit is still keeping my socks company in a drawer.

[DrTang]

now I have a studio that also doubles as a storage locker...or visa versa

so I have a metric tonne of cameras, lenses, and tripods..plenty of tripods hanging around there along with lighting gear and about a zillion backdrops - and plastic bins filled with parts and junk stored in the corner

additionally.. I have extra stuff or little used stuff in cases in a closet at home along with some little used (as of now) large format lenses stuck in a glass case that is supposed to be for display items only

so..very often when I want something..it's in the place I am not..

[Mark Sawyer]

With great collections of large format equipment comes great disarray. And borderline mental illness...

[Liquid Artist]

And borderline mental illness...

I think I have had that part covered since I was in diapers.

[bomzi]

Clear plastic storage boxes in a range of sizes works for me.
I group equipment by format and type: slr, dslr, medium format, 4x5, tripod stuff, flashes, filters, other random junk.

[Duolab123]

I try not to use my darkroom to store excess equipment. I definitely have way too much stuff. 2nd utility room is full of darkroom stuff. I run dehumidifier and AC. Dehumidifier is in darkroom, it gets a workout during processing runs.
All my camera stuff is stored in air conditioned spare rooms.
I don't mind the heat and humidity, but I won't make my equipment suffer.

[BradS]

I guess I don't have enough LF stuff. I keep all my camera gear, both large and small format, in a dresser from a child's (now grown up and moved out) former bedroom.

[Liquid Artist]

One of us must be doing something Brad,
My 8x10 gear won't all fit in a childs dresser, and I just started shooting 8x10 not even a month ago.

[Bruce Barlow]

I have chrome wire shelving, 24x72 with three shelves and a slab of butcher block on top. Equipment is mostly in cooler bags, ready to go. 8x10 lenses are in plastic Tupperware-ish containers stacked in bags. Film holders are loaded and in cooler bags. 4x5 Wista is in a full kit in its white Zone VI bag. Extra 35mm lenses and miscellaneous junk is in a big plastic bin with no lid. Everything is ready to go at a moment's notice, insulated from big temperature changes.

That said, if my house has major temperature changes, I think I have bigger problems than whether my camera equipment is comfy.