1mo ago

How much pressure/weight from the top can a camera tolerate?

This might be a stupid question but I'd like to carry my smaller camera in my backpack every day. That means that it would sit in there together with my work laptop and occasional groceries or other stuff that I buy on my way home, for example. Therefore I bought a hard shell case (it was very hard to find one that had roughly the correct size) and lined it with some foam. Now the thing is, the case fits pretty well, but it could be a tad higher - currently I put the camera in standing upright and then need to apply a bit of force to the top lid in order to close the zipper of the bag. That means that there will always be some pressure on the camera from top to bottom. That wouldn't be anything I'd worry about, but what if I additionally load a bunch of groceries on it. The way the camera sits in there I assume that the pressure will be immediately transmitted to the top of the camera. Will it be fine?

Here's some photos to illustrate the situation: https://imgur.com/a/e4msHvD

10 comments

If you're "squashing" the camera on the hot shoe and base plate, you're probably fine. Especially given that your backpack probably won't be able to fit that much stuff besides the camera cube and your laptop.
Just keep weight off the lens/lens mount. It will be a lever and you don't want to tweak anything.
- Yes that's what would happen. My backpack is surprisingly roomy though, it would fit a couple more things actually. But the lens and mount should be absolutely fine the way it sits in the case, no pressure at all there. So I think/hope you're right and will give it a try. Thanks! :)
  
  It's great that you're trying to carry your camera more often, presumably so you can use it. The only thing to keep in mind is that a buried camera will be hard to get your hands on. It might be worth considering a multi-chamber backpack at some point in the future.
  Examples include Lowpro's fast pack and a whole bunch of Amazon brands.

As long as it’s not pressing on the lens, putting pressure on the connection to the camera, it should be fine. I’ve never had a camera break IN the bag. Just don’t try to force things into the bag
- True, never happened to me either. But usually I use dedicated camera backpacks where the gear is isolated pretty well. Or I'm really careful with how I put it in a bag when it's in a neoprene sleeve, for example. But I just can't guarantee I'll be careful every single day, so I want decent protection. There shouldn't be any pressure on the mount this way though, so I hope it'll be fine!

I'm sure it'll be fine as long as there's no pressure on the mount. I've used one of those heavy duty camera wraps while travelling (thrown in the main bag with all sorts of crap) and never had any issues.
- That's good to know, thanks! I had thought about using one of those but wanted a bit more structural protection against random pressure from heavy stuff in the bag. I'll give it a shot (haha) then :)

Not an answer to your question but maybe this helps- If I need to keep an item elevated or upright in my bag, I sometimes tie/clip something to the carry handle and then to that item, and then zip the bag up against that. Not a permanent solution but it’s helped in a pinch.

10 comments