F-Stop It Or Else...

...Or else resign yourself to taking your entire camera outfit onto the plane in your pants pockets. If you are wearing cargo shorts and shooting with a Canon 1Dx and a 100-400 lens your 22-hour non-stop flight to Toronto should be memorable. You'll be able to dine out on the story for years. Standing up straight will be another matter.

Should you wish to live a more normal life, we suggest that you come into Camera Electronic and have a look at the f-stop range of camera bags. This column features a couple of mirror-less models that show some unique features - and may help with your next holiday.

The smaller one is the model m206 - listed as a Micro ICU Tiny. It is going to be good for a small mirrorless body, one little zoom lens, and the charger. You can also pack in a miniature tablet or mobile phone and a couple of cards.  Whack it through the scanner at the airport and heave it up into the overhead locker and you're all set. All you need now is the drinks trolley and a Dale Brown novel.

The bag is a box shape with, thank goodness, metal D rings for attaching a shoulder strap. The outfit also comes with a shapeless cloth carrier bag inside - perfect for carrying it through the airport with a couple of quarts of rye from the duty free. A bag that caters for the important things in life. Remember to get some chocolates for the wife...

The larger one is referred to as the Shallow ICU Small and can expand your carrying capabilities. In addition to the shapeless booze bag - this one fitted to carry gin bottles - this has lid space for the larger tablets and 6 internal compartments. You can take the camera and charger but this time you can stretch out to a fast portrait lens, a macro, and an external flash unit as well.

You'll be carrying more weight, and will know it by Day Three, so you'd better be prepared to make some use of the extra glass you've brought along. If you are a landscape fiend you might be prepared to eliminate the long lens, pack in an extra widey, and save a space for one of the small Lee Filter system holders and rings.

In any case this can still go into the overhead locker without raising the suspicions of the cabin crew.
There is sufficient wall padding to resist pressure from the Tanqueray when the plane stands on one wing and the external covering is rip-stop nylon.

Some of our readers will not be able to stop themselves at this point - and we will dedicate the next f-stop column to them.