- Finding the perfect camera bag
can be really tough sometimes,
and sometimes the best camera bag
is one that actually doesn't look like a camera bag.
Basically, what I'm saying is that,
I kind of recommend getting a smaller camera bag.
You may or may not know that,
for the past year and a half or so,
I've been using the Think Tank StreetWalker V2.0.,
bunch of bags like this are all over the place,
because they're really popular and they're
really, really good.
I don't have anything in it right now,
but when I open it up there is so much room
for activities inside this bag.
But, as you can see sitting next to me,
it's also giant.
It's like the same size as the top half of my body,
and that's not always super fun to travel with.
Because when you have a bag that can carry
everything in it and all of your stuff,
those things weigh a lot.
And then you have to have those things
on your back the whole time.
So that's why, instead of a Think Tank StreetWalker,
I've been using the Dakine Sync Photo Backpack,
which is much smaller, I feel much less intimidated
with it sitting here next to me.
I'm 5'10, and when I wear this I definitely feel
extra dorky, because not only is it heavy
but it's a really wide bag.
This bag is a thick bag.
This bag is so much more manageable,
it's so much easier to use.
Like a normal backpack, it doesn't really take up
any more space, it's relatively thin,
but it still has a lot of features and can do a lot.
Now, this is a dual compartment bag,
which is a really cool style,
and there are a lot of different bags
from a lot of different companies that have this style.
I chose this one, just because I've had Dakine bags
in the past and they've never had any issues.
They don't break, they last forever.
Plus, this one has this blue and black color scheme.
This video's totally not sponsored, by the way,
it was honestly, I just found this I think on Amazon.
But this blue and black color scheme I really like,
because I kinda have a thing for blue and black,
if you haven't noticed.
My Dracast lights are blue and black.
My camera bags, this one and the Think Tank one,
are blue and black.
My tripod is blue and black.
My water bottle is blue and black.
So it sounds silly, but that's one of the things
I really like is just the style of the bag.
The whole bag is made out of this really
durable canvas material.
It's super easier to clean.
We have dogs, the dog hair just wipes right off,
dirt, dust, just wipes right off.
Also, since you're not bringing everything
that you own in a bag like this,
it just doesn't get as heavy as the bigger bags do,
so that also helps keep it more comfortable
throughout the day.
On the sides of the bag are two pretty deep pockets,
that also have this little bit of material that pops up
and closes with a drawstring.
This is great in case you need something
that's a little taller,
it's perfect for a water bottle.
Instead of trying to put the water bottle
into the bag, unsuccessfully.
Because if you have a taller water bottle,
it's not going to fall out.
Each side of the bag also has these little
buckle straps, so if you have something taller
like a tripod or a monopod, it's gonna be easy
to keep it in there and secure.
And the pouch on one side of the bag
actually has this little flap that hangs out.
So what I found works best,
is if you put two legs of your tripod in there,
and then you can just extend part of the other one here,
and that way when you're walking,
the tripod's never gonna fall or sink down
or anything like that.
Behind one of the side pockets is a little
secret pouch that might be good for hiding something
like a phone, or snacks, or something like that.
It's pretty cool.
All of the zippers on the bag are YKK zippers,
which if you've seen any of my other videos about bags,
that's a big deal because those zippers don't break,
they last, and they don't jam up and get stuck.
So they're just, they make your life easier.
Starting at the top up here, there's a zippered
pocket that has a really soft fabric inside.
So this is made for like, your phone, or something delicate.
To get into the top of the bag there is a little latch,
and then there are zippers.
And this is kinda cool,
because if you leave the bag unzipped,
you can still securely latch it shut
and it's not gonna go anywhere.
But it makes it easier to get in and out
of this compartment.
This isn't the camera section,
this is just sort of the top part of the bag.
It does have two mesh side pockets,
and then it does have a little sleeve back here.
They say it's for a tablet,
but I have a 10.5 inch iPad Pro that does not fit in here,
so it's kinda small.
You could definitely fit
like an iPad mini or something like a Kindle,
would fit in there really easily.
I usually use it for like, my batteries,
my memory cards and kinda like, thin things like that.
That I just want to keep organized and out of the way.
But this is a pretty big compartment,
you can fit extra camera gear in there,
you can fit a drone in there,
you can fit jackets and a little bit of clothing.
And that's why I really like this bag
is because the top of it is still a normal backpack,
so it's easy to use like an actual person
and not just a photographer or videographer.
Because you can actually pack your human essentials in here,
and still have plenty of room for your camera gear.
