Someone has been thinking here.

If, like me, you are a wimp who feels sorry for himself when carrying weight is involved, give the ThinkTank Retrospective line of camera bags a thought.

Background:

I wanted to be able to carry a reasonably versatile Nikon D700 outfit with a minimum of pain. The idea is that the body with the 16-35mm zoom (no toy, when it comes to size) goes in with the lens pointed vertically downwards, ready to be removed and prepared for action without messing with caps and lens mounting. I looked at all the big name bags – marques like Lowepro and Domke – and found that there really was nothing that recognized that this is the way most itinerant photographers work. You know, those of us who walk or ride a bike with our gear about us.

Click the image for the ThinkTank site.

Then I chanced upon something designed with the modern DSLR user in mind, from a company named ThinkTank. It fulfilled several of my requirements. The camera and lens combination goes in as described, there is room for another four lenses without cramming, it looks nothing like a camera bag, and has a truly broad strap and shoulder pad to spread the load. I did not want closure zippers, and the Retrospective 10 uses a large Velcro flap, with the option of disabling the Velcro for a loose flap and zero noise. It’s at this point that you start to realize that the designers have done some serious thinking.

Attention to detail. Velcro disabling flaps and business card holder.

Unexpected benefits include a zippered, interior pocket which will accommodate an iPad and a rain cover which slips on from the front, wrapping around the base then in towards your body, so as not to interfere with the shoulder strap. There’s also a regular handle for carrying like a suitcase. The iPad will fit more easily in either outside pocket – the Velcroed one in front or the zippered one next to your body; it’s a tight fit in the internal one, but will fit and the zipper can be closed. So there are no fewer than three iPad pockets! There is a clear plastic Velcro pocket inside the front flap to hold a handful of business cards.

Border terrier for size. The thinner strap is a small carrying handle.

In use.

D700 with 16-35mm fitted, 85mm and 300mm below, hidden area under top of D700 for two more lenses. iPad at right in zippered pocket.The blue tape top left retains the compact weatherproof cover.The 16-35mm zoom on the D700 is resting on its mounted lens hood. There’s a small, leather, embossed maker’s label sewn to the outside fabric, but it’s on the body side and invisible in use. Phew!

There are small open flaps top and bottom and a Velcroed one at left on the front. There are no tripod straps, and I doubt the bag would accommodate a full size DSLR like a Nikon D3 or D4/EOS 1D/D700 or 5D with battery grip plus many lenses. There are two larger sizes, the 20 and 30, for those. Indeed, if your idea of a fun time is an 85mm f/1.4 rather than my modest f/1.8, or a 200mm f/2 in lieu of my f/4, or you like huge 70-200 f/2.8 primes or even longer ‘pro’ zooms, then you should look at the larger ThinkTank sizes. And give Charles Atlas my regards when you hump all this weight to the site.

Broad strap and pad spread the weight.

The manufacturer’s site states:

“Think Tank Photo was started in January 2005 by two designers, Doug Murdoch and Mike Sturm, and two photographers, Deanne Fitzmaurice and Kurt Rogers. Deanne Fitzmaurice won the prestigious Pulitzer Prize for photojournalism in 2005.”

It shows. And be sure to check out Deanne Fitzmaurice’s work in the link above.

In use:

The material and construction quality are excellent, and the bag works well in practice. I took it on a walk around San Francisco yesterday evening, and found that it worked best with the bag slung diagonally across my chest bandolier style, hanging at my left, with the D700 slung over the left shoulder, just above the bag. The Upstrap on the D700 is quite exceptionally resistant to slipping and, should it slip, the camera will land on top of the bag. In this way weight is distributed across both shoulders. Carrying a body/lens combination that heavy and bulky around your neck for any period of time not only invites ridicule, it will also drive up chiropractor bills. The shoulder pad slides on the strap which is much appreciated.

Here’s a couple of late evening snaps from that outing:

Yuerba Buena at night. D700, 16-35mm @ 24mm, ISO 1600.

Bagpiper, Pine Street at Sansome. D700, 85mm f/1.8D at f/1.8, ISO 1250.

My ‘standard’ lens is the 16-35 zoom, a range consonant with my brain’s sweet spot. When removed it’s simply dropped in the large, vacant central space and one of the other lenses is mounted on the body. I don’t bother with front lens caps, using only rear ones to protect the vulnerable aperture stop down lever. The side pockets could hold a small flashgun or a couple of granola bars, but are too slim for a bottle of water. That’s where a bike or your local pub comes in handy.

Conclusion:

The color and looks are very discreet, and the bag is recommended. It comes with a no-questions-asked lifetime warranty which was clearly not written by a schmuck. People who take responsibility for their products deserve to succeed.

Were I to return to my hiking days, I would use the Lowepro AW Trekker, which is a backpack design, with sternum strap and tripod holder. It will accommodate more gear than the ThinkTank but at a cost – gear takes far longer to deploy and you really must set the bag down on a flat surface to remove or replace components, otherwise expensive crashing sounds will ensue. It too, is a fine product, well made for long term use, and also comes with a weatherproof cover. It uses two long zippers for the top cover; these are hard to avoid in backpack designs.

The Lowepro AW Trekker.