The following is a snippet lifted from Vanguard Professional Jamie A MacDonald's recent review of the Vanguard Endeavor 900 and ALTA Sky 49 bags. To read Jamie's full review CLICK HERE!
The One Perfect Bag Is A Lie............ by Jamie A MacDonald
April 15, 2017
Disclosure........I am a Vanguard Pro which means they sponsor me....But it DOESN'T mean what I write below isn't my honest feelings......Read on my friend! I am also a member of the Olympus Visionary Program, but again, I love my gear and speak from the heart.
Are you in search of "the one perfect camera bag"? If so, I hate to break it to you but.....There is no such thing. No really, there isn't. I've spent the last 8 years being very involved with a few different bag manufacturers, and now, even sponsored by one, and can STILL say...There's no such thing as the perfect bag. This isn't Lord of the Rings folks, no "one bag to rule them all" here.
So now that I've gotten that through to you (I mean, you believe me right?) and you have decided that the unicorn of the bag world isn't real, we can now get to the meat of this post. So what am I here to write about? I am here to tell you that there IS such a thing as "the perfect bag for specific situations". I hope this helps make things a little easier after dashing the unicorn dreams. I want to spend the rest of this post talking about a couple of bags that for me, have become the perfect bags for specific conditions/settings.
The Vanguard Endeavor 900 is listed on the Vanguard website as a bag designed specifically for birders thanks to the way the bag is laid out. My time with it has made me realize it is perfect for my trips out into the field where I don't require a backpack. So from hiking wooded trails near my home, or venturing out onto frozen piers in west Michigan in the winter months, the Endeavor has become my perfect get out into the field bag.
Continue reading Jamie's review of the Endeavor 900...
ALTA SKY 49
©2017 Jamie A. MacDonald
Now above I mentioned that for most of my short "into the woods" trips the Endeavor is perfect right? But what about those trips that are maybe not so short, or that require getting off the beaten path and doing some "real hiking"? For those situations you need more than a standard shoulder bag. Shoulder bags just don't stay put when you are climbing over fallen trees, or when traversing the face of a steep hillside. And let's be honest, for walk that could be several miles, they just aren't comfortable enough. That is where a good backpack comes into play.
As with any of the bags from Vanguard the Alta Sky line of bags are designed to work. Period. The materials are very durable and tightly woven to prevent snags and tears, they include rain covers (you can see above the rain cover tag noting the cover in a hidden compartment), and have strap, and padding designs made to make wearing these packs for long distances, and comfortable experience. The Alta Sky packs look good too! Now, this isn't some "hipster at the coffee shop" looking bag, because, well, those dudes don't do what us dedicated photographers do, and that is actually hike miles into the woods and countryside to take photos.
Continue reading Jamie's review of the ALTA Sky 49...
©2017 Jamie A. MacDonald
