Packing For Air Travel/ThinkTank Rolling Bags and LensCoat Gear: A Winning Combination

Above is my beloved 800mm f/5.6L IS lens with the hood removed and a TravelCoatTM Canon 800 F/5.6 IS w/o hood – Black. I always keep the strap on the lens; it provides a measure of safety when mounting the lens I loop the strap over the tripod the head. At times I carry the lens with the camera body attached bolero style . I save space in my Think Tank rolling bag by putting the hood in a checked bag where it can serve to protect fragile items such as an extra pair of glasses or an external hard drive. The TravelCoatTM also offers protection to the big lens once I get my gear into the rental car; to make it easier to access my stuff, I remove the lens from the Think Tank bag and place it on the floor of the trunk on a coat or a sweatshirt. Driving with a camera body attached to a long lens is to invite disaster; I never do so unless I am on location and photographing from my vehicle.

One of my two pro bodies is Lens Aligned for the big lens, the other for my trusty intermediate telephoto zoom. Above is the latter, the Mark IV that I use with my 70-200 f/2.8L IS lens. I keep it in the BodyBag Pro – Realtree Snow also seen here. I place my 800 Mark IV body in a BodyBag Pro – Realtree Advantage Max4 HD . Using different patterns makes it easy to grab the gear that you want, white BodyBag for the 70-200 body, brown camo one (see below) for the 800 body. On the left is the BlackRapid RS-7 Strap that I have grown to love. We have them in stock but are not quite ready to offer them for sale.

Here the 800–topped by a LensCoatTM HoodieTM XXX Large Realtree Snow –has been placed the long way in the center of the Think Tank bag . My two Mark IV bodies have been placed on end next to the big lens.

Top right are the 70-200 f/2.8L IS lens and a LensPouch Large – Realtree Snow. Below are the 24-105mm IS L zoom lens and a LensPouch Small – Black. On the left are a 1.4X III and a 12mm Extension tube (stacked). Above them is the LensPouch Small – Realtree Snow that they are stowed in. To the right is a 2X III TC, a 25mm Extension Tube, and a second 1.4X III TC (also stacked). Above them is the LensPouch Large – Realtree Snow that they travel in.

The 70-200 in its LensPouch Large – Realtree Snow (with the narrow end of the lens to our right) goes the long way below the 800 (as seen in this view) at the bottom of the bag. The 24-205 in the LensPouch Small – Black (also with the narrow end of the lens to our right) is set below the 800 at the top of the rolling bag). The stacked 1.4X III/12mm tube in the LensPouch Small – Realtree Snow are nestled between the two lenses. The stacked 2X III TC/25mm tube/1.4X III TC in the LensPouch Large – Realtree Snow fit nicely nose end down in the space to our right of my 800mm Mark IV body.

Top left is my spare camera battery that goes into the LensPouch X Small – Digital Army Camo to its right. The 4th Generation Design Integreated Flash Arm and two flash cords travel in the BeamerKeeper – Realtree Snow that is between the two flash cords. My Canon CP-E3 External Battery is placed in the FlashKeeper – Black and my 580 EX Speedlight in the FlashKeeper – Forest Green. Eight extra AA batteries are stowed in the battery compartment of the FlashKeepers. Velcro flaps keeps everything in place.

The FlashKeeper – Black which is hidden by the BeamerKeeper – Realtree Snow is placed vertically outside the 70-200 to afford it some extra protection and the FlashKeeper – Forest Green fits neatly on top of the 24-105 in the LensPouch Small – Black. The spare battery in the LensPouch X Small – Digital Army Camo is tucked into the space at the narrow end of the 70-200.

We are almost done. The Giotto’s Tiny Ballhead with a Wimberley P-5 camera body plate in the clamp for safe keeping (top row center) is stowed in the LensPouch Small Wide – Realtree Advantage Max4 HD to its left. The fresnel screen in its protective blue cover and the Better Beamer are placed in the BeamerKeeper – Black. Lastly the 15mm fish eye lens fits perfectly and safely in the LensPouch X Small – Black. The neatest thing about all of the LensPouches is the removable padded plastic disc insert that protects the front element of the lens. When I throw the 15mm fish eye and the 24-105 into a pocket of my X-tra Hand Vest I do so with complete confidence that when I am ready to use either one they will be undamaged. Another neat feature of all of the LensPouches, FlashKeepers, and BeamerKeepers is that they all come with both a belt loop and a sturdy snap so that they are compatible with a variety of belt and other in-the-field stowage systems.

The remaining small items are placed as space allows. Lastly I throw in a few sets of lens caps top the whole thing off with some large micro-fiber and chamois-type cloths and a shirt of sweat shirt to fill the empty space and act as additional padding.