gear in the bag question...

do you keep your camera, lens & hood together when you put it in your camera bag?

reason I'm asking is I always have, but at a recent visit to the camera store the clerk there told me not to do it anymore. I was like, why? he just said it'll damage your gear and walked off (um, thanks for all the info "da").....anyways sofar no damage to my gear! what about yours?

yes, all together. I think there is more chance for damage every time I change lenses, take a hood off or put it on, every cycle of every interface is a potential for damage. I leave it all together and the only thing I can think of that I am risking is if I drop it there is more mass and leverage against the lens mount.
comparing the number of times I have dropped my camera (0) vs the number of times I have introduced dust into the body during a lens change or cross threaded a hood(uncountable) I choose to leave it all together as much as possible.
Counter help will give bad advice for many reasons, sometimes just to hear their own voice, sometimes because of one instance they heard of from a customer or friend, sometimes to help sell an item or service.
This guy might like to come off as the expert, he may have heard of someone that dropped their bag and said the lens mount would have been OK if they had just seperated everything as they put it away, or he makes extra bucks doing sensor cleaning and wants all his customers taking their lenses on and off as much as possible.
If you are really worried about it, ditch the bag and get a pelican box. no worries.

I read a comment by the guy that runs The-Digital-Picture website that he uses seperate lens cases for each and every lens and keeps them all in a plastic bin. I am thinking that I might go this way if my gear ever becomes to cumbersome to keep together in one bag. For now though, it all fits nicely into on bag that I throw over my shoulder as I head out the door.

I can find you a camera store clerk that will say just the opposite!

I keep the 24-70 mounted with hood on in my case all the time. My other body stays with the body cap on cause which lens I put on there depends upon the shooting situation.

birdfromboat wrote in post #7899990
yes, all together. I think there is more chance for damage every time I change lenses, take a hood off or put it on, every cycle of every interface is a potential for damage. I leave it all together and the only thing I can think of that I am risking is if I drop it there is more mass and leverage against the lens mount.
comparing the number of times I have dropped my camera (0) vs the number of times I have introduced dust into the body during a lens change or cross threaded a hood(uncountable) I choose to leave it all together as much as possible.
Counter help will give bad advice for many reasons, sometimes just to hear their own voice, sometimes because of one instance they heard of from a customer or friend, sometimes to help sell an item or service.
This guy might like to come off as the expert, he may have heard of someone that dropped their bag and said the lens mount would have been OK if they had just seperated everything as they put it away, or he makes extra bucks doing sensor cleaning and wants all his customers taking their lenses on and off as much as possible.
If you are really worried about it, ditch the bag and get a pelican box. no worries.

thanks for taking the time to reply, I did feel this specific clerk did'nt have alot of experience; but did want to hear what everyone else was doing... I just would hate to have to grab my gear assemble then use it...the moment could be gone by that time.

jdlloyd67 wrote in post #7900066
I read a comment by the guy that runs The-Digital-Picture website that he uses seperate lens cases for each and every lens and keeps them all in a plastic bin. I am thinking that I might go this way if my gear ever becomes to cumbersome to keep together in one bag. For now though, it all fits nicely into on bag that I throw over my shoulder as I head out the door.

thanks for replying, I have both camera's in a sep. bag with their flashe / CF cards / cables.... just the over shoulder bag, I like those the best.

spkerer wrote in post #7900625
I can find you a camera store clerk that will say just the opposite!

I keep the 24-70 mounted with hood on in my case all the time. My other body stays with the body cap on cause which lens I put on there depends upon the shooting situation.

Yah, walked into Henry's today to buy a larger CF card asked the clerk the same question, he said he'd think it smarter to keep the hood on the lense, especially if I had the room in my bag.

thanks for replying!

I remember a topic a while back about the same thing. Basically the idea of having a large lens (70-200 f/2.8 for example) attached if the bag were to be dropped or something it could put stress on the mount. I don't toss my bag around anyways so I'm not concerned about this with my lenses (none of them are very big anyways).

I do, generally. Only when travelling long distance do I separate.

I always buy bags that can accomodate my 50D + 70-200 2.8 IS with the lens hood reversed-it's a bigger pain in the butt to have it separate.

Do NOT travel with your camera/lens combo connected.

Here's why:
http://boardingarea.co​m …-attach-your-camera-lens/

Happy Flying!

When I am flying, I usually have no lens mounted on the body, not because of my understanding of complicated laws of physics, but because that's how I can fit all my gear into my bag. I am very careful not to let anything bang or hit my bag.

When I am taking my rolling luggage camera bag, then everything is separated inside. My 200L detached in one section, my cameras in another, etc...

When I am roaming about on the streets shooting, a lens is always mounted.

I always keep it together so I can take it right out for a shot.

I always keep my hoods on and never use the caps, to tricky.

If I was not going to bring it on board a plane with me as luggage that you can bring aboard, I would then take the lens off

I have flyed alot with my gear...

I have everything with me into the plane. I have a backpack, with enough space for two cameras, one 135mm, kenko tubes, flash, and two more lenses. And I have a seperate room for my laptop. All this I bring with me as handbaggage into the plane. I would never bring expensive equipment into the care (misscare) of airport crew.

Since I am carying the bag myselves, I know how it will be threated, and then it is really no big question if the lens is on or not.

Camera goes back in the bag with whichever lens happens to be currently mounted on it. Lenses not on the camera are capped at both ends.