Christian Spaeth Posted November 3, 2016 Report Share Posted November 3, 2016 I haven't done too much bag work in my career but in the recent past I get more bag jobs. To protect my back I bought The Orca harness. Still figuring out the optimal position for the bag, so I thought some bag pros on here might have some back friendly bag advice? How low/high do you wear your bag? Weight distibution shoulders/hip? I notice the back relief when wearing the bag mostly on the hip, but maybe there are downsides to that too? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mungo Posted November 3, 2016 Report Share Posted November 3, 2016 Only Porta Brace cross belt or shoulder strap. I've tried out different waist solutions, but they all didn't work for me. I was too handicapped in my movements, too slow and it was just not comfortable at all. Don't known why.. I'm whether too fat nor too thin. With shoulder strap I try to switch sides as often as possible and put down my mixer a lot. On jobs where this is not possible (wet/dirty ground, run and gun) I use the cross belt. I have carabiner hooks ("S-Biner") which can be loosened and fastened very quickly during breaks. Height of the bag: About stomach. All in all I feel pain, especially after longer bag absence (holidays, office work). I get kind of "adjusted" after some days again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnuarYahya Posted November 3, 2016 Report Share Posted November 3, 2016 This might not be what you want to hear seeing as you just bought the orca.. but the k tek stingray harness is what I use. It is expensive but worth every single penny. I mean its night and day. I have tried many other harnesses but unless they have something like the hard spine thing K tek uses they are all the same. The idea is to distribute all the weight of the bag evenly on your back. I cannot recommend it enough. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matthias Richter Posted November 3, 2016 Report Share Posted November 3, 2016 I also tried the stingray. I couldn´t find a position where it did fit both on my hips and the "X" between my shoulders. I do have quite a long upper body - too long for the stingray to fit obviously. Other than that I would have loved it to take off some weight from my shoulders. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philip Perkins Posted November 3, 2016 Report Share Posted November 3, 2016 There are a lot of ways to skin this cat, you have to (endlessly) experiment and see what works best for your body and the work you do. My only real advice is to be totally ruthless about getting stuff OUT of the rig. Mics and rigging stuff, TX, tools, extra batts etc go somewhere else (like a fanny pack etc) and the bag has the absolute minimum gear, cabling etc you need to get the job done. As has been often posited here--be careful about how far you build your bag OUT from your body--cantilever as little as you can, keep the heavy stuff close to you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete D Posted November 3, 2016 Report Share Posted November 3, 2016 +1 To being wary about building your bag too far out in front of your body. For that reason I'm a big fan of the side pouches on the stingray bags. As far as strapping it to my body goes, I use a Ktek harness. I wear the bag low enough that my hips can take a good amount of the weight, like when one wears a heavy camping backpack. I also keep the bag strapped very tight to my body so my bag and I move as a single unit instead the bag slopping around. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Thomas Posted November 3, 2016 Report Share Posted November 3, 2016 I've tried a few things and actually found the best solution for me is a light bag with a shoulder strap- I've used a waist belt only for a while but found the best solution is to not be carrying the bag and the shoulder strap's the fastest way of getting it on and off. I'm putting together an 8 channel+ bag at the moment (not as big/scary as you might think) and ordered the big portabrace shoulder strap for it... watch this space Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christian Spaeth Posted November 3, 2016 Author Report Share Posted November 3, 2016 Thanks everyone for your input. I ended up adjusting the shoulder straps on my harness quite loosely, soas to just hold the balance of the bag, while using one of the two hip belts to strap the bag to my hip. My back is fine today, let's see what it will be like tomorrow. And yes, like Phil and Pete, I try to keep my bag light, although the heaviest part is my Nomad, and there's no getting rid of that... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Thomas Posted November 3, 2016 Report Share Posted November 3, 2016 26 minutes ago, Christian Spaeth said: Thanks everyone for your input. I ended up adjusting the shoulder straps on my harness quite loosely, soas to just hold the balance of the bag, while using one of the two hip belts to strap the bag to my hip. My back is fine today, let's see what it will be like tomorrow. And yes, like Phil and Pete, I try to keep my bag light, although the heaviest part is my Nomad, and there's no getting rid of that... You can always get rid of bits of it.... Actually, the bag itself is sometimes the heaviest thing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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