Show us: your photography equipment storage area

[Pea-n-Me]

I know it's an odd request.

But I'm getting ready to put one together for myself and would like to see how you guys do it.

Like most of you, I have multiple cameras, battery chargers, lenses, CD storage albums, camera bags, USB cables, flashes, user manuals, tripod, monopod, gorillapod, etc.

It's getting to be pretty messy and I'd like to organize it.

 

[zackiedawg]

For me, no photo really needed - all of my relevant camera gear lives in my Kata R102 backpack. DSLR body, 6 lenses, flash, filters, batteries, memory cards, cables, remotes, cleaning kits, chargers, caps, tripod, compact camera and charger. The backpack is usually sitting on the spare chair in my office/library, where my computer is.

The original boxes & owner manuals and such are accumulated on shelves in the closet in a spare room, along with various other manuals an dboxes from electronic and computer gear.

I specifically got the Kata bag as I wanted a simple, portable storage location for all my camera gear. I have just maxed it out with lens #6, the Tamron 90mm F2.8 macro...so if I get any more lenses, I will have to start storing them in that closet with the boxes and such!

 

[hjd0411]

Good idea Linda!! I was only thinking about this a couple of days ago, wondering how to store all the stuff (not that I have much, but I can see how you can accumulate!!! )

I only have a very small house, so any ideas are greatfully accepted!!! The camera bag idea sounds good, too - could be a possibility.

Looking forward to seeing what others do.

Thanks!!

 

[Master Mason]

the stuff I use is spread between two bags, one of which usually lives in some place in my living room so I can grab it when I want to go someplace, the other less used one in the bed room in my childhood rocker (no one in my house is small enough to sit in it anymore) Then I proably have 2 apple boxes full of older film gear out in the garage.

 

[ukcatfan]

In my backpack and a medium size plastic bin.

 

[KarenAylwood]

I bought this when I moved last summer:
Timber Cabinet

It holds two tripods, all the boxes my equipment came in, four camera bags and all my equipment. I use the drawers for batteries, chargers, memory cards, software packaging, CD's, etc. I absolutely love it. I think that Walmart carries it too but I bought it from Target bc I had 15% off and free shipping at the time. It's VERY sturdy and solid wood but a BEAR to put together. It was worth it tho!

 

[GrillMouster]

We got some modular, stackable storage cabinets from Target. You'd find identical or similar ones at Wal-Mart, Lowes, and The Home Depot. They have a bunch of combinations of different sizes, dimensions, styles, colors, materials, and inserts (adjustable shelves, drawers, etc.). The dark wooden ones match our decor the best, and we thought that the ones with doors made them look more neat & organized (hide all the stuff). I like to keep all of my photography-related equipment (including chargers, books, and magazines) together, so we needed more than one cabinet. They're easy to assemble; all you need is a phillips-head screwdriver. For efficient use of floor space we stacked them. The ones we bought are about three feet tall and about two feet wide. Similar to bunk-beds, they include dowels that connect the stacking cabinets for stability. They also include brackets that secure each of the shelves to a wall stud (necessary if you're stacking). I'm sure there some similar products out there that include door locks, but the ones we got did not, so I'm adding my own keyed locks (very easy to do).

I have a few different style/size bags (shoulder, sling, etc.) in the cabinets and each bag contains a basic "kit" of camera body, lens(es), flash unit, and other accessories. Therefore if I'm in a hurry I can just grab a bag and it already contains basic essentials. I can also quickly pick-n-choose other bodies, lenses, accessories from the shelves and quickly drop 'em in my bag. Because of the high humidity in my area I make sure to keep and refresh a few desiccant gel packs in all of my bags and in the cabinet. I keep things on the shelves depending on how frequently I use them. Less-frequently used items are on the lowest shelves and/or near the back of shelves. Most frequently used items are on shelves from waist to eye level and near the front. It's convenient having a table, bureau, or bed within a few feet of the cabinets for resting a bag while grabbing stuff from the shelves (less crouching or kneeling involved).

 

[MICKEY88]

my Naneu Pro Urban 220
rolling backpack

opened to reveal inner removable camera storage compartment, and optech dual harness.......also notice 2 zippered compartments at top, for fast access to lenses and flashes

inner compartment opened to reveal gear.

