There isn’t any such factor as the right digital camera bag. That’s as a result of each photographer’s wants are completely different, and there’ll at all times be one thing that doesn’t completely fit your workflow.
I’ve examined dozens upon dozens of backpacks and digital camera luggage, and whereas I’ve my favorites, not a single one checks each single field. That holds true for the Peter McKinnon Camera Bag from NOMATIC, too. It’s an extremely well-designed and versatile bag, however it nonetheless has its points.
In this evaluation, I’ll run you thru the total gamut of options, in addition to my one main gripe about this bag. I actually love this bag, however there’s one specific concern that makes it a troublesome name for me.
What to Know About the Peter McKinnon Camera Bag
Designed in collaboration with journey gear firm NOMATIC and YouTuber Peter McKinnon, it is a nice pack for photographers trying to get a excessive degree of performance and cupboard space out of their digital camera bag.
Peter McKinnon is an internationally acclaimed photographer, filmmaker, and YouTuber who has traveled the world, digital camera in tow. He introduced his expertise to the NOMATIC crew and helped design a sensible, spacious pack for fellow journey photographers.
McKinnon noticed a spot out there when it got here to digital camera backpacks that additionally supplied sufficient area for one to 3 days of clothes and toiletries. He typically discovered himself bringing a number of luggage on his journeys as a result of he couldn’t discover a digital camera bag that did all of it.
That’s why he designed the McKinnon Camera Pack 35L. After many months and several other rounds of design and evaluation, he lastly perfected the ultimate model. And nothing beats a digital camera bag for adventurers like one created by a long-time journey adventurer himself.
- The Peter McKinnon Backpack holds 35L at base, and is expandable to a spacious 42L.
- The inside dimensions of the principle compartment are 21″ x 12.5″ x 5.25.″ Externally, it’s 22″ x 13.5″ x 9.″
- It suits within the overhead compartment of most airplanes. Some price range airways have a smaller dimension restrict, so be sure you double-check dimensions and weight on your airline earlier than you get to the airport.
- The McKinnon Camera Pack 35L weighs 5.75 lbs when empty.
- It’s constituted of a water resistant tramline materials and the zippers are strengthened to maintain the weather out and your digital camera secure. There can also be a NOMATIC Rain Fly you should purchase individually for extra peace of thoughts on these further wet days.
A Photographer’s Honest Review of the Peter McKinnon Camera Backpack
The Peter McKinnon digital camera backpack is the final word digital camera bag. This spacious and sturdy pack can carry a number of our bodies and lenses, an adjunct case, battery packs, and a water bottle with room left to spare for different important gear, clothes, and extra. It additionally options a big laptop computer sleeve to retailer all of your modifying tools.
For touring skilled photographers who must convey loads of digital camera tools on the highway, it truly is the right digital camera bag.
The Peter McKinnon digital camera backpack isn’t actually constructed for interest photographers. The dimension and customizability of this bag are designed to go well with the wants of journey photographers with a number of lenses, our bodies, and devices.
This digital camera bag provides the area and suppleness to stash a number of digital camera our bodies, a choice of lenses, loads of different equipment, and a laptop computer alongside your clothes and toiletries. For professional photographers, the NOMATIC Camera Pack is a severe game-changer.
Its padded shoulder straps and removable hip belt make the Peter McKinnon Camera Pack extra comfy than many different fundamental digital camera luggage, and its pockets and compartments have been thoughtfully designed to permit for straightforward entry all through.
Like all NOMATIC luggage, it’s constructed to final, and I’ve been actually impressed with how properly it holds as much as my typically tough dealing with—although I’ll word the black exterior will present marks and scuffs over time.
If you’re liable to indecision when it comes time to pack your our bodies and lenses for a shoot or journey and need to convey a number of alongside, the McKinnon digital camera backpack is ideal for you. This digital camera bag has the carrying capability and modular storage system constructed to suit all of your gear.
