Photo Backpacks and the Lowepro Stealth AWII

About time for another full bag write up. Only problem is, one of my favourite bags, the Lowepro Stealth AW II (yeah, crazy name) is no longer in production. Read on though, as it's still relevant and there are excellent alternatives. A quick trawl around shows they're still available second hand too; here and here. They were costly when new, so these are bargains.

A while back I had a wedding to shoot. I was travelling by boat to the island (yes, very glamorous and lots of fun) so my kit needed to be easily carryable. I was heading there and back in a day so didn't need my laptop with me. As I take you through my thoughts on what I used to carry my kit, bear in mind that this would work just as well for any number of portrait assignments or similar. Here's what I took, my beloved Stealth AWII:

Now they no longer make these but your options for an alternative to a Stealth AWII are the Thinktank Airport Addicted, TT Airport Acceleration or a Lightware Digital Backpack. The TT Airport Addicted looks a little larger than the AWII but is actually a similar size to the fully loaded AWII pack. The Lightware Digital Backpacks are very similar to the AWII, just with a different internal layout. The Lightware looks a lot less like a photo pack than the Thinktank gear.

Another big difference you should consider is that the TT Airport Addicted isn't crushable while the Lightware 'pack is. Now that might not sound like a good thing, but I don't mean crushable as in "it'll-break-your-gear" crushable, but more "take-stuff-out-and-it-looks-smaller" crushable. This sort of thing can be very useful when trying to check your bag in as carry-on. It's fairly well known that the TT Addicted rarely gets through as international carry-on, despite the dimensions actually being within the rules. That's why ThinkTank developed the Airport Acceleration, which is a viable option although a tad smaller than the AWII and Lightware pack.

I've not handled a Lightware, but all you need to know about them is here (just click on "Everything Else near the bottom of the screen, then "Lightware Backpack" for an incredibly comprehensive write-up).

Anyway, here's the bag open:

So from left to right, I've got my bits'n'bobs, or odds'n'sods as they could also be called; namely my filters, cleaning cloths, self-timer cord, etc. Then come two camera bodies, in this case a trusty old Canon 20D and a Mark II N. Next, after the fold, is a Thinktank Cable Management 50 with my Strobist-style portable lighting kit. Lieing on that is my TT Modulus belt. On the far right are three TT components with a 28-70 f2.8, a 70-200 f2.8 and a 16-35 f2.8, - the trusty photojournalist 'triumvirate'. This way with a very quick unpack, I can have lights set up and a belt kit on my waist, ready to be a mobile wedding shooter.

Of course there's another set of pockets on the Lowepro into which went a mini Chimera softbox (an ENORMOUSLY useful piece of kit, complete with egg-crate grid), a mini Sony tripod which makes a great cheap, lightweight lightstand that folds down to nothing, and last but not least, an EWA Marine UAX-P bag. I'd figured before I left that I might have an opportunity to get the newlyweds frolicking in the surf, but it didn't happen. Had I had the opportunity but not the kit, well that would have really annoyed me. I always think it's best to over-pack than under; I'm sure there's a Sod's Law clause that states "the photographer will most need the piece of equipment they left behind."

The lack of laptop meant, of course, a lack of the enormous amount of cables that they incur. And a job lasting an afternoon meant I could leave behind all the chargers. This freed up the usual job of the Thinktank Cable Management 50 to be used to house my lighting kit. I'm a big fan of modular anything; modular tools like the Chimera and modular bags like the CM50 and Waterfield bags. There's nothing worse than having to pull a load of small kit out of a bag to get to what you need. It's a recipe to lose stuff, if you need another reason. So this is what it looked like:

As you can see below, it fitted a great little location setup of two flashes (or strobes for those of you Stateside), a set of Pocket Wizards, my gel envelope, two snoots (Honl snoots here I come...), my battery pack booster and assorted add-ons like double sided velcro tape that's great for getting flashes into tight spots and keeping them there.

So there you have it. I'm a big fan of the theory that there's not one uber-bag for all occasions. The only solution is to have a range of bags for each type of assignment.

Rolling laptop bag suggestion

Some really insightful comments have begun to flow into this blog (along with a few welcome compliments) but one has inspired me to create a post to answer. A lady with a back problem asked for my advice on a rolling laptop bag, as she couldn't practically use a shoulder bag or backpack.

