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Features

Camera Bag Makers: Tripods Do Not Belong on the Side of Our Camera Bags

Chris Gampat
No Comments
01/28/2019
2 Mins read
Chris Gampat The Phoblographer Tenba DNA Backpack review product images 1

Last Updated on 01/30/2019 by Mark Beckenbach

Please stop treating tripods like a piece of gear that isn’t necessary, camera bag makers.

What’s the point of a backpack as a camera bag? I want to hone in on this before I defend my idea as a photographer who tests arguably the most camera bags on the web. The purpose of a backpack as a camera bag is the same as the one you choose for everyday life: your back. Messenger bags and slings tend to throw off your back if they’re too heavy. As a professional photographer, you’re going to be carrying these with you everywhere. The smaller ones are fine, but if you need to carry a lot of gear then you’re most likely sporting a backpack.

Again, it’s because you want it to be better for your back when you want/need to carry a lot of gear.

A backpack provides a lot of comfort and balance that slings and messenger bags don’t. Essentially, it’s about balance. Wear a messenger bag for too long and it will start to shift your shoulders. That’s the case with me and a number of other photographers at least. Consider what happens when the weight of a tripod is added to one side of the camera bag. As a photographer who travels a lot, walks for endless miles through airports, and typically has a tripod on his bag I can tell you from experience that it’s very nonsensical.

If the point of a camera bag is to hold a fair amount of gear and also be able to accommodate to a tripod, why the heck would you throw off the alignment of your back by putting the tripod on the side?

Thus far I’ve only shown bags from Tenba and Shimoda, but if you look at the abysmal way that Vinta does it, you can see it’s more or less something that is industry wide. With the Peak Design messenger bag, you’re supposed to put it through the top flap and therefore risk the weather resistance built into the bag. It’s the same with their backpacks.

I have seen this implemented well with very few camera bags. With the WANDRD PRVKE packs you can store your tripod on the bottom of the bag. With Manfrotto’s Manhattan bag, you can also put it on the bottom. Another option for camera bag makers could be to put it on the top, and yes, there are those amongst you who indeed put it on top or on the bottom, but it should be an industry standard.

I can guarantee you that any photographer who choose a backpack doesn’t sit there and say, “I’m going to use a backpack because I want to throw my back out of alignment!” Instead, if they need to work with a tripod, and in order to keep balance, they’re forced to hold their tripods instead.

Please folks, fix this.

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Chris Gampat

Chris Gampat is the Editor in Chief, Founder, and Publisher of the Phoblographer. He provides oversight to all of the daily tasks, including editorial, administrative, and advertising work. Chris's editorial work includes not only editing and scheduling articles but also writing them himself. He's the author of various product guides, educational pieces, product reviews, and interviews with photographers. He's fascinated by how photographers create, considering the fact that he's legally blind./ HIGHLIGHTS: Chris used to work in Men's lifestyle and tech. He's a veteran technology writer, editor, and reviewer with more than 15 years experience. He's also a Photographer that has had his share of bylines and viral projects like "Secret Order of the Slice." PAST BYLINES: Gear Patrol, PC Mag, Geek.com, Digital Photo Pro, Resource Magazine, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Finance, IGN, PDN, and others. EXPERIENCE: Chris Gampat began working in tech and art journalism both in 2008. He started at PCMag, Magnum Photos, and Geek.com. He founded the Phoblographer in 2009 after working at places like PDN and Photography Bay. He left his day job as the Social Media Content Developer at B&H Photo in the early 2010s. Since then, he's evolved as a publisher using AI ethically, coming up with ethical ways to bring in affiliate income, and preaching the word of diversity in the photo industry. His background and work has spread to non-profits like American Photographic Arts where he's done work to get photographers various benefits. His skills are in SEO, app development, content planning, ethics management, photography, Wordpress, and other things. EDUCATION: Chris graduated Magna Cum Laude from Adelphi University with a degree in Communications in Journalism in 2009. Since then, he's learned and adapted to various things in the fields of social media, SEO, app development, e-commerce development, HTML, etc. FAVORITE SUBJECT TO PHOTOGRAPH: Chris enjoys creating conceptual work that makes people stare at his photos. But he doesn't get to do much of this because of the high demand of photography content. / BEST PHOTOGRAPHY TIP: Don't do it in post-production when you can do it in-camera.
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