What's in the bag? (Part II)

Here's part I if you're interested.

Yesterday I decided to consolidate the two systems that I work with (Nikon/Hasselblad) into one bag. Up until now, I've been using a Lowepro MiniTrekker A/W for the Nikon system and a 20 year old Tamrac (single strap top-load) shoulder bag for the H3D. Problem now is that I acquired a HC-210mm and am out of space with the Tamrac bag. The HC-210mm is about the same length and girth as the the Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8G.

So what now?

Well back in March, I bought an Airport TakeOff from ThinkTank Photo. It's a roller bag/backpack and since it's bigger and heavier, it's been sitting around collecting dust. Besides, I haven't had any trips that required such capacity.

But carrying 2 bags around is more cumbersome than a single heavy roller. But how do you organize the bag? I had all these dividers with different height, width, and even depth. I had trouble getting all the stuff to fit with the current divider setup.

So I did what any logical person would do. I ripped out all the dividers and started from scratch. After about 30 minutes, this is what I wound up with:


The lens hood of the HC-210mm can be reversed to shorten the length but it's a bitch to take on and take off so I decided to leave it in the primary shooting position and sacrifice some space. The hood is poorly designed and is made of metal. The metal comes into contact with the lens at 2 metal tabs that ultimately start "brassing". The black paint comes off and you start seeing the steel behind it. This is also the reason I'm leaving the hood in the shooting position.

Then lens attached to the H3DII-31 is the HC-80mm. The lens that's positioned vertically is the Nikkor 28-70mm f/2.8G. I have some more space for accessories that I'm currently wasting with random stuff so I still have some space but not much.