My first stop would be the ThinkTank Airstream. Although I haven't used it, I have had a close look at the ThinkTank rollers and they are of stupendous quality (I plan to get one). Their quality of course may count against them as they are priced to match their top-notch build quality. If you're an occasional user on a budget, I recently noticed plenty of generic laptop-sized rollers in a luggage shop. But I would hope that as a reader of this blog, you'd appreciate the value of spending top dollar on a bag that will last for years, if not decades. The ThinkTank kit definitely falls in that category as it's built solidly to last and protect your gear. If you're not carrying camera gear you could of course leave the dividers at home and roll through your flights safe in the knowledge that the rest of your stuff is well protected.

The only other reason I can think of that might lead you to choose another is a question of orientation; the Airstream fits a laptop vertically and other rollers are available that fit them horizontally. Not really much difference as far as I can tell, but you may feel differently.

Tokyo bag-mania and two ThinkTank links

So it's been a while, but this time I have a good excuse. I've been away for three of the last four weeks travelling. Where, I hear you ask. Hong Kong and Japan, both on business. What sort of business, I hear you ask (since so few photographers these days get to enjoy such a multi-national career). Well that will be revealed in due course.

But since you don't come here to read about photography or my travels, I'll get onto talking about bags. My cabin luggage of choice was my Peli 1510 for my HK trip and my Timbuk2 Laptop messenger for Japan. As expected, the check-in girl took one look at the Peli 1510 and insisted I weigh it. I've never understood those in the blogosphere that insist this has never happened to them, so here's some practical advice for you, since carry-on luggage allowance is 7kgs and a Peli 1510 weighs nearly 6kgs when empty. Remove all the heaviest items from the case; batteries, laptop and big lenses before weighing. The batteries and biggest lens or two can go in your pockets and the laptop can either go loose or in whichever sleeve you're using. You'll notice that even the stingiest airlines let you take one piece of cabin baggage and a personal item. This personal item is crucial to bending the rules; it's a handbag or laptop or coat but if you read closely can be all three. So with my pockets bulging with two Canon Mark II N batteries and my laptop left out, the Peli 1510 weighed just over 8kgs, near enough that it was allowed through. Had that not been good enough, I'd have taken my camera out, slung it over my shoulder and worn it as another valid personal item. It certainly was a great piece of luggage to have in an airport; easy to roll around and unobtrusive in black.

Japan was the mother of luggage trips though, had my credit card had anything left after I was recently forced to replace my old iBook. My Timbuk2 LM was superb; comfy around the airports and importantly, looking slimline and innocent enough to never get weighed. I fitted a fair bit into it too; my shiny new MacBook, Waterfield case of cables, chargers and whatnot, my Animal passport wallet, my new Sigma DP1, iPod video, and all the other things I like to have when I fly (ear plugs and an eyemask to name two of the cheapest). And thankfully, given the ridiculous security theatre we now have to put up with, the Timbuk2 makes getting my laptop out for the XRays easy.

But the biggest thing I'll remember on the 'manbag' topic while in Japan was both how many guys carry bags there (yes, I felt right at home) but that the manbag sections of shops in Tokyo were larger than entire luggage shops in other countries. Don't believe me ? This is one aisle of photo bags in Yodabashi Camera and there were at least four more this big. As I said before, I distracted myself by taking photos as my credit card screamed to be let out of my pocket.

Every conceivable bag I'd ever heard of and quite a few I hadn't. If you're in Tokyo, the easiest way to find it if you don't speak Japanese is to head to Akihabara then say "Yodabashi" clearly while shrugging your shoulders; everyone knows where it is and if you smile they'll point you in the right direction.

This is the non-photographic bag section in Loft, which is near the Shibuya crossing in the same building as Muji (apologies for the un-corrected white balance).

I came across two fascinating articles last week, both raving about Thinktank belt systems. Check out these links; here and here. The second is extremely useful for travelling working photographers but the first more fits with the kind of work I do, where I don't need my kit as immediately, but still need it easily accessible. Happy reading !

I'll leave you with a non bag-related tangent for the photo-geeks amongst you; the amazing camera displays in Yodabashi Camera in Tokyo. The screens you can see are hooked up to the cameras so you can pick them up, fire away on a million bazillion frames a second and see the results of your handiwork immediately on the screen. Very very cool and a great persuader if you're looking to buy. Fortunately for my credit card bill, I am all stocked up with cameras at the moment.

