TwistedThrottle
Senior Member
Needed to upgrade my travel companion, I've outgrown my previous camera pack(s). This is a link to the Post Your Latest Purchases showing the products I purchased.
The backpack is big but not by big backpack standards, just by camera pack standards. It's laid out very well and the materials and zips are all heavy duty and high quality. It has the main void accessible from the front, back and both sides as well as a laptop sleeve and a bunch of quick access zipper pouches. If the backpack is able to hold 3 "units", the medium camera cube is 2 units and the small camera cube is one unit so you can fit both inside at the same time if you like, or just one or the other and use the space leftover for other non camera stuff for "hybrid" mode. There is a large camera cube available that takes up all 3 units by itself if all you're looking for is just a big camera pack. There are also packing cubes for clothes that work off the same "unit" space-taker-upper, but they seem to be sold out everywhere right now.
In the medium camera cube, I can fit a Z6 with a Smallrig L bracket attached, 14-30, 24-200, 50 f1.8 & 105f2.8 as well as my round head speedlight and modifiers. There's still a bit of space for a rocket blower, chargers for camera and speedlight, spare batts/cards, a PD Slide strap, ballhead and Platypod. The small cube holds my D7500 with 18-35f1.8 attached as well as a 11-16f2.8 with a PD Slide strap and the 6 liter sling is big enough to hold a 70-300, 100mm prime and 50f1.8 af-s as well as the FTZ adapter and PD Slide strap. FWIW, the sigma 150-600 is exactly 1 unit and works exceptionally well in this backpack packed with either the medium or small camera cube.
We had a volleyball tournament this last weekend and I took the backpack with just the sling inside with all the other dad stuff I had to pack along. In the sling, I had the z6, 14-30&24-200, spare batts and the PD Slide strap with me and it worked out great! I had no need to carry the sling with me, I opted to carry just the lens I was using on the camera by the strap and left everything else inside the sling inside the pack. The backpack also has the ability to expand 10l by opening up the expansion zips, it ends up allowing a couple extra inches in front. I packed a blanket for us to sit on with no issues. There is a big water bottle holder on either side of the pack that will easily hold big Nalgene water bottles or a big tripod. There's also the ability to strap anything you cant fit inside the pack to the outside using their cleverly designed loops and included straps. The camera cubes both have these loops too which are great anchor points for the PD "earrings" so you can use the PD Slide strap on the cubes if you'd like. I like the fact the waist belt as well as the shoulder straps on the backpack can be fully tucked inside and out of the way if you'd like to use it as a suit case instead, further I like that this pack is the largest dimensions allowed as a carryon for flights.
We have a week and a half car trip vacation starting this weekend that'll give the setup its true test. I have no doubts the pack will shine, providing a much more functional and comfortable experience than I had with my previous carry options. As a side note, I was really considering ordering a PD Capture clip to maximize the functionality of the kit. However, it came down to the L bracket or the capture clip. The L bracket makes the Z so much more comfortable in my (golve size XL) hands. The capture clip can be attached to the bottom of the L bracket but at the expense of bulking it up even more. It might get added in the future, but I am really impressed with the smallrig L bracket for now. What I initially though may be overkill ended up being exactly what I needed/wanted from a backpack. Options.
The backpack is big but not by big backpack standards, just by camera pack standards. It's laid out very well and the materials and zips are all heavy duty and high quality. It has the main void accessible from the front, back and both sides as well as a laptop sleeve and a bunch of quick access zipper pouches. If the backpack is able to hold 3 "units", the medium camera cube is 2 units and the small camera cube is one unit so you can fit both inside at the same time if you like, or just one or the other and use the space leftover for other non camera stuff for "hybrid" mode. There is a large camera cube available that takes up all 3 units by itself if all you're looking for is just a big camera pack. There are also packing cubes for clothes that work off the same "unit" space-taker-upper, but they seem to be sold out everywhere right now.
In the medium camera cube, I can fit a Z6 with a Smallrig L bracket attached, 14-30, 24-200, 50 f1.8 & 105f2.8 as well as my round head speedlight and modifiers. There's still a bit of space for a rocket blower, chargers for camera and speedlight, spare batts/cards, a PD Slide strap, ballhead and Platypod. The small cube holds my D7500 with 18-35f1.8 attached as well as a 11-16f2.8 with a PD Slide strap and the 6 liter sling is big enough to hold a 70-300, 100mm prime and 50f1.8 af-s as well as the FTZ adapter and PD Slide strap. FWIW, the sigma 150-600 is exactly 1 unit and works exceptionally well in this backpack packed with either the medium or small camera cube.
We had a volleyball tournament this last weekend and I took the backpack with just the sling inside with all the other dad stuff I had to pack along. In the sling, I had the z6, 14-30&24-200, spare batts and the PD Slide strap with me and it worked out great! I had no need to carry the sling with me, I opted to carry just the lens I was using on the camera by the strap and left everything else inside the sling inside the pack. The backpack also has the ability to expand 10l by opening up the expansion zips, it ends up allowing a couple extra inches in front. I packed a blanket for us to sit on with no issues. There is a big water bottle holder on either side of the pack that will easily hold big Nalgene water bottles or a big tripod. There's also the ability to strap anything you cant fit inside the pack to the outside using their cleverly designed loops and included straps. The camera cubes both have these loops too which are great anchor points for the PD "earrings" so you can use the PD Slide strap on the cubes if you'd like. I like the fact the waist belt as well as the shoulder straps on the backpack can be fully tucked inside and out of the way if you'd like to use it as a suit case instead, further I like that this pack is the largest dimensions allowed as a carryon for flights.
We have a week and a half car trip vacation starting this weekend that'll give the setup its true test. I have no doubts the pack will shine, providing a much more functional and comfortable experience than I had with my previous carry options. As a side note, I was really considering ordering a PD Capture clip to maximize the functionality of the kit. However, it came down to the L bracket or the capture clip. The L bracket makes the Z so much more comfortable in my (golve size XL) hands. The capture clip can be attached to the bottom of the L bracket but at the expense of bulking it up even more. It might get added in the future, but I am really impressed with the smallrig L bracket for now. What I initially though may be overkill ended up being exactly what I needed/wanted from a backpack. Options.