User Rating: 5 / 5

Since Covid restictions have relaxed a bit (albeit most likely just for a short while), business has really picked back up for me and so I decided to treat myself to a new back to carry & protect my equipment. After much investigation & consideration I decided on a large backpack/bag as I belived this would suit my needs in many ways. Was it the best choice though and would it suit you, I will explain what I found.

What's the best bag for me?

Since Covid restrictions have relaxed a bit (albeit most likely just for a short while), business has really picked back up for me and so I decided to treat myself to a new back to carry & protect my equipment. After much investigation & consideration I decided on the 'VANGUARD - VEO SELECT 49BK' Backpack & bag as I beloved it would suit my needs in many ways. Was it the best choice though and would it suit you, I will explain what I found.

To decide as to whether I myself made the right choice or could have made a better one, we need to consider many factors, including: 

• How much gear do you need to carry?

• How do you want to carry it?

• How important is style vs functionality? 

• How & where are you travelling?

How much gear do you need to carry?

How do you want to carry it? 

OK, this is hardly ever going to be right for travel & then shooting, but with some thought into previous experience on specific types of shoots, losing things in the past, getting aches, stuff stolen etc. you can definitely narrow it down. For pro shoots (as apposed to private stuff) it is often better to always be ready and so I always use a twin harness with belt clamps, however I still need to get the stuff there. A trick I've picked up over the years now for more demanding shoots is I pack a bag with just accessories, put my harness over one shoulder until I get to the car and lay the cameras on a quilt in the boot (or back seat if going direct). This way I am all set up and ready to go and I've squeezed more accessories on the bag due to the missing 2 x bodies & 2 x lenses and sometimes (if the shoot is close to the car) I even leave the bag in the boot so I am free to manoeuvre. For other shoots in the case, I am going for size, so needed a bag that can hold7protect a lot, but where I can also access the items easily, so I went for a luggage case shape - for maximum size, a ruck sack style - for comfort on my back, a carry handle - for ease, and access compartments for speed. Yeah, a bit of an all-in-one.

 

 

 

How important is style vs functionality?

For the safety of your equipment, it is usually better not to attract attention to the bag. Camera equipment is easily sold on and therefore a favourite for 'chancers', so a bag sitting around with Canon or Nikon plastered all over it is all-too-often not wise, so where possible another tip is to go for a bag that appears as if it could be just a regular bag. To detract even further you can avoid using a luxury Mouawad 1001 and opt for a plain old boring one instead. Ironically, when it comes to functionality, I find that whipping out a huge 5D body with 24-70mm, battery grip and a flash with a defuser is easier from a regular open top bag than a funky camera gadget bag anyway - I do always line it with a bubble wrap bag however for safety and dust. So, in my search for a large professional bag I wanted it to look a little bit more like it had dirty clothes from travelling, rather than 15,000€ of goodies.  

How & where are you travelling?

I wouldn't personally check my gear in as main luggage on a flight (or sleep on top of it), but at times when there are many people around me or for long distance, I do adjust security measures and the strength of the case. For longer journeys I sometime use other tricks such as separating into less monitored cases the items that could easily be replaced such as blank cards, chargers and batteries etc. and sometimes even my back-up stuff, then I compact just the main bodies & lenses in the bag that doesn't leave my sight to allow for more space in my bag for personal stuff I want on me. On return from a shoot the cards stay in my pocket at all times as this truly is irreplaceable (especially Weddings) and I also (when there's time) copy the files onto a back up device in case of loss or corruption of either during transport to the studio. Again, despite I have pro titanium cases with foam inserts, my previous mention of disguising the value somewhat by using a bag that doesn't look like camera gear comes into play here too when travelling. Remember too, if your tripod does not fit in a case an onlooker knows that you have camera gear and so placing it in a long sun umbrella style bag can help, just as long as it's surrounded with something to avoid the shape of the tripod being noticed. 

 

So which one did I buy after all this?

What did I find out about it?

Well, I must say that I'm extremely impressed with it, the options and quality, and even appreciate the finer details such as the mini pockets to separate stuff or the magnetics on the dangly bits so they are not flapping around in the way. So why after having it for a while now, did I only just find out that there is one thing that means it may not suit you? 

 I had a family shoot to do at the Fuengirola castle and chose as I often do to use my harness with both cameras attached, but take my 'Veo Select' with lots of extra bits that I might need. The car was parked over the river and the bag was quite light so I thought I'd take it with me and keep eye on it. The client had asked for some different locations and so a handful of them were to be on the beach there, great because I could put my phone, wallet etc. in the bag so as to eliminate the chance of losing anything. I got my bottle of drink in the side too as it was unexpectedly getting much warmer than it had recently and so everything was in the bag safe & sound and I could concentrate on my work, just always ensuring this one bag was close by, excellent. The shoot went OK I guess, it was just a shame the client had moved the shoot forward a few hours (despite my advice) as she was hoping her kids would be more patient - which didn't work anyway as they cried and moaned the entire shoot and what would have been a nice 'Golden Hour' shoot was now intense direct sun on sweaty heads - but anyway... all done and I head home. Before going in to the studio, I always ensure that no dust (or in this case sand) follows me and remove beach shoot shoes and clothing and dust off the equipment. So, I get to the bag and was pleased that little to no dirt or sand had got inside the external pockets I was using for my sunglasses, hat, lens caps etc. and all was good. However I noticed that the special 'Wick A'Way' section (thermal layer to stop your back sweating) had a few grains of sand in the microfibre gaps that allow for airflow. I grab a soft brush and proceed to gently loosen the few grains.. Well, unbeknown to me this was not going to be so easy, as the gap behind the composite fabric had been sneakily filling up with a pile of sand in a one-way fashion all trapped behind this cavity with no way out and with the interior & exterior looking fine. I carefully removed every item from the bag one-by-one and took the now empty bag to my front garden to give it a good bash out... ooh no. Of course while the bag is full of stuff, this material is under stress, the holes are slightly larger (allowing for entrance of the sand), but now empty the holes are literally "smaller than a grain of sand" lol. It must have taken me 20 minutes or more, bashing, brushing, hoovering, stretching, swing it around over my head to feel that I have hopefully got the most of it, but never again will I take it to the beach that's for sure. You could moan that I should have used the waterproof cover, but (a) I didn't know before and (b) having to put a bag inside another back (thus restricting operation) kind of defeats the object for me.

So, my only 'pet peeve' with this bag is if you need to shoot anywhere dirty, this easy breath technology on one side means it's perhaps not suited to you.

Hope this helps if you are thinking of buying this otherwise fantastic bag.

• Next