Inspired by Ken Lee's article "Carry Your Gear on a Buget" on his website, http://www.kenleegallery.com/html/tech/index.php I started looking at various items like cooler bags, and came up with a Stanley tradesman's toolbag. As the pictures show, it's a tough nylon bag with a strong moulded plastic base and a sturdy carry strap. Inside there are fabric loops sown into the inside walls into which chisels, screwdrivers etc can be inserted. There are also various pockets here and there, and in a separate zippered lid compartment, two plastic zippered envelopes which are handy for filters etc.
I made some partitions out of 1 mm aluminium, which are bolted/riveted together, and slip into some of the tool loops around the inside edges. The whole partition system is covered both sides with high impact 3 mm rubber that feels like neoprene. I also stuck some of this material around the remaining inside surfaces of the bag to cover the unused tool loops and provide some extra padding. I also put some 1 cm high density foam on the floor. The bag is approximately 400 x 250 x 250 (16" x 10" x 10"), which I find is more than enough for 4x5 field gear. There are lots of different sizes available in this type of bag, maybe even suitable for larger gear and monorails like my Linhor Kardan Super Color, which I found impossible to back pack. Compared to buying dedicated camera bags, something like this is a much cheaper alternative in my opinion. I paid A$46 for the bag and another $20 approx. for foam and glue. A bit of mucking about, but my time's cheap now that I'm retired.
In practical use I can carry a carbon fibre tripod layed across the top of the bag and fixed to the carry strap at each end by a loop of velcro.
Hope this may be of use to someone.
Barry
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