Hello everyone.
I'm Danielle, and in this video, I'll be talking about choosing
the best camera backpack for you as a wildlife photographer.
I will be looking at the ideal size weight considerations, and then other factors
to take into consideration, such as the waterproofing extras that you should have
in the bag and the design of the bag.
So here we go.
Today, I'm coming to you from Outdoor Photo in Pretoria, South Africa,
where every photographer is made to feel like a kid in a candy store, as
soon as they walk through the door.
It's the perfect place to have a look around the store and see what's on
offer in terms of camera backpacks.
Janine and I were recently talking about camera backpacks, and we
reached the conclusion that there's no such thing as the perfect
camera backpack, unfortunately..
It's much like choosing a camera.
There's a lot of boxes that you need ticked, but unfortunately there's not
one camera that's going to tick all of those boxes and bags are much the same.
What works for me in a bag might not work for you.
And the bag that you choose will be greatly dependent on factors, such as
the destinations that you often visit the type of expedition that you're
going to be undertaking the personal strength that you have, and then the
mode of transport that you often use.
So it varies from person to person.
We'll be covering all of those factors and I'll be mentioning them as we go.
So let's start off with size as for the actual size of the bag.
If you're planning to take a flight, then the average size limit on overhead
luggage that goes into the overhead compartment is 22 by 35 by 56 centimeters.
And with an average weight restriction of seven kilograms, if you're flying
economy class, this will differ from airline to airline, so make sure to check.
Important to know, is that this is also for large airplanes.
Should you be taking a charter flight anywhere in your trip?
Then it's important to know that the size and the weight restrictions
will be different from international flights and much more restricted.
So best to check that before you depart.
If you're going to be doing game drives as part of your trip, then
it's really important to know that your bag should fit on the seat next
to you or comfortably at your feet.
On that point, it's really important to have a camera lens mounted on the
camera to be able to fit in your bag.
There's no point in having them detached in your bag and having to
Mount them only when you want to shoot.
Or having to sit with your camera on your lap while your bag is next to
you, that sort of defeats the point.
So make sure that you can fit at least one camera with the
lens mounted inside the bag.
Would I sacrifice build quality for weight and size?
I wouldn't.
I would rather the pay a fee for being overweight in my luggage, then pay
the fee for replacing broken lenses.
So that's my opinion in terms of the trade-off between build
quality and size and weight.
Let's talk a little bit about ergonomics of a backpack.
It's really convenient to have wheels on a backpack.
It is, especially when you're in transit for a long period of time.
However, when you get to your destination, I just don't find
wheels to be very practical.
And unfortunately, most bags with wheels have an extendable handle, and that means
a hard casing that sits against your back.
And it can get rather uncomfortable if you carrying your backpack
around for a longer period of time.
As for waistbands, it's really handy to have a waistband on your bag, as well
as a chest strap, just to distribute the weight away from your shoulders,
onto your hips and over your chest.
And there are bags that you get that you can.
Whip off your shoulders, keep attached to your hip and open
like a tray in front of you.
But unfortunately with heavy wildlife gear, I don't find
that to be so practical.
So it might be a selling point of the bag, but to bring your bag around and then open
it like this in front of you with a bunch of heavy lenses and gear, it's probably
a recipe for disaster in my opinion.
So I would say away from that, but definitely pick a bag with a
waistband and a, and a chest strap.
Yes.
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Let's talk about extras on a bag.
It's a really handy to have a bunch of extra pockets, extra straps to Fasten
your water bottle with and to put lens cleaning kits in or sunscreen.
Any extras that you might have most bags have great, um, a great variety of extra
pockets and extra straps, et cetera.
Might also have a place for your tripod or your monopod.
This bag, for example, has a little tripod or monopod foot that
I took out of a zipper bag here.
So that's really handy to have, but on that point, should you be bringing
a tripod or a monopod on your trip?
It really depends where you go.
If you're coming to us in Chobe and you're on the boats or you're on the
game drive vehicle, then no, you don't have to bring a tripod because on the
vehicles we make use of beanbags and on the boat, we've got gimbal arms where
you Mount your gear on top of, if you are doing a forest Safari, for example,
in or a forest trip, like in Costa Rica, then most diffenitely, you need to
take your tripod or your monopod along.
Also, if you know that you're going to be doing a lot of star photography.
Yeah.
Or you're also a serious landscape photographer then yes, definitely
take your tripod with you.
It will also be handy to have extra straps to Fasten your bag
with on a game drive vehicle.
Now, having said that it's not great, having a lot of straps
hanging off your bag, catching onto everything and anything.
So I suggest having a separate strap or two with you, and you
can just use that to tie your bag.
Onto the seat next to what I like to do on a game drive vehicle,
for example, is I like to lengthen the one shoulder strap of the bag.
So I like to take the one strap, hook it around the seat,
back the back of the seat.
And then it lies safely on the seat next to me, and it can't move forward
or fall of the seat when we break.
So that's really handy too.
A little trick that I like to do on a game drive vehicle.
My suggestion would be is phone the destination or the lodge that you're
going to be staying at and see if there is going to be a tripod or a
bean bag available for you to use.
