Mindshift Backlight 36L Camera Backpack

Santa came a bit early for me and dropped off a Mindshift Backlight 36L camera backpack.  Actually, it wasn’t Santa, it was my good friends at OutdoorPhotoGear.com who delivered one to my door after I plunked down some hard earned cash for it.

I have been on a quest for the “perfect” pack for my camera gear and I’ve gone through many different packs in all shapes and sizes from most of the major players in the market.  I don’t want to say that I’m a member of the “bag of the month club”…I’m not that bad.  I just have been on this quest and I think I have found “a” perfect pack for me to fill a specific purpose.  See, I’ve got several different camera bags, for different systems and different purposes.  I’ve found that I have 3 distinct “needs”….1) A Lightweight pack that can fit one body and just a few lenses and accessories (my Fujifilm GFX50s medium format resides in this most of the time)  2) A Medium / All-Purpose that has one body and most of my Fujinon lenses, or in a pinch can fit two bodies and a couple of lenses and then finally 3) a Heavyweight / Long Distance pack that can house both of my camera systems, lenses for both and all of the accessories (including laptop/tablets) that I will need for a big trip.  Right now, here are the packs I’ve found to fit each of these three needs

Lightweight – Think Tank Glass Taxi with configurable dividers

Medium / All-Purpose – Gura Gear Kiboko 26L Backpack

Large – Mindshift Backlight 36L Camera Backpack

I have used and loved Gura Gear packs for many years.  The original pack was bombproof and was so well thought out, having two different “flaps” to access different sides of the pack.   I have gone through various iterations of Gura packs and they always have lots of configurability, storage for small items and always “fit” my needs.  I even bought a large Gura bag to be my “large” pack, but alas, it didn’t work out for one simple reason….no easy or good way to carry laptop/tablet and electronics.  There was no sleeve or extra space designed in to the pack to accommodate these items.  I tried and tried to work around this issue and come to love the pack, but I just couldn’t get past it.  So, I started the search to replace this bag with something that would fit all of my travel photography needs.

Enter the Mindshift Backlight 36L camera backpack!  I noticed this pack when it first came out and during workshops had checked out the first few that clients began bringing to assess how it might work for my needs.  As much as I wanted it, it took a couple of years for me to struggle through national and international photography trips with my existing packs, always a bit disgruntled with none of them being “just right”.  Well this year I finally had had enough and called up my friends at Outdoorphotogear.com to ship one out to me.

GFX and XT3 with lenses

This pack has enough storage AND configurability for any type of scenario that I can reasonably imagine.  The padded dividers are affixed with velcro and I can move them into different configurations as my camera systems change, or my needs change.  Camera bodies, lenses, filters and filter holders, microphones, memory cards, tele-extenders…it all fits!

To carry all this weight, it has a fantastic harness system.  Padded shoulder straps and waist belt.  Normally I don’t care too much about harness systems on camera packs because I’m not doing any long distance hiking.  However, when I am carrying both systems along with a variety of lenses, this pack will be heavy and I need a decent harness to distribute the weight for easier carrying.  AND, if you’ve ever had to slog through lots of airports on a long day of travel, having a bag that is comfortable and easy to carry is such a blessing.  My only minor niggle is that the waist belt is not removable.  I don’t often use the waist belts and do like to remove them in many cases.  On this pack though, you can’t without permanently removing it from the pack.  It does help manage the weight, its just that I don’t find much value in them for camera bags, unless I’m hiking.

And this bag has a TON of slots, pockets, and stash areas to fit all of the accessories for my camera, and business, while I travel.  Room for my 15″ MacBook Pro, plus my iPad, all the cables, filters, batteries, etc.  This is why I really LOVE this bag, to take care of all of the small stuff that I need when traveling and photographing.

There are lots of external points for attaching your tripod and/or accessory straps and it comes with a rain cover as well.

I gotta say, I think I have found my perfect long haul bag in the Mindshift Backlight 36L Camera Backpack.  It fits all of my cameras and lenses, AND, all of the accessories and detritus that I bring along.  I do try and stay out of the “recommending gear” game, but in this case I am so pleased with this pack and I wanted to share what I think works for me.  It may or may not work for you.  If this bag is too big, you can check out some of their smaller sizes.  I won’t say I’m in the “Bag of the Month” club, but just maybe the “Bag of the Year” club instead.  Gotta love a good pack that makes it easy for me to do my job out in the field.