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.
Back to the big bag. Most of my gear that I often use stays in this big bag. I currently have four lenses for my Fujifilm camera and on a day when Barbara is not shooting could add a few more since she shoots the same system with different lenses. Gear for special occasions is kept on a shelf or in a separate storage box. Examples might be LED lighting, a Lightning Trigger, a mosquito net, bug spray, and gloves. The camera compartment of my new bag has room for one camera body, four lenses, including one long telephoto, filters, a large cloth and my Lightning Triigger. The lenses normally have a soft lens wrap which I have removed for this photo. For a winter trip I might remove the trigger and replace it with a second body. The bag has room for my laptop and chargers. I don’t carry the additional electronics when out shooting, but I do when traveling. This is the best way to keep watch on your gear and computer. There is a ton of other room in the bag, so it is suitable for backpacking. Here are some additional requirements and considerations.
- 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.
- 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.
- Holders for water bottles.
- A strap or belt that takes the load off of your shoulders. A well-padded belt is worth its extra weight.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Places to hook or strap things on. This could be an extra water bottle, GPS unit, trekking poles, etc.
- 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. - 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.
When I’m walking far I prefer to carry just one or two lenses. This often results in regretting not having a lens I left behind, but it also returns me home much less fatigued. That is a necessary tradeoff for this Photoboomer. One of those two lenses is on my camera and the other is in a separate soft cloth pouch in the bag. Unless I am carrying a long telephoto zoom, these two lenses don’t take much room at all. So choose between a shoulder/hip bag (such as the Nat Geo bag shown here and available at B&H Photo Video) for shorter treks and a daypack such as Camelbak that will allow you to carry snacks and plenty of water on longer hikes or on warm days. These smaller bags will mean either no tripod, hooking on a very small tripod, or carrying your tripod. Even though I say this is what I prefer, realize that I have often carried three heavy lenses in a heavy bag and only used one, returning home exhausted from the extra weight.
A third option is to carry an even smaller waist pack that will hold just one lens, a snack and a water bottle. The camera and lens will be around my neck. This is my choice for local hikes, especially if I am going out for more than a mile or two. If you are using a longer lens for wildlife be sure your bag will hold that longer lens. It just doesn’t take much to put in a mid-range lens for those unexpected scenes you feel like you could walk into.
The requirements for the shoulder bag and waist pack are pretty straightforward. Room for a lens in a cushioned sack, room for water and snacks, and a zippered pocket for keys and a couple of business cards. I keep the cards handy to give out to people who photobomb my scenes and they will also help hasten my identification should I be found wandering in a stupor.
You are going to use your bag for many years, likely longer than a camera. Choose well!
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