Light Traveling With A Bass Case
It's amazing how a new gear bag can brighten up your day. And my new bag is certainly doing wonders for my mood.
Up until recently, I had two modes of operation: Light - in which I traveled with my Bazooka kit - Westcott shoot through umbrella and mini lightstand bunjeed together and held with an M16 strap and Loaded - where I used an old trade-show-stand-bag for an additional stand and umbrella, my softlighter II, and my Apollo box.
It was OK for lagging stuff around, but not very comfy when it comes to packing and unpacking - there was only a top opening, which made it hard to grab the right modifier or to place everything back in.
On my last session with Tomer Jacobson I picked up his little trick. He uses a bass guitar case for lagging his lighting stuff around. I got one today for 35 USD (it was listed 40, but when the store person heard that I'll be using it for lighting gear, he took 5 dollars off. cool!).
Just before my rumble about the bag, I'd love to hear what you're using to carry your light stuff. Share it in the comments.
Why a Guitar Case?
For several reasons. First, it is long which allows plenty of space for light stands, long umbrellas, lengthy softboxes rods and the ubersized Apollo big mama. (I don't have one, but Tomer lags his in the case).
Second, the good cases have lots of carrying options. Think about it for a sec. Whoever is hauling a fender bass is facing the same problems as the photographer who is carrying stands and modifiers. They need to move a long shaped object over a distance; insert and remove stuff from the bag and move it just from here to there.
So the bag that I am now using has three holding points: two straps for backpacking. a side handle for moving it "around the room" and another handle on the front, not really sure why.
Inside the bag, the bass should not move, so there are Velcroes on top (for the bass neck) and a pocket on the bottom. Just perfect to keep the stands from moving and making obnoxious sounds.
Last thing about the case is that it has lots of pouches and pockets on the outside. Only instead of picks and Capo they can hold snoots, grids, swivels, nasty clamps, Gels Gaffertape and all those other goodies.
Why Bass? since bass is a little bit longer than regular guitars and will give you those precious inches which can make all the difference between fitting and not fitting a light stand in the case.
My New Setup
Here is the case open. This is what I have inside:
- Stands: 2 Manfrotto 5001B 74-Inch Nano Stands
- Umbrellas: 2 Westcott 43" Collapsible White Umbrellas
- Soft light: Photex 46" Softlighter II and Westcott Apollo 28 x 28" Softbox
- Hard Light: cardboard snoot, Saxon PC Grid, Gel book.
- Support: NastyClamp, Double Flash Bracket, Swivels, Gaffer.
How are you carrying your lighting gear?
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Comments
!!!
I have a travel case like this, but made for holding 2 basses. It has been sitting on the corner for 10 years.... why did I not think of this!?! I think mine is wide enough to put the strobes into it as well.
Apallo
Follow up .... My 50 inch Apallo is about 2 inches to long to go in my bass case. But If I let it stick out the top of the zipper, it works fine.
Briliant!
I don't have that much lighting gear (yet!) but I've always like having non-camera-bag bags. I love this idea. And there's undoubtedly the cool side-effect of being sometimes mistaken for a musician!
O_O
..........Perfect.
I've been lugging around stands and umbrellas strapped together with some backpacking cinch/accessory straps, and stuffing my strobes and batteries and chargers and _______ into my camera bag (w/ a few lenses and a 1D body, talk about heavy.).
i also have a gig bag laying around.
Nice job *thumbs up*
Great Idea!
I use a baseball equipment bag ($30 at Sports Authority) to carry two light stands, two tripods a couple umbrellas and various accessories. I added a cut up yoga mat ($5 at Five Below) for added protection.
golf case
i used a moulded abs/plastic, golf travel case...
http://www.canadiantire.ca/AST/browse/5/SportsRec/Golf/GolfAccessories/P...
trouble was, too much stuff = too hard to carry/transport.
Bag
I use a golf bag that usually goes on sale in the fall Not hard plastic, but leather.
What a nice idea
I am going to get one next week!
I'm with HERBG. I got a UNDER
I'm with HERBG. I got a UNDER ARMOR baseball bat bag from Dick's Sporting Goods for $15 on sale. Does a perfect job!
You lug a lot of stuff around.
Re: baseball
Thanks light junkie. I've heard about baseball bags some great stuff.
Sadly baseball is not very big here so those are scarse and expensive. Bass on the other hand... Everyone plays base :)
Usually I only carry one of the big modifiers, but I was glad to know they all fit. Equipment left at home can not help on the job, though, so I'm considering taking it all from now on.
Case in point
A similar bag described as a "Photographer Bag" would cost five times this price (and even more).
Lighting bag
Bat bag for the stands and long modifiers as noted above. In places where cricket is played, I'd expect similar bags to be available.
Pistol case for the speedlights. Around $10 at Wal-Mart and it came filled with pluck foam.
Awesomme!!
This is awesome!! Especially since I already have a guitar case. BTW, in the guitar world, the soft cases such as what you have are often referred to as a "gig bag".
Re: gigs
Well, I thought everything with a bass is a 'gig' ;)
Just kidding, this is gonna be my
Lighting gig bag then
BASS BAG
A long sot after solution..... why didn't I think of that? And.... it looks cool... chicks will dig it!
Awesome!
Great idea, thanks for sharing!
I currently have only a small camera bag which sometimes I don't use (keeping a low profile) and everytime I have to carry my Manfrotto tripod it's always naked... plus flash or led lighting, lenses and other stuff.
Was thinking of buying a case for the tripod only, but it would still be a hassle to carry two bags around. This comes as the perfect fit!
Dunno if I'll be able to find a bass case like that around here though, but will shure look for it... most bags around here are the simple ones with a single very flimsy strap, a side handle, one external bag and nothing on the inside, not to mention they are usually made with very thin leather which gives no protection to the gear.
But even if I can't find, it's probably worth trying to mod it... would be simply awesome to carry everything in one single pack.
Bat Bag
I'm the same with a few people already, I use a bat bag...and it was free...to me. My GM sent me a gift card to a sports apparel place that I don't go to, and they had a bat bag...sweet!
Bass Bag
What brand bag is that?
re: brand
they are called CNB: http://www.teamintlco.com/CNB/
but I think any decent bass gig bag will do
Keyboard soft case
My keyboard case hosts all my lightning gear. It's even big enough to carry some background fabric. But the ravages of time nibble on it and I already start thinking about an alternative. Thanks a lot for this article; a bass case seems the perfect follow up for me :).
Nice idea, I'm going to mod
Nice idea, I'm going to mod my guitar case as well, as I'm not playing anymore anyway. I used to, but wasn't good enough. I think I'm better at taking photographs :)
Light bag from rifle bag
Hello,
I was wondered how to carry my light stuff. So I found in the Army shop rifle bag. Which proved to be very versatile.
Here is the shop:
http://www.varusteleka.fi/product/aselaukut/mil-tec-aselaukku-iso-musta/_2IX0V7WKR&lang=en_US
And here is a result:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dimatsvetkov/5547460569/
Could also have the added
Could also have the added benefit of being allowed as extra carry on when flying.
Many airlines make allowances for musical instruments as fragile items. Unfortunately they don't extend this courtesy to photography equipment.
Sometimes one needs to kick
Sometimes one needs to kick himself in the rear..
I use a normal bat bag.. But this.. this is a..
Great idea.
Cool
Great idea... Thank you veru much.
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