Bag for light, stand and acc

sep9001

sep9001

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Kev
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Hi

I have just bought a smartflash kit and now need a bag to store and transport all the bits I already have and the additional bits I have bought.


Any suggestions of a bag that will protect the kit but is not very expensive?

I want one that will hold

2 smartflashs
2 may be 4 light stands
A number of umbrella's
Foldable softbox
Triggers
Flash
Brackets
Etc


Thank you

Kev
 
I bought a Bowens wheeled bag from eBay, 2nd hand bargain.

There's lots of versions of the cheap Chinese bag on eBay, it's huge but I'm not a fan.
 
The problem with most bags that take everything is that they're too big to go through the door - and certainly too big to go into the average car.
It's usually best to get separate bags, to avoid that problem.
 
Garry Edwards said:
The problem with most bags that take everything is that they're too big to go through the door - and certainly too big to go into the average car.
It's usually best to get separate bags, to avoid that problem.
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I did this with a camera bag once, I thought it'd be a great idea to buy a bag that fit all my gear including a laptop. Then I couldn't carry the bloody thing. I sold it after one use.
 
Garry Edwards said:
The problem with most bags that take everything is that they're too big to go through the door - and certainly too big to go into the average car.
It's usually best to get separate bags, to avoid that problem.
Click to expand...

I was just about to say exactly that :thumbs:
 
Even the Bowens wheeled bags/cases need the back seat down in the car to fit them in, but they do take two monoblocs plus modifiers and twin stands. Width wise is usually no problem as they are roughly 1'x 1'x 5'. Not very stable when stood on end though!
 
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For stands and brolleys you can't beat a hockey bag. Sturdy, shoulder strap, cheap (£10-£20) and readily available on the high street. And it stands upright in the cupboard, taking up less space. Everything else I'd use a smaller shoulder bag for.
 
Alastair said:
For stands and brolleys you can't beat a hockey bag. Sturdy, shoulder strap, cheap (£10-£20) and readily available on the high street. And it stands upright in the cupboard, taking up less space. Everything else I'd use a smaller shoulder bag for.
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How many stands can you get in a hockey bag?
 
Phil V said:
How many stands can you get in a hockey bag?
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I have two stands, two big Calumet brolleyboxes, a couple of shoot-thrus.. and I'd guess I could get at least another couple of stands in there easily. The pouch pocket at the base takes the brolley mounts and a couple of L-brackets.
 
Alastair said:
I have two stands, two big Calumet brolleyboxes, a couple of shoot-thrus.. and I'd guess I could get at least another couple of stands in there easily. The pouch pocket at the base takes the brolley mounts and a couple of L-brackets.
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Ace, added to shopping list
 
sep9001 said:
I have just bought a smartflash kit and now need a bag to store and transport all the bits I already have and the additional bits I have bought.

Any suggestions of a bag that will protect the kit but is not very expensive?
Click to expand...

You have a ton of options, the two obvious ones in my view are:

A large trolley type to take everything which has the disadvantage of being very heavy and bulky to store or move through small areas but is the easiest way when you're moving it over a flat surface as on a properly designed one the weight gets nicely balanced so you don't have to exert much effort to pull it along. A good example of this would be the newer Bowens trolley bags (either the latest version (also sold under the Limelite brand) or the one with a separate trolley, not the version with the wheels you have to screw in they're cheap but don't work half as well).

Second hand you'd spend £50-100 depending on the version, Calumet also has (had?) some reasonable options, Interfit do a reasonable trolley case which is also sold by a few other companies like Hansel etc but most people I know don't like this option as a full mini-studio gets very heavy.