Pros
- The inner group has been designed with photographers in thoughts, and it makes it simple to seize what you want rapidly
- It’s extraordinarily spacious, so you’ll be able to carry all the pieces you want for a shoot or multi-day journey
- The sternum strap and hip belt are comfy, even when the bag is totally loaded
- A bigger laptop computer compartment means you’ll be able to convey your correct modifying tools out and about with you
- It’ll maintain all of the digital camera gear you could possibly presumably want, and it does so in an environment friendly and secure method with a padded dice system
Cons
- At 5.75 lbs, it is extraordinarily heavy for a backpack
- The tarp materials of the bag does scuff simply
- Zippers may be stiff initially and want time to break-in
- It’s not low-cost—at just below $400, with none equipment, the Peter McKinnon digital camera backpack is an funding; nevertheless, you’ll positively get your {dollars} price!
Who is the Peter McKinnon Camera Backpack for?
If you’ve ever needed to cope with lugging a number of luggage to a shoot, you recognize what a problem it may be.
The Peter McKinnon digital camera bag is designed to carry all of the digital camera gear you could possibly presumably want, with further area on your laptop computer, further equipment, and vital objects like a change of garments, shoot snacks, water bottle, and extra.
Essentially, it’s a must have for skilled photographers who have a tendency to hold loads of gear, or want area for further objects. It can also be nice for these on the lookout for a multi-day pack for his or her journeys, since it could simply suit your gear, clothes, and equipment.
It additionally suits within the overhead bin on most planes for these of us who fly ceaselessly!
Size & General Practicality
The Peter McKinnon digital camera bag has a ton of area inside—and whereas that’s a large perk, it additionally means it’s in all probability a bit an excessive amount of package for the common hobbyist, who’ll in all probability be higher suited shopping for a digital camera dice to go of their traditional in a single day bag.
If you’ve acquired a laundry record of digital camera gear to take in your shoots or journeys, and it’s worthwhile to be sure you’ve acquired all the advantages of an in a single day bag too, that is the right digital camera bag for you. It is far more sensible than attempting to hold two or extra luggage when touring!
There is severely nothing worse than exhibiting as much as a shoot with two digital camera luggage and having to lug each round, or worse, go away considered one of them laying round and risking it getting misplaced or stolen.
My major concern with this bag, nevertheless, is the burden. It is just method too heavy to make use of as an on a regular basis digital camera bag. Sure, it carries so much and is full of options, however this may be the heaviest pack I’ve ever encountered.
Is this going to be your informal on a regular basis sort of backpack? Probably not. But for those who’re, say, heading to Coachella to {photograph} bands for an extended weekend, or packing as much as go do a couple of days of vacation spot engagement shoots, you’ll discover the Peter McKinnon digital camera bag will make your life a lot simpler.
The Peter McKinnon digital camera backpack can also be supplied in a 25L dimension. It has lots of the identical options because the 35L bag, however with a smaller packing capability.
The 25L bag includes a clamshell opening and really has an adjunct choice that the 35L doesn’t have—a ladder system. The included adjustable ladder system permits you to broaden the highest space of the bag and separate gear intuitively.
There are a number of package choices for the 25L Peter McKinnon digital camera backpack, customizable with a ladder system, divider package, and cubes.
Does the McKinnon Backpack Fit Under an Airplane Seat?
At 35L, you’re not going to suit the McKinnon digital camera bag below an airplane seat, which is an area reserved for small purses or laptop computer instances.
This bag suits in most overhead compartments, however you have to to double-check along with your airline earlier than you attempt to convey it on board, as some price range airways have smaller compartment dimensions.
Is the Bag Waterproof?
It’s actually vital that any bag holding your treasured (and costly) digital camera gear provides safety from the weather. Fortunately, the coated tarp exterior and strong zippers do supply a fairly important quantity of water resistance for each sq. inch of the pack.
But a water resistant exterior isn’t at all times sufficient. If you’re involved about extra excessive moisture ranges, it’s properly price including on a rain fly, which you should purchase by NOMATIC and its stockists to make sure it suits your Peter McKinnon digital camera backpack completely.
What Camera Does Peter McKinnon Use and Carry In His NOMATIC Pack?
Toronto-based photographer and YouTuber Peter McKinnon lives the sort of life most of us dream of.