Domke - Bags for photographers on the move

A few years ago I was in a photography shop in London when I spied an old bag in the corner onsale for a tenner.  I couldn't resist, even though I had no idea what I'd use it for.  A few years later I found myself living on the other side of the planet and having to cover a demonstration - a rare thing where I live. I needed a small bag to carry a spare lens, a notebook and not much more.  The Domke bag that I had, which I since discovered is an F3X, was perfect.  Not so good that it prevented me getting hassled by the police, but that seems to be de rigeur the times we live in.

Fast forward a couple of years and I began to work regularly for newspapers as a press photographer.  I noticed that most of my wiser colleagues, with very few exceptions, were toting Domkes.  Quite happy with the ThinkTank belt setup I've been using for a while now, I didn't really understand what all the fuss was about.  The Domkes don't seem to protect your cameras very well, don't seem very waterproof and look, well, small.

Then I began to have a few jobs where I really needed an understated camera bag.  Just last week I had to get an impromptu portrait of the son of an injured man in a hospital.  Although the hospital wouldn't have had a problem with a photographer during visiting hours, it was hardly going to help our case to convince the son to talk to us, if I walked up with a full-on black belt kit and big SLR hanging off my shoulder.  Luckily, the day before I had borrowed a Domke F3 from a colleague to trial for this article, and it was ideal; understated, compact and looking very little like a camera bag.

Here's a friend of mine's olive green ballistic nylon F3 in action at a celebrity wedding that we'd been sent to cover in a paparazzo style.  They're available in several colours (blue, black, tan and green) and two fabrics; the original retro denim and more modern ballistic nylon like the Lowepro series.

 

Domke bags are the brainchild of Jim Domke, a photographer who in the 60s and 70s wanted to find an alternative to the big, bulky and often hard sided camera case/bags that were used.  He came up with the idea of minimal padding to save size and weight.  After all, if my bag's padded I'm still going to treat it carefully.  And the smaller the bag the safer it is in many ways; less likely to draw attention, less likely to get snagged, less likely to get in the way in crowds.  So he made his own camera bag with soft sides and minimal padding.  Before he knew it, everyone wanted one.

Here's a selection of older bags that a venerable friend of mine had kicking around in his studio when I was last there for a coffee that were early adopters of the Domke design ethic.. two old Billingham bags and a Tenba.  Although the padding and insides are a bit worn, they're still as solid as the day they were built (about twenty years ago) and look really cool.  On a practical side, no one would give you a second glance with one over your shoulder, which is handy a lot of the time whether you're a pro or amateur.

A good tip if you've got an old modern bag lying around but have any affinity for older bags is to pick one up on ebay and slide in the insert from your modern bag.  For example, the inserts from the Lowepro Stealth Reporter 400 and 550 fit the old Billinghams perfectly.

So anyway, what makes the Domke F2 so good ?  Read on.. with the proviso that the one I borrowed from my friend is rather worn out.  And that's the cool thing I've found about them; they very quickly get a little worn like your favourite old pair of jeans.  This example has had a particularly tough life so is about to be retired, but not before I had a good go with it.  Despite not being in ideal condition for a review, it's worth noting that apart from the hole in the slim rear pocket, it's still as bomb-proof as the day it was born.  The strap is worn to half its width but still is totally solid.

Rear view showing the slim book/CD/magazine pocket.

A close up showing the burly shoulder strap point, carrying strap point and D ring (one of two at each end) that allows you to clip your keys to the bag or use Domke's back carrying system (which I think looks really silly.)

So now we go inside... a new F2 comes with a padded four compartment lens insert but I'm using the two inserts I had in my F3.  Without the inserts you only have the padded bottom as shock protection but the whole point of these bags is their compact size and ability to hold a lot of gear.  You don't want to throw your camera bag around however padded it is, so it's not really a problem.  That's what makes Domkes so good... you really don't need the padding of a lot of other camera bags because when push comes to shove, a big knock or drop is going to damage the equipment inside anyway.

And below you can see the bag with all the stuff I carry.  Bear in mind too that if this was my bag I'd have a bit more stuff tucked inside, like a lens cleaning cloth and business card wallet.  The top flap of the bag has a waterproof finish and a zipped pocket under the lid for incidental sundries like that.  My 70-200 tripod collar, off camera cord and 1.4 converter live in the end pocket and the notepad and mini Maglite in the opposite end pocket.  My camera with a 28-70 f2.8 lens that I commonly use for news jobs also fits, but I was using it to take these photos. It fits into the spare spaces in the inserts.

