Nude Photo Pro

Kata R-103 shown with camera equipment

Put together a group of professional photographers and assuming they don’t all work exclusively in the studio, I can pretty much guarantee they will all have an interest and fairly strong opinions about their choice of camera bags.

Every photographer looks for something different in a camera bag, depending on their individual requirements, so perhaps that’s why most can only agree that there is no perfect bag. Different jobs require differing amounts of equipment, so from that perspective, the easiest time of my life was during my last couple of years in Milan, when I worked almost exclusively with my Hasselblad kit.

At the time I always rented studios that had lighting in place, so I was able to fit all of my equipment in a sturdy Tenba shoulder bag and weave my way through the busy traffic on a motorcycle.

I tended to take the same basic kit on location shoots as well, so that one bag was all I needed most of the time and I was able to work quite happily, whether on a beach in South Africa shooting nudes or at a studio in Milan doing a beauty editorial. I still have that Tenba today with no signs of any wear and tear at all. The Tenba bags are really well made and worth checking out.

My first proper bag was an oversized Tamrac. At the time there wasn’t as much choice available like there is today and that particular Tamrac was considered to be just about the best available option on the market. On the first few jobs it seemed to hold up really well and endured some rough treatment, but after a couple of years it started falling apart quite dramatically. It lost its rigidity and no longer seemed to fully protect the equipment when it rained, so I have never bought another Tamrac since. A few years ago I took a look at a rucksack design by Tamrac but the build quality just didn’t seem right. It felt like they were targeting the cheaper end of the market and amateurs who may not understand the difference.

My current choice of bag for most purposes is a Kata R-103, which is very well made just like the Tenba, but I prefer some of the features, such as the bright yellow interior that makes it so much easier to view black equipment in dark conditions compared to other makers who choose to make their interiors dark grey or black. As you can see from the image above, this rucksack design has space for several lenses and a couple of camera bodies, but it will also take a laptop and it’s far more comfortable to carry than a traditional shoulder bag.

Black interiors in camera bags are not helpful in poor light

For me it’s very important that the bag falls within the right measurements to be allowed as carry on luggage when travelling and that is no problem with this Kata, whereas I always had to plead with the Tenba, which is technically too big and should be stored in the main baggage area. Believe me, you really don’t want to risk that…

The only negative I find with rucksack designs is that they are not quite so easy to work from when on location because you have to put them down on the ground and open them fully to access any equipment. This can not only slow you down and obviously it’s more likely to become dirty.

Regardless of which bag you choose, there are a few key points that you need to consider:

1) Any bag should be waterproof enough to withstand a heavy downpour for several hours and still keep the equipment perfectly dry. The weak point in most bags will be along the edges where you have stitching or zips and since most cameras don’t appreciate being left wet for a couple of hours, this is a primary consideration for me.

2) While it’s good to have a bag that is light, ultimately it’s main requirement is to protect your equipment, so I always look for something with serious padding and tough, resistant materials that will really protect my gear properly. The vibrations caused while travelling over rough ground in a 4×4 or worse still seeing a bag slip off a rock can easily damage equipment unless you have some strong protective padding and I don’t see the sense in spending thousands on equipment, but relying on a thinly protected bag. That is why I have personally never liked Lowepro. I hear Domke are also very lightly padded.

3) Personally I prefer it if a bag doesn’t immediately look like a camera bag, so you can walk through busy areas without attracting so much attention. Those bags from Billingham with the brass and leather just seem to scream “steal me!”. Crumpler are very good in this respect because they make bags that look much more generic and that is a real advantage. My Kata can easily pass for a normal rucksack as well.

4) It should go without saying, but any camera bag should be comfortable to carry. When you are choosing a bag, it’s a good idea to take your equipment and see how it feels with the full weight and then think very carefully how that would feel if you were carrying it for a few miles. That is why I now tend to favour rucksack designs most of the time.

5) Think carefully about the size and exactly what you need the bag for. Also consider whether you are likely to buy other equipment at some point in the future and whether that bag will still be big enough. On the flip side though, having a bag that is huge but unwieldy is a pain in the neck as I have found with a CCS bag I have that sits nicely round my side, but becomes very wide when packed with equipment, making movement through crowds particularly uncomfortable.

6) These days with digital cameras, we tend to have lots of accessories, such as flash cards, readers, chargers and batteries, so look for a bag that has appropriate areas for these items if possible. It’s easy to spot older bags that were conceived before digital became standard because they generally lack these kinds of spaces.

Ultimately no bag is perfect for every situation and that is why most professional photographers own at least a few, but bear these key points in mind when choosing one and you should make a good choice. Finally make a point of always packing your equipment carefully and never race away from a location without fully checking that you have everything in place. For this reason I like to store equipment in the same spaces and find it quicker that way to count everything in at the end of the shoot. Camera insurance is not a bad idea either!

Kata R-103