Ray Sachs
Legend
- Location
- Not too far from Philly
- Name
- you should be able to figure it out...
I'm a bag junkie. Women who buy lots of shoes and purses have nothing on me. I may be the Imelda Marcos of camera bags. I think I've tried nearly everything. I've had about 173.4 different Domke's at one time or another - there's something about their aesthetic I really like. I've had Tamrons and Lowes and Case Logics and other lower end bags I don't even remember. I've had higher end bags like Billingham and Ona - I even had a Watencraft for a while. I've had camera bags made by messenger bag makers like Chrome and Timbuk2. I've had Think Tanks too and specifically didn't like them very much. I've had Black Rapid Snap-R sling bags. I've had shoulder bags and slings and convertible backpacks and bags that could work as fanny packs.
I always found large bags too heavy to carry comfortably and too hard to get gear into and out of quickly. I always found small bags too small to carry what I sometimes want to take for a day of shooting. I could never quite find that happy balance.
Nothing really worked for me except for small bags carrying small loads, but how tough a challenge is that?
Until now.
Not long ago I saw a write up of the Think Tank TurnStyle bags and, being a bag junkie, I had to try one. They make three sizes, a really tiny one, a pretty big one, and a medium size. I tried the medium (TurnStyle 10). I loved it and it's the perfect size for a lot of days I'd go out shooting. Then I also tried one of the large ones (TurnStyle 20). And to my absolute shock, I can carry a larger load than I usually have any desire to take out for a day and I can carry it comfortably. All day. Over several miles of walking.
These bags are nothing special to look at. They're made of some sort of nondescript nylon. They're sling style bags that are shaped sort of like an asymmetrical bullet. But they have a particularly wide part of the strap that rides on the left shoulder. Once cinched up tight, it's a remarkably comfortable way to carry a pretty large load. And possibly the best part is how easy it is to slide the bag around to your front, get at the contents, use it as a platform to change lenses or batteries or something, close it back up, and slide it back around to the back. All sling/messenger type bags are supposed to do this, but I've never found one that worked nearly this well in practice, in the field. Or was nearly as comfortable to carry around all day.
The medium size will hold plenty for a typical day of shooting. I can easily get my RX1 and an m43 body with a few m43 lenses. And the Nikon A (which will fit in a pocket of pretty much any camera bag I've ever seen). Or it'll fit a full m43 kit with two bodies and a few lenses or one body and all of the lenses in the world. And the Nikon A. Or it'll fit the Nikon Df with a couple of lenses and one m43 body with one large lens or a couple of smaller lenses. And the Nikon A. Or it'll fit the Nikon Df with all of the small primes you could ever want to take on a shoot. And the Nikon A. The large one will hold everything I currently own if broken down for travel - an EM1, GX7, RX1, and Nikon A, and all of my m43 lenses. And could carry a large portion of that (possibly not quite all of the lenses) in the ready for a shoot.
Also the medium one will hold an iPad mini or other small tablet in a back pocket while the large one is said to be able to hold a full size iPad back there. I can vouch for the iPad mini in the medium, but don't have a full size tablet to check the larger one. And like most Think Tank gear, it has a rain cover tucked away in case you need it. These bags can theoretically also be configured to wear as a fanny pack. The large and medium would be pretty large for a fanny pack - I'm not tempted to try it, but the small one would probably work well that way. I haven't seen one of those but it sounds pretty small - probably enough to carry an m43 body and a couple of lenses.
Anyway, all of the usual disclaimers apply - no connection to Think Tank, etc. Jeez, I've been pretty harshly critical of other TT bags I've tried in the past, including the Retrospective 5 and 10 and an earlier iteration of a huge sling contraption. But for my purposes, they got these TurnStyle bags just exactly right. I don't know how durable they'll prove to be but just the very thought of having a bag long enough to see it die of old age is rather exciting. So maybe I'll actually find out how long these bags will last...
-Ray
I always found large bags too heavy to carry comfortably and too hard to get gear into and out of quickly. I always found small bags too small to carry what I sometimes want to take for a day of shooting. I could never quite find that happy balance.
Nothing really worked for me except for small bags carrying small loads, but how tough a challenge is that?
Until now.
Not long ago I saw a write up of the Think Tank TurnStyle bags and, being a bag junkie, I had to try one. They make three sizes, a really tiny one, a pretty big one, and a medium size. I tried the medium (TurnStyle 10). I loved it and it's the perfect size for a lot of days I'd go out shooting. Then I also tried one of the large ones (TurnStyle 20). And to my absolute shock, I can carry a larger load than I usually have any desire to take out for a day and I can carry it comfortably. All day. Over several miles of walking.
These bags are nothing special to look at. They're made of some sort of nondescript nylon. They're sling style bags that are shaped sort of like an asymmetrical bullet. But they have a particularly wide part of the strap that rides on the left shoulder. Once cinched up tight, it's a remarkably comfortable way to carry a pretty large load. And possibly the best part is how easy it is to slide the bag around to your front, get at the contents, use it as a platform to change lenses or batteries or something, close it back up, and slide it back around to the back. All sling/messenger type bags are supposed to do this, but I've never found one that worked nearly this well in practice, in the field. Or was nearly as comfortable to carry around all day.
The medium size will hold plenty for a typical day of shooting. I can easily get my RX1 and an m43 body with a few m43 lenses. And the Nikon A (which will fit in a pocket of pretty much any camera bag I've ever seen). Or it'll fit a full m43 kit with two bodies and a few lenses or one body and all of the lenses in the world. And the Nikon A. Or it'll fit the Nikon Df with a couple of lenses and one m43 body with one large lens or a couple of smaller lenses. And the Nikon A. Or it'll fit the Nikon Df with all of the small primes you could ever want to take on a shoot. And the Nikon A. The large one will hold everything I currently own if broken down for travel - an EM1, GX7, RX1, and Nikon A, and all of my m43 lenses. And could carry a large portion of that (possibly not quite all of the lenses) in the ready for a shoot.
Also the medium one will hold an iPad mini or other small tablet in a back pocket while the large one is said to be able to hold a full size iPad back there. I can vouch for the iPad mini in the medium, but don't have a full size tablet to check the larger one. And like most Think Tank gear, it has a rain cover tucked away in case you need it. These bags can theoretically also be configured to wear as a fanny pack. The large and medium would be pretty large for a fanny pack - I'm not tempted to try it, but the small one would probably work well that way. I haven't seen one of those but it sounds pretty small - probably enough to carry an m43 body and a couple of lenses.
Anyway, all of the usual disclaimers apply - no connection to Think Tank, etc. Jeez, I've been pretty harshly critical of other TT bags I've tried in the past, including the Retrospective 5 and 10 and an earlier iteration of a huge sling contraption. But for my purposes, they got these TurnStyle bags just exactly right. I don't know how durable they'll prove to be but just the very thought of having a bag long enough to see it die of old age is rather exciting. So maybe I'll actually find out how long these bags will last...
-Ray