So I've been using it for a couple of  weeks now and will be buying one on an impending trip to Hong Kong.  Drawbacks ? The only one I've found is that as any shoulder bag will, when it's fully loaded it quickly becomes a dead weight on your shoulder... which is a one-way ticket to back problems in later life.  For jobs where I know I'll be on my feet for a long time and it won't matter how much I stand out, I'll stick with my ThinkTank Modulus kit.  But for assigments when I don't know where I'm going, for how long and it's likely that I may need to look like Joe Nobody, I'll be using my Domke.  I've even got an idea to get the best of both worlds, but I'll report on that if it works.

Take this evening, for example, when I had to turn up unannounced to interview the family of a recently killed pilot (known grimly as a 'death knock' in the trade).  Not the sort of thing you want to do with a camera on one shoulder and a belt kit of lens pouch/holsters on the other.  The understated Domke was just what I needed.  The family weren't at home.....

HPRC... A great Pelican alternative ?

Wow.. it's been a month since I last posted. Bad. Won't happen again. I'll get to work on another feature review.

But in the meantime, I came across HPRC. They're a new company to me but seem to be fairly well established. From what I can tell they're Italian, but have recently signed a US distributor (if a good look around the web for their news is reliable).

So why am I interested in HPRC when Pelican cases are so good ? Two things. First of all the HPRC 3500, a waterproof, crushproof and, by all appearances, pretty much bombproof backpack. A BACKPACK! I'm trying hard to imagine just how useful it would be, to not have to worry about security or protection and be able to carry my gear easily. A superb idea. If I had a watery assignment, I'd certainly take one of these over a Lowepro setup.

The other thing that caught my eye about HPRC was their 2550W, that competes directly with my much loved Pelican 1510. What's interesting about that I hear you cry, why would I buy an Italian case over a good ol' American one ? Check out the dimensions.. the HPRC 2550W is smaller on the outside than a Pelican 1510 and bigger, yes BIGGER, on the inside.

Now until I get my hands on one to check it's built as strongly, it certainly looks like a convincing alternative.

Next feature review... DOMKE !

Bag Security - The chair folly

I read the other day that a pro photographer blogger had his camera gear stolen. Safely stashed under his chair, it was swiped from beneath him while he ate.

This happened to me many years ago, although my bag wasn't even under my chair, it was on the floor under my legs in my line of sight!

NEVER EVER leave a bag on the floor without lifting a chair leg over the strap or hooking it onto your leg. A practised thief can get a bag from under a chair or table, even as in my case, when you've got about ten friends sitting around you (although the thief wasn't caught, we did know who it was; not one of my friends).

I wouldn't be surprised if really technical thieves could cut straps from under chairs, which is why I always hook the strap over my leg so that I'd very probably feel it go.

The other solution? One of these. Like hooking it around your chairleg, Pacsafe don't make your stuff un-stealable, they just make it a no-brainer for the thief to go and steal something easier.

Like the old adage: If a bear chases us I don't have to outrun the bear, I just have to outrun you. A basic premise of security.

Thinktank News - Skin, Airstream and new range

ThinkTank Photo have just added and amended their range of photo-related bags.

They've added an interesting line in belt pouches with the SKIN™ range which are all collapsible. Very handy for travelling photographers as it makes it easier to keep your kit in a normal bag (camera or otherwise) and stuff pouches in so that when you get to your destination you've got the best of both worlds; a camera bag and a belt kit. I particularly like the look of the new Skin Belt™. As you know I carry my TT kit in a Peli1510 and the belt takes up an annoying amount of space. The Skin Belt™ looks perfect as I doubt there's any difference in comfort. Also the usual nice design touches, like silence-able velcro.

They've also launched the Airport AirStream™, a tiny rolling bag. It looks too small to be much use to me but they are a switched-on company so I imagine they would only design a new bag if they knew people would buy them.

What I find more interesting is that they no longer sell the Modulus and Pro Modulus belt kit. Instead, we have the Modular Set. Though still a great system, I think it's a shame that they don't still sell the Modulus and Pro Modulus. You can of course build them up yourself, but certainly the Modulus was a much better basis for a system in my opinion as the Whip-it-Out was the natural choice to buy as an add-on to carry your 70-200. The new kit comes with a Pop Down™ pouch which is nowhere near as good as the Whip-It-Out design. Still, all companies evolve and I'm fairly sure your friendly local photo retailer can sort you out a deal if you buy your own bespoke system.