A camera is an indispensable thing on trips for most travellers. It was always next to me. At first it was a simple but reliable East-German model, later it was a Japanese model, which stayed with me even in time of digitalization. I always had a dilemma where to put my camera for it to be safe and practical. At first it ended somewhere in the backpack and on my first longer trip it finally got more attention and a small camera bag. It soon became too small and was substituted by a bigger bag.
Less is more isn’t an option in camera equipment. I tried to take smaller trips with a smaller, compact camera that wasn’t hard to carry in my pocket. But I soon missed a bigger, more serious camera and next time I took a camera bag and my backpack. But this bag didn’t have room for a bigger lens and a tripod. This is why I started looking at camera backpacks. It was hard to decide between many models and price ranges. And at the end I chose a combination of a backpack that is light, easy to use and is useful as a normal backpack and the seperate part that is more protected is meant for the camera equipment. I didn’t go for the known manufacturers and I wasn’t convinced by the cheaper Chinese backpacks. I found a solid and innovative compromise by the European manufacturer of camera and film equipment
Genesis.
There’s enough room in a 30 litre backpack, which weighs only one kilogram for a DSLR camera, a middle sized lens, a flash, a tripod and you can still find room for something. There are enough pockets for small things (batteries, memory cards...) and there are also bands for attaching the tripod and other bigger camera equipment. It is useful that you can pull your camera out through side-opening while still wearing the backpack. The backpack isn’t too heavy and I can find room for every-day things like a snack, a bottle of water, an umbrella, mini package with first aid, glasses, suncream, swiss knife, a phone... In less inhabited areas I also have a whistle and a flashlight to save myself from unpredictable situations.
The backpack is small enough to carry it on the front where it’s a little safer. I also use it when I decide that the most of my camera equipment will stay at home or at my hotel room.
