Transporting Your Gear

rob norton said:
Damn, hopefully you can use the AX5s soon. It doesn’t happen much but I love it when you buy a piece of equipment then it get used extensively on the following shoot, sort of like you changed fate by buying it.

I think it’s too big as a personal DP’s vehicle, although I’m sure there are stories of people with huge vans just for their video equipment. The van regularly goes out with a Gaffer on TVCs, high end corporates, short films, music videos (avoid if possible).

My plan is to get a smaller van to use as the main vehicle for camera, support and only basic lighting. The idea being to add the lighting package plus Gaffer as often as possible.

Larger pickup trucks aren’t very popular here, nearly everyone does the white van thing.
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I would say the AX3 LightDrop kit that I bought during the summer was that purchase. I've used the hell out of them and they saved my @$$ on a four camera shoot that we did in February that we expected to have the background fully set and lit for us, with us only needing to light the (9)subjects and (2)hosts. We were shooting on a stage where a "dance" competition was going to happen later. When we finally got the risers in-place for our seats for our subjects and they killed the house lights for us we realized we were F'd. My right-hand man looks over at me and asks "You have your Astera's?". I said yes. He said, "Grab 'em". As I grabbed the case he started running a few 10x10's of black duve extending from the stage drape to cover the background of some of our subjects and I started setting the Astera's to shoot up-light spot washes to match the stage washes already there. Took us about 10 minutes and we were able to make the background match the existing almost perfectly. They are the "don't leave home without 'em" toys, for sure. I actually had the AX5's when this shoot happened, but I didn't have them with me, because, well I don't think I'd need 'em.

My main vehicle is an F-250, so long drives are easy & comfortable, parking isn't a huge deal(fits in most parking decks) and I can pack a lot in it, but getting stuff in and out can get frustrating and is when I get envious of my buddies with Sprinters.
 
You guys saved the day!

Yeah an F-250 would be way more comfortable the longer a drive gets, especially with multiple people inside.

I removed the middle seat (for more gear) and committed the entire front passenger seat/footwell to 12x and 8x rags. It’s the perfect place for the bags because they conform to the shape of the seat vs taking up space on shelves.
 
I've moved to wheeled flight cases as much as I can, and rack cases for gear. Flight case trunks contain the more delicate stuff and the cameras in their bags. The reason is my age. I cannot carry the items I used to. You drive up to a venue and have 2 tripods/heads, cables, monitors, plush cameras, and odds and ends. I used to carry a tripod on one shoulder, camera bag slung over the other with a hand carried item in the other hand and make 3 or four trips from the van. It kills me now I've got a dodgy back. My van likes square boxes on wheels. with the loading ramp I can fill the van and empty it myself. I can dump things on pavements, and wheel them into venues which nowadays with wheelchair access, all have simple entrances for things on wheels. The cost of the cases can be considerable but it's money well spent. The kit keeps safer and delicate bits don't get broken so often, and it means I can be up and running quickly. I have one rack with two computers, storage drawers and a slid out monitor. Another carries the computer monitors - I can get an edit suite in and running in 30 mins just by hooking up cables. I only buy 19" rack mounting computer boxes now - everything lives in racks. My studio has been designed so I wheel a rack into the equipment room, and hook up. I can put the rack in the van on my own and move to somewhere else for my live work - which tends to be orchestras, opera and live music now. When I buy new gear, I buy the flight cases for it at the same time. It might be 250-300UKP for each rack, but it's worth it - and they're so big, petty pilfering when unattended is also less easy. A MacBook sitting there now they don't even have security locks is easily stealable, but one bolted into a rack isn't!
 
So happy I found this thread and going to have to sit down and read through it all but was able to just score basically a 1 ton grip package for pennies on the dollar and while I'm happy for that , I'm not sure if keeping my Toyota Rav4 and trying to make it all fit (efficient to load/unload) and then there is the concern for the payload capacity. I'm thinking it might be time to sell the rav4 and get a van (seems like a lot of people like the Ford Transit) so it's good to see how everyone rigs theres up for production.
 
So went van shopping a bit yesterday and plan to go again tomorrow after realizing the variety of setups there are between extended length and high roofs. Curious what everyone here is using and if anyone is also using theirs as a daily driver? I'm wondering if I will regret something smaller like the Dodge promaster city as it doesn't have the height to fully stand in it, but of course its then small enough to park in my own garage. Decisions, decisions haha.
 
ReelFilmGeek said:
So went van shopping a bit yesterday and plan to go again tomorrow after realizing the variety of setups there are between extended length and high roofs. Curious what everyone here is using and if anyone is also using theirs as a daily driver? I'm wondering if I will regret something smaller like the Dodge promaster city as it doesn't have the height to fully stand in it, but of course its then small enough to park in my own garage. Decisions, decisions haha.
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I think it depends a lot on what you expect to do most with it. For me, getting something more compact like the iLoad, was largely based around being able to get into underground carparks when necessary (which I seem to have to do a lot). As much as I'd love the extra space of a Transit - the height would be too restrictive for me.
 
