Camera bag / hydradion pack

Hello all

I recently took up another expensive hobby, mountain biking. After riding quite a bit lately and only taking my little p&s out with me, I was dreaming of taking my 40d out for some fun. My question: is there such an animal in existence that can accommodate limited camera equipment, 40d w/ 17-50, 50 1.8, pocket wizards and a strobe, but also has a hydration pack built in? I understand that water and camera equipment in close proximity of each other is never a truly good idea but it would be so cool to have my "nice" camera out on the trail with me.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Been there done that.......... PM Me if you need more (time is limited right now).

Camelbak has a bag wihtout straps you can slip into the "LAPTOP"pouch of a camera backpack. I also have another one you can clip onto a THINKTANK harness which works good. Or get a bigger camelbak pack and put your camera in it.

I also figured out where to get the drink mix you put in there CHEAPER...... than what CamelBak charges............

Mark H

Camelbak gets my vote. I used one for mountain biking and it never let me down. Anything that's good for police/military work is good enough for me.

Camelbak also make very good backpacks.

Quality costs, but it's worth every penny.

I still use my Camelbak from the service when I go shooting.

There built to last

I've had my eye on this one. I don't know of any other specific camera/hydration pack, but I'll be sure to keep watching this thread.

For SDERIC, I looked at the LowePro DryZone and have 3 comments......

First, its only 50OZ. Depends on how long you are going to be out. For me, 100 OZ is pretty good. It will get you through most days, sometimes you need to do a refill.........

Second, water bag quality. I'm sure Lowpro will not use garbage, but stay away from the Chineese junk at WALLYWORLD........ They tend to not last long and start to leak at inopportune times. One thing about CamelBak is that they are VERY TOUGH.

Third, in the bag that comes in it, look at the size of the opening. When I fill mine, I fill it with ICE first. New CamelBaks have very big openings and you can POUR ice into them. My son uses an older HydroStorm (back when these contraptions were brand new) Fill hole is SMALL and you need to drop ice in a cube at a time. Takes forever to fill.

Last, if you get the Lowepro, you can always buy a CamelBak replacement bag to put inside of it for $30 or $40 or so. So you probably can't go wrong...... (Personally I think $229 is a lot, but my Thankbelt, pouches, racing harness and a CamelBak to attach to it all was about $280......)

Mark H

P51Mstg,

1. Yes, 50 oz. is a little small.

2. I have a HydraPak bag for mountain biking, and I've never had any problems. It seems pretty solid to me.

3. The HydraPak I have is a big bag and the entire top opens to dump ice in.

Price is a huge problem, which is why I don't have one. But it seems much better than my HydraPak + small bag combo. Hopefully there will be more all-in-ones soon.

One word Camelbak

i have a military one i use for work, actually been issued 3 different ones in 6 years, and i still have the tags on the 2nd two. they are awsome and just about ubreakable, and i even fill the bladers with water and freeze them and still no issuses.

i bought a rim runner couple years ago and use it for day hikes and bike rides. for the type of gear you mentioned taking it would be a dream. it holds 100oz and i usually fill it with a 20D and batter back w/ 17-40, 70-300 in a lense pouch, 28-105, along with some lunch fresh t-shirt and my elan 7 with a couple rolls of fill ( for back up)

I love the hydration pack I bought from REI. With their return any item policy.. I'm covered if I overload it and it starts to wear (Which it hasn't)

If you're concerned about bladders.. Buy a replacement from Nalgene. On Labor day weekend they had a 50% off sale.. The Nalgene ones won't absorb odor or taste; and their seams are WAY overengineered and won't be as scary with your camera next to it.

One thing I will caution on is maintaining a good separation between the bladder section and where you're carrying the camera.

If you load up the bladder with ice and cold water, it will want to condense moisture on its surface. You'll want to keep that separate from camera equipment, or put the bladder itself in an insulated pouch or pocket.