Has anyone hiked/back-packed with their camera? Looking at getting into out of the way spots in the South West soon - some of these areas you have to park the 4x4 and hike an additional 3 plus miles in. I'd like to get shots of places that a lot of folks just haven't got to yet, therefore the question regarding backpacking. I looked at the porta brace web site and saw they have something that may be used just want to see if anyone has had any experience (good or bad). Any thoughts are welcome...

Don, I don't have the PortaBrace backpack, but I have taken my XL1s on several extended hikes (5+ miles one way) thru the hills of West Virginia and the Everglades of Florida. One trip, a little over a year ago, lasted the entire week and covered many miles. No doubt a few people here will tell you there are smaller, lighter cameras, but they aren't the XL1s. The pay-off will be worth every inch!

Wow Jay, how many batteries do you take with you on those kinds of expeditions? I'm assuming you had a means of recharging batteries during the night on week-long trips....

I carry four batteries for about ten hours of total shooting time. However, I've never shot that much tape in a single day. The batteries are rotated. The truck was used as a "base camp" where I would return and recharge the spent battery/batteries every evening.

Lowe Pro (http://www.lowepro.com/pages/BGindex/IX_VHS.HTM) makes a great bag for backpacking with the XL1.

THe Porta Brace backpack is a great case, but a poor backpack. Very uncomfortable for serious use. I'd look at the LowePro backpacks instead, or alternately, get a real hiking backpack and modify it yourself.

The Portabrace "Hiker" has no waist belt, only shoulder straps. If you hike, you know that won't work for even a moderate load after awhile. I saw a Kata backpack at NAB 2002. It was a prototype at the time, but it looked like a contender.

LS-A

We were moving to another location downstream about 100 yards down and my bud picked up this small trout along the way, so this actually looks worse than the actual pic would sway.

The pack in the picture is an actual "meat pack" outfitted for a XL1s. Something like Dylan mentions above. The bad thing about it is.....that it is not waterproof.

But, you won't ever catch one of my cameras like this....that's for sure. hehe

http://www.rollcastproductions.com/images/stills/hownottodoit.jpg

i don't know if you remember my last post asking what backpacks were best for the xl1s. i made a trip down to b&h just to look at the bags. i never expected backpacks for camcorders, not to mention a camcorder the size of an xl1s to say the least, to be so huge, rugged and just plain uncomfortable.

a week ago, my mind was set on getting a backpack, so that i could have my hands free to carry, shoot, etc. but after checking out what backpacks are out there for the xl1s, i just ended up getting a carry bag. my 2 cents...

I recently bought the larger Lowepro Dryzone to help my GL2 survive the Florida summer rainstorms. The pack is great! Instead on using it only for hiking and biking, I plan to use it all the time. It is very comfortable, and the divider system is flexible enough to make any MiniDV camera owner happy.