It’s no shock that he’s collaborating with NOMATIC on the McKinnon digital camera bag—in spite of everything, he is aware of precisely what a professional on the highway wants to have the ability to match of their pack.
He travels world wide taking eye-catching images of landscapes, cities, folks, and merchandise, and he’s at all times eager to share what he’s discovered together with his tens of millions of followers, too.
And as for his digital camera of selection? He’s made the change to mirrorless and shoots with a Canon EOS R5 as his main physique. You’ll additionally discover a severe choice of lenses in his bag: a 15-35mm f2.8, which is a superb low-light performer and permits for some severely good wide-angle photographs (and really makes an honest vlogging lens, too!); a nifty fifty at f1.8, which he makes use of for portraiture; each photographer’s favourite workhorse, the 70-200 f2.8; and a DJI Mini 2 drone and GoPro Hero, too.
Alongside all of these? Plenty of filters, plenty of equipment, and gimbals and tripods to assist him guarantee he at all times will get the shot.
Inside the Peter McKinnon Camera Backpack
This 35L backpack expands to 42L if you unzip a particular zipper across the entrance compartment. You can make the most of these completely different crying capacities relying in your particular shoot or journey, which is good for many who don’t at all times need the majority of a 42L bag, however typically want the additional area.
The backpack has a traditional clamshell opening that permits you to totally open it up for straightforward packing and entry.
The NOMATIC McKinnon provides far more area than lots of the different digital camera backpacks available on the market, however what does that quantity of inner area really get you? Let’s take a more in-depth take a look at the inner compartments of the NOMATIC Camera Pack.
Laptop Compartment
The pack has a laptop computer compartment for gadgets as much as 16″—rather more beneficiant than the usual 14″ sleeve accessible in most digital camera backpacks. This is de facto helpful for a big portion {of professional} photographers who’ve a severe modifying machine to hold with them.
There’s a padded buffer across the laptop computer compartment, which is accessed on the right-hand facet of the bag. I journey with each my 16” MacBook Pro and iPad Pro as a result of it offers me extra choices in relation to modifying, submitting, and posting my photographs. I’m able to match each of those gadgets into the laptop computer sleeve, making it tremendous handy for me to maintain them each in a single safe place.
I really like that the laptop computer compartment is closest to my physique and accessible through a facet zip, as a result of I’m not pressured about somebody quietly unzipping a entrance pocket and making off with my gadgets on a crowded avenue, airport, or prepare station.
The Front Pocket
Another nice theft-deterrent is the key magnetic RFID secure pocket that’s designed to carry your passport, money, and some other necessities within the entrance pocket. Simply seize your paperwork and watch the bag rapidly snap shut by itself!
There’s additionally loads of area for smaller objects you could must seize simply whilst you’re on the go. The Peter McKinnon digital camera backpack additionally includes a key clip to maintain your own home keys safe, area for a pockets, some sunblock, a e book, and no matter else it’s worthwhile to simply entry.
The Front Compartment
With the principle compartment of the Peter McKinnon digital camera backpack devoted to digital camera gear, the entrance compartment is designed to accommodate your clothes. It was cleverly and deliberately designed to make sure you can match as a lot as potential and keep organized, too.
The entrance compartment has a clamshell opening that provides you full entry to the packing compartments and completely different areas of the backpack.
You’ll discover two zippered mesh pockets excellent for holding underwear and socks, and a helpful clothes compartment with more room to suit some rolled-up shirts, a pair of trousers, or perhaps a raincoat.
You’ll additionally have the ability to match loads of garments below the harness straps, which cowl 4 mesh pockets. These are designed for toiletries, however they’re not sealable pockets, so watch out to not put something in them that might leak! You don’t need your garments, or worse, your digital camera gear, getting moist. Pro tip: I at all times advocate backing liquids in dry luggage when packing them close to my expertise!
The entrance compartment of the NOMATIC bag is surprisingly roomy, and for those who desire to maintain your clothes organized in packing cubes, there’s greater than sufficient room for a pair to take action. I’ve discovered packing cubes to be an enormous assistance on longer journeys if you’d like to remain organized and likewise preserve your soiled laundry separate from the recent stuff!
