Transporting Your Gear

Great thread guys! Really interesting stuff.

I’ll weigh in with my perspective since I’m coming from the same place a lot of guys on here are - which is needing to transport a small but versatile camera/lighting/grip package, and often having to do the whole thing (packing, transporting and unpacking) solo.

When I got to the point last year, that I had a c-stand sticking out the sunroof of my lovely old BMW 325e, I came to the realisation that it was time for me to upgrade cars. I made the conscious decision that I didn’t want move all the way up to a van (and all that entails), but I still needed a fair bit of carry space, so I considers 4WDs (SUVs for my American friends), station wagons and the classic Aussie ute (essentially a pickup truck built around a more conventional car chassis). In the end I settled for a ute with a canopy (over pulling the rear seats out of a 4WD or station wagon), with the idea of using custom shelving to make it more practical for transporting film gear.

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While the smaller vehicle size of the ute makes it more manageable for everyday use than a van, you don’t have the same ease of access to gear, and the dimensions of the tray and the canopy on top of it required some very careful planning in order to make the whole thing work. Thankfully I stumbled across a news cameraman packing his station wagon one day, and it had a fantastic shelving system. So I got the details of the shelf builder from the cameraman, and took my shelf design to him to get built.

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The end result is a sealed shelf that stores my 4x4 diffusion and floppy frames, with space underneath for various bits of grip, and space on top for the bulk of my lighting gear (in three large im2975 Pelican cases) and my awkwardly long lighting modifiers - flags/umbrellas/gel rolls etc. (in a behemoth Pelican 1770):

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Underneath the shelf are two compartments that contain four c-stands, two low boy combos, a 2m x 2m overhead kit, an Atlas 200 slider in a Pelican 1750, a 16’-high Avenger A4050CS boom stand, and sixteen 6’ aluminium tube lengths to allow for building two 12x12 overhead frames.

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In front of the shelf sits an ancient, back-breakingly heavy Arri case that came with my Arrilite 2000s, and now houses all of my assorted grip gear - clamps, arms, triple headers, grip heads, and 12x12 overhead hardware and fabrics. It’s hernia-inducingly heavy, but it fits that space in the ute so perfectly (it sits exactly level with the top of the shelf - creating a flat platform the full length of the tray) that I doubt I can find a better alternative.

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The remaining space serves rotating duties with my front passenger seat for my tripod, camera case, lens case, audio gear, jib, toolkit and power cables depending on the particular needs of each job.

There’s now barely a single cubic inch of space left in the ute - which is great, because I really needed an excuse to stop buying expensive gear! But I’m really happy with the setup as it allows me to bring a kit that’s comprehensive enough for many jobs, without requiring so much investment that I’ve been crippled by loan repayments. The way I figure it, if a job needs a dolly - then production can bloody well pay for one (with a competent dolly grip to operate it), for smaller jobs, there’s my slider. If a job needs big HMIs, a diesel gennie and 20x20 frames - production can pay for them (along with the skilled crew to make them work), small jobs have to make do with my 1.2k PAR, 2x Blondies, 2x 650w and 150w Dedos, 2x Area48 Softlights and 3kw portable gennie.

Finding that balance of size and versatility has been the hardest part of building my kit up, but having the finite dimensions of the ute as a constraint to work within really helped focus my choices. And since moving my focus from cameras and lenses to lights, grip and lighting modifiers - the quality of my work has jumped leaps and bounds over what I used to achieve with a nice camera and lens set, but just a couple of small fresnels barndoor diffusion gels and crappy LED panels.
 
Alright my turn:

Old (Honda Odyssey) van on the left, new (Nissan NV1500) van on the right:

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Outgrew the Odyssey, plus my sister adopted 2 kids from Haiti so I gave them the big brother discount on it.

Best thing about the van is that is came with the spray on bed liner on the inside and shelving already in:

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SevenJib in it's hard case tucks in nicely right behind the side door:

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I installed security screen on the rear windows:
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It already came with the front security screen:

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Tripods tuck nicely in the back left door:
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Recently bought a fold up aluminum ramp at harbor freight that lets me roll my camera carts and laundry cart right on and off.
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And had some boat lighting LEDs installed to better see after a late night shoot:

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Love my van!
 
I love this thread. I'm gonna build something like grugs setup right now for my little Yaris hb. These van setups are amazing tho too. I went to look at the new metris coming out here. Pretty amazing.
 
I'll be posting updated pics of my van load out soon.

In the meantime anyone have shots of your backpack setups for carrying your gear?
 
I have a question guys. I just installed a hitch on the back of my 2012 Ford Escape. Before the hitch, I would pile all of my equipment in my truck (after laying down all the seats) and everything bareley fit and it was a hassle carrying stuff to and from the truck and loading/unloading before and after shoots. My goal now was to get a hitch and buy a 5x8 cargo trailer with the ramp door. In the trailer, my plan was to pack as much as I can on a "Rock n roll"er cart and just roll the cart out of the trailer when im done; Load stuff back onto the cart and roll it back up when I'm done. The cargo trailer I'm looking at just has bare walls on the inside. What's the best way to keep my cart secure and stationary while in transit so everything will be ok and I can just un-hook & roll it out when I arrive?
 
Rock & Roller carts can get pretty top-heavy - I'd guess beyond keeping the wheels from letting it roll around, you might want some sort of strap setup that would keep it from tipping over. You can always bolt a couple d-rings to the walls where needed.
 
My Presa Canario Beau is now 2 years old, and has been helping me re-config my Sprinter.
 

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Looking good David - I'm about to put more shelves in my van, gluing carpet as we speak.

I see you've opted for deeper shelves on one side. I've opted for two narrower shelves on either side with a "hallway" in the middle.

I'll post some pics soon.
 
I think the key to keeping your equipment is Beau. I don't know about your city, town, state, province but my concern and of many others is theft. Beau with a good bowl of water, some chow and a comfy cushion seems like the answer. A DOP in my hometown, finished a shoot with just his f5 and sticks for a client and let his assistant off at the subway. He called home and got the " can you stop off and pick up _________ on the way home" request. He pulled into the local Costco parking lot, ran in and picked up ________ and when he got back to the car, the trunk lid had been forced open and all his gear gone. All to say he ad been watched, and followed and ripped off. So I would be worried about keeping my gear in a trailer that had no one watching it as I am a van or whatever. Sure larger productions will have better circumstances but we don't always get those gigs. Beau would be a good answer.
 
I live in the old historic district in Little Rock, and having dogs which border on the medium stout side is something I couldn't do without. Since I have lived at this location we have had a Rottweiler, English Mastiff, Cane Corso, and now a Perro de Presa Canario. There is something reassuring about having a member of the family that will give the grandkids rides and protect without question.
 
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