Two bags, one for your heads with small accessories and one for your stands/brollies. The advantage is it's easier to store and move around as there shouldn't be much wasted space and if you've got a few stands the weight will probably be split evenly between the two bags (you can of course mix and match wheeled versions, Elinchrom/Bron etc do a padded roller case for 2 heads and there's plenty of wheeled stand case options). The cheapest option for the stands as mentioned is a hockey bag (cricket bag or more generally called a hold all are all pretty much the same thing) but the funny part is they're also generally more comfortable than most of the expensive branded options from lighting companies. An example of a suitable 2 head bag would be the Elinchrom 2 head soft location case, Elinchrom Protec poly bag, they're expensive but there's a ton of cheaper versions available (the older Prolinca's, Hensel do a reasonable one etc).

You can get a 2 head case in the £25-45 range second hand and the hold alls as mentioned for under £20 new, this is my personal preference as it's very neat and easy to store in a home environment.

I get to lug around a lot of equipment and the most important thing for me is usually to get the weight onto my shoulders and never on the arms but it depends on the situation, if I knew I needed to drag it over a long distance with a decent surface I'd prefer a trolley case.
 
Wow, thank you all for the various options. Will have a look when I get home.

Thanks
 
I use a "bat bag"... similar to the hockey bag idea above. It has separate pockets (for glove etc) where I put speedlights/triggers/etc (in their individual padded cases). Studio heads have their own padded cases separately... but I almost never take them.
 
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Thank you all for the suggestions.

Simon,

You can get a 2 head case in the £25-45 range second hand and the hold alls as mentioned for under £20 new, this is my personal preference as it's very neat and easy to store in a home environment.

Any links or pointers on this please?

I already have a hockey bag which holds my umbrella and konig light stand, but would need a big one to hold the calumet lightstand.

Thanks
 
sep9001 said:
Any links or pointers on this please?
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There's several, most of the branded versions push £80-100 new. Typically they're available from un-padded versions to well padded (Elinchrom 2 head soft location bag to a Lightware power kit 1200 are probably the two biggest extremes).

As an example, the older version for Elinchrom is here: http://www.theflashcentre.com/el-soft-location-bag2-head-i295.html but it's not ideal as it's got very little padding and it's a bit expensive even after the discounts, they do a nicer version which is also discontinued, they may have some in their London store.

If you're not in a rush second hand is the way to go, it's a pity you didn't ask when you visited as I had a couple I could have shown you to give you an idea.
 
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Simon,

Thanks, not in any rush to get one as I can use the box they come in for now. Will keep a look out for a good quality padded one for the heads. If you do come across one please give me a shout.

For the stands and umbrella I will see if I can get a larger hockey bag.

Thanks

Kev
 
Thanks, had thought of that, but have decided to go for a bag for the lights and another for the lights stands etc.
 
sep9001 said:
Also seen these not sure if they are big enough for the lights or if any good

http://m.ebay.co.uk/itm/331748689317
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Your heads should fit but a couple of things to consider, those are basically hard plastic cases and you'll need to pad them with something if you want the equipment inside to be protected, typically I use a small roller case for stuff over 10kg (even that's not a problem with a nice shoulder case) but a couple of Smartflashes should be under 4kg so unless you're going to benefit from the wheels a shoulder bag might be more practical/comfortable.

They're certainly cheap though.
 
You may want to check your heads will fit into that as it's narrow, hard to argue with the price though.

The first problem I tend to see on those cases are the plastic foot at the front falls off so keep an eye out for that if it happens as they don't stand right without one.
 
simonbarker said:
You may want to check your heads will fit into that as it's narrow, hard to argue with the price though.

The first problem I tend to see on those cases are the plastic foot at the front falls off so keep an eye out for that if it happens as they don't stand right without one.
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Simon,

I think the lights should just fit in the bag. I know what you mean about the bag, fingers crossed it works.

Thank you for all the help and suggestions.

Kev
 
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Update....

Bag arrived and looks good. Can easily fit the two lights, triggers, power leads, 4 umbrella's and the studio light reflectors. Time will tell how long it will last but for the price I cannot fault it.

Now just need to use the kit.....

Thank you for all the help and suggestions, I am glad I asked here before going with my original option for an all in one bag.
 
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