Photo and Travel Tip: Big Camera Bags for Big Lenses
Many of you going on a photo safari own or rent big lenses. This article is really geared for folks having large prime lenses. For example, the Nikon 200-400 f4 VR or Canon 500L f4 IS. If you take smaller lenses such as the Canon 100-400L 4.5-5.6, smaller bags will work.
Owning the glass is a key investment. Getting the lenses and camera body to Africa is another challenge. Steven Frischling has a wonderful chart on baggage limits. This is great info. Considering the limitation of one to two carry-on bags and considering your photo equipment and laptop/storage, you will probably need a big bag. Most either select a backpack or a ‘roll-aboard’ style. The wheels are really handy while toting luggage in the airport, but add quite a bit of weight and are of little value in the sand and dirt paths at bush lodges. Over time, we hope to include a review for these and others, but for now below is a table of some of the options to consider.
|
|
Interior |
|
|
Exterior |
|
Weight |
Retail |
|
|
Length |
Width |
Depth |
Length |
Width |
Depth |
(lbs) |
Price ($) |
|
| Gura Gear Kiboko |
|
|
|
21 |
14 |
8.5 |
4 |
399 |
| Kata BP-502 |
21 |
15 |
11 |
22 |
18 |
12 |
10.3 |
284 |
| Lowepro Pro Trekker |
23 |
12 |
5.9 |
23.4 |
21 |
15 |
9.5 |
359 |
| Lowepro Pro Roller |
17.5 |
12 |
5.5 |
21 |
14 |
9 |
14 |
289 |
| Moose Peterson MP-1 |
|
|
23 |
14 |
8 |
3 |
365 |
|
| Pelican PCS-283 |
18.5 |
12.5 |
5.5 |
22 |
14 |
9 |
14 |
260 |
| Pelican 1514 |
19.75 |
11 |
7.6 |
22 |
14 |
9 |
13.6 |
170 |
| Tamrac 5552 |
18 |
13 |
6 |
22 |
14 |
9 |
11,5 |
309 |
| Think Tank Airport Int. 2.0 |
18.5 |
13 |
7.5 |
21 |
14 |
8 |
11 |
330 |
| Think tank Antidote 2.0 |
14.4 |
11 |
7 |
17 |
11.75 |
7 |
4 |
199 |
FYI, on my last trip to Africa, I took a Lowepro PhotoTrekker backpack. It was not my bag of choice, but was large and I was able to get a lightly used version cheap. It served me well, but was very heavy. Next trip I hope to be carrying one of the lighter versions recently being brought to the market.
Links to reviews of bags:
- Joe McDonald review of Kiboko
- Edwin Leong review of Pro Trekker
- Daivid Cardinal review on the Pro Roller
- Curtis Joe Walker review of Pro Roller
- Rom Zeman review of Moose Peterson’s MP-1
- George Schaub review of Pelican PCS-283
- Review of Pelican 1514 on POTN
- Ron Galbraith review of Think Tank Airport International
- You Tube review on Think Tank Antidote
That Pelican 1510 is an awesome case. I’ve got this one: http://www.pelicanonline-ralphs.com/1510-carry-on-case-with-padded-divider.htm which has the padded divider set included. It is way better than the standard foam that is included in the base model.
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