What do people like me who review camera gear for a living hoard? Camera bags. Designed to offer supreme protection and easy access to your gear, camera bags are a big camera accessory business, and they sure do stack up.
However, just because you’re carrying camera gear, that doesn’t necessarily mean you want a dedicated camera bag for it all the time. I’ll level with you – sometimes I just want to use my own regular bag rather than one dedicated for cameras.
My logic depends on the situation. Sometimes I don’t need to pack a lot of gear for when I’m going on a family day out or commuting, in which case a bag that’s full of internal padded dividers is overkill.
Sometimes I just want a camera with a lens, and it’s at such times I’ll usually toss the gear into a regular bag, maybe wrap it in an item of clothing. It’s not ideal, but it’s the length I’d go to to have a camera on me on a regular day, just in case.
Dedicated camera bags have further issues: they can be super pricey and, in many cases, ugly and obvious to would-be thieves.
More recently I’ve come across decent alternatives to the traditional camera bag, such as 3 Legged Thing’s Wrapz, which do a much better job protecting gear than a sweater I’ll tell you, and they don’t take up much additional space in your bag. Then there’s the subject of this article, Peak Design’s Camera Cube V2’s.
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A versatile choice for securing your camera gear
Peak Design’s Camera Cube V2’s essentially replicate the padded dividers of a dedicated camera bag, but are designed to slip inside the main compartment of any bag instead. Genius.
Peak Design itself has a range of bags that can be used as ‘normal’ bags, in other words, with a divider-less main compartment, like the Traveller Backpack, pictured above in blue. These bags are designed for a snug fit with the Camera Cube V2’s. However, the beauty of the cubes is that you can use them with any bag.
Take my satchel. It’s my go-to commute bag. Designed for regular use, it has a main compartment, a laptop sleeve, a small internal zipped pocket and a zipped exterior pocket, as well as open side pockets for items like a water bottle.
This regular bag simply works for me, for my regular days that I want to pack light, and it looks great. However, it isn’t designed to securely host my camera. Step in Peak Design’s Camera Cube V2, size Small. It slips right into the bag’s main compartment and its zipped top can be closed or left open for quicker access, even if that open option is a little awkward.
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With the Small cube in place in my satchel, I have my securely held mirrorless camera and spare lens, together with laptop and everyday items.
It sounds minor, but photographers like me face daily camera storage headaches. We need large bags with secure storage for gear when out on photography trips and for work, but we also do everyday life for which it’s nice to pack a simple bit of camera gear.
There never really was a solution that covered both scenarios – I wished for some time that someone would bridge the regular and dedicated camera bag gap. Peak Design has done it.
What’s great is that Camera Cube V2’s aren’t fixed in place, so I can customize my bags depending on how much camera gear I want to carry, if any at all. I can fully load the main compartment with multiple cubes, or just pack one cube and leave an open space for other items, like clothes for a weekend.
No longer do I have to choose between a regular bag or a dedicated camera bag, one bag can be either / or and both, with the removable Peak Design Camera Cube V2’s.
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Camera Cube V2’s are available in a range of sizes; X-Small, Small, SMedium, Medium and Large, with prices starting from $49.95 / £49.99 / AU$119.95 for the X-Small and up to $109.95 / £99.99 / AU$219.95 for the Large.
They’re designed to fit snuggly with Peak Design’s own bags such as the aforementioned Traveller, and for various sized camera gear, be it one of the best cameras or the best drones.
In my case, I found a cube that fits perfectly in my regular satchel – the measurements can be found on Peak Design’s website. The Traveller Backpack can fit the Large and Small Camera Cube V2’s side by side, or a configuration of other cubes. Camera Cubes are well made, even if a little pricey for what they are.
Does all of this mean that Peak Design’s Camera Cube V2’s could kill off dedicated camera bags? Yes and no.
Many dedicated bags have a side access pocket for direct and quick access to your camera in its padded compartment. Camera Cube V2’s do not, they are more about providing secure storage.
It wouldn’t take much for Peak Design to rework the design to create a cube with quick access to what’s inside, in line with the design and external pockets of its own bags.
Also, I still need one (or two, or three) dedicated bags for photography work when I am packing a lot of gear, and when I simply need function over form.
It’s just that Camera Cube V2’s are the versatile choice, transforming any bag into a secure place to store your camera gear, especially on those regular days.
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