Large Format 4x5 Camera Hiking Backpack Question

[jianglinxi]

Hello everyone! I'm planning to take some landscape photos this summer but far from driving road which means I need hike 2 days to reach the location I want. I need to carry 4x5 camera with 4 lens with some accessories, sleep bag, tent, food, clothes. I have a friend is going with me, but he is not going to take any camera equipment. He told me that he can carry tent and some stuffs.

I's told that I need to use a professional hiking backpack instead professional camera backpack to carry camera gears and other stuffs. But all backpack for hiking has no foam protection layer, and fabric of hiking backpack is thin. Please give me some advises on camera gears protection. Thx

[AuditorOne]

I use an Intrepid 4x5 which is pretty small and light.

My longer lenses go in socks or, if flat enough and already in a lensboard, are wrapped in micro fiber cloth secured with rubber bands.

My camera gets wrapped in dark cloth. Ground glass is protected by this http://www.badgergraphic.com/opencar...&path=2_82_166

Film holders are held together with rubber bands and then holders and spare film are tucked into the changing bag.

Tripod is attached to pack frame.

A small nylon bag from Delta Airlines that hangs from the outside of the pack contains odds and ends like loupe, etc.

Not too scientific but pretty inexpensive. Leaves lots of room for important things like food and water and sleeping needs.

[faberryman]

How far is a two day hike?

[jianglinxi]

About 45KM two days

"How far is a two day hike?"

[jp]

About 45KM two days

"How far is a two day hike?"

In New England where no path or route is straight, we regularly measure trips by time rather than distance.

[neil poulsen]

The best photo backpack I have was intended for hiking, with just cloth sides, etc. It's also the most comfortable. I cut a large, thick piece of foam to fit on the inside and then did cutouts to hold my camera and lenses. It works fine, and it's relatively light-weight.

I've found that the protection provided with "photographic" backpacks comes at the cost off substantial weight. I also find photographic backpacks to be less comfortable. I use them for smaller outfits. But in my view, they have a downside.

[Drew Bedo]

The best photo backpack I have was intended for hiking, with just cloth sides, etc. It's also the most comfortable. I cut a large, thick piece of foam to fit on the inside and then did cutouts to hold my camera and lenses. It works fine, and it's relatively light-weight.

I've found that the protection provided with "photographic" backpacks comes at the cost off substantial weight. I also find photographic backpacks to be less comfortable. I use them for smaller outfits. But in my view, they have a downside.

Of course, that is exactly what the now discontinued PhotoBackpacker system was all about. The bag was a Kelty Redwing variant and the protection and organization was provided by the semi-rigid boxes. There is still a need for this type of product line, but the market is apartently too small for someone to step in and replicate it. Yet I would think that the concept could be applied to DSLR/Mirrorless formats too.

[faberryman]

In New England where no path or route is straight, we regularly measure trips by time rather than distance.

If you measure by time, it kind of depends on how fast you walk and how often you stop to take photographs. I've never seen a trail marked in time increments.

[jp]

If you measure by time, it kind of depends on how fast you walk and how often you stop to take photographs. I've never seen a trail marked in time increments.

You kinda learn that if you are slower at driving/walking/etc then estimate high for the time to complete. Or if some place is 20 minutes away, then you need 20 minutes + photography time.

[Peter Collins]

I have used a light-weight top-loading backpack--ULA Circuit, and a panel-loading backpack. Now all my photo gear is in a Granite Gear panel-loading backpack. Panel-loading backpacks are much, much better than the top-loading kind for fishing photo equipment out of the pack.

When I have everything packed, there isn't much room for clothes, food, water, sleeping bag. This is not a problem as long as my photograph is not far from the car because tent, sleeping bag, food, water are elsewhere in the car.

If I were to undertake a 2 day hike to a location, I would reduce the number of film holders to just those I reasonably expect to use, leave my 90mm lens at home (you may lighten up in another way), and pack Mountain House freeze-dried meals, my Trail Designs' 'Tri-Ti' alcohol-burning cookset, a change of poly/nylon underwear, plus minimum clothes for the weather, sleeping bag, and my 1-person tent. Tripod lashed to the outside of the pack. And, believe it or not, an umbrella. Important clothes include a wind-resistant outer shell, water & wind resistant pants, and a hat that works in rain and sun--I love my poly Tilley hat. Take a stocking cap if you expect cold nights at high elevations; put it on and get into the bag, get warm, and sleep.

I hiked 120 miles of the Appalachian Trail (AT) last year, and persons with umbrellas were hiking in the rain, dry from the waist up. Worked much better than the poncho I took.

On my next hike I will take chocolate-covered roasting coffee beans. One afternoon on the AT my tail was dragging, and my sister gave me some of those beans. Eat 3 - 5 and in just minutes I was back in shape to hike the rest of the afternoon. A big stimulant. Actually, chocolate-covered coffee beans are useful in many other activities.