Xtrahand Vests

[Ed Richards]

Any one have experience with these? They are parachute nylon, which sounds like a better bet for tropical wear.

http://www.vestedinterest.com/

[Ted Harris]

Why not just go to Cabela's and buy one of thier many choices for 40 to 100 bucks?

[Frank Petronio]

Geez they look hot no matter the material.

And I don't mean hot like Paris Hilton.

Come to think of it, being hot sounds good to me now that it is Zero outside.

[David A. Goldfarb]

Nature shooters seem to like the LL Rue vest (which is out of stock at the moment, but looks to be a nice thing, if one is in the market for a vest)--

http://www.rue.com/vest.html

[Robert Oliver]

Why not just go to Cabela's and buy one of thier many choices for 40 to 100 bucks?

you've obviously never had the pleasure of wearing an overloaded cotton photo vest saturated by your own sweat for an entire day in the blazing tropical humidity.

I have in my former professional photographer life... not fun

interesting concept with silk, but there is still something really painful about a photo vest over loaded with gear digging into the C-spine. I gravitated to the waste belt, modular bag system made by the likes of Lowe Pro or Kinesis.

[Robert Oliver]

as far as vests go, that one seems pretty neat. I like they way they made it out of mesh and reworked the part of the vest that usually digs into your lower cervical spine. As far as vests go, it seems like a pretty good design.

[naturephoto1]

Nature shooters seem to like the LL Rue vest (which is out of stock at the moment, but looks to be a nice thing, if one is in the market for a vest)--

http://www.rue.com/vest.html

Hi David,

I have one of the Rue vests. I believe that Rue has been out of these vests for some time.

Rich

[Ted Harris]

Robert ... I have but Cabela's has them with mesh backs. Generally when it is that hot I wear shirts with lots of pockets and to hell with vests

[Frank Petronio]

My wife wants to get me one of these to wear for when I shoot pretty girls. She figures it is a good sex prevention device. I think suicide bombers like the look too -- seriously I think I'd worry about getting shot by some trigger happy guard if I wore one in NYC or near some TSA protected area.

Besides, those pictures of the overloaded vests on that website just look painful to me. I can see a small pack or pocket with some film holders and little things like loupes, but to carry view lenses and Polaroids it just seems too macho.

Those Gnass Geear film holder cases are really nice for tripod shots -- they are quick to stow into a daypack. For handheld 4x5 press shooting I would look towards the man-purses or courier bags you carry on your shoulder -- versatile enough and then you can switch sides and distribute the load through out the day (8# Technika on one side, 8# of holders and gadgets on the opposite side.)

[David A. Goldfarb]

Surprising to see the Rue vests going out of production, since they've been such a standard item for such a long time. One of the attractions of such a thing is that you can load it up and get it on a plane without it being classified as "baggage," and then load it more reasonable for field use.

[Ed Richards]

> Generally when it is that hot I wear shirts with lots of pockets and to hell with vests

Down here, it is that hot about 100 days of the year, and even hotter for 150 more. I am looking for a good way to carry 4x5 holders, meter, etc., and to have them all together so I can grab the rig and camera, get out of the truck, and get set up in a few minutes.

> I dunno, those pictures of the overloaded vests on that website just look painful to me.

That is because they are loaded up with cameras and the like. If you have to carry that stuff and need fast access, vests are the best alternative of a bad lot.

> I would look towards the man purses

Maybe in New Orleans, but I cannot recommend it in Slidell.:-)

[Frank Petronio]

Sorry. They obsess over those man purses (made by Fogg and Billingham) over on the Leica forum.

[Ed Richards]

They must go well with toy cameras.

I should finish going native and just keep my holders in ammo boxes.

[Robert Oliver]

check out the street and field system from lowe pro or kinesis's system.

It consists of a padded belt and modular accessories. Nothing on your back or neck. Everything on your hip. light meter, film holders, lenses. I used to carry tons of weight including 2 35mm systems with a 300mm f2.8, 70-200 f2.8, wide zoom, fish, plus a medium format system rain gear and either tons of film or digital backup devices on the back of a motorcycle for 15+ hours in extremely tropical environments. I fell in love with the waist belt system. Especially since I have a really bad neck / back from when I broke C2 years earlier. what's really nice is just wearing a technical fabric t-shirt without a vest. The tech fabric wicks away the persperation. I was 1000 times more comfortable that when I used a vest.

I used the mesh domke vests for years and they were like wearing a portable sauna.

[Ed Richards]

Thanks Robert! I was wondering how those worked. They do look like a good way to beat the heat. Are they washable for when they do get loaded with sweat, or are the sufficiently impervious that you just wipe them down?

[John Brady]

Hi Ed, I just put in an order last week for the khumbu model.
I am having it customized to fit my needs. My plan is to store everything that I need in the vest for a day in the field. Currently I am using an aw2 pack and a photog vest. I am tired of switching stuff back and forth. I am having the front pocket enlarged to hold my ebony 45su with a lens mounted. I am having each of the two back pockets custom sized to fit my gnass readyload case with holder and 20sheets. I will also carry two additional lenses, light meter, loupe, filters etc. This will probably look pretty rediculous when fully loaded, but I don't run in to too many people where I shoot.
My only concern is function not fashion.

It will be about three weeks until it is finished. I will let you know how it works out.
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www.timeandlight.com

[Frank Petronio]

I also had a lot of Kinesis gear and think it is some of the best quality camera gear made. It is a complex system so oftentimes it is best to just email the owner and explain what you want to to do and let him suggest options.

They have to be cooler than a vest. The belts come in various weights and paddings, so you can tailor it to be "just enough" and "not too much." When I went to China I just clipped a couple of the small cases onto my regular belt, which was even more trim and low-key. I also like that they are lower profilem not overly padded, and more subtle than the Lowe-Pro and other brands.

They can still look dorky though ;)

[Ed Richards]

Sounds interesting. So you really treating it like a full body pack. Will you also put the tripod on it?

[Frank Petronio]

Not unless you like a long hard carbon fiber prod swinging around your butt... I think you need a sling or backpack to carry a tripod.

[John Brady]

Hi Ed, yes I have a center pouch in the back of the vest I will put a gitzo 1325 and arca combo in. I guess it helps to even the weight of the gear from front to back of the vest anyway. My thought is when I set up to shoot most of the heavy items will be out of the vest so it should not be much different than the old vest and back pack combo I was using. No more throwing gear down on swampy or sandy ground is the goal.
__________________
www.timeandlight.com

[Robert Oliver]

Thanks Robert! I was wondering how those worked. They do look like a good way to beat the heat. Are they washable for when they do get loaded with sweat, or are the sufficiently impervious that you just wipe them down?

I never washed mine... just sprayed it down with anti-bacterial fabreze and never had a problem.