I do. There are some folks out there who have more than I own but I still think four might be a couple too many. There’s the first bag that was cheap and a security risk; and eventually the kit outgrew it. There’s the second bag, also known as the it-came-with-a-magazine-subscription bag. There’s the shoulder bag because I was carrying too much, now doing double duty carrying my lunch to work. Then there’s the behemoth. A Vanguard VEO T48 backpack in blue.
Ah but that doesn’t look so bad, you say. Oh, you don’t realise that this has far more in common with Doctor Who’s TARDIS than the colour. I packed and took it out for the day; wondered why by the end I could barely move… It weighed 17 pounds. That’s like having a year and a half old toddler strapped onto your back. I took it on to the scales in the bathroom to satisfy the curiosity of my friend, who thought she would need to dust off her CPR skills on me during the walk. So I’ll be honest, it’s big and cavernous, and I can’t imagine ever having enough kit to have it completely stuffed. I also can’t imagine being able to carry it when loaded either.
Optimism, thy name is Jet2 ground crew. It does pass itself off as hand luggage most of the time but good luck wedging it under a seat. There’s a lot to love about this bag. I won’t grow out of it. Mostly because I woundn’t be able to carry anthing bigger. It has a water bottle holder (that you can take off for travel by air) and attachments for tripod. You can move them around too. Tripod on the side? Done. Want to move it to the back (or front? What do you call the big flat outside edge?)? Yep, you can do that. I know that is the main point of tactical bags. The military want to make them as adaptable as possible and it easily spills into areas where people carry a very different collection of kits. I mean every photographer carries a totally different kit, search YouTube for kit videos if you don’t believe me. The bag’s internals do all sorts of magical things and it seems twice as deep as any other bag I’ve gone through. There’s a Joby Gorillapod 3K in there and I’ve not seen it for weeks now.
For all I talked about the weight I could put into it, there was no strain on my back. There’s a waist belt…THAT HAS POCKETS! Finally somewhere for the lens cap/car keys/face mask/change. One thing per pocket though; there’s not enough room for all of that at the same time. There’s a chest strap to secure and balance the shoulder straps, another large backpack standard. As someone with boobs there’s always some scepticism about these; the chest strap is removable and adjustable because they don’t always work with the anatomy.
I don’t have a front view (of me) so you don’t get to appreciate the space-time distortion that the chest strap creates. So maybe it’s time to have a look at those storm clouds on the horizon. Unlike it’s smaller stablemates, the 45T and 37T, there’s no top access and you can only go in one side, no matter how you set up in the innards. The top upside down zipper only leads to a little flat pocket good for spare memory cards and batteries, and the side I choose for my water bottle also leads to another little pocket that I relocated the waterproof cover to. They are slighly useless pockets, I’ll admit, but I’ve still managed to fill them with stuff. Although, this might not be the weak link in its design. Remember I mentioned my first bag had a security issue? It was a front access bag. One massive zip running the whole way round the front of the bag. Bye bye camera…? Soon as I noticed that it became a twitchy eye moment when I was out in public with it. Forever wondering if it was going to get stolen. Access through the back is the way forward my friends. With a bag this size you an undoubtedly carrying a vast amount of kit that will have cost you a fair amount of your hard earned money. You don’t want someone to just walk of with it because they could get an easy access zip open, and if they try to run off with the whole thing then I doubt they will get far before collapsing and needing CPR.
Where does this leave us? Lost? Confused? Having friends worry about my health? Endlessly searching for the perfect home for my camera and lenses? Probably. It’s a good bag. I’ve taken it on flights, hikes, boats and busses; and it’s as good looking as the day I lifted it out its delivery box. A box so big I could have posted myself out in. I love it really, even if I was slightly disappointed by the lack of top opening but I’ll survive. Right, I’m off to lift some weights so I can get it off the floor in time for next week’s shoot.
Selkie’s Photography 