A genious way of packing and carying a monorail?

[Struan Gray]

Just to reiterate what Georges said: with the Norma it doesn't really work to try and fold the standards down onto the rail. That trick works best with the F and P Sinars where the tilt axis moves when you rise.

Also, if you go into most climbing stores (or websites) and ask for rope-carrying packs or bags, they will show/sell you something much more basic than the Vuarde packs. Dont' buy blind.

Finally, I use my 150 and 90 mm lenses on only the 15 cm rail most of the time. With the focussing track on the standards you can get another 60 mm, and if that's not quite enough a rail cap gives you another 30. I carry a 30 cm rail too, but only use it for longer lenses or closeups. If you know you are only going to use those two focal lengths you can put on the bag bellows and just take the 6" rail.

[Soeren]

Just to reiterate what Georges said: with the Norma it doesn't really work to try and fold the standards down onto the rail. That trick works best with the F and P Sinars where the tilt axis moves when you rise.

Yeah I found that out quite early after buying it. Since the shortest rail I have for the moment is the 30 cm I am forced to take it off the standards when packing and thats anoying.

Also, if you go into most climbing stores (or websites) and ask for rope-carrying packs or bags, they will show/sell you something much more basic than the Vuarde packs. Dont' buy blind.

Im not sure I understand what you mean here. Don't buy without trying it out first? Id like a pack thats somewhat rigid and doesn't sack. It would be nice if it zips all the way down when opening it so...

Finally, I use my 150 and 90 mm lenses on only the 15 cm rail most of the time. With the focussing track on the standards you can get another 60 mm, and if that's not quite enough a rail cap gives you another 30. I carry a 30 cm rail too, but only use it for longer lenses or closeups. If you know you are only going to use those two focal lengths you can put on the bag bellows and just take the 6" rail.

Well, thats the only focallenghts I've got for the moment. Actually your setup is quite similar to mine except perhaps from the format. I have the bag bellows on the camera and ai am using my shortest rail.
How do you pack your lenses and darkslides?
Kind Regards
Søren

[Struan Gray]

Yeah I found that out quite early after buying it. Since the shortest rail I have for the moment is the 30 cm I am forced to take it off the standards when packing and thats anoying.

One trick not yet mentioned is to loosen the rail carrier locks enough that you can just slide both standards off their respective end rails, leaving the rail attached to the tripod head. You can then either pack them loose, which works surprisingly well if you have a semi-rigid compartment the right size, or you can use a short section of PVC pipe in place of the rail to stop the standards rattling about.

Im not sure I understand what you mean here. Don't buy without trying it out first? Id like a pack thats somewhat rigid and doesn't sack. It would be nice if it zips all the way down when opening it so...

It's just that most things sold as rope bags are not proper backpacks, but are more like a groundsheet or tarpaulin that rolls up round the rope to form a holdall-style carrier. No use at all for carrying a camera. See REI's selection here:

http://www.rei.com/search?vcat=REI_S...query=rope+bag

Well, thats the only focallenghts I've got for the moment. Actually your setup is quite similar to mine except perhaps from the format. I have the bag bellows on the camera and ai am using my shortest rail.
How do you pack your lenses and darkslides?

I carry a single-lens-and-all-my-film kit in a samsonite shoulder bag. I can carry this around in civilised areas along with a tripod slung over my other shoulder with a climbing sling for a strap. If I want more lenses, or am taking a long lens kit (more rail, extra bellows, intermediate standard) they go in seperate bags and everything gets dumped into my old expedition pack with the tripod strapped on the side.

I have my lenses on Technika boards and carry them in a Gnass lens case. Before I got the Gnass case I used Ikea food containers, and for lenses on the big Sinar boards I used clunky old 5.25" floppy disk storage cases.

All my film goes in the shoulder bag. I usually take 4x5 in the Fuji Quickchange cartridges, which I reload myself. These let me carry 30-odd sheets of film in a compact and lightweight way, but without the expense of Quickloads. It's hard to build a Quickchange system today, but you could do the same with Graphmatics.