The Main Compartment
This is the place the magic occurs! The major compartment of the NOMATIC Camera Pack may be custom-made to fit your wants, regardless of the nature of your journey.
Both the lengthy and brief detachable folding dividers may be moved round to accommodate a wide range of lenses and equipment. There are zippered mesh pockets on the within flap to retailer further reminiscence playing cards, batteries, cables, and energy banks. Behind them, you’ll discover a sleeve that simply suits an iPad or perhaps a slim, compact laptop computer, equivalent to a smaller MacBook.
I can’t overstate how a lot area there may be in the principle compartment—even for those who’re taking pictures with a number of cameras and a number of lenses, you’ll have the ability to make your package match, and you need to use any further area for extra clothes, too. You can stand up to 5 days’ price of clothes on this backpack!
And my favourite half? There’s a zippered hatch on the underside right-hand facet of the backpack, which permits fast entry to one of many dividers in the principle compartment.
You can configure your bag so you will have fast entry to what’s most vital to you. I’m an enormous fan of having the ability to seize my main physique and connected lens with out having to open the entire backpack up.
If you’re frightened about safety, you’ll be able to simply reconfigure a type of small dividers to cowl the entry pocket and block off your digital camera physique.
External Components
The Peter McKinnon digital camera backpack’s spectacular construct high quality extends to the shoulder straps, that are properly padded and have an optionally available sternum strap to assist unfold the load in case your pack is kind of heavy. There’s additionally a detachable waist strap, which is helpful for those who like the additional safety of a hip belt.
A nifty function of this backpack is the facet pockets. You’ll discover a magnetic water bottle pocket on the left facet of the NOMATIC bag, which can be utilized to simply carry a tripod or monopod.
Magnetic water bottle pockets are actually cool as a result of if you don’t have a water bottle in there, they safe to the physique of the bag and don’t flap round or trigger further bulk. It appears to be like tremendous modern on the Peter McKinnon digital camera bag!
An identical magnetic pocket on the opposite facet of the digital camera bag is designed to carry a tripod. An adjustable strap retains the tripod in place.
On the bottom of this digital camera backpack you’ll discover a pass-through pocket for hooking your bag onto a baggage deal with (I exploit this a ton throughout aircraft journey)!
Materials & Aesthetic
Made from water resistant supplies and sleekly designed, my first impression of the McKinnon was that it’s powerful, strong, {and professional}. The clamshell inside design and fleecy, detachable folding dividers are a contrasting tan, which appears to be like slick towards the black exterior.
It’s acquired helpful further options equivalent to exterior carry straps and an enlargement choice that provides 7L of usable area to your bag.
It is a giant backpack, so it’s not going to look as modern and streamlined as a smaller, extra compact digital camera bag may. However, contemplating you’ll be able to successfully take your studio on the highway with you, it’s positively probably the most engaging giant pack you’ll discover available on the market!
One of my favourite issues concerning the McKinnon is that it isn’t completely apparent that it’s a digital camera bag.
To the skin eye, it may simply be a trendy journey backpack—and from a safety viewpoint, that’s an incredible factor. We don’t significantly need the entire world to know we’ve acquired 1000’s of {dollars} of drugs strapped to our backs, and the McKinnon affords that little little bit of subtlety so you’ll be able to fly below the radar.
Accessories
Outfitting your Peter McKinnon digital camera bag with equipment will arguably make it probably the most helpful journey bag in your wardrobe. NOMATIC has a ton of accent choices which are constructed to final—they usually look rattling good with the McKinnon!
Though the McKinnon comes with a waist strap, you too can purchase them individually in case you injury yours or need completely different sizes for various customers.
A digital camera dice pack is useful for conserving your belongings separate and arranged, particularly for those who don’t want all that area in the principle compartment. You can downsize the digital camera area and open up extra room for garments or an in a single day bag of toiletries, which may additionally go in their very own devoted dice.
