The Best Light Stand Bag isn't from Manfrotto or Neewer

You’ve got gear. How do you lug it around? As a one-man operation who often brings five folding light stands, two backdrops, a heavy-duty C-Stand, a crossbar, boom, large reflectors, extension rods, and a tripod… along with two camera bodies, four lenses, and four lights, this question has plagued me. The real solution would be to stop bringing so much stuff and learn to work my surroundings better. But sometimes you have to bring a full studio with you to get the look you want, and the tall stuff—light stands, booms, and sticks—are the most difficult.

I’ve already shared a review of the fantastic F.64 large format bag. This is great for all of my camera and sound equipment. That left my light stands, tripod, and umbrella in a mismatch of bags.

So I started thinking outside the box. Vidography equipment is expensive, and that goes for good quality cases as well. I wanted something big enough to house my 50" C-stand bar, have wheels for rolling, handles for carrying, sturdy enough to hold 70 pounds of odd shaped equipment without ripping, and yet be somewhat compact for storage. The answer came, strangely enough, in the form of a golf bag cover. I chose the CaddyDaddy Constrictor 2 Golf Bag Travel Cover.

Despite its name, it's not so much a cover as a full bag. I can fit my smaller light stand bag (with 4 light stands), plus two additional light stands, my big tripod, two collapsible light boxes, two 6-9 backdrops with cross bar, three umbrellas, a travel bag of equipment doodads is the side pockets, and still have room for a extension cords. Filled, it's huge and heavy, but it has rollers. I only wish it had a shoulder strap... but then again maybe not. It's really heavy. For $85 it does more and costs less than traditional photography bags from Manfrotto, Neewer, and others. I call it George, my dead body.