Transporting your studio gear on location

I've managed without a good solution to this problem up to now, but some future planned shoots will require a better solution. For location work, I'll typically want to take 1-2 strobes, the Tronix Explorer XT, couple of stands, reflector, Kacey BD, maybe the deep octa, sandbags, PW's, and camera gear that all fits in my backpack. It's a lot of stuff to haul very far. I have separate bags for everything (except the strobes), making it easy to throw everything into the back of my car but not so convenient to get it from the car to the location if that distance is very far...and that's how I've been lucky so far. I've used my car as a staging area. An upcoming shoot is a pretty fair hike from my car, and I'm wondering what other folks do in this situation. I have no assistant. It's just me, an old fart with a bad back and full ACL tear in one knee! Can I order a pack mule from B&H?

I recently switched from the Wesco hand truck I was using to a larger Harper hand truck. When I got the Wesco it did the job nicely but as my kit grew and I became more ambitious with location shooting I realized I needed something more substantial that didn't make me work so hard. I also found that one small cart with everything attached using bungee cords was not a great way of doing thins because it always means that the whole cart must be unleaded to get or use any item or bag/case.

The Harper hand truck only cost $50 and I got it at K-Mart. The smaller wheels are a hard plastic and not rubber so I'm assuming that at some point I'll be replacing them since I can see that rough concrete and rocks do take their toll on the plastic. Since the wheels are attached using a standard caster mount I'm not worried about replacing them and that will be cheap.

This is the hand truck. Sorry, no pics of it loaded up at this time but it holds the following with minimal stacking:

Explorer XT
Explorer XT SE
(2) Elinchrom 600RX's w/reflectors, deflectors, power and extension cords in case
(2) 9.5' light stands, small boom arm, small and large strip boxes with grids in carry bag
Speedotron 22" beauty dish w/grid in bag
16" beauty dish in bag
Superclamps, A-clamps, Skyports, Pocket Wizards ,sync cords, Sekonic meter, spare batteries for everything, SB-900 , all in one case
Camera bag with body, lenses, filters, doodads (this is usually on my shoulder rather than on the cart)

I'm sure I'm missing a few things but my life is a lot easier with the new hand truck and I'm glad I didn't spend a few hundred considering that things change so quickly and I never know what I'm doing or where I'm going.

Yikes, you mentioned some other stuff I forgot to list. I actually have a hand truck not all that different from the one you have (got mine at Home Depot). So my next question is about the cases and the one you use for the 600RX's in particular.

I knew I was forgetting something.

I always have the 53" Octa and 39" Deep octa with me as well.

I'm pretty much ready to switch over to hard Pelican cases, as I'm finding that soft cases aren't offering the protection I need. Originally I liked soft bags because they are light and you can throw them over your shoulder but now I'm leaning towards cases that really offer protection and great organizational flexibility.

For my 2 600RX's and accessories I'm using the soft bag that came with my 400BX kit.

The bag I have isn't made anymore and appears to be replaced by one of the hard plastic shelled cases.

There are many soft cases available for monolights. Offhand I don't know specs or prices.

If I'm going somewhere flat I use a rock n roller cart. They fold up flat and can hold a lot of gear. Yesterday I shot at a lake, not cart friendly. My mobile setup for this is a Quadra bag (lowepro aw200) which fits the battery, one head, one grid reflector, cards, skyports etc.
Then I carry a lightstand bag with a manfrotto mini stand, softlighter umbrella, a 580 ex on it's own stand, and a monopod.
Around my shoulder is one 5d body with usually an 85L, and another 5d in a small shoulder bag with usually a 35L attached.
Sounds like a lot but I can haul all of it pretty easily and it is a very versatile setup.

jameshays wrote in post #10578876
If I'm going somewhere flat I use a rock n roller cart. They fold up flat and can hold a lot of gear. Yesterday I shot at a lake, not cart friendly. My mobile setup for this is a Quadra bag (lowepro aw200) which fits the battery, one head, one grid reflector, cards, skyports etc.
Then I carry a lightstand bag with a manfrotto mini stand, softlighter umbrella, a 580 ex on it's own stand, and a monopod.
Around my shoulder is one 5d body with usually an 85L, and another 5d in a small shoulder bag with usually a 35L attached.
Sounds like a lot but I can haul all of it pretty easily and it is a very versatile setup.

For location that are not cart-friendly that sounds pretty good. I haven't take out my lightweight not-cart-friendly kit in a while so I'm not sure how I would transport it now.

I was looking at the same trcuk that Robert showed. While at local costco I saw a cart for carrying things to the picnic or groceries etc at farmer mkt. It looks like children't radio flyer wagon but much lighter and it folds. Cost me $45 plus tax.

I have used it couple of times. It carries my VB II, two AB800s in their cases, camera bag. I put couple of lighstands on top of it with bungee cord. The setup is quite easy to move and makes my life so much easier. I also dump couple of sand bags to use with the lightstands. I will take some pictures later and post them.

Edited: Found the link on Amazon.

http://www.amazon.com …on-Foldable/dp/B003F1VW62

Thanks for reminding me Bobby. I also have a heavy duty duffel bag that has 6 sandbags, each weighing about 15 pounds. Without the hand truck I'd be doomed as doomed can be (old Martin Short/Ed Grimley SNL reference).

I take all of my gear on location in Pelican Cases (1510 - 1610 - 1650) along with a couple of Heavy Duty Light Stand Cases......

The Loft Studios wrote in post #10579355
I take all of my gear on location in Pelican Cases (1510 - 1610 - 1650) along with a couple of Heavy Duty Light Stand Cases......

But how do you move them all from point A to point B?

TMR Design wrote in post #10579375
But how do you move them all from point A to point B?

assistants

Camera assistants seemed to all use something called a Mag-liner, much larger than what Robert is showing and was pretty expensive but they would even ship them on the airlins when we traveled.

Re: Ed. cheater =P

c2thew wrote in post #10579436
Re: Ed. cheater =P

hahaha... well when you shoot on the beach/rocks, it's all you can use. Can't imagine a hand truck (trolley) getting dragged over sand or rocks.

If I had assistants my approach would be entirely different. I always gear up for a one man show and when I can have an assistant... great.