Specialized or General?

T-28 ....

Gear-head alert - this post may be a little technical, especially the second part, and induce EGOS (Eyes Glazing Over Syndrome).

Continuing on the theme of what to bring on the trip, let's talk today about specialty vs general items. Specialty items are those that are carefully designed and optimized to meet a specific purpose; general items are those which can serve to satisfy many needs. One might think that a trip such as this calls out for the greatest possible use of general items, as that could allow you to bring fewer things overall. But I would argue, that as in many things, it's the balance that matters. And perhaps a little definitional flexibility.

On Friday we went shopping for some clothing for her to use in the great outdoors. As I mentioned, we'll be traveling from a cold climate (lows of 28F in Yellowstone) to a warm one (highs of 102F in Death Valley), and every temperature range in between, over the course of the trip. What jacket to bring for our outdoor activities? A heavy winter coat, which we both own, would be great for those cold times but a real pain to carry around, and really uncomfortable for the merely cool days or nights. The old advice for outdoor activities is to use layers, so we embraced that: we each bought an extremely lightweight, Gore-Tex lined shell. We'll bring a fleece jacket and perhaps a thermal layer and then choose which to wear depending on conditions. The jackets are so light that they can easily be stuffed in a backpack if we're on a hike and it warms up. They're also waterproof, so they can act as rain jackets as well.

Are they general, or specialized? I could argue either way. They are clearly designed for the specific purpose: you're going to be outdoors and can't predict the weather in advance, but know you are likely to experience a range of conditions, and you only get to bring one item. But at the same time they're general, in the sense that they serve to meet those many conditions: cold weather, cool weather, rainy weather. I guess they are specialized to meet a general range of needs.

Another one is specifically my problem, not hers. When touring, I usually carry a small day pack with me. It's not very big, is lightweight, and has lots of pockets and sleeves for pens, phones, iPads, etc. You can stuff a sweater or a camera inside. It's easy to access each thing you are carrying. But any fragile stuff I put in it, like an iPad or camera, brings along its own protective case. The shoulder straps are too short for me, and the waist belt is mostly useless.

When doing photography, I usually carry a photography backpack with me. It's heavily padded to protect the gear, and is pretty heavy. It has special attachment points for a tripod. There are lots of padded dividers inside, and they attach with Velcro so you can customize the interior for the stuff your carrying. I've used it for day hikes, but it's far from ideal. For instance, it's tough to fit a jacket or first aid kit into the small spaces designed for a lens or filter.

When hiking, I use a very specialized lightweight framed pack which distributes a large load comfortably on my hips and shoulders, has room for a water bladder, and tie-downs for hiking poles. This pack would be terrible as a day bag, or as a camera bag, as it's hard to get things in and out, it is lightweight and has no padding, and is designed to ride extremely comfortably balanced on your hips and shoulders.

A specialized hiking backpack, April 2012

On this trip I need to hand carry most of my photography gear on the plane with me, as it's too fragile and too theft conducive to risk putting in checked baggage. I won't necessarily carry all of that gear with me on any particular outing during the trip, and also may need some of the items I put in the checked baggage, like my tripod.

Each of these uses is optimized by a different bag or case. and in fact, the bags that are best for each are not really usable for the other purposes. I've read on forums that I frequent of people who actually bring multiple camera transport things with them when they travel: roll aboard bags for the plane ride, backpacks or photo vests for the photography, etc. I'm trying to avoid that. I found a company that makes a line of bags that seem specialized for this general set of purposes - Fstopgear.

The key to their designs is that they separate the padded aspect of a camera bag, which protects the delicate gear, from the outer shell. So I've ordered a hiking backpack with two removable "ICUs" (that's what they call the internal padded pieces - Internal Camera Units). The backpack portion seems to be about the size of my carry-around North Face day pack, but designed for serious hiking - great shoulder straps and waist belt, lots of configurable attachment points, room for a water bladder, etc.

My hope is that this will give me several configurable options:

• I can pack the heavy and fragile camera gear in the ICUs, and place them in my rolling carry-on for the plane ride. I can then use use the pack as my "personal item" in airline terms (i.e., it will fit under the seat).
  
• If we're spending the day mostly driving with short walks to sites I might want to photograph, I can load the gear for the day into the ICUs and put then into backpack. Other gear we'll need for the day - a sweater or jacket, food or snacks, water, etc. - can stay in the car until we need them at some stop.
  
• If I'm doing some extended hiking, I can take one of the two ICUs in the backpack, loaded with a small camera kit, along with the hiking supplies I'll need - the lightweight jacket, food, water, first aid kit, etc. I can strap the tripod on the outside if I'll be using it.
  

Specialized or general? You decide.