Canon Professional Backpack 1

In short: I don't like it!

I started looking for a backpack after using LowePro Nova 2 camera bag for a while. The problem with it was, after a long day carrying the over-stuffed single-shoulder bag, my shoulder and my neck got really sour, and swollen sometimes. I started seriously thinking of getting a backpack to solve this problem. Most of backpacks I checked out in a local camera store is scarily huge in the capacity: probably could easily go over 50 lb when loaded. My ideal backpack at that time was about the size of college students' backpack. The smaller size makes it easier to be packed fully so the stuffs in it will not run all over the place. I chose this bag based on this consideration: it is fairly small, and yet not too girlishly small. :-)

This backpack has two compartments: upper and lower. The two compartments are separated by a divider that is zipped at the rim to the bottom of the upper compartment. It has one front pocket and two very small side pockets, and a large back pocket.

Canon's backpack disappointed me in many aspects:

• First, the overall construction is "cheap", and the design is absent-minded.

• Its exterior material is a bit rough and unpleasant to scrub with the skin, which occurred quite often when you are in a hurry or into a rough terrain. It does not provide protection from water either. The rough exterior also makes it difficult to reach the inside of the two small side pockets and a deep back pocket.

• Its interior lining is a layer of thin nylon fabric, of which I suspect to be easily pierced, torn or otherwise damaged. The padding between the lining and the exterior shell is light puffy foam which appears thick but is actually neither strong nor absorptive of real shocks.

• The interior division for the main compartment is extremely poorly designed. The main compartment is divided into six chambers, and each is in an odd size: too large for a lens, to small for a camera. Furthermore, there is virtually no room for adjusting the division, except by removing some of the dividers. In fact, there is no room to pack a camera with a fitted lens within the main compartment. The divider is not strong, neither the Velcro strips. I often find, after a short walk, either one or two divider slipped off the Velcro strip and lenses all messed up, or lens slipped from the opening between the divider and the back of the backpack into another chamber. All in all, it is messy. This interior design is the worst I can imagine, after using it for a couple trips. (Shame on me, I didn't realize this problem when I bought the bag.)

• After all, I feel that it is too demeaning for Canon to call such a poorly designed bag of no practicality a "professional backpack". Is Canon's standard for a professional really that low?! Lucky I am a Nikon shooter! (No, usually I am not particularly brand-loyal.)

• Another problem I've found, which is not particular to this bag, is that a backpack is not as convenient as a regular single-shoulder bag. If you want to fetch anything from a backpack, you have to put it down and lay it flat, and then fetch for your thing. It is almost impossible (or too dangerous for spilling one lens or two from the bag) to fetch a thing if you are in the run.

Then gain, I have to put some good words for it, at least to justify my decision of purchasing. (But I am really willing to admit the stupidity.)

Besides the overall size that I liked, the backpack gave me a good impression, without reality check, by the fact that its upper and lower compartments are separated. Since this is a backpack, which is intended for long hikes, my reasoning was that I could designate one of the compartments for food and drinks so to keep the photo gear clean. Also, I feel the straps are well made and distribute the weight quite well among shoulders, the back and the waist.

This bag now spends most of the time in my car's trunk, carrying backup stuff, while I go back to LowePro's Nova 2 as my primary camera bag, unless I am out for a really long hike, which is quite rare. Will I look for another backpack? Probably not in a while.