That's what makes it really, really practical.
And even though an iPad doesn't fit
in the tablet compartment,
it does fit in the compartment itself.
So if you really need to travel with a tablet,
there is still room as long as it's, you know,
this size or smaller.
This is the 10.5 inch iPad Pro.
There's a very slim outer pocket on the front,
that lets you put just some of the essentials,
like I have headphones and business cards, and you know,
maybe like a couple of snacks or something in there.
The front of the bag has these little loops
so you can hang stuff off of them.
It's kinda like the Lowepro bags,
if you've seen those.
And then, of course, the main part of the bag,
the camera compartment.
Doesn't have any kind of lock,
but it does have this snap
so if you have this shut, it's gonna be tougher
to open the bag.
And then once you open it up, there's actually
quite a bit of room for camera gear in here.
And this is what's cool,
the bottom half of the bag is for your camera gear,
and the top half of the big can be for anything else.
Or of course, more camera gear if you need it to be.
So now let's see what kind of stuff can fit into this bag.
I do change it, pretty much every time I use it,
because it's so small and so adaptable,
that I don't always take the exact same gear.
But I definitely do always take a camera.
So here's kind of an example,
this is the 6D Mark II with a battery grip.
So this is pretty big, this is probably,
unless you're using something like a 1DX,
this is probably bigger than any camera
you would fit in here.
And the 6D with the grip does fit upright,
but there is a little bit of a bump so I usually
do set it on it's side where it's not
gonna get too much pressure placed on it.
And of course, if you don't have a grip on the camera,
then it fits, you know, there's a lot
of extra room in there.
So despite the fact that this bag is smaller
than any of my other camera bags,
it still has plenty of room for full-size camera gear.
The bag comes with four Velcro inserts,
two of them are these long L-shaped ones,
and then two are these smaller dividers,
so I move them around all the time
depending on what I'm using.
But, just to give you the most extreme example,
if I put my 16-35mm lens on this camera,
aside from using something like a 70-200 or a zoom lens,
this is about as big of a camera setup
as you would pretty much ever have,
and it can fit in here no problem.
Here's my 24-105, that I can just place on the side,
and then sometimes I put my microphone in here.
I do always take my ND filters with me,
so I put those in the bag,
and then sometimes I will put like a wide lens and a prime,
like the 24mm Sigma lens that I'm using
to film this video.
There are really only two things so far that I don't like
about this specific bag.
The first one, is that it doesn't have any
kind of pen holders or pen slots.
Which sounds kinda silly, but pretty much
every other bag, that I've ever had,
has, you know, little compartments to hold your pens
and business cards and like, smaller items.
Just keep things organized.
This bag doesn't have that,
and the front compartment's really small,
so if you put something in here you're
probably not gonna lose it,
but it just doesn't keep things as organized
as I'd like them to be.
If you just want your pen to be, you know,
right there, inside, ready to go.
The other thing, which I don't think is a con,
but some people might, is that the bag doesn't have
a laptop compartment.
And at first, I was a little bit nervous about using
a bag that didn't have a laptop compartment,
but it turns out it has not been an issue for me at all.
Because the reason that I wanted this bag,
was so that I could have a nice backpack to take with me
when I go places.
So if I'm at an amusement park,
if we're going on a daytrip, if I'm out on a hike,
I want to be able to carry my bag with me easily.
And I probably don't want my laptop
in any of those situations anyway.
So not having a compartment in here
is really not a big deal.
If I'm going on an overnight trip, then I usually take
this bag for my camera gear and a second bag for my clothes,
and the laptop just goes right in the second bag.
So it hasn't been an issue for me so far,
this is also plenty small enough to fit
under airplane seats, in overhead compartments,
it's a really, really easy bag to travel with.
And that's, kind of, the whole point,
is that you want it to be easy to travel with
your camera gear, so that you take your camera gear
with you more places.
This video's completely not sponsored,
I will put an affiliate link down below to the bag
if you want to check out this specific one,
but ultimately, what I'm recommending,
is if you travel with camera gear that you do find
a small bag that makes it easy to travel with.
I like this style with the two compartments,
the camera compartment, and then the extra,
human compartment up here, because that just kind of
is the most practical setup.
And I really love things that are practical.
So even though I do customize this bag
and put different things in it,
pretty much every time I use it,
if you're curious about what's in my overall
camera gear setup, I did put together an entire
'What's in my camera bag' video.
So I'd really recommend that you check that out,
click on that and I'll see you over in that video.