[LargeFormat] Dragging the gear around in a roller, is that harmless ?

[Philip J. McCourt]

Christiane,
I have been using a wheeled backpack that I bought from Sears and added 
additional straps for more support while carrying it on my back. The 
inside was just one huge compartment on the inside with pockets on the 
outside. I bought a big piece of foam from a fabric store. I cut it to 
fit the inside of the wheeled backpack, then cut out spaces to fit my 
medium format equipment. The foam holds the equipment securely and 
cushions a lot of the vibration from the wheels while rolling on rough 
surfaces. We have been using these backpacks for almost 3 years and have 
not had any problems. The backpacks carry 3 TLR's-2 Rollies, 1 Yashica 
and 1 Kiev 88 and no shutter problems yet. The bags are big enough that 
fitting your camera in it shouldn't be a problem. These bags have been 
great for carting around the camera equipment in the city and through 
parking lots etc.

I bought these cheap bags because I can't afford to buy 2 Lowepro bags. 
If cost is not a factor for you, the compartments in the Lowepro bags 
can be remove and replaced with the foam. This may better protect your 
camera from any vibration that is picked up from the wheels. The Lowepro 
bags that I have seen are well built, I would not hesitate buying one if 
money was no object.

For my 8x10 camera I bought a hard shelled pullman wheeled case and 
added velcro tie downs to hold the disassembled camera. I have yet to 
put many miles on this case with the shutter assemblies in it.

I have a couple of pictures of the bag on my web site if you want to 
take a look. The pictures are not real good but they may give you a 
general idea of what I am talking about.
http://www.philsan.com/equipment.htm

Phil McCourt

Christiane Roh wrote:

>Hi all,
>
>I've  been mostly a lurker on this list, mainly because lately I've not used
>my ArcaSwiss 6x9 a lot : I'm getting older with some pains in the back and I
>need something more comfortable to drag the view camera along, even if it's
>only a small view camera.
>
>That camera is fairly compact - despite of its weight - and presently holds
>in a Lowepro MiniTrekker (look here to see the kind of bag it is :
>http://www.lowepro.com/pages/series/trekking/minitrk.htm).
>
>My main shooting subject involves cityscapes, streets and buildings, with
>occasional landscape photography. I don't really hike in the wild, but I
>walk a lot in the streets. So I've been wondering whether I couldn't put the
>viewcamera gear in a roller ?  There are some nice ones advertised by
>Lowepro here for instance :
>
>http://www.lowepro.com/pages/bySeries/ProRoll.htm
>(hesitating between a Proroller Mini (about the same size as the
>MiniTrekker, but without the stand for easy grabbing) or the Proroller 1
>(may be too big, but with that stand for easier grabbing).
>
>http://www.lowepro.com/pages/bySeries/rolling.htm
>Looks even better, because these are combined roller/backpacks which would
>be very versatile; the wheelsystem (judging from the pictures) seems to be
>the same as that of the Proroller series.
>
>Now while it would be very convenient to be able to drag the view camera on
>wheels and avoid the hassle of backpacking, there are some questions :
>
>
>1)  I've not been able to see one of these bags here around, so I'll have to
>order without seeing any.. Did any of you have some experience with one of
>these bags, or did any of you get an occasion to look at them ? Any usefull
>thoughts, or experience to share, especially concerning the wheel system ?
>
>2) My main concern is with the vibrations caused to the gear and especially
>to the lenses and shutter mechanism : supposing that I drag the gear in one
>of these wheeled bag all of the time, would that harm the lenses in the end
>?  Lowepro advertises mainly the stability of their wheels system .. But the
>wheels look fairly small and Lowepro doesn't say anything about how the
>vibration of the wheels is softened.. Should I be concerned about it ? Or
>isn't not a real issue ?
>
>3) Would you use that kind of bag as cabin luggage ? Or even for checking on
>an flight ? (seems ok to me for the first situation, but not for the
>second). 
>
>3) If vibration is too much of a concern, do you see any other solution
>which would allow me to wheel the camera gear through the streets of the
>cities ? Would a roller made of a hardcase avoid vibration better ? Do they
>come along with larger wheels ? May be, after all, that soft cases/packs
>transfer less vibrations than hardcases ?
>
>Thanks in advance for sharing your experience or advice.
>