2 Sony A700s
minolta 28-75 2.8 lens on body 1
Tokina ATX-Pro 80-200 2.8 lens on body 2
top right, 2 sigma ef-500dg super flash units stacked
bottom right 2, gary fong diffusers
top left, battery charger
working downwards
sigma 28-300 lens
minolta 100-300 lens
2 lenses stacked
Minolta 35-105 and Minolta 18-70
2 remote cords

inside outer lid is a laptop pocket,
outside are various pockets, which hold wireless remote, flashlight, other various stuff..

I have several bags due to having to upsize as my collection of gear grew in size, the current bag holds everything I need in most situations
I forgot to mention the Vest...my memory cards, batteries, lens cleaning stuff, is all kept in one of my vests, so when I go on a shoot, I grab the bag, the vest and I'm out of the house, once at my destination I gab the cmeras and whatever lenses I need for the shoot, the bag goes into the trunk of my car, and any extra lenses go into vest pockets..then I'm off shooting

tripods and reflectors stay in the trunk of my car, so I'm ready to shoot models at a moments notice.

studio lights, backgrounds , wardrobe and costumes all have their own bags, so when going to a model shoot, that stuff can be quickly loaded into my carother camera bodies, lenses, chargers etc are in various other bags,

 

[annnewjerz]

No picture yet, although I do hope to take one to add to this post.

All of my stuff is stored in........

......a dresser.

May sound weird, but when you buy a small chest of drawers (mine is from Ikea), you can fit the drawers with the pluck and pull and create customized spaces for each of your pieces of gear. Cut the foam down to size to fit into the drawer, lay out your lenses, flashes, etc. and then cut around then with an exacto knife. You will get custom little cubbies for everything, which will keep them safe and snug.

The stuff I use most regularly I just keep in my backpack since it's easy to grab and go when I leave, but the stuff that only comes out on occassion stays in the drawers and if I'm bring it along, I'll grab it before I go.

If you are interested in seeing an example of what I mean, go here. This guy just reorganized his gear in a way very similar to how mine looks at home (only with much less stuff )

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Interesting that a lot of the men here keep all their stuff in bags. You guys must have some pretty efficient bags! My Crumpler is completely maxxed out and in fact I'm once again in the market for a new bag, but I digress...

I am planning to do a little area of blocks or shelves. I like the examples you've posted. Keep the ideas coming.

I'm going to be keeping the video camera and its gear here, too (forgot to mention that in OP).

 

[MICKEY88]

Interesting that a lot of the men here keep all their stuff in bags. You guys must have some pretty efficient bags! My Crumpler is completely maxxed out and in fact I'm once again in the market for a new bag, but I digress...

I am planning to do a little area of blocks or shelves. I like the examples you've posted. Keep the ideas coming.

I'm going to be keeping the video camera and its gear here, too (forgot to mention that in OP).

I have several bags due to having to upsize as my collection of gear grew in size, the current bag holds everything I need in most situations
I forgot to mention the Vest...my memory cards, batteries, lens cleaning stuff, is all kept in one of my vests, so when I go on a shoot, I grab the bag, the vest and I'm out of the house, once at my destination I gab the cmeras and whatever lenses I need for the shoot, the bag goes into the trunk of my car, and any extra lenses go into vest pockets..then I'm off shooting

 

[photo_chick]

The majority of gear, past and present, is kept in an old heavy oak armoire. I learned from my sister's 3 house fires that things in big heavy furniture like that actually have a shot at survival. And it was my dad's, which I see as a bit poetic since he is the reason I'm a photographer.

All in all it works very well. Before I got the armoire I kept everything on shelves in the hall closet. That did not work well. I like having multiple drawers and cubbies so I can separate things out and find what I need very quickly.

 

[Gdad]

I keep my stuff set out on the highest shelf in my office- I never keep anything in a camera bag for long. If I ever organize my desk I'll take a picture of it.

 

[zackiedawg]

I need to take a more current inside-the-bag shot, as this one doesn't include all the lenses or the cover pouches...but it gives an idea:

In the shot:

center - A300 with SAL18-250 on body (now A550 body), bottom - Tamron 200-500mm, clockwise left from Tamron - F42 flash, wired remote and bulb blower, Minolta 50mm F1.7 (with an old Osawa cap from my Pentax lens), Sigma 30mm F1.7, rain pouch, microfiber cleaning cloth. Tripod visible strapped to the holder on the outside, upper left.

