The Problem With Camera Bags No One Talks About.
When you become a photographer, you realize that you have acquired one of the most precious hobbies imaginable. Whether you turn this into a career or not, the cost doesn't stop at your camera. With every camera comes lenses, and with every lens comes filters. Even batteries, memory cards, tripods, and cleaning supplies will cost you a lot of money. Most importantly, you need a place to keep all this amazing collection. We start shopping for camera bags like the same people who look for budget options. But then we quickly remember, wait, I have a nice camera, and I want a nice camera bag. So we start searching for the best bags from the best brands, following the best tips on YouTube. And then we see the price. How much does it cost? That's right my friend, 400 pounds per bag. The world of camera bags is full of expensive and poorly made camera bags. In addition to premium but very expensive brands. And I should know I own a few.
When you compare these bags to bags that aren't camera bags, of similar capacity, the features you get for a lot less money and the build quality you get for a lot less money start to make the entire world of camera bags a zero-sense. I feel like camera bags really divide people. There are some of us who like to organize things meticulously. We like to have dividers where we can put a lot of different pieces of tools. But there are others who just want to have a big bag to put everything in and that you can take out when you need it. And the companies that design specific camera bags like this are the first type. They are people who like to organize things neatly.
So the stuff is made of really premium materials, which is obviously nice. But at the same time, it's just a camera. I know it's expensive, but do we need all these extra luxury things that cost like a huge premium? But whatever you happen to use a bag like a standard proper one with some nice cameras like this, you can just put it in a garbage bag. It's all you need. I want to take a minute to share with you one of my favorite videos on the internet. This is from Paulie B's Walkie Talkies series, his interview at Melissa O'Shaughnessy. I always say that when I'm feeling shy, I shoot at 35.
And when I'm less shy, I shoot at 28. Once you start, and you start getting comfortable and you start seeing things, and you're when they get that first good photo, I think people get really addicted to it. This definitely happened to me. And trust me, I carry a big bag of self-doubt. Some days are heavier than others. It's a hot day or a cold day or an unproductive day, but I think to myself, why am I doing this? This is very difficult. It's very ineffective. You know, you can go out for eight hours and come back with nothing. I think most street photographers are really driven by a deep sense of optimism. And I think that's why we love each other so much. Wait a minute. There's something we missed here. And this big bag of self-doubt also has another meaning here.
If you only carry a camera and lens, it will be much easier for you and your body than carrying a whole bag. Sometimes with a laptop, sometimes with another lens and whatever combination. It makes your day more difficult. It might make you want to go out less. What if you need to take a Zoom with you or maybe a broad Zoom, and maybe you can shoot a video. So you may need to bring a microphone kit with you. What if you want to stop by a café to grab a croissant and sit down with your laptop to do some work? What if you're just making excuses? Excuses that keep you from actually taking photos. If you go out with one camera and one lens, whether it's Zoom or Prime and nothing else, the only thing you're going to do with what you have strapped to your body or in your hand is take pictures. This is the most important thing. Aside from the large camera bag I use for all my freelance work, this is my favorite camera bag.
I've had the Berghaus TrailBite 30L for four years now, and there's absolutely nothing wrong with it. Through using this bag, I realized something. When you buy a bag from a camera bag manufacturer, this is usually the only bag the camera bag manufacturer will ever make. Yes, there are some brands that only make camera bags. Some of them are very good. However, if you go for a brand like Berghaus, or you can go for North Face, Patagonia, Mountain Warehouse, and the Outdoors brands, they have been making bags and other gear suitable for all types of outdoor activities and they should.
Competing with many other companies in this field. And for me, the build quality of a bag like this from a brand like Berghaus, I'm not promoting Berghaus or North Face or anyone else, but the build quality of these bags is much higher, even on a bag that's cheaper than most camera bags. Manufacturers. I think the issue every photographer faces at some point is whether or not you choose to have an obvious photography portfolio, that looks a little like a low-key professional or another well-known brand, or choose something that's a little faceless. The benefit here is that with a well-known photography brand, if you're out somewhere and you're not sure how safe it is to carry a lot of gear with you, people may know that this is like a valuable bag that could be stolen. Whereas when you have an anonymous bag like any outdoor brand, you kind of keep all your gear nice and hidden until you actually pull it out and start using it. Similar to the cost of everything surrounding a wedding, everything associated with photography costs much more. For example, I think this Berghaus bag cost me £50-£60 four years ago.
It has a laptop sleeve, multiple large compartments, flexible cup holders for water bottles, front zippers, separate zippered sections and high-quality materials. Everything you'd expect from a luxury camera bag, but often falls short. For a short while, I had a 20-pound soft camera from Amazon stuffed underneath. This was my go-to setup for hitting freelance gigs for about a year, but after a year or so of liking the setup , I actually invested in a Pete Design accessory, yes, from a premium camera bag company, but not the full bag at this point. This setting when carrying this bag only allows me to put a small amount in this entry. It can comfortably fit an APS-C sized or full-frame camera with one prime lens and a zoom lens, or perhaps two zoom lenses. But more often than not I carry a second camera because I have problems and review micro four thirds cameras.
This little unit can just sit in the bottom of my bag, leaving me with most of the capacity of that bag, and the freedom to be able to stuff other things and even run to the store on my way home after shooting. Besides this non-camera bag and camera bag setup, the only other thing I use these days to carry gear is this Uniqlo bag. This is just like a sling bag, very minimal. There's only one pocket here that you can put your camera's battery into, but it comfortably holds a Sony a6700 with a flat lens. You can even get another prime lens in there or just pick up the camera with a single zoom lens and it fits just fine.
This is the compromise between just carrying the camera on a sling and carrying a smaller, non-camera bag, especially when I'm not going out for a long time and don't need to carry water and things like that with me. Just taking this camera and this Uniqlo bag has been a dream these past few months. I think that tipping point of going from carrying as much as possible to finding ways to carry as little as possible is one we all reach as photographers. If none of these ideas work for you and you don't want a luxury bag under 100 pounds from a brand like Patagonia or the North Face, you can always get premium camera bags on eBay. If you go to eBay, you can find brands like Pete Design, Low Pro, and even some Peter McKinnon bags for less than the suggested retail price.
But you'll never save much more than if you made your camera bag with another brand like Patagonia, North Face, or many others. Jokes aside, I love everything related to photography, including camera bags, but there's nothing I love more in photography than little lenses shaped like delicious pancakes. And if you want to watch a full video reviewing these lenses, check out this video here..
