travel help!

[Charles Senkus]

will be going to iceland and need some tips on packing. will be taking a 10-22, 24-70,70-200,100-400,500,40d-20d,1.4,580 and some misc stuff does anyone know what kind of backpack i could get all this in and still carry on the plane? was looking at the lopro photo trecker. thoughts?

[Roger Clark]

I have the photo trekker and similar gear (1DII and 30D bodies) and carry it on on airplanes. I carry a 300 f/4 instead of the 100-400 (my 300 is sharper than my 100-400). I don't think the 100-400 will fit easily with the other lenses. Also, is your 70-200 f/4 or f/2.8? You could lay your gear out on the floor and measure the dimensions and see if it is close to the inside dimensions of the photo backpack.

To make the photo trekker carry-on legal, you must take off the waist belt and tripod mount. Thus you need a strong back, I put them back on once getting to the destination. Also be aware of your airline weight restrictions. Many have such low weight restrictions that you can't legally take a big photo backpack. One trick is to put as much gear into a photo vest and once on the plane put it back into the backpack. I've looked like a stuffed turkey with everything but the 500 in the backpack, but it works whenever I've had to try it.

Roger

[JDGagne]

Charles,

Plane size will dictate your decision. And your setup may have to change because of these famous plane sizes. So in these conditions, I often use a setup for the flight and one when on location. My favorite choice to carry all that and be safe in case I am boarding a small CRJ size plane is actually composed of 2 bags: A Thinktank Airport Antidote backpack to carry the the 500, the 100-400, the 10-22 and a 1.4extender; this bag fits in the overhead compartment of a CRJ size plane. The rest goes in my second bag; a Thinktank urban disguise 40 which will carry the 2 PRO bodies, the 70-200, the 24-70 and some misc. stuff; this one fits under the seat . On your destination, you can reconfigure your backpack with the separators to replace the 500mm with the gear that was carried by the urban disguise 40. You then carry your 500 on the tripod/shoulder.
see the antidote configurations on this lonk: http://www.thinktankphoto.com/ArprtAntdt_Configs.php

Alternative: the 500mm goes in the Thinktank Taxi Glass small backpack(fits under the seat) and the rest goes in the Antidote for the overhead.

If your planes are larger, Thinktank offer larger backpack.

Have fun

Jean-Daniel (JD)