If you need to preserve your taking pictures equipment a bit extra organized, too, think about choosing a modern reminiscence card case, which you’ll be able to then slip into one of many helpful zippered pockets within the digital camera compartment. You may even buy a case to retailer all of your back-up battery packs.
I exploit the filter case to maintain my polarized filters secure and scratch-free, and it’s significantly helpful for those who’re taking pictures primarily landscapes.
A rain cowl is at all times a good suggestion, too, regardless that the McKinnon is pretty water resistant. This will give you some peace of thoughts on these days when it’s actually coming down.
Other Bags and Alternatives
If you need to browse some market opponents earlier than you commit to buying a bag, listed below are a few of the entrance runners for the right pack.
LowePro ProTactic BP 450 AW II
The ProTactic BP 450 AW II Backpack is a extremely good different when you’ve got barely much less digital camera package and desire a helpful digital camera bag which you can lug round day-after-day and positively match within the overhead compartment of an airplane.
This backpack holds sufficient clothes for a few days away, plus a laptop computer and your digital camera gear. The bag options an exterior SlipLock system that permits you to simply add pouches and instances so you’ll be able to carry extra equipment.
This 25L pack has 4 entry factors, making your gear extraordinarily accessible.
It carries lower than the NOMATIC McKinnon digital camera pack, however if you’d like a strong, smaller different, it’s a extremely helpful bag to have. For professional photographers, I’d think about this extra of a day pack or brief weekend bag slightly than a real journey bag.
WANDRD PRVKE 41
At 41L, the Prvke bag is a superb digital camera bag choice for execs on the transfer. It makes use of a digital camera dice system to retailer your digital camera tools and preserve it separate out of your garments, so it may be used as a journey backpack as properly.
This pack has a extremely intuitive structure and supplies quick access to all of your gear. It can also be accessible in 21L and 31L for those who’re trying to dimension down.
Like the NOMATIC McKinnon Camera Pack, it has loads of assist straps, thick shoulder pads, facet pockets, and a hip belt to assist unfold the load. It even has exterior carry straps to simply shift it across the studio or your working area.
You may even add on a pack-specific pictures accent bundle!
Peak Design 30L Everyday Backpack
If you’re on the lookout for a mid-size bag that simply transitions between a digital camera bag and on a regular basis backpack, Peak Design’s 30L Everyday Backpack is a superb choice!
Inside the digital camera bag, there are three small dividers. This digital camera dice system helps preserve gear organized and safe. It includes a 15” laptop computer sleeve and a wide range of inner slip pockets for smaller objects and paperwork.
It is fabricated from a 100% recycled 400D weatherproof shell to maintain your gear secure from the weather.
This digital camera backpack has accent straps, exterior facet storage for water bottles or tripods, and a baggage carry strap for simply hooking onto your suitcase deal with.
Although not as appropriate because the Peter McKinnon digital camera bag for weekend journeys, this digital camera backpack is nice as a day pack or one-nighter!
Final Thoughts: The McKinnon Camera Backpack Review
Wherever your pictures journey takes you, you need to be sure you can convey all of the instruments you want for the job alongside for the journey—and in that regard, the Peter McKinnon digital camera bag is a severe game-changer.
I’ve stuffed it with a big selection of our bodies, lenses, and equipment and nonetheless haven’t come near operating out of area, which is a testomony to how cleverly designed the inside is.
In addition to offering loads of area, this digital camera backpack is totally customizable and doesn’t even require the acquisition of a separate dice pack, like one other journey backpack may.
I like to recommend giving Peter McKinnon’s video walkthrough of the bag a watch on YouTube, because it offers a extremely thorough breakdown of each a part of the bag, and why it was designed as such. He goes over each element of this digital camera backpack, from the magnetic water bottle holder to the roomy pill sleeve, supportive sternum strap, accent straps, and extra.
Overall, the Peter McKinnon digital camera bag is an admittedly area of interest buy, however if you’re a severe journey photographer, you’ll discover it a useful purchase and actually the crown jewel of the digital camera luggage on the market.
Peter McKinnon x NOMATIC is an iconic collaboration you don’t need to miss out on!