The Quiet Picture

There’s one puzzle in my photography gear that I have never been able to solve, and that’s the bag. I used to have a Lowepro MiniTrekker which didn’t work for me at all, it was only good for storing the gear at home but carrying it around, no good. So I decided to take another route and bought a backpack which is made for hiking, I just added some foam padding inside to protect the gear and all was sweet for a while. But truthfully, as good as the bag feels on my back, it’s not entirely practical in the field so I’ve been looking for a new solution. I decided to go the photo backpack route again and found the Lowepro Flipside series. It’s a brand new design so I couldn’t find any user reviews, but the specs looked nice:

The Lowepro Flipside 300 Backpack (Arctic Blue/Black) is a tough, 600 denier water-resistant, polyester backpack that protects digital photo equipment against moisture and abrasion. The back compartment entry gives safe, easy access to camera gear, plus extra security. The outer storage pocket holds digital accessories and personal items, and the removable accessory pouch holds cables, chargers, manuals and other key accessories. It is carried by a backpack harness with a detachable waist belt. There is an adjustable sternum strap for comfort.

Size 25.8 x 17.4 x 44.5 cm (outer measurements) and capacity 1 pro DSLR with 300mm f2.8 lens mounted, 1-3 extra lenses or flash units, 1 tripod, pouch and pockets for accessories.

Now that I’ve tested the bag indoors, I can share my first observations.

Pros

- The bag stands upright on its own, even with the tripod mounted.
- Because the bag opens from the back, you can get at your gear without removing the tripod.
- The carry handle is nice.
- I didn’t put the bag under the shower, but assuming that it is water resistant as they say, then it’s nice to have such protection without using a separate rain guard.

Cons

- Lowepro seems to be awfully optimistic about the size. I started with a 300mm f4 mounted on my semi-pro camera and was able to squeeze in the 24-105mm f4 only after removing the glare guard and storing it separately. Luckily I will never go on a hike with three lenses so it will work, but how in the world they can put in a 300mm f2.8 and three other lenses plus accessories is beyond me! I was able to pack in the camera with the 300mm f4 mounted, 24-105mm zoom, glare guard, angle finder, two filters and remote control in the main compartment. And that’s it.
- The side pocket has a lot of small compartments inside it. The pocket folds out nicely so you can put in a lot of stuff, except that you can’t close the pocket afterwards. I thought it would be a good place for the remote control, but try as I might, I just couldn’t zip close the pocket so the remote ended up in the main compartment. Now the “roomy” side pocket holds a spare memory card, tissue paper, half eaten roll of Dextros and the small water level. All very flat.
- The sternum strap is positioned too low, and it’s especially uncomfortable for us women. Just to make sure that the strap is as unusable as possible, Lowepro has made it impossible to move it at all. I will not be using it.
- The waist belt is too flimsy. I tried to adjust the shoulder straps to move the bag up and down my back so I could make real use of the belt, but I just couldn’t find any position at all where I felt that the waist belt was carrying any weight.
- No matter where I positioned the pack, the lower edge always kept pressing my back. It felt uncomfortable the moment I put the pack on my back, and can’t imagine it would feel any better after a few km out in the field.
- The most comfortable I was able to set the bag was very low on my back so the painful lower edge was almost resting on my buttocks. With the tripod mounted, it means that the centre of gravity shifts low and far out from my back, which is just the opposite of the recommended way of carrying a backpack!

Conclusion

The idea of the bag is good, but it seems to me like no one ever actually tested it in practice. All the nifty details like accessory pocket, sternum strap and waist belt look good on paper but they just don’t work in real life. Of course, it’s one thing to try out a bag at home, and another to take it out in the field to use it. But all the cons I found in the bag at first try, I don’t think they will magically fix themselves after some use. I can hope that the side pocket stretches a little bit so it can actually hold some accessories, but the waist belt won’t suddenly start carrying any weight, or the sternum strap move upwards on its own.

It is very interesting that this series is still not showing up on Lowepro’s website. Maybe they are too embarrassed to show it. They sure should be.

To sum it up, if you’re considering of getting this bag - don’t! Unless of course you want to buy it second hand… from me…

I will be adding some comments after I’ve used the bag. Maybe it’s time for a mea culpa, but I doubt it!

Added 2007-12-22: I’ve now used the backpack for real. The edge that I felt sharply when I tested at home didn’t feel that bad when I was walking around, maybe my winter jacket helped a little bit as a padding. Although I still felt the edge on my spine, after a while it became a kind of a numbness instead throbbing pain. Not sure how it will feel on longer treks (this was only 3-4 km). But one thing that didn’t change at all is the waist belt. No matter how I adjust it and the shoulder straps, it carries almost no weight at all, meaning that my shoulders have to do all the work. And my shoulders sure don’t like it!