When the Blackforest Bags K2 Leather Edition came in for review, the first thing I thought about is how much it looks like a man purse. I’ve reviewed tons of stylish camera bags before, but more than anything else that I’ve used, the Blackforest Bags K2 Leather Edition seems best meant to accompany your super high end camera. Yet the Blackforest Bags K2 Leather Edition isn’t available at a super high end price. This version is the all-leather option, but there are offerings with canvas if you please. It’s not going to hold a laptop or most computing devices, but it will be more than enough for most things you’ll need to have with you while out shooting.
- Comfortable because you’re not stuffing it with gear
- Long walks with it will start to wear on your sides.
- All leather
- Pretty much the ultimate man purse
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Comfortable providing that you didn’t stuff a ton of gear in there
- All leather
- Weather protection
Cons
- Pretty much the ultimate man purse
- Long walks with it will wear on your side, but that’s with all messenger style camera bags.
Gear Used
The Blackforest Bags K2 Leather Edition was stuffed with a Leica M4P, MiNT Instantkon RF70, Sony a7r III with lenses, film and more.
Blackforest Bags K2 Leather Edition Tech Specs
Specs taken from their website
- Full grain leather
- Premium cotton twill interlining
- YKK zips & premium fittings
- Outside specs – 10” L x 7” H x 4.5” D
- Inside specs – 9” L x 6” H x 4.0” D
- Weight – 1.0 kgs
Ergonomics
The Blackforest Bags K2 Leather Edition is a bag with full grain leather, premium chrome hardware, and a top handle that makes the entire thing resemble a high end lunch box. When slung around your shoulder, it will look like a genuine man bag; not that there is anything wrong with it, but perhaps the canvas versions may look better in person. The access is done via clips that you simply press down on.
The strap on the Blackforest Bags K2 Leather Edition has a little bit of padding, though not much. Understandably, it doesn’t need to be very padded due to the light weight. The back of the bag has a slit pocket for small things. Honestly, not for a whole lot.
Open the Blackforest Bags K2 Leather Edition up and you’ll see the violet red interior. It comes with two dividers and can be used to separate your gear accordingly. Then there is another pocket in the front for storing even more small things.
Build Quality
The Blackforest Bags K2 Leather Edition, despite its appearance, is a very well built camera bag. There is a ton of padding inside that is bound to make your camera gear feel super cozy, and there are pockets and dividers which are very much needed. You can stuff keys, Polaroids, eye drops, eye glasses and lots of other daily essentials in here. Plus the design lends itself to being weather sealed. I genuinely cannot complain about the build quality here.
Ease of Use
Using the Blackforest Bags K2 Leather Edition is a piece of cake. There is nothing remarkable or complicated about it except for its design. You can easily call it a lunch box, but to be honest there are tons of men here in NYC who wear smaller bags like this simply because they don’t need something super large. In fact, smaller messengers are typically the way to go. The all leather version of this bag though can be a tad too ostentatious, but I’ll leave that opinion to you.
Conclusions
The Blackforest Bags K2 Leather Edition is a nice bag. I say that will utter honesty and editorial credibility. But I’m not quite sure that it’s the bag for me. Maybe if the leather gets beaten in for a really long time then I’ll consider it. But for the most part, I’m much more of a canvas guy. For functionality, you really can’t complain about it. There’s a lot of room to stuff a ton of little things in there. The strap is nice. And overall, you’ll appreciate the construction of the interior’s cushion.
The Blackforest Bags K2 Leather Edition earns four out of five stars.