And then you don't have to carry yours along and you can save a
bit on the weight restrictions.
Let's talk a bit about the design of the bag, the design of the bag you
choose will be greatly dependent.
As I mentioned before on your personal strength, the amount of gear that
you want to put inside of it, um, the destination that you'll be visiting.
So those factors all play a role.
You get different designs in terms of where the bag opens.
Um, this bag, for example, opens from the front, this bag over here,
you access from the back there is a zip right against your back.
So it opens from the back there.
And then you get bags that open, this one also opens from the top.
So you can access your gear from the top over.
There is just an extra pouch, but there's your gear.
And then you get bags with, for example, a butterfly design, like this one,
where you can open one side at a time.
Personally.
I prefer the bag that opens from the back.
The reason being if I'm in a destination with dirty on the
floor, which is often the, the conditions in a wildlife destination,
it's muddy, it's Sandy it's wet.
Um, then I like to take the backpack off my back and be able to put it
on the ground like this, and then open it from the back to make sure.
That I can access my gear from there.
The thing is, once you pick it up, then the dirt stays here and
it doesn't get onto your back.
If you have one that opens on this side, you often put it down this way,
it gets dirty and you put the slings back over your shoulder and you are full
of mud or sand or water or whatever.
So I prefer the one that opens from the back.
The butterfly design can be quite convenient if you.
Say in a really dusty environment or in a wet environment where you only
want to expose some of your gear.
To the elements.
And you know, that this side is the lens and the camera that I want to use and
the stuff that I'm not wanting to expose to the rain or the dust isn't here,
then the butterfly effect could work.
My only worrying with it normally is that it's the big lenses that you
need to get out of a small space.
So I would take my gear to the shop.
If you go into the shop to buy a bag and make sure that you can easily access
your gear, put it back, put it in.
And that this isn't, um, a disturbance to.
To the ergonomics of that, to the handling of your gear.
So in that sense, those are the different designs that you get.
Weather proofing.
Is it a must?
Yes, it is a must make sure that your camera bag has a waterproof cover.
So you'll see it often hidden in a pocket below usually.
So, really important to have one of these with you.
If you end up choosing a backpack that happens to not have one of these for some
reason, then you are able to buy them separately, usually from an outdoor store.
So, but make sure that you have this not only for rain, but also for dust on
the point of dust, also make sure that the zipper system of the bag is, is
of good quality because often there's fine dust that can get inside the bag.
And you don't want that to get anywhere close to your gear.
So make sure that it's an excellent zipper system that keeps out
rain as well as dust as for the interior configuration of your bag.
I am still a fan of the velcro dividers that you get.
So these guys that you can configure, as you wish inside the bag, you do
get foam often with the hard cases you get the foam inners that you
can cut according to your gear.
The problem with foam is that it's not always configurable again.
So you, you cannot then or customizable again.
You cannot then cut it for the new piece of gear to throw that away.
You get a new lens or something, recut the foam.
So in my opinion, I like the Velcro dividers.
I think they work really well.
And they're very convenient.
If you have some of your gear, if you have all of your gear,
you can configure the bag.
As you wish with the Velcro dividers.
Let's talk about laptops.
I like a bag to have a laptop pouch.
This one has one, over here.
I usually prefer to be against my back so that I can make sure that no one
takes it off the back pocket, here, if I'm in transit, but I prefer a bag to
have a laptop pocket or compartment.
The reason is if you're going on Safari, then firstly, it's great to
be able to view your images, not only on your camera screen, but also on a
laptop, even if it's a small laptop.
15 inch or a 13 inch.
It's nice to be able to view your images after a day of shooting.
Um, it's much more rewarding seeing them on a big screen and then also you'll be
getting, um, great editing assistance from your host on your photographic Safari.
So it really is a bit of a waste not to take your laptop.
If you choose not to take your laptop along then there are
options to transfer your images from your cards to a hard drive.
Like the.
No box two, for example, is a device that you can use to clean
your cards and make sure that they go direct the images, go directly
from the card onto the hard drive.
And you don't need a laptop for that.
But ideally if you can make sure that you get it back for a laptop and
especially if you're coming to us in Africa, do bring your laptop along.
Let's talk about security.
I have come across backpacks that have built in locking mechanisms on
the zippers and in other ways, but I haven't come across a pro grade camera
backpack that can do this, unfortunately.
So if you have any suggestions, I've looked far and wide for one of those,
but if you have any suggestions, then leave them in the comments below.
I'd love to have a look at them.
The best way to prevent stolen gear is to never let your bag out of your sight.
That's the first best way.
Secondly, if you have to store your luggae/camera backpack at your
camera backpack in the overhead luggage compartment, then make
sure that you use padlocks locks on the most important zippers.
That's really important.
What I do as and even a more of a security measure is I travel with a bunch of
cable ties in case a lock breaks, or I lose a key or something like that.
Then at least I know I've got cable ties with me to, to close off the
most important zippers, but mostly just don't let the camera backpack
out of your, out of your sight.
There you go, folks.
I hope that gives you a better idea of what to look out for and how to choose
the best camera backpack for your needs.
Thank you so much for the support.
We really appreciate it.
And I will see you again soon in the next video until then bye-bye.