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Thread: Hiking with (LF and) ULF camera equipment

  1. #11

    Re: Hiking with (LF and) ULF camera equipment

    Quote Originally Posted by Greg View Post
    A f/64 backpack worked out great in holding all my equipment, and a few more essentials. Typically carry the WP or the 8x10 Chamonix camera, 3 lenses, and everything else in the f/64 backpack
    That's certainly a landscape that deserves a big negative!

    I just checked the dimensions of the f64 pack, and to be honest I think my approach would be to cut off the straps/hipbelt off of it until it resembled a slick ICU, then stick it in an expedition sized toploader. Fill the remaining space with a couple of drysacks containing your UL camp and you ought to be set. You might have to shop around for a host pack that has a wide enough packbag--Mystery Ranch might be a good place to start. (FWIW, I have a Bozeman-era Dana AstralPlane that would swallow the f64 with no problem.)

    If I'm reading correctly, though, are we to assume that the f64 doesn't hold your 11x14? I can certainly see where that would be a challenge for even the biggest packs--it might be worth talking to Dan McHale, the custom pack builder, to see if one of his models could be modded to your specs...a 7000 cu in panel-loader would be a sight to behold.

    Otherwise, given your slick and rocky AO, I'd argue pretty strongly that you should be able to stow your tripod, if only to leave your hands free for trekking poles. Here in the Smokies, there are streamside trails I don't mind carrying my Ries as Vaughn does, but throw in a little elevation gain and slick Anakeesta slate a little extra security is welcome.

  2. #12

    Join Date
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    Re: Hiking with (LF and) ULF camera equipment

    Quote Originally Posted by Vaughn View Post
    For my 11x14 Chamonix I have been looking at canoe portage packs. This one looks like it would hold camera and holders.
    https://www.rei.com/product/867832/g...age-canoe-pack.
    This is precisely what I've been looking for!

  3. #13

    Re: Hiking with (LF and) ULF camera equipment

    Quote Originally Posted by Pere Casals View Post
    Attachment 182984
    https://www.nwf.org/Magazines/Nation...raphy-Timeline

    William Henry Jackson

    hmmm, ULF shooters of the XIX were very lucky
    My hero
    --- Steve from Missouri ---

  4. #14
    David Lobato David Lobato's Avatar
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    Re: Hiking with (LF and) ULF camera equipment

    Seriously consider a generous friend to carry part of your load of non-photo gear. I had the good fortune to have a friend carry some of my gear on a trip into the Sangre de Cristo Mountains in Colorado and I got several great 4x5 shots on the trip. Or use a pack animal, great if traveling in wilderness areas. Some forum members have used pack animals and it changes logistics, typically for the better. I have seen non-photgraphers in the wilderness with pack horses and was impressed (and jealous) with the extras they had, some were frivolous, most weren't. Using a pack animal has been in the back of my mind for years.

  5. #15
    loujon
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    Re: Hiking with (LF and) ULF camera equipment

    Quote Originally Posted by Pere Casals View Post
    Attachment 182984
    https://www.nwf.org/Magazines/Nation...raphy-Timeline

    William Henry Jackson

    hmmm, ULF shooters of the XIX were very lucky
    I'm about 99.9% sure the man in this photo is not Henry's but Henry's helper w/ the camera & pack mule. Of course, Henry made the photo of his 18x22 E & H.T. Anthony Klauber on a pack mule camera & lead by his assistant.

  6. #16

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    Re: Hiking with (LF and) ULF camera equipment

    Over the last few years, I have been working on a repeat photography project for the US Forest Service, in NW Wyoming. It involves a lot of remote places, most of which I hike to. If the trip has more than 50 miles of trail, I have used pack stock to get into a base camp, and go from there on foot. Elevations vary from about 6500 feet to about 11000.

