Equipment storage (1 Viewer)

I'm curious how others store their gear, both the frequently and less frequently used.


I've traditionally had one bag to hold the less frequently used items and another to hold my standard kit, with the thought I can just grab and go the latter and not have to think about what's in it. However, in the last few years I've been using my compact for more of the day-to-day things and the DSLR for very specific events. Because of that I have very few "grab and go" moments with the DSLR and find I'm doing more kit assembly / prep the day before, based on what I think the event will require.


Consequently I've been thinking of creating a dry (or humidity controlled) box to hold all the DSLR gear and just keep my bags empty until needed. The advantage is that I won't wind up searching across multiple bags for things (which always seems to happen now), though if there is a spur of the moment thing, it will be more challenging to get it all together (though keeping a camera body with a walkaround lens attached in the box should remedy that).


As far as the dry box, I'm actually thinking of using a 48 quart Igloo cooler with a tray of orange silica (which can be reactivated as needed) to keep things dry. I haven't been able to find others who do this kind of thing, so any feedback about the concpet would be appreciated also.

Sadly, mine's my car trunk, and 3 bags (1 backpack bag, 1 slingshot bag, and a Transformer gym bag), and depending on either shooting seriously (dSLRs), or going with my small EOS M, I suit up as needed.


My EOS M bag is a small camera bag with the batteries and the SD cards in side pouches. It's super-compact (I keep it in the gym bag, along with my single should strap sling for the camera), so I don't really sweat having other things in that small camera bag. I deal with speedlites if I need them.


The rest of my bags have my dSLR stuff, and since I've finally streamlined what is in what bag, I know where all the ancilliary things are that I usually need (dSRL batteries, memory cards, and speedlite stuff like triggers and more spare speedlite batteries.) when it's show time.


Nowadays, I kinda know what is in each of the 3 bags, and I only bring them inside to charge up batteries or scrape off photos from the memory cards. I try to remember to bring into my work office my main dSLR bag so it doesn't get subjected to the summertime heat as much.

I have a couple old camera bags I keep in my closet for less frequently used lenses and accessories. I own a couple of backpacks, and will use one or the other (depending on how much equipment I am taking) when we go on vacation. The larger of those two bags usually has my more frequently used equipment. I also have a messenger bag that I'll use for some single day outings where I am only taking a couple of lenses. My Canon EOS M has its own dedicated bag that fits everything for that system -- body, two lenses, external flash, battery charger, etc.


I will keep my 7D2 with 100-400L lens mounted sitting on a shelf in my den / office, as I keep it ready to go in case any interesting critters wander into our back yard.

So I was going with the cooler idea for a couple years, which was fine but had some areas for improvement, mainly it wasn't very space efficient for smaller lenses, which turns out to be the bulk of my lesser used lenses. So I picked up a Mileaukee brand parts organizer from Home Depot, and that fits everything with a few slots to spare for lens caps, etc.

I actually had my eye on the organizer for actual home improvement items, but it occurred to me it would be a great solution for storing photo gear. I may pick up another to deal with my bin of accessories.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Milwauk...ep-Pro-Small-Parts-Organizer-225046/205847797

I got a LowePro Magnum 650 as a "home base" to hold virtually anything and everything. It can hold anything I'm not using at the moment and gives me room to keep it all in one place, so I don't lose stuff. I put the stuff I want into a smaller bag, but also if I head off somewhere and want positively everything available (in the car) all the extra stuff is in that one bag that I can exchange into a smaller bag.