Carrying stuff when you are shooting

[Ed Richards]

Readyloads are nice, but I have not figured out how to mark the film in them. I have all my holders binary coded, and I log the shots with exposure info and a GPS location, then match it all up after processing. I then put the holder # on the storage envelope along with the unique negative #. Makes it easy to make sure I have get the negative back in the right envelope. Bottom line, I still have to carry holders. Otherwise I also put the tripod over my shoulder with the camera on it and carry away. My wife attached a clip to my dark cloth so I can clip it to the tripod and use it as a pad for carrying the tripod.

[Ted Harris]

I am just finishing up an article for "View Camera" on using fishing gear bags for toting large format gear, focusing on bags that will fit under your seat on an airplane. The article will be in the next issue. As a prelude, I am attaching a picture of an Orvis Safe Passage® Kit bag filled with lotsa stuff. Photo by Evan Barlow, Bruce's son. Bruce was testing the bag. As you can see there is room for lots more stuff in addition to the gear shown. Bruce said he was prepared to hate the bag but ended up liking it a lot. The Tupperwared container holds two lenses.

Attachment 84

[Slade Zumhofe]

Sorry if this had already been mentioned.......I get all my gear with room to spare in an f/64 bag which also holds the tripod and has removable film holder pouches that can be taken off and put on your belt.

The greatest thing I have ever purchased was a tripod pouch--fits between the legs of the tripod and holds everything I need while shooting. Weighs next to nothing and just folds up with the tripod when done. I use to struggle with laying "items" down on rocks or the ground or continually opening and closing the bag to put stuff away--now, it all goes into the tripod pouch. Mine came with my Velbon tripod but I have seen them sold seperately---trust me, you can make one in less than a few hours for almost no money--not much to them.

I rarely have anything around my neck or in pockets anymore--very nice.

[Ed K.]

Readyloads are nice, but I have not figured out how to mark the film in them....

Ed R - true, however Quickloads have a white tab that allows use of a Sharpee. Of course, then you would have to use Fujifilim instead of Kodak, and that might not suit you. Grafmatics have a numbering system ( which you might not like either ) that exposes a small number on each piece of film. Many people remove the little wheel that does this because they don't like it intruding upon their image.

[reellis67]

That looks pretty nice! A lot better than the bag I'm using right now. You've got basicaly what I carry right now stuffed in there so I have to take a closer looks at one of those. Thanks for the heads up!

- Randy

[Ed Richards]

Ed R - true, however Quickloads have a white tab that allows use of a Sharpee. Of course, then you would have to use Fujifilim instead of Kodak, and that might not suit you.

Doesn't that white tab get stripped off before you process the film? Readyloads also have the white tab, but I need something that marks the film. The Graphmatic is interesting - how high can you set it to number, or does it just number the sheets in one holder? I typically shoot 30-60 sheets in a day's work, so I need to keep that many sorted out, plus some spares sorted out.

[Ed K.]

Ed R -

Ah, gotcha. Yes, the white tab is part of the outer holder, and the rest of all the innards get torn off before processing on Quckloads. You're right if you need to mark the film itself. When I referred to the Sharpee, I meant the outside. On the other hand, I wonder if you could slide some kind of metal marker into the pack that would prick the edge of the film somehow...

As to the Grafmatic holders, they just number 1-6. I suppose a careful dremmel job might put a little hole or notch in the wheel to identify which Grafmatic they came from - that would work fine. It's a little magnetic wheel that turns to the correct position based on the sheet that is in the holder.

It IS still possible to find some good ones that are intact, however they cost money for ones with all their pieces, in good working order. The Grafmatics do hold film very flat ( for me at least ). However if you need to do 30 shots per batch, you'd need 5 of them. Good ones go for 75+ each, perhaps more for near perfect ones if you can find them. I'd gladly pay $125 each for PERFECT ones ( like new ). Too bad they are not made anymore.

[Ed Richards]

I once heard tell of someone who punched holes in the side of readyloads to notch the film. I gave it a try - if you have a jig to make sure you are in the right place, you can notch the film without exposing it. Made me really nervous, however, to punch holes in my exposed film, so I stuck with the holders. Graphmatics sound fun, esp. for when I am doing hand held, but how are they with contaminates like sand?

[Ed K.]

Grafmatics could be cleaned if they got sand in them, however you'd want to avoid that for sure. I think just about any LF gear is bad with sand. I wouldn't want to get sand in a Grafmatic or any other LF part. The sliding part does tend to get burred / sticky on bad ones, so again, sand would be bad. That said, if you put them in ziplocks until ready to use, you should be fine.

[j.e.simmons]

I was in Lowes (a US home improvement store) over the weekend and saw a number of bags made to carry tools. The were made of a heavier material than the fishing bags that I've seen, and most had a heavy duty bottom - obviously for carrying heavy tools. They come in a number of sizes - probably not large enough for my C-1, but certainly large enough for 4x5 and possibly an 8x10 field camera.
juan