Finally, a way to store all my camera gear.

Sootchucker

Sootchucker

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Don't know about the rest of you, but my gear has become so large that I find it a bit of a struggle to store it all at home. I've ended up with some in camera bags (3 of them), and some in drawers and the top box of a wardrobe. I've been looking for a while for a better way of storing the gear and think I've found it. The Vanguard Divider Bag 53 extra large from Amazon. These are designed as an insert to go into Vanguard's hard case storage boxes, but can be used on their own. When I started watching them on Amazon, they were nearly £100 each but the other day noticed they have dropped to only £77.60 each so I purchased 2 of them.


They arrived yesterday and I have to say to being mightily impressed with them. Very well made, really thick padding and a ton of Velcro dividers inside. The two of them pretty much fit 95% of all my gear with my Nikon Z system filling one, and my Olympus (micro four thirds) and Sony A6700 (APS-C) systems filling the other. They both fit nicely inside our Ottoman style double bed.

Quick image below of one of the bags with all my Nikon Z system in there. Suppose I now need to get those little stickers that attached to the lens caps to quickly identify each lens whilst in the bag. Anyway, just thought it might be useful to some on here ?

 
That looks a very good idea, I might go that way myself. I have all mine in a load of different camera bags at present, which sort of works but it's a lot of bags: the Nikon D850 one, the D500 one, The Olympus one, The Pentax one, the Infrared converted ones, etc etc, and it doesn't include most of my film kit. I'm wondering if one of the sizes of this would fit in my filing cabinet, so I could maybe have two or three drawers containing the padded bags. Thanks for the suggestion and recommendation
 
Sootchucker said:
Don't know about the rest of you, but my gear has become so large that I find it a bit of a struggle to store it all at home. I've ended up with some in camera bags (3 of them), and some in drawers and the top box of a wardrobe. I've been looking for a while for a better way of storing the gear and think I've found it. The Vanguard Divider Bag 53 extra large from Amazon. These are designed as an insert to go into Vanguard's hard case storage boxes, but can be used on their own. When I started watching them on Amazon, they were nearly £100 each but the other day noticed they have dropped to only £77.60 each so I purchased 2 of them.


They arrived yesterday and I have to say to being mightily impressed with them. Very well made, really thick padding and a ton of Velcro dividers inside. The two of them pretty much fit 95% of all my gear with my Nikon Z system filling one, and my Olympus (micro four thirds) and Sony A6700 (APS-C) systems filling the other. They both fit nicely inside our Ottoman style double bed.

Quick image below of one of the bags with all my Nikon Z system in there. Suppose I now need to get those little stickers that attached to the lens caps to quickly identify each lens whilst in the bag. Anyway, just thought it might be useful to some on here ?

Click to expand...
If they are anything like my lens caps, they have wanderlust and are shamelessly promiscuous as to which lens they attach themselves to.
 
Vanguard stuff seems pretty good; I store most of my gear in a Vanguard backpack which to be fair I rarely take out these days, just in the interest of travelling light... it's very well made though, and with some thoughtful design touches.
 
I've tried the "big bag" thing a few times, but it always ends in confusion.

Now I just put sets of cameras in small bags, ready to go. It works for me because once I've found a body and lens that work well together they stay together. Similarly, once I've found a combination of cameras that compliment one another, it makes sense to me to have them in the same bag, ready to go.

Each of us needs to find our own ways of working.

Lowepro messenger bag with Sony A65s FZ82 P1010363.jpg
 
Just checked and the 46 model, one size smaller than in the OP, fits in a filing cabinet drawer, so I've ordered 2 of those to tidy my stuff up. I may need more once I see how they work out though, as I'd rally like to organise and store properly the Pentax film kit.
 
I looked at those but baulked at the price, so I am in the process of making my own custom dividers to fit into the 9L Really Useful Boxes - one for cameras and one for lenses.
 
Sootchucker said:
Don't know about the rest of you, but my gear has become so large that I find it a bit of a struggle to store it all at home. I've ended up with some in camera bags (3 of them), and some in drawers and the top box of a wardrobe. I've been looking for a while for a better way of storing the gear and think I've found it.
Click to expand...
Not nearly enough for my hoard.
I think realistically I need to take over the neighbours house. On top of camera bags I have boxes on shelves in the bedroom & dining room, as well as two chest of draws & another box under the bed. Then there's a chest in the lounge, more damp tolerant stuff in the garage (tripods, lighting & darkroom gear but no lenses and only very old bodies)
The main case for my 5x4 stuff is substantially bigger than one of your storage bags & it doesn't even include the lenses.
LF case small by Mike Kanssen, on Flickr

I guess it's high time I had a clear out. Perhaps I'll be able to get down to 300 lenses (total across about a dozen systems)!
 
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One question, is the bag too big for a carryon for flying. I can just get away with a Tamrac System 6 if I go anywhere by plane
 
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realspeed said:
One question, is the bag too big for a carryon for flying. I can just get away with a Tamrac System 6 if I go anywhere by plane
Click to expand...

I got these just for storage at home to keep everything clean and safe and in one place (rather than scattered all over the house). I'd never use these for flying as they would at the very least need to go into the Vanguard hard outer case as these are very soft.
 
Yes, they came with a few sachets in the box so I've since put two in each lid (y)
 
Sootchucker said:
Yes, they came with a few sachets in the box so I've since put two in each lid (y)
Click to expand...
The sachets they come with are really small & won't absorb much moisture. Tiny silica packs like this can give a false sense of security. I generally use some like this https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/354889182646?var=624195247369&_ul=GB that we used to use at work to keep an instrument dry when transported off site. They hold Much more moisture & can be reconditioned in an oven.
 
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