The Pukka Pack For Particular Persons

Choosing a back pack for exploring the less developed corners of the empire is a delicate task. One must accurately assess the opportunities that will be presented as well as the risks that will be run. This is why our featured article - the Think Tank Trifecta 8 -  will be on the short-list of many adventurers.

The basic idea of the Trifecta 8 is to take enough equipment onto the wild to enable you to capture images of the savages whilst not weighing you down in case you need to make a run for it. Modern thinking has provided us with mirror-less cameras and lenses of reduced size and weight and this is all to the good. Now we have a way to carry them about the person.

Just as Kipling’s cavalryman spent the winter preparing his spring campaign - paring an ounce of weight where he could to extend the range of his mount - so we can reduce the amount of gear we carry. But it still needs to be accessible at short notice when we come across a herd of wildebeest or porcupines.

The Trifecta 8 accomplishes this by maximising the main openings in the case - two lateral flaps and one ventral opening. The two former features allow the user to access either side of a central divider whilst the pack is worn on the back. If it is taken off, the ventral opening gapes wide to allow access to the entire equipment compartment.

Security amongst troublesome natives can be increased by cable-tying the zips of the side panels tighter and only using the ventral access panel.

Note that there is also a dorsal panel at the top of the pack that opens to allow storage of watercress sandwiches and bottles of cold tea.

So the next time you are headed out past the perimeter of the camp - or the range of the Gardner guns - remember to pack your mirror-less camera and lenses in this splendid case. It is professionally - made and will give years of sterling service.

Pip Pip!

The Bag Of The Revolving Door

Oh, ya gotta come in and try this one. You'll either take your pants off in the store inadvertently or you'll think it is the greatest thing since sliced bread. This is the most ingenious backpack I've seen in a long time.

There have been camera packs of various sorts before that used the idea of something revolving - whether it was a separate belt that whizzed around the user's waist or a compartment inside the main pack that went round like the cylinder of a .44 Army Colt. The firmer gave the wearer a chance to keep their main goods up on their back while accessing the camera gear round the front - the latter just delivered lenses out a side flap. Whether they were delivered into your hand or onto the ground depended upon whether you were fast and dextrous...

Well, the Rotation 180 in Professional Green* by Mind Shift is one of the first-named designs. Basically it is a waist pack tethered indies a back pack - moving independently from being housed under the back pack or out at your front.

The release mechanism is on the right side - a plastic tab you push down. The flap it releases is spring-loaded to fly upwards and free the waist pack. The VERY clever part of the design is the incorporation of a strong woven nylon loop handle to grab just as the pack comes free - you use this to swivel it around to the front. When it is time to re-house it, there is a corresponding loop on the other side to tug it back into the special compartment. It's like pulling a goods wagon into a siding. The securing latch is magnetic so you can recover it all without looking at it.

Complex but simple. And if you have lots of gear to carry the bag at the front is an easy way of securing the lenses as you change them.

There is a zipped opening to the main compartment from the wearer's side - one of those South American you'll-only-get-my-sandwiches-over-my-dead-body security designs...but it is defeated by a simple zipped opening from the upper back. There is a dynamic there that puzzles me. At least there are ample other pockets and straps to hang things from - no-one should feel unencumbered.

As with all these adventure's designs, there is a waterproof rain cover you can deploy as it rains.

A well-made pack with a specific appeal.

Other makers have bags in Professional Pink but it is a different, older profession...

Shop online or see in-store at 230 Stirling St, Perth.

The Lazy Man's Guide To Bag Illustration - More Barber Shop

Small Messenger PAGEBOY

I called in to Camera Electronic on a day when I was taking public transport and could not spirit the latest Barber Shop bags off for studio illustration - so unfortunately you'll have to put up with in-shop snap shots.

You'll remember the leather version - well there are two smaller messenger bags called " Page Boys"...presumably based on the the hair style known as the Page Boy bob...they have much the same shape as the larger one but are in canvas with leather re-enforcement. To my mind better looking, but then looks are a matter of taste - in any case, as they are just a little smaller, they are a lighter weight as well.

Backpack MOP TOP

If you are going to go the full tourist/adventurer route but want to do it with elegance rather than looking like you are bound for a RM yomp, try the two back packs for size. Again with the canvas construction and leather reinforcement...and I noted that the shoulder straps seemed to have some sort of heavy felt padding on the body side.

The design of all their range seems to be based upon using natural materials and straightforward construction techniques - to a person who likes clean and simple design in the camera and lenses I use, this has a massive amount of appeal. Simple design, well made, is timeless, and these sort of products will never look like last year's craze - if you get one you can outlast your friends and relations' new shopping sprees.

Come in and try them, and they are also available on our on-line store.

ZKIN

ZKIN, apparently.

Indeed. What can one say...ZKIN.

These are a new range of bags for the slightly more stylish photographers available exclusively from our on-line shop. There are some colourful variants amongst them and some imaginative use of materials.

This latter characteristic includes using leather for the welt of a shoulder bag while filling the front and back panel with canvas - saves weight but puts the tough carrying material right where you need it.

There are soft backpacks and some that resemble semirigid Confederate knapsacks, both in size and colour. They all break the dull and boring barriers that we have set up around ourselves with some of the photo carrying cases.

Do go and view the ZKIN section of the on-line store and go further into the photos to see the carrying capacity of the range - there is something for every taste.

Out On The ( Bolton ) Street With Ona

The ONA company seems determined to rewrite a number of the designs for camera and equipment bags with a stylish pen - the Bolton Street back pack is one example.

The pack you see here is in tan waxed canvas though there are examples available in smoke grey or black. The basic design does not vary - side access for camera gear and internal space for a 13" laptop. The whole is sewn with fierce water shedding seams and flaps and a a padded and vented back piece.

As with other ONA products there is good quality leather used in areas prone to wear. Good quality strapping and padding material too - this is not a bag that will be wearing out in a year. It is designed to go into poor environments while keeping your camera gear safe.

Now you pay for it, of course, in weight and dollars, but the fact that it is such a customisable design means that even if you change your mind about major equipment and run off to another system, you can adapt the compartments to fit.

You also get some personal space as well as the DSLR room. Full range available at www.cameraelectronic.com.au

Good Vibrations From Lowepro

I love it! A chance to show off a toy car shot! Yay! Thanks, Lowepro.

Well you can also say thanks when you come in to buy a Lowepro bag - they are pushing out a promotion that has a Summer Vibes Pack for purchasers of selected Lowepro bags. The Vibes Pack contains.

A big 'ol fancy Lowepro drinks bottle.
A pair of Lowepro stereo headphones.
An inflatable Lowepro beach chair.
A cool Lowepro bottle opener

There's $ 135 of value in that pack for free. The bags that are listed as qualifying for the promotion - and it is until stocks of the Vibes packs run out - are these:

Lowepro Tahoe
Lowepro Slingshot Edge
Lowepro Photo Hatchback
Lowepro Flipside
LoweproPro Trekker
Lowepro Pro Runner
Lowepro Fastpack
Lowepro Photosport

If you want a bag for summer, why not get all the other good stuff as well while you can?