Good roller backpack combo for DSLR without disassembly?

Hey folks sorry if this is duplicating content, or being posted in the wrong sub-forum.

I've read up on the forum a fair bit about Think Tank bags seem to be favoured.

I ended up buying a Lowepro Pro Runner, which is a roller backpack combo. The reason I wanted the combo is due to going to remote locations where rolling isn't ideal.

The above bag seemed fantastic on paper and it's held up many trips without any sign of issues. However, from a practical standpoint I have two *major* gripes:

1. I need to disassemble the housing's 1" ball handles because they stick up from the bag (see crude images below)
2. The "spine" of the bag for the handle mechanism takes up an enormous amount of space, hampering the efficiency of the packing by a great deal.

Is there a suggested alternative that:

1. Doesn't use up a lot of space for the rolling/handle mechanism so I don't need to disassemble my NA-D500 housing and
2. Optionally has backpack straps?

I can fit my EM-1 MkII housing in a Think tank street walker pro back pack, I would guess the balls are a similar height, mine are 175mm tall.  You could use a folding trolley with the backpack perhaps?  It has lashing points on the bag where you could attach the trolley when used as a backpack.

Thanks @ChrisRoss I'll look into that, usually I use the wheels for airport / general travelling so I think I'd need something permanently fixed, if there is a modular trolley that easily attaches on without airport officials raising eyebrows that'd be great

I'll also look into these, hoping that one of those may be better than my current option...

https://dancarrphotography.com/blog/2018/07/05/think-tank-streetwalker-rolling-backpack-v2-vs-airport-takeoff-v2/

I ended up ordering the the Streetwalker rolling backpack as it's taller and may be a better fit. I am concerned about the height of this internal's bag only being 2cm taller than my current bag, but if it's more flexible it may just work!

Bad news, the dividers in the Think Tank Streetwalker Rolling Backpack v2 just doesn't cut it for the setup. The main problem here is that the middle part of the inside is really elevated, to cater for the telescope handle. This means that the only places you have "full height" of the carryon is at the bottom, or slithers on each side.

Now the problem is that the dividers, although they are very nice, they are extremely stiff and can't be mounted horizontally. So they end up bending and won't provide rigid support if the DSLR + Housing need to be at the bottom, which is very worrying if you're rolling it around most places and the housing bears most the weight.

In addition you need to remove one of the handles to make it fit as that is the only place a housing would fit.

So I'm left with two poor decisions:

1. Go with my Lowepro pro runner rl 450, where I need to screw off the top 1" ball mounts every time I transport my rig in it, which is a bit of a pain but not the end of the world.

2. Have an inefficiently packed thinktank and just remove one arm (which is a tonne easier but I waste space (see image below)

conundrums...

https://imgur.com/a/bD2Y9j1

Update, the thinktank kind of works, and this isn't optimally packed either.

looks like you found a way that works well enough.  

But the alt I can suggest is to get the nauticam bag for the housing and treat it as your personal item.   One came with the R5 housing, but is available separately (Camera Housing Padded Travel Bag - 87-113 depending on size).   It lets you avoid dealing with the handles, and leaves space on top for wallet/passport/phone or your o-ring/lube collection and the vacuum pump.   

I have the slightly smaller thinktank roller (7.8" instead of 9" for the more restrictive airlines) and can get the R5, 3 lenses, 3 strobes, 4 Solas, 3 dive computers, and the misc stuff for these.   Conceptually one could stick the camera in the housing, but I'd rather it be in the padding.  

Yeah camera inside housing unfortunately is a thing I need to live with. But if I'm allowed to bring a personal carry on (backpack) I'll put it in there with the large dome and maybe the macro port ☺

Update, think tank's awesome customer service sent me more fitting dividers, even more space!

Camera and housing + handle
Strobes + diffusers
16 AA
Cables
Vacuum pump
4 lenses (or 2 lenses and 2 ports/domes)
2 arms
4 clamps
Focus light/torch
Extra memory cards

If the height of the ball is a problem, you can change the ball by a UCLS of a mounting plate (BA-DB and BA-AD https://ulcs.com/accessory-base-adapters/)

that way you can remove the balls quickly

nevertheless, I prefer to dismantle the hand from the housing to transport it. Makes it easier to pack and optimize the space inside the bag. (

View archived post in: packing and transporting my rig

I use a Lowepro backpack (Computerttreker II), not being a trolley I think it makes it easier to go through the check in process (lower probability to be asked to be weighted).

Regarding trolleys, the ones with single telescopic arm usually represent a smaller volume lost inside the bag.

On 12/12/2021 at 6:58 PM, sinetwo said:

Update, think tank's awesome customer service sent me more fitting dividers, even more space!

 

Camera and housing + handle
Strobes + diffusers
16 AA
Cables
Vacuum pump
4 lenses (or 2 lenses and 2 ports/domes)
2 arms
4 clamps
Focus light/torch
Extra memory cards

Did you just reach out to thikntank for these dividers? I have the same bag and same issue, the dividers don't work very well placing them horizontally rather than vertically, and this looks much better.

4 hours ago, Whiskeyjack said:

Did you just reach out to thikntank for these dividers? I have the same bag and same issue, the dividers don't work very well placing them horizontally rather than vertically, and this looks much better.

Yeah pretty much. I obviously had the same issue and asked if there was a configuration that could work better because it was bending the dividers and wasting a tonne of space