Thankfully I haven't purchased any bags that are totally redundant (they do the same thing with little difference beside style or color). Lately though I have really been thinking about a camera bag. I have gone in cycles over the last several years and many times have almost bought one. I really don't know exactly what I want. I know the many places that I could use each different type of bag.
Today I was looking at several different ones and had narrowed down what I thought I wanted or needed (that line seems to blur a lot). So I looked closer and decided pretty much which one I would get and then realized that it was actually a bit smaller than a bag I currently use. So I am back to the considering board.
Well I have been considering for a while and I believe that I have settled things out in my mind (I believe reasonably). I photograph in just a few generalized situations and they follow.
- General hiking with my family (this involves me carrying one or two children)
- Hiking, exploring a new place (city or nature), and whatever by myself
- Backpacking
- Shooting people in a studio or location setting
Overall I realized that I had all the bags that I really need, and they have been serving my photography needs nicely for quite a while. What I need to do is get away from the idea of what type of bags photographers have. For me it is the idea in my mind is photographers having a bag that has the cool foam dividers and the gear all organized beautifully. I will be honest. This is like gear pornography for me. Seeing all those pieces of gear in a bag is amazing because I am a gear junkie, but seeing it organized also leaves me drooling!
But while I was thinking about things, I realized my bags are serving me well, and that all I needed is a system of wraps to protect items individually so that I can load then wherever I need in whatever bag fits the occasion. So I actually don't own a photography company made photo bag and it actually serves me pretty well.
The reasons this system works better for me is simple and has evolved over time. It started with being disgusted that a photo pack designed to carry a large weight of gear was never paired with a decent harness system to do so. Argh. Added to that the fact that photo bags were far to heavy. This is one area that has been overcome by some pretty innovative designs. Mountaineering bags are often far lighter. Lastly there was the fact that most photo bags are obviously photo bags. Being obviously identified also leads to the obvious association that hey, "this bag probably has at least a few thousand dollars of gear in it". For me it would be more likely that the bag will regularly have 10,000 dollars of gear in it. They have steal me signs all over them.
So after all that I regularly use a lumbar pack that allows for very quick access and decent weather protection and overall organization, and a panel loading mountaineering/hiking bag. Both were vastly cheaper, and don't fall subject to all the above compalints.
What I am worried about is actually protecting the gear from damage that may occur in action or travel. So for these bags to remain ideal, I realized that I needed to get a system of lens cases/wraps going. This is actually going to increase protection and organization. Overall this is going to be a great system.
The biggest problem is that I will be going against what everyone expects a professional/cool photographer to look like. I won't have the readily identifyable look going. I really feel like this is better, but my gut instinct is still to try and be like everyone else. I think that with time I can over come that. That is actually what we all need to do. Overcome the desire to be like everyone else!
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