Photobackpacker stuff

[Ed Richards]

Anyone using the Photobackpacker lens or camera cases? They look well built and are much cheaper than most of the competition.

[Eric Rose]

I use it and so does one of my buddies. Great stuff and well built. So cheap too.

[Phong]

I just happened to have received my order a few days ago for a 8x10 camera case and a couple of lens cases. The build is excellent. I intend to use these cases along with a lightweight backpack (Mountain Smith Ghost). I like it enough that I plan to buy another case for my 4x5 camera. I hope that Bruce will come out with some film holder cases.

[Bruce Pottorff]

I bought the 4x5 system and Kelty Redwing from Bruce and could not be happier. All these years I thought my F64 was as good as I was going to get, but the Kelty together with the camera case and lens cases puts it to shame, both in terms of organization and, especially, comfort and fit. Great service, great price...what's not to like?

[Colleen K]

I bought the Photobackpacker cases after seeing them at the View Camera Conference. I already had the Kelty backpack with the idea of using it for my 4x5 gear-I was still working on different options when I saw the Photobackpacker cases.
So far I really like it-it's much more comfortable that my old Tamrac backpack.
Colleen

[KenM]

I was one of the first ones to receive gear from photobackpacker - I beta-tested some of the original designs. I have mostly the smaller lens cases, with two double-decker cases for a long lens; I stack two lenses in the other case (with a seperator). I also have a backer board for the cases that Bruce made for me custom.

The stuff is great.

The price is very attractive as well.

[Scott Knowles]

I bought the 4x5 system and Kelty Redwing from Bruce and could not be happier. All these years I thought my F64 was as good as I was going to get, but the Kelty together with the camera case and lens cases puts it to shame, both in terms of organization and, especially, comfort and fit. Great service, great price...what's not to like?

Has Kelty improved their quality? I have a Kelty from the early 1990's and over the course of two hiking seasons popped the compression straps from the stiching. I like the pack, but bought a Sundog Art Wolfe photo backpack, and found it better, albeit a little heavier, nicknamed "The little refrigerator" by one Park Ranger a few years ago. I still have the Redwing but haven't fixed it yet, but may with the internal cases which come with the Sundog.

[Photobackpacker]

Thank you all for the kind words. Your word of mouth advertising has humbled me. Sales are excellent and growing. Something about a "better mousetrap"..........

Scott, Kelty suffered some quality issues when they first went "off-shore." They are currently sourcing product out of the Phillipines with a vendor who is producing excellent quality. The Kelty Redwing is an excellent choice for a "daytrip" bag and is nearly a standard amongst the top names in the LF photography. It is my pack of choice for routine field use. The weight distribution system and fit are a quantum leap over the "photo backpacks."

www.photobackpacker.com

[CXC]

Too small for my 8x10 Gowland monorail, unfortunately. I need 16"x17"x5" or so. Maybe I can squeeze it into a Redwing 3100 without the box..

[Kerry L. Thalmann]

Has Kelty improved their quality? I have a Kelty from the early 1990's and over the course of two hiking seasons popped the compression straps from the stiching. I like the pack, but bought a Sundog Art Wolfe photo backpack, and found it better, albeit a little heavier, nicknamed "The little refrigerator" by one Park Ranger a few years ago. I still have the Redwing but haven't fixed it yet, but may with the internal cases which come with the Sundog.

Scott,

I've had two Kelty Redwing packs I've used for carrying LF photo gear. The first was bought around 1989 or 1990 - hideous colors (silver, magenta and light blue) and lasted about 4 - 5 years before the undersized zippers blew out and it became useless. Because the design works so well for my needs, I bought a second one in the late 1990s. It's a much more subtle dark green color, has much heavier duty zippers, a better, more padded harness and overasll a step up in overall quality. I haven't used it as much as the previous one (as I also have a Tenba PBH-K that rides on a Kelty Super Tioga frame and is capable of easily handling much heavier loads), but it's showing no signs of any problems. I have carried it with both medium format (Bronica GS-1) and large format (Toho FC-45X) systems - at the same time. That was pushing the weight that can comfortably be carried with is pack (~40 lbs. of camera gear - man that medium format stuff is heavy) and left me with sore shoulders at the end of a long day on the trail. 25 - 30 lbs. is no problem. If I need to carry more than that. I use the monster Tenba with the Kelty frame.

I haven't used the current generation Redwing, but the construction looks to be very similar to my late 1990s model and much better than the original one I had back in the early 1990s. I'm not a pack expert, but the current Redwing seems to be of good quality and a great bargain at the less than $100 selling price. It certainly fits me better than any dedicated photo pack I've tried and that alone makes it a better pack for my needs.

Kerry

[Robert Skeoch]

I checked out the gear at APUG in Toronto. I thought it looked great.
-Rob Skeoch
bigcameraworkshops.com