    My usual set up for a day-hike is to use a medium-sized day pack (Deuter 30 Cruise) to carry my camera stuff (4 by 5 field camera, 2 or 3 lenses, Gossen Pilot meter, 55 mm Takumar lens for a loupe, film holders, dark cloth, notebook, photos to be re-taken, map) and lunch etc. Normally, 2 to 4 film holders are enough to do a batch of photos on a given trip. The tripod straps onto the outside of the pack. This setup weighs about 25 to 35 pounds. If I need to camp, I still use the Deuter set-up, and clip the waist strap forward and put it in a Lowe Expedition pack. The tripod straps to the outside of the Low pack. I sleep in a bivy sack to save weight and space in my pack. The total weight depends on how much food I need, obviously, but for a few days out it is about 55 pounds. To save weight, I rarely carry water, and drink as I encounter streams; I do not carry a filter.

    For anything but a short trip, I also carry an FM radio (walkie-talkie to check in with USFS for safety reasons) and always a GPS unit to mark the camera stations. There is usually some off-trail hiking to get to camera stations, and I just carry the day pack for that. I weigh about 140 pounds and am 60 years old.

    I could probably shave off a few pounds or so from the basic kit if I used a lighter camera and maybe a lighter tripod, and even more if I used a lighter pack than the Lowe. I usually lose a few pounds on a multi-day trip.

  7. #17

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    Re: Hiking with (LF and) ULF camera equipment

    I kept a small mule for packing in.
    A friend kept her on his ranch for a modest monthly fee.
    I learned to trim and shoe so I was my own farrier.
    I did need a truck and small stock trailer, but used trailers can be found cheap(I put a new floor in mine---one more trade learned---and what was left of the old planks became a raised garden bed) and having a pick up is always useful (mine from a USFS surplus vehicle auction)

    I gave her all her shots and worming, too (yet another ancillary skill set acquired)
    A gentleman who was a famous local saddle maker supplied me with a pack saddle (Tehama tree for mules) and Utah style panniers. The lash rope, cinch, and manty were mail ordered. I built my own boxes.
    Learning to throw a diamond (or better yet, double diamond) hitch isn't as hard as it looks. Apprentice as a wrangler for a few pack trips and it gets real easy real fast.

    It was all a heck of a lot of fun!
    That mule was a better companion than many people I've been camping with.
    I miss the mule!

    Hiking with the 8x10 is far more limiting ---1 small lenses, three film holders and tripod (no head) is about all I can manage these days. For carrying the tripod I got a shotgun sling Click image for larger version. 

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ID:	183051 for carrying and a small dog collar for holding the legs together.

    Hiking with the 5x7 Speeder is more forgiving.
    "I would feel more optimistic about a bright future for man if he spent less time proving that he can outwit Nature and more time tasting her sweetness and respecting her seniority"---EB White

  8. #18

  9. #19

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    Re: Hiking with (LF and) ULF camera equipment

    Quote Originally Posted by Sergio View Post
    this is an smart solution... it would save making several trips from the car to the location

    a digital iphone shooter would grasp his head if he saw one of us transporting the camera with a cart he would even post a tube with that... but it's always a pleasure explaning other people what we do !

  10. #20
    Drew Bedo's Avatar
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    Re: Hiking with (LF and) ULF camera equipment

    Of course the pioneers of wilderness photography such as Jackson and Curtis, took ULF gear into the field . . .and did wet-plate photography. They used pack anamals.

    I cannot imagine bringing a ULF kit into the field without hoofs or wheels.

    Now that I am infirm (back, legs etc) I try to carry less and less and rarely take a footpath that is less than wheel-chair accusable (flat, wide and hard).

    A couple of years ago, I bought a TravelWide plastic camera (4x5). With the little 90mm Schneider 6.8 it is just a pound or so. Film holders , meter and what-not went into a lap-top shoulder bag, all of it together under 10 pounds (never weighed it). I set up the camera for infinity and backed off just a tad. Shot vistas without movements eirther hand-held or resrting on any convenient support.
    It was a little boreing to do and the images were generally not that exciting. The kit worked well enough though.. .till I broke the lens mount. That is a design weakness in the camera. Maybe AI'll get it fixed.
    Drew Bedo
    www.quietlightphoto.com
    http://www.artsyhome.com/author/drew-bedo




    There are only three types of mounting flanges; too big, too small and wrong thread!

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