Grug said:
I think it depends a lot on what you expect to do most with it. For me, getting something more compact like the iLoad, was largely based around being able to get into underground carparks when necessary (which I seem to have to do a lot). As much as I'd love the extra space of a Transit - the height would be too restrictive for me.
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That's what I'm worried about. Saw your post a few pages back about the Iload, have you changed your configuration of it at all sense then as i love the slide out shelves. I'm leaning towards something smaller and if so I am going to have to build those haha
 
ReelFilmGeek said:
That's what I'm worried about. Saw your post a few pages back about the Iload, have you changed your configuration of it at all sense then as i love the slide out shelves. I'm leaning towards something smaller and if so I am going to have to build those haha
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The fitout of the shelves, sliding drawers hasn't changed. But I have rearranged how I have the gear laid out. My special slot designed precisely for my Innovativ Cart, as perfect as it was, proved to be a problem because on any solo-shooting gigs, I couldn't pull it out of the van without putting my back out. So now it lives on the sliding drawer below, and by pulling the drawer out, I can assemble, disassemble the cart on top of the drawer - saving my back from having to lift anything more than an individual component at a time.

I've used that move, as an opportunity to move my c-stands and low-boy combo stands into the space previously occupied by the cart, and now all of my stands on the middle shelf are much more readily accessible, and easier to pull out.
 
Grug said:
The fitout of the shelves, sliding drawers hasn't changed. But I have rearranged how I have the gear laid out. My special slot designed precisely for my Innovativ Cart, as perfect as it was, proved to be a problem because on any solo-shooting gigs, I couldn't pull it out of the van without putting my back out. So now it lives on the sliding drawer below, and by pulling the drawer out, I can assemble, disassemble the cart on top of the drawer - saving my back from having to lift anything more than an individual component at a time.

I've used that move, as an opportunity to move my c-stands and low-boy combo stands into the space previously occupied by the cart, and now all of my stands on the middle shelf are much more readily accessible, and easier to pull out.
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That sounds awesome. Would love to see pictures if you got some or if you get the time. I got a very similar package to what you had posted and doing the same with it being mostly solo/ small crew gigs so looks like it might be the perfect size/setup. Going to have to see what van options I have here as I haven't seen the Iload in Florida before.
 
One of the great features of the tall Sprinter Van is I can standup inside without having to hunch over, which makes a huge difference during load in's outs.
I have been meaning to sell my van as I get closer to full retirement, but still use it on the occasional shoot. You just can't fit much gear into a Porsche Cayman S, which is the only thing that has stopped me.
 
I would love a taller van, but I think it would prohibit like 50% of my projects that require I park in a garage w/ limited clearance. Like everyone else I would love to see pics of setups and arrangements people are using.
 
Curious if anyone is using rubber matts or carpet on the floors of their vehicile for where you have gear loaded up? Just bought a Ram Promaster City and built a raised floor and debating on leaving it bare wood or covering it. Next up is also building a box to store all the flags in with easy access, will have to post some pictures soon.
 
ReelFilmGeek said:
So went van shopping a bit yesterday
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There is no correct answer just a set of trade off that fit your productions..

transporter (typically two rows of seats to take director and a couple of PAs) (this is popular)
-goes in a multi story
-cant stand up
-minimal load
-short enough to park on highway


boxer (my van) (transit?)
-only two passengers
-too tall for garage parking
-significant load
-can park on street
-cant stand up

sprinter
-only two passengers
-too tall for garage parking
-very significant load
-cant park on street (in a just vacated car spot)
-can be reconfigured with second row of seats, dit table or whatever and still have load zone
can stand up

Im a huge fan of the load being properly isolated from the passengers
 
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ReelFilmGeek said:
Curious if anyone is using rubber matts or carpet on the floors of their vehicile for where you have gear loaded up? Just bought a Ram Promaster City and built a raised floor and debating on leaving it bare wood or covering it. Next up is also building a box to store all the flags in with easy access, will have to post some pictures soon.
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David W. Jones said:
My van came with wooden floor installed over the base metal.
I then coated it with a durable bed liner paint.
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When I laid the back of my truck out almost eight years ago, now, I had shelves built for the sides and a false/raised floor for the central portion, so that I could transport a couple of gun cases underneath, and then I had it all coated in "bed liner", too. The leading edge has damage, but the other 99.99% is still holding strong.
 
Yeah rubber matt is what I'm thinking to go over the wood false floor just to protect the wood from the elements a bit more and make it a bit cleaner look (not that it matters much).
 
ReelFilmGeek said:
Curious if anyone is using rubber matts or carpet on the floors of their vehicile for where you have gear loaded up? Just bought a Ram Promaster City and built a raised floor and debating on leaving it bare wood or covering it. Next up is also building a box to store all the flags in with easy access, will have to post some pictures soon.
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I went with a rubber matt, custom cut to cover the entire floor, screwed into metal where possible at the edges - photo below, tape measure for scale. I wouldn't do carpet but to each their own.

floor2.jpg
 
One positive of rubber matting is that stuff doesn't slide around on it as easily as smooth plywood. That can also be a negative when trying to shove cases in at the end of a day, but it's a real plus when driving around that your gear stays in place just that much more.
 
If anyone is interested, I have a 2006 Porsche Cayman S for sale.
It has a Frunk, front trunk, and a rear hatch.
It will hold enough gear for a small shoot, and be fun as #ell when you are done shooting.



https://cargur.us/HrbFl
 

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