BUY A BAG! or TWO.

Everyone needs a bag to carry their gear. When you are going light, you may need two or three. For travel, even locally, I usually carry everything I might need in one larger bag. Then when I get to a location or start a longer hike, what I am willing to carry gets put into a smaller bag that I will be carrying. There are occasions when I will stay with the larger bag, but that usually means transferring gear I don’t want to carry into another bag. This leaves room for me to carry optional gear. Perhaps this is rain gear or lighting equipment for a night shoot, or a first aid kit if I am leading a group. That extra room often comes in handy.

My bag for the last ten years was by Mindshift, now owned by Think Tank. Those names sound like a great deal of thought went into design even back then. Indeed it did, but more and more thought has gone into bags since and what we deem necessary gear and the size of that gear has also changed. My new primary bag is made by Atlas Packs. This is a smaller company that only sells direct. The bag is wonderful in all ways. Even with my move to smaller APS-C gear, I had no trouble filling it up. I will get to some of the absolute requirements for me in a large bag later in this article. 

Let’s talk about that second bag. For most of you beginners that will be your first bag. It will carry your camera with a zoom lens attached and will have room for a smaller second lens, filters and a few other items. It will be able to carry a water bottle, as well. As you advance in your photography, you may be adding lenses and other gear. That will be the time to get a larger bag. You will keep using you smaller bag to carry consolidated gear, especially when you are going to hike quite a ways.

One thing I have found about shoulder bags. If they are really heavily loaded they can get pretty uncomfortable on your neck and shoulder within a mile or two. You will be shifting sides often or you will want to figure out how to carry them on your hip. Check for this capability.

1. Dividers that can be moved to fit your particular camera, lenses and filters. These dividers should come in various sizes. These extras should be provided by the manufacturer.
2. A way of attaching a tripod to the bag so the tripod does not flop all over when hiking or at the airport. There is usually a pouch for the lower part of the tripod.
3. Holders for water bottles.
4. A strap or belt that takes the load off of your shoulders. A well-padded belt is worth its extra weight. 
5. Some bags allow you to rotate a portion of the bag so you have access to lenses without removing the bag from your back. If this is important to you, look for this feature.
6. Camera backpacks come in different sizes. So do people. Be sure yours fits your body size. Local camera shops are the best place to do this.
7. A color that is easy to find, especially in dark conditions. It is easy to wander away from your bag as you get excited about new compositions. In this regard, consider placing a locator tile in your bag.
8. Double zippers to access your main gear. Camera bags come with either outside access or inside access. Inside access means you have to take the bag off your back to get to your lenses. It also means there may be a little more protection for your lenses. With outside access a buddy could pull a lens out for you. I don’t have super strong feelings about this, but you should be aware of your choices. If you forget to zip often, two zippers are much better than one and inside access is better than outside access.
9. Places to hook or strap things on. This could be an extra water bottle, GPS unit, trekking poles, etc.
10. Multiple convenient pouches. To know why you might need these, here are some of the things I put in the pouches.
    a. Batteries, dead and alive. It’s a good idea to keep these in two separate labeled baggies, also with a business card in each bag.
    b. A headlamp. Even if its morning, I carry a headlamp.
    c. Hex wrenches to tighten tripod legs and camera brackets.
    d. Lens cloth, brush
    e. Sunscreen, ibuprofen, etc.
11. A hidden pocket. This should be spot that would be very difficult for a thief to find even if all your gear is dumped out of the bag. In this pocket place a locator tile or Apple Airtag tracker. It is even better if you sew the pocket closed. Cars get  broken into. Just be aware that if a thief is using an Apple phone, he may be alerted that he is being tracked.