Last Updated on 02/09/2022 by Chris Gampat
Every now and again, we make mistakes. And with some of the reviews we’ve done on Billingham camera bags, we got the materials wrong. The Phoblographer, for 12 years, has really done the most extensive review coverage of the camera bag world. Indeed, lots of folks tell us we honestly have the best. So, we take these very seriously. We invite you to take a look below and see what updates we’ve made.
Some photographers, quite transparently, wouldn’t bat an eye at this update, but we take this seriously. And I’m penning a specific news post on it because it happened across a category of camera bags. This all started when we published our Billingham Hadley Large Pro review. We mistakenly said that the materials were canvas. Reviewer Brittany Smith and I both agreed that it was made from similar materials as the Hadley Pro 2020. To that end, we concluded that it was canvas as we have reviewed a lot of camera bags. Indeed, if you didn’t know any better, it’s likely you would also say they’re made from canvas and leather. But, we were wrong about this and a few other products.
Our Billingham rep got in touch with us to offer a correction. Truth be told, even they admitted it’s confusing. To the touch, Billingham bags feel like canvas and leather. They even look like it. But not all of them are canvas. It reminds me almost of what Canon did years ago with the Canon AE-1. Lots of folks think that camera is made of metal, but it’s actually plastic that’s designed to look and feel like metal.
Here’s what our rep said:
Our Sage is always FibreNyte. Navy, Grey and Burgundy is always Canvas. Black and Khaki can either be Canvas or FibreNyte. Sorry I know it’s confusing!
Looking at the bags that you have reviewed for us:
Mini Eventer – Black FibreNyte
Hadley One – Navy Canvas
Hadley Small Pro – Grey Canvas
Hadley Pro 2020 – Sage FibreNyte
AVEA End Pockets – Khaki Canvas
35 Rucksack – Black Canvas
F1.4 – Black FibreNyte
And there you have it! You’re probably wondering why we didn’t just check the materials to begin with when doing our reviews? Well, it’s because, for years, we were just that sure of it. Others might’ve checked because they’re so new and don’t have the vast database of camera bag reviews we have. Literally, we have over 172 camera bag reviews. To put this into more perspective, I’d like you to think about the differences and similarities in the following situations;
- Beef vs buffalo vs yak meat: If you didn’t know any better, you could easily say Buffalo is probably grass fed beef. To that end, you could say Yak is a buttery form of beef. But if you weren’t told the difference, you’d probably blame it all on the seasonings and way it was cooked. Meanwhile, the stark difference between beef and lamb shoulder is synonamous with canvas and nylon.
- Single Malt Whiskey vs Indian Dessert Whiskey vs Bourbon: Some single malt whiskeys taste like a bourbon. Some Indian whiskies taste like a bourbon as well. And if you had to do a blind taste test, you probably wouldn’t be able to tell the difference. Let’s not even get into wine. I’m not sure how many people would be able to tell the difference between a Cabernet and a Malbec just by taste.
- Kitten fur vs rabbit fur: In most blind situations, I doubt most folks would be able to tell the difference between well groomed kitten fur vs rabbit fur. It isn’t as stark a difference as say cashmere vs wool.
For the record as well, this really only applies to three reviews we’ve done. Billingham has some canvas bags for sure. But the two are incredibly difficult to tell apart.