gear in the bag question...

I let the hood on the lens. And most times one a lens on the camera.
But the lens on camera could rip of the mount on the camera or the lens if the bag gets a bigger impact.
For example one had his 50D with its 100-400 in his backpack whilst cycling - and he fell down onto his bag - pictures here(German text).

For the Canon EF 50/1.4 I would reccomend a hood on the mount, not in the thread. And never take this hood away - because of bad AF mechanics.

There is ALWAYS a lens and hood on my camera. I won't buy a bag that cannot accommodate the body and my "biggest" lens attached, although that is seldom the one I keep on it because of its lack of versatility.

I want the camera ready to take a picture all the time. Cameras are not fragile bubbles waiting to break, and one of the things many people seem to ignore is that (as a generalization) the more expensive the camera, the tougher it is. One of the beauties of really good lenses is that they are very robust mechanically, and the high quality coatings are very hard. They are quite good at surviving normal wear and tear. If you actually use your cameras, especially if you ever use them "professionally" you will find you cannot baby them. That is when good equipment shows its worth.

Generally, people are way too anal about "damaging" their cameras and lenses. Some people think you even have to always have another protective piece of glass on all their lenses to keep them safe.

I have a Crumpler shoulder bag & a Lowepro backpack & most of my gear is somewhere between the 2 depending on where I'm going/what I need/etc

50/1.4 is always [well, 98% of the time] on the 5D2, hood 'out' Even if in storage I keep the hood 'out' This is pretty much my take everywhere, daily use combination.

The 24-105L & 85/1.8 I store hoods reversed.

The 450D is normally lying around somewhere in the house with the 18-55IS attached.....

I've never flown with DSLR's.

rral22 wrote in post #13040129
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Generally, people are way too anal about "damaging" their cameras and lenses...

Oh yes - could be caused that some calculate the money they get for their old gear to buy new gear

I use my old gear like a hammer - it´s only a tool. In the bags most lenses are near each other - nothing between them to protect them.
And in my storage bags they are sometimes in two layers standing on each other.
But I buy mostly lenses that pretty old, sometimes with fungus, scratches..

But there are some lenses - those I plan to sell sometime - that are much more cared for.

Camera + last used lens, sometimes with a hood too - if it's possible (dimensions).