Papa's Got a Brand New Camera Bag: the Think Tank Speed Top 15 Review (ish)
Posted by Andrew Bailey in Gear on the Big Photo Hunt community board, .
I have the traditional love/hate/love-to-hate relationship with gear bags. And I’ve had them. A lot of them. Peak Design? Sure. 6L, great strap, looked sharp, stiff as a board, fell over a lot. (sigh) Wandrd? You bet. Okay. I looked great, not taking what I wanted with me, everywhere. It said 6L. It may have been drinking. And so on.
Backpacks? What, am I going on a camping trip? No, thanks. I shoot street, portrait, and vacation—which is really just street with colorful drinks and questionable focus, depending on the hour. I need something small enough not to irritate me and large enough to carry a reasonable kit and support. That’s all.
Is it too much to ask? Seemed so, until this year, hereafter named “The Year of the Dumpy Gray and Black Angel.” Or, if you prefer the succinct: the Think Tank Speed Top 15.
What’s so great about it? First off, it’s easy on my hip. A very comfortable, nearly 6L sling. It opens away (no more reaching over a lid or having to work twisting to the side to get at things I want handy), which I love, and has two fastenings for options: a magnet and a hook clasp. No zipper (don’t miss it), and the magnet is strong enough to pick the thing up by the small top strap without accidentally opening it and spilling crap everywhere, and still, there’s no struggle to open it with one hand. I don’t use the hook, but it’s nice to know it’s there if the magnet ever fails.
The sling strap is padded and comfortable enough, if not on par with Peak (few are, in that area), and adjusts easily. The bag has the traditional adjustable “stick them wherever” dividers (I use one) and a couple of Velcro-sealed compartments in the top for batteries, cards, and wipes. There’s a space for a small laptop in the interior, which I use to carry caps and my Paperwhite e-reader.
Space? It’s respectably deep and wide for a near 6L (I keep saying that—bear with me). I can carry my Peak strap in the bottom, my Zf resting on top and on its side, with any of my primes attached, and have the one compartment to its left filled with a second lens.
It also has two adjustable compartments on the exterior, to either side, for, say, a water bottle and/or even another lens. I recently decided to make a carry day as uncomfortable as I could and packed my squat, heavy Voigtländer 50mm in the extra interior carry, 35mm on the camera, my 50mm in one of the outside pouches and my 26mm in the other. Apart from the weight, it was fine, and I ended up putting the 26mm on top of the 50mm, inside its cloth bag, to add a water bottle to the mix.
What’s not to love? It isn’t waterproof, though it does come with a waterproof cover that will protect everything if you get caught in a shower, and it IS built using an abrasion-resistant Cordura fabric with a DWR (durable water repellent) coating to begin with. Not bad.
I know, you’re asking yourself, “What does he want—to swim with it?” And the answer is: yes, now that you pretend-mention it. I don’t know. Repellant makes me nervous. But then, I don’t carry my Voigtlander into rainstorms, so...meh.
What else don’t I like? I’m not a fan of Velcro, as it adds a little irritation when I need to get to a cloth, battery, or memory card, NOW, but that’s infrequent, and I can live with it. There’s a little padding between you and the bag, on the body side of things (which is nice), but not much protection for your gear otherwise. The soft material that works for comfort comes with that price. Have I had any issues on that front in my year with the bag? Well, no, but still. Okay.
Also, if you’re fashion forward, it’s not much to look at (see: my yearly title), which could be a theft bonus, I suppose. Call that a wash. If I want to be seen, I’ll paint a red dot on it. That should take care of itself. So, not perfect, but like a good partnership, it’s reliable, comfortable, and gives me what I need to do the things that make me happy.
Dimensions: Internal measurements are roughly 11.2” W x 7.9” H x 3.9” D. Not quite a full 6L, more like a 5 and a half L, but it outperforms full 6Ls I’ve had, and space has never been a problem for me. If you want to lug around a camera with a couple of lenses, I think it’s close enough to perfect.
The price? It’s a high-end bag, but not prohibitively expensive. I think you can get one for around $160, which isn’t cheap, but neither is the price of being irked by a bag you don’t like or can’t use without mumbling a lot. Like I think I said before, when I have mine on, I don’t think about it. That’s the highest praise I can give gear.
Oh, and I have not been paid for or given squat for my opinion. I have no connection to the company or bag in question, and there will be no links generating any profit for anyone named me. Because clarity on that point matters, I think.
Feel free to throw stuff and tell me why your bag is king. I’ll listen politely before giving you the old hoo-ha. Manners, you know.
Also, I might add a photo of my packed bag later, just for visual reference.