Carrying your motorsport photography gear

[G-Slev]

Interested to hear how those of you that shoot at the track with big, heavy lenses carry your gear.

I've gone through a lot of options over the years, but I'm currently using:

A double leather camera harness
A lowepro vest and belt

I hang lens cases off the vest/belt and chuck the body with the 150 to 600 in one of these when not in use, like a giant gun holster. I also have various pouches on the fest for buts and bobs of kit.

I use a maglite holder on the belt if taking a monopod (very rare for me - I find them too restrictive).

I also carry a plastic step, which I attach to the belt with a clip.

What do you use?

 

[Deleted member 95743]

Interested to hear how those of you that shoot at the track with big, heavy lenses carry your gear.

I've gone through a lot of options over the years, but I'm currently using:

A double leather camera harness
A lowepro vest and belt

I hang lens cases off the vest/belt and chuck the body with the 150 to 600 in one of these when not in use, like a giant gun holster. I also have various pouches on the fest for buts and bobs of kit.

I use a maglite holder on the belt if taking a monopod (very rare for me - I find them too restrictive).

I also carry a plastic step, which I attach to the belt with a clip.

What do you use?

Car boot. But that’s because the circuits that I go to are quite easy to drive around. If I do have to put in some leg work, then all the gear that I use will ft into a backpack as I don’t use a lot of gear. (1 body, 300, 70-200, 24-70, and a couple of convertors)

 

[David Stallard]

Used to do the 'carry it all' thing then after a couple of seasons of back ache sussed it - I decide in the morning dependant on weather and circuit which body / lens combo I am going to use, attach it to my black rapid strap, spare battery in the small bag with my snacks and water and that's it.

.DAVID.

 

[andrewc]

I wear an alpinestars photo vest with various bits and pieces in the multitude of pockets - maybe a flash, maybe a teleconverter, spare batteries, bottle of water or thermal mug of coffee, a camera on comfy sling strap and another on a monopod over my shoulder. Most of the kit stays in the car in the paddock.

Most accredited photogs work in a similar way, maybe not a vest but waist pouches or a small shoulder bag, but those on the spectator side seem to insist on carrying everything everywhere, even stuff they know they won’t need.

 

[JohnStewart]

Alpinestars MotoGP photography vest which has numerous pockets including some large enough to hold a 70-200 if needed, plus several bottles of water, snacks, programme/timetable, memory cards, polarising filter, microfibre cloth, spare battery, 1.4x converter etc. I used to suffer from a sore back or neck at the end of a day carrying a backpack with all lenses and water etc. but using the vest distributes the weight around your body.

I also use a black rapid dual strap and attach a body/lens combo to each side depending on which corner I’m going to at the next session, but sometimes only take 1.

I‘ll go back to my car at various points during the day to top up with water and snacks and also swap lenses, drop off pick up waterproof clothing as required. This does involve more walking, but I find I’m less tired than lugging everything around for the whole day.