Not in shot: Tamron 10-24mm (sits in the slot where the 50mm was, which has been moved to where the rain pouch was, which now sits in the right zipper pouch in the lid), Tamron 90mm F2.8 (which sits in the empty space in the center slot) , 2nd bulb blower, sensor brush, wet swab kit, USB cables, chargers, filtes (all in the zippered pouches in the lid).

I've configured the bag this way specifically so that divider in the center area can be removed and placed halfway in the middle of the lower slot where the Tamron is now. Then, I can put the 18-250mm and the Tamron 90mm in those two spaces created, and mount the Tamron 200-500 to the body, and still fit it in the pack. Few backpacks I could find could handle the 200-500 on-body, which was a specific need when I bought the bag. I have room for one more small lens before the bag is totally maxed out - but it would have to be something like the 50mm or 30mm prime.

 

[YesDear]

Ann..... question. You keep buying and selling stuff so fast how can you make slots to keep your stuff in. In no way a criticism, I just wonder how you adapt the foam? Cool idea.

I keep most of my stuff in two bags, but since DS has moved out I am going to convert his room into an edit suite for digital film and video.

 

[Coach81]

my Naneu Pro Urban 200
rolling backpack

opened to reveal inner removable camera storage compartment, and optech dual harness.......also notice 2 zippered compartments at top, for fast access to lenses and flashes

inner compartment opened to reveal gear.

2 Sony A700s
minolta 28-75 2.8 lens on body 1
Tokina ATX-Pro 80-200 2.8 lens on body 2
top right, 2 sigma ef-500dg super flash units stacked
bottom right 2, gary fong diffusers
top left, battery charger
working downwards
sigma 28-300 lens
minolta 100-300 lens
2 lenses stacked
Minolta 35-105 and Minolta 18-70
2 remote cords

inside outer lid is a laptop pocket,
outside are various pockets, which hold wireless remote, flashlight, other various stuff..

I have several bags due to having to upsize as my collection of gear grew in size, the current bag holds everything I need in most situations
I forgot to mention the Vest...my memory cards, batteries, lens cleaning stuff, is all kept in one of my vests, so when I go on a shoot, I grab the bag, the vest and I'm out of the house, once at my destination I gab the cmeras and whatever lenses I need for the shoot, the bag goes into the trunk of my car, and any extra lenses go into vest pockets..then I'm off shooting

tripods and reflectors stay in the trunk of my car, so I'm ready to shoot models at a moments notice.

studio lights, backgrounds , wardrobe and costumes all have their own bags, so when going to a model shoot, that stuff can be quickly loaded into my carother camera bodies, lenses, chargers etc are in various other bags,

Wow.. I want one

 

[DznyFan]

Everything lives in a large fireproof (well, fire retardant by 90 minutes) safe that also stores my external hard drive and CDs/DVDs (backups of the backup). I keep the commonly used gear in a bag and the bag in the safe if its not with me. the other lenses and such I store on one of the shelves in the safe.

 

[C&B Young]

I've got all of my camera stuff in something like this:

.
I wanted something lockable, and something portable that I could sit a laptop on for tethered shooting.

 

[annnewjerz]

Ann..... question. You keep buying and selling stuff so fast how can you make slots to keep your stuff in.

Thank you for pointing that out, John.

First, I bought extra foam---so making a new insert is extremely easy.

Second, if I didn't feel like making a new insert (I've only made one replacement so far when I bought the 70-200) I would just leave the slots empty that I had sold lenses from, or if I sold a small lens and bought a big one, cut the hole in the foam larger to fit. It's pretty simple. Mine doesn't look as wonderful as the guy in the link that I posted because he made a new foam insert with all of his existing gear---but for the most part it's functional, reasonably inexpensive and a nice place to keep my gear when I don't want it cluttering up the house. The lenses/etc. go in the bottom drawer, tripod/bags in the second, books and any software/manuals in the third and bags/miscellaneous stuff in the top.


Oh and for what it's worth, I'm down to a D90, 70-200, 10.5 fisheye, 30, 50 and 85mm primes and a Lensbaby. For now, none of the aforementioned lenses are being sold, I'm quite happy with them. There is, however, always the possibility that I'll add something.

 

[MICKEY88]

Wow.. I want one

it's an awesome bag, I highly recommend it, I was the first person in the US to have this model bag, I lucked into it, before they even had it on their website