Having recently re-kindled my passion for motorcycling (KTM 990 Adventure) with the intent of travelling to some remote places for weeks at a time, I now need to carry a standard travel photography kit (comprising Canon 5DMkII, Zeiss 21mm, Zeiss 35mm, Canon 70-200 f/2.8 zoom and a GoPro HD) on the bike!
Lugging 6kg of canera equipment can be quite demanding. I’ve looked into a few options, but no-one sells a dedicated motorcycle camera bag. Yes, I could use a Pelicase as a top box, but they aren’t that accessible – stop, unmount bike, open box, take out camera – miss shot!.
So I wanted something that was cheap, relatively impact resistant, will help with the vibey V twin, keep the gear dry and can be accessed while sitting on the bike – pull over, unzip, take out camera and take the shot!
Since my KTM 990 Adv came with a Tank Bag, what better than to convert it into something that will house my travel photo kit. Afterall, it sits up front, has a semi rigid side wall, one zip for camera access and one retaining zip for bag removal (security purposes). The Tank bag also converts into a comfortable and unobtrusive shoulder bag for carrying around off the bike.
I intially went through an old box of left over camera bag inserts (standard foam nylon velcro pads) and cobbled something together. It was functional, took up a bit too much space and didn’t fit that well in the bag.
So, I bought a high density foam camping mat (6mm thick) for £10, cut it up and lined the Tank bag’s sidewalls and base to improve the bag’s impact / shock resistance.
One custom shaped piece went around the side wall (just below the top seam) and the other was cut to match the base footprint. These were then joined with good old Duck tape. OK, I’ll get no awards for asthetics, but Duct tape does stick like the proverbial to foam!
I then made a few tubes (just longer than each lens and not too snug to the lens dia), capped one end and joined them together with Duck tape. The benefit of having seperate tubes, allows any lens attached to the camera to be stowed as one item with the other lenses (in their tubes) placed alongside in the bag.
End result, custom foam inserts for the KTM bag that will take some impact, minimise vibration and keep my camera readily accessible.
Here’s a pic with all camera gear loaded with the Zeiss 21mm attached to the 5DII for easy access!
Will it last forever?. Probably not, although at £10 a mat there’s enough left over to make another set.
