The endless quest for bags and straps.

It would seem that I’ve been going through another one of those “find the perfect bag and strap” cycles, which seem to be occurring every six to eight months or so. For photographers, this is a difficult, time consuming and subjective process that’s largely dependent on your shooting style or simply what kind of mood you’re in (or think you’re in). Every person I’ve talked to or read about who is mildly involved in photography has no less than a closet full of assorted satchels, bags, backpacks and carrying devices that either work, kind-of work, or they just can’t get rid of. I think if I wanted to make a million bucks, I’d start off by producing all kinds of camera bags and then work my way up to writing photography books and tutorials :p

Since the last cycle, I’ve been lugging everything (and I mean everything) around in a Domke F1x Ballistic Shoulder Bag. The F1x is an absolutely fantastic bag that you can really fit a lot of gear in… the pockets are cavernous and the main compartment is well padded. The old saying about “everything but the kitchen sink” rings true here – you can really fit a ton of stuff inside. But it’s just a tad bit too big, heavy and clumsy when it’s fully loaded like that. Not something you want to take on a 4 mile hike, which I’ve learned the hard way (several times). The rubberized Domke shoulder strap, however, is one of my favorite features and has saved the bag from doom countless times. I do love the way the canvas part of the bag has formed itself to my hip – it’s very comfortable there, even full of gear. But the top flap, while quick and easy to open, does not totally seal the main compartment, making sand, dust, grit, pine needles, burrs and even some insects a common find after a full day of carrying it around. Not good for thousands of dollars worth of optical gear. Also, having a large shoulder bag swinging around (especially if you have to squat or kneel in sand at the beach or climb up anything rocky) is just asking for trouble.

Attached to my cameras, are two LowePro Speedster camera straps. They have the same type of woven-in rubber as the Domke strap, which I love, because it stops the things from sliding off your shoulder. They’re perfect, except for the connection system. After the straps are disconnected from the quick-release buckle, they leave leftovers. Irritating ones. About 3 in. of strap and one half of the quick-release buckle is left dangling from your camera in exactly the wrong place. Shooting with those two things flopping around on either side of the camera really get in the way of hitting the focus button or adjustment dials and just generally get in the way.

So my goal was to find a lighter, smaller bag to carry lenses in that wasn’t so open to the elements, and a pair of camera straps that left nothing behind when disconnected.

Enter the lumbar/shoulder packs, and the PacSafe straps. Based on a glowing review from Fish (http://flyingwithfish.blogspot.com/) , I decided to pick up a Mountainsmith Tour (and later a Mountainsmith Day) pack, as well as a pair of PacSafe CarrySafe 100 camera straps. When the Tour showed up, the first thing I had to do was ditch the shoulder strap that came with it. It was skinny and slid all over the place, so I decided to crack off one set of the plastic D-rings that connected my Domke strap to it’s bag and attach some carabiners to it. This made an instant rubberized Domke strap I could attach to just about anything. I also cannibalized the padded four chamber insert from my Domke bag and put that inside the Tour, since padding was non-existent, and I didn’t want lenses banging around in there.

This worked very well for carrying the Mountainsmith Tour around by shoulder, but in the end it was just too small… or too much of a drastic change from the F1x for me. I could *barely* get the zippers shut with the 70-200 2.8, 80mm 1.2, one 580exII, my Honlphoto gel set, sto-fen omnibounce and assorted cables/card wallet etc stuffed into the Tour. I don’t know how Fish managed to cram all his stuff in there. I’m usually pretty good at packing gear, but this just seemed too tight for my taste. The nail in the coffin was when I tried it out one weekend strapped to my waist down at the beach. It was great for transporting the lenses out of the way, and awesome to be able to take a knee or even sit down without a shoulder bag to worry about. The problem arose when I tried to change a lens. With things packed in there so tightly, trying to squeeze the 16-35 2.8 back in place of the 85mm 1.2 or vice versa, required me to take the whole damn thing off my waist. In the sand. With the Mark III around my neck.

Within a week, I ponied up for it’s bigger brother, the Mountainsmith Day pack – which was essentially the same pack, just a little taller and wider. This one felt better and had more breathing room, but changing lenses while strapped to your waist was still a little bit of a gamble. It is by no means quick, but I don’t use it around my waist very often – yet… spring is around the corner. I’ve been using the Mountainsmith Day pack for about three weeks now, and it’s got staying power. My only real complaint is that it doesn’t have any bottom padding, and all I think about is inadvertently setting it down just a little too hard and blasting one of the front or rear elements of my lenses.

The PacSafe CarrySafe 100 straps were much of the same – a great design, but just not a perfect fit for me. They had braided steel cable running throughout their length, which made me feel pretty secure about having my cameras attached to them, and the real shining glory of the PacSafe straps (for me) were their connection clips. They attached using mini-rings and locking clips, which meant that when disconnected, the only thing left on the camera were the rings. But the shoulder pad and the straps themselves were covered in a slippery type of nylon that tended to slide around (and almost off) my shoulder every time I put them there, which proved to be their downfall. Unable to take the sliding, but unwilling to give up the connectors, I ended up taking a pair of scissors to a vulnerable area of the strap to unravel it and retrieve the metal locking clip connectors. They are now connected to the LowePro Speedsters, and I don’t think I could find a better camera strap that does things better than the way I have it setup now.

After all this, I read a blog post yesterday by Jeff Revell (http://www.revellphotography.com/blog/) who reviewed a bag I had heard scant rumors of long ago, but written off due to it’s top cover being vulnerable like my Domke bag. The Boda Bag. Turns out they have a new version out called the “Boda Dry” which has a weatherproof zipper that seals the top of the bag. It looked perfect, and very similar to what I had tried to turn the Mountainsmith Day into, but with padding. Like a moth to the flame, I ordered one, and it should be here in a few days.

I also found these guys, BlackRapid.com who make a camera strap that I’d be very interested in… although I don’t know if their shoulder pads are rubberized.

And so the cycle continues. Will the quest to find the perfect camera bag ever end?