I'm hoping this is a home for this question and some of you more experienced ones can provide some input.
I plan on doing some hikes with my dslr camera (nikon 5000) with a tripod and couple lenses. Not necessarily just on the AT, but hikes to waterfalls, scenic views, areas of specific flowers/tress (many books call this type of thing out). The hikes I'm planning on doing would be anywhere from 2-3 miles to over night trips.
As of yet, I haven't attempted doing an over night hike with this camera gear (been using point and shoot) but want to for the quality of pictures in some situations. So far my hiking trips have been only a few hour trips where I don't need to pack much (ie camera, lenses, batteries, tripod, snacks, water).
I normally keep the lenses in the case they came with (soft sided not padded) and just pack them in one of the smaller front compartments of my backpack (in lid or bottom compartment). My pack is big enough to fit the tripod inside without issue (though I could strap it to the outside but haven't especially since I'm not carrying much gear).
I have a Deuter Futura Pro 42 (primary pack) and also have a kelty redcloud (I can't recall the exact model number but found it for great deal on clearance and it's much bigger than the Deuter).
I was thinking of either picking up some small padded camera bags (maybe 1 for couple lenses and one for camera) or picking up some small gladware type containers and custom cutting some foam from the fabric/craft store.
Does anyone carry such a big camera? If so, how do you pack it and extra lenses? Am I the only one?
thanks in advance
Dan