I’ll preface this by saying I know there’s no such thing as the perfect camera bag, there will always be compromises of some sort, but it’s nice to dream….

Previous setup

My setup prior to the purchase of this latest bag was a secondhand Lowe Pro flip side 350 AW. That bag originally appealed for a bunch of reasons:

It wasn’t too massive - I didn’t want to feel like a carthorse when heading onto the moors or mountains
It had space for ‘camera stuff’ and way more ‘outdoor stuff’ space than my solely camera focused bag I had before
It had a rain cover (did I mention I live next-door to Dartmoor National Park?)

My previous bag - excuse the screen grab from a video, and the weird pose, I was enjoying some snow starting to fall in the Rocky Mountains.

Why change bags?

Over time it became clear that the second point above was still going to be an issue. The bag has a small top loading pocket for carrying non-camera gear, and then straps to attach things to the outside of the bag. In winter, however, this became a little limiting when I might need to carry a waterproof or a down jacket, lunch, things to brew a hot drink and my camera gear. I didn’t fancy having dry bags or a down jacket strapped outside of the bag and, sadly, the rain cover didn’t fit over the bag when any kit was attached to the exterior of the bag, let alone a tripod. This left things exposed to the elements, not ideal living where I live, so I had to find another solution for days of walking and photography.

What options did I consider?

So I started to look around at my options that still met my original requirements, whilst learning from the shortcomings of the Lowe Pro.

One set of bags jumped out at me, the Shimoda Designs Action X V2 range. I’d seen someone with one when in Canada last year and had chatted with him about it, it seemed to tick a lot of my boxes. It has expandable ‘gear’ storage space with a roll top pocket to keep gear stored in a logical way with a bit of room for more on bigger trips. The X40 looked a good size should I choose to go wild camping with some camera gear, whilst still not being ginormous.

I lingered over the ‘buy now’ button a few times, but there were a couple of niggles that prevented my clicking;

The shoulder straps are rather wide, which is all good, but it doesn’t seem to work ideally with the Peak Design Capture Clip that i’ve been using for a number of years now. It does work, but it doesn’t seem optimised, and I love the Capture Clip as it keeps a camera accessible for when the decisive moment for a shot creeps up on you.
But the main one was still the gear storage. For ‘normal’ walking backpacks I’ve had in the past i’ve really appreciated the use of stretchy exterior pockets on the front to stuff waterproofs etc into. Very few camera bags seemed to have this option, and I started to wonder if the rolltop portion would be flexible enough to cope with how I like to carry my gear.

I like to ponder any larger purchases, and at £340 I wasn’t prepared to just try the Shimoda to find out if I liked it later. So I sat on the idea over the summer to see whether I decided to just go for it.

A new contender?

Then… a contender that looked like it was designed with me in mind emerged. And it was the Peak Design Outdoor Backpack.

It's a decent volume for a backpack, at 45 litres (there is a 25L version as well), but despite this size its overall footprint isn’t huge. This is because some of those 45 litres come from multiple expandable external ‘stuff’ pockets and side pockets for jackets, tripods, bottles etc. It also has a voluminous rain cover to keep everything dry when a tripod is strapped on, and a means to attach even more kit via external webbing if needed.

This bag release seemed to tick the most of my boxes of any i’d seen. So when it was launched on Kickstarter at a reduced price I decided to take the plunge.

The bag has now arrived and I have to say i’m impressed so far. I need to take it for a proper expedition to put it through its paces, but initial impressions are that it’ll suit my needs very well.

Environmental credentials are an important criteria in purchases for me, Peak Design have used recycled and Bluesign approved materials in its construction, and avoided nasty chemical coatings for water repellency. The best thing is to avoid over-consumption, so that’s why I didn’t go for the Shimoda, thinking I may well end up frustrated by some of the features and ending up changing for yet another bag… hopefully the same doesn’t happen here, and first indications are that it won’t.

I’ve noticed a few people online complaining about the water bladder compatibility and the closure mechanism, but I prefer bottles to bladders, and the closure isn’t that difficult to use once you get the hang of it.

First impressions

I’ll update with another entry here when i’ve had it for a while, but here are the main points i’ve taken away from the PD Outdoor Backpack’s arrival:

The build quality is as expected from using Peak Design camera straps and the Capture Clip previously
The design seems relatively well thought out. There are only really two issues i’ve come across thus far…
- First is the roll top feature not having a strap to secure it, and relying on the front panel to hold it in situ when closed up. Does a Californian designer really understand the demands of British weather? Time will tell…
- Second is the sternum straps use the same hook and loop setup that the lashing points on the rest of the bag use. These are a bit fiddlier than the traditional clip that every other bag uses. It just takes a little longer. I guess the idea was interoperability of all the straps, but i’m never going to remove these, so having a clip like the waist belt would have been preferable in my opinion.
There’s oodles of room for my gear, both inside and in the stretchy pockets
I wish it had come with the option to select a smaller camera insert. I received a large, but that will take every single item of my Fuji kit (every single lens) and more. More than I need to be carrying on a walk. So i’ve got a medium one and will pass on the large to someone who wants it.
The rain cover is HUGE, it should easily cover the bag when a tripod etc are stashed in the side pockets. Its got a drawstring to tighten it onto the bag, and has drain holes to help it cope with the worst Dartmoor can throw at it.

Load carrying abilities

I’ve taken it out recently for a few photography trips. It’s been well loaded and its carried the weight well. It’s a very comfortable bag, perhaps the most comfortable i’ve owned. For context, when I say it was well loaded I was carrying:

Two mirrorless camera bodies - Fujifilm X-T3, and X100V
Every lens I own - I’d never do this normally, but I wanted to test its weight carrying properties. So this included: 8mm, 14mm, 23mm, 35mm, 18-55mm, 70-300mm
Two sets of Nisi filters - one M75 set and one for the X100V
DJI Osmo Action 3 action camera
Cleaning equipment - blower, microfibre cloth, sensor cleaner etc
Spare batteries
Stove, mug, gas bottle, tea
1 litre water bottle
A Moorswood Field Roll sit mat
Hat, gloves, scarf
Waterproof jacket
3 Collings Gem nature guides to help me ID species whilst i’m out
First aid kit
3 Legged Thing ‘Billy 2,0’ tripod

And it handled all that with aplomb. There is no way i’d have been able to fit all that into the old bag, and that’s without using all the interior space, 3 of the side pockets, the front expandable pocket and none of the external lashing points.

I wouldn’t say I had no idea it was on my back, but the weight was well distributed, comfortable to haul and shows that future setups with a combination of photography and wild camping gear should be easily achievable and comfortable.

Above are some phone shots (sorry about the quality) from a load on a typical day trip shot in the spring, so it has less kit than the list above, but it’ll give you an idea of the copious amounts of space in the side pockets and in the area above the camera insert.

I’ll report back after a while longer living with the bag to update my views.

In search of the perfect camera bag… Peak Design 45 litre Outdoor Backpack