I posted about this project on the FlyerTalk.com forums recently, because someone was asking about modding their overnight bag, and some of the techniques I used were useful to him. But then I realized, I never shared this project with my friends on TheMagicInPixels.com or Dgrin.com, both of which are full of rabid, er, avid photographic enthusiasts who travel a lot. So here it is. I hope my little project can inspire others to find custom DIY solutions to their own equipment carrying dilemmas.
Chapter I: In which my ridiculously picky nature creates loads of work for me
I travel with a laptop and a lot of camera gear, and I've never liked carrying a camera bag AND laptop bag. I wanted a bag that would carry all my electronics stuff, carry-on size, but with rollers and a handle. But a decent bag with the features I wanted would cost me several hundred dollars, and even then, the possibility that they might not actually do what I wanted when I got one made me very hesitant to spend that money. So I decided to buy an empty bag of the proper size and create my own custom camera/laptop bag.
The basis for this project was a 22" American Tourister roller, which I bought at WalMart:
I chose this bag for several reasons:
1) It's cheap and readily available.
2) It's the max size allowed by most airlines for carry-ons.
3) It includes a laptop sleeve and separate zipped opening on the side,through which you can remove the laptop without opening the main compartment.
4) It has wheels and an extendable handle that is tall enough for me to pull comfortably, despite my 6'-4" height.
5) It's not a camera bag, it's just a suitcase - which means it doesn't have "STEAL ME!" written on it in big, red letters like Pellican or Lowepro or Tenba bags.
Once I had the bag, I modded the living cra... I mean, I extensively modded it to fit my specific needs.
First, I added two U-bolts to it to act as mounting points for a shoulder strap (for those times when I need to carry it instead of rolling it). I ; drilled through from the outside of the bag, fed the U-bolt ends through, and secured them in place with washers and locking nuts on both sides of the hole.
To make the U-bolt interface stronger, I drilled the holes through the wide plastic bar in the top of the bag which. This plastic bar is there to act as an anchor for the built-in carry handle, which is riveted through the bar. I figured that the plastic bar is strong enough to hold the weight of the bag when I pick it up by the handle, so it ought to be strong enough to hold the bag from a shoulder strap, too.
Later, I also added a couple of small web straps to the outside of the bag, to use for my phone, water bottle, or other small items that have belt clips. I used the same technique to attach them to the outside of the bag as I had with the U-bolts, except that I drilled through the plastic hard shell, and on the outside of the bag I used decorative finish washers to give the heads of the machine screws a neater, more pro-like finish.
And the coup de gras was when I bought a piece of 4" furniture-grade foam, cut out custom openings for my camera gear, and made an insert that filled the entire bag. My laptop fit into the bag through the bag's original side zip laptop compartment, which put it between the foam and the back of the bag where the handle retracts.
But that became a problem - the laptop was banging up against the metal handle while in the bag. Solution: I unzipped the liner and inserted a piece of 1" furniture-grade foam beneath it, insulating the laptop from the handle. The black lines I drew on the foam indicate where the handle is beneath it.
I used the bag in this configuration for several trips over two years, and it was perfect. I was ablt to roll it around airports and hotels easily, it fit in the airplane overhead bins perfectly, and it carried all of the equipment I need in safety and anonymity.
Chapter I: In which my ridiculously picky nature creates loads of work for me
I travel with a laptop and a lot of camera gear, and I've never liked carrying a camera bag AND laptop bag. I wanted a bag that would carry all my electronics stuff, carry-on size, but with rollers and a handle. But a decent bag with the features I wanted would cost me several hundred dollars, and even then, the possibility that they might not actually do what I wanted when I got one made me very hesitant to spend that money. So I decided to buy an empty bag of the proper size and create my own custom camera/laptop bag.
The basis for this project was a 22" American Tourister roller, which I bought at WalMart:
I chose this bag for several reasons:
1) It's cheap and readily available.
2) It's the max size allowed by most airlines for carry-ons.
3) It includes a laptop sleeve and separate zipped opening on the side,through which you can remove the laptop without opening the main compartment.
4) It has wheels and an extendable handle that is tall enough for me to pull comfortably, despite my 6'-4" height.
5) It's not a camera bag, it's just a suitcase - which means it doesn't have "STEAL ME!" written on it in big, red letters like Pellican or Lowepro or Tenba bags.
Once I had the bag, I modded the living cra... I mean, I extensively modded it to fit my specific needs.
First, I added two U-bolts to it to act as mounting points for a shoulder strap (for those times when I need to carry it instead of rolling it). I ; drilled through from the outside of the bag, fed the U-bolt ends through, and secured them in place with washers and locking nuts on both sides of the hole.
To make the U-bolt interface stronger, I drilled the holes through the wide plastic bar in the top of the bag which. This plastic bar is there to act as an anchor for the built-in carry handle, which is riveted through the bar. I figured that the plastic bar is strong enough to hold the weight of the bag when I pick it up by the handle, so it ought to be strong enough to hold the bag from a shoulder strap, too.
Later, I also added a couple of small web straps to the outside of the bag, to use for my phone, water bottle, or other small items that have belt clips. I used the same technique to attach them to the outside of the bag as I had with the U-bolts, except that I drilled through the plastic hard shell, and on the outside of the bag I used decorative finish washers to give the heads of the machine screws a neater, more pro-like finish.
And the coup de gras was when I bought a piece of 4" furniture-grade foam, cut out custom openings for my camera gear, and made an insert that filled the entire bag. My laptop fit into the bag through the bag's original side zip laptop compartment, which put it between the foam and the back of the bag where the handle retracts.
But that became a problem - the laptop was banging up against the metal handle while in the bag. Solution: I unzipped the liner and inserted a piece of 1" furniture-grade foam beneath it, insulating the laptop from the handle. The black lines I drew on the foam indicate where the handle is beneath it.
I used the bag in this configuration for several trips over two years, and it was perfect. I was ablt to roll it around airports and hotels easily, it fit in the airplane overhead bins perfectly, and it carried all of the equipment I need in safety and anonymity.
