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5 May 2010

Gear Review: Dakine Camera Block Mission Photo Backpack

Finding the right camera bag is a pain – some of us don’t want to spend $100-150 on a simple backpack to carry our stuff.  If you spend too little, it seems that the thing cheaply falls apart in a short period of time (been there, broke that).

The problem with most camera backpacks is they either give away to the world that it’s a camera backpack, either due to the logo on the outside like TAMRAC or LOWEPRO or even CANON (hmm, I wonder what that dude’s got in that bag? Maybe 5 grand worth of camera gear – let’s go mug him) or the FUGLINESS factor.

I recognized the name Dakine because I have a winter snowboarding hat made by them that I bought at Eastern Mountain Sports.  I was interested in the Dakine Camera Block due to the fact that you can shove it in any other bag, as long as it is the right dimensions.  That way it’s kind of like getting a custom setup for your DSLR, glass, and photo gear.  I’ve seen it online as low as $30 USD. What’s the main thing we need in a camera bag, anyway?  Isn’t it the stupid little velcro-rigged, padded dividers that keep our lenses and camera bodies separately safely and securely?  That, and obviously comfort, durability, and water resistance while outdoors.

There is also the Dakine Mission, which is a lot nicer looking than most bags. This bag is sold along with the Dakine Camera Block as an optional accessory.  It comes in a variety of cool colors and textures, from plaid to other print designs.  I haven’t picked one up just yet, but it’s next on my list.  If anyone has any experience with the Dakine Mission or Dakine Camera Block, feel free to add your comments below.  Another Dakine bag available is the Sequence, which looks to be a little bit deeper (which is always useful if you shoot with a 1D series or gripped body, like myself).  The Sequence has a weatherproof rain cover that pops out in case you get caught in a storm.

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 5th, 2010 at 9:55 AM and is filed under Reviews, Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

  • http://www.fstopgear.com Ian

    Hi, saw you post on POTN and just to let you know I work for F- Stop gear.

    … just to confirm your thoughts on Dakine, they do work well for fitting camera gear and look really nice. One thing to consider is – do they have an internal frame and how is the harness support… with out it the weight will fall to your shoulder, back, thighs and calves over a few hours time.

    Camera gear is heavy and usually carried for long periods of time. It is something to consider when shopping for a bag.

    Regards and good luck in your search.

    • http://arenacreative.com/ arenacreative

      Very good points, thanks for your feedback Ian. I see you guys also have something similar to the Dakine Camera Block with the Internal Camera Unit, here http://fstopgear.com/en/icu

      I was also thinking… I might just rig something up myself. I have an old bag with broken straps, but the internal parts are fine. What I could do is cut and retrofit or sew that stuff into any bag of my choice, and customize it to my liking. In the spirit of DIY photography projects, this would fit right in… but I would make that bag my backup. Still, it’s good to have at least one good quality bag that is going to hold up for years.

  • http://arenacreative.com/ arenacreative

    To update this post – I recently purchased a Lowepro Fastpack 200 series backpack, and am loving it. I took it on a few long trips so far, and it is extremely comfortable even when fully loaded with gear and heavy L glass. I’ll be doing a review soon, so subscribe to our RSS feed above for more info.

  • http://www.backsac.fr Sac Dakine

    Dakine’s bags are quality and design, everything that lowepro can’t do…

    • Wrightcougs

      I read reviews, got pumped to buy a Dakine Carmera Block, and discovered they are out of stock everywhere. So I called Dakine, and they not longer offer just the block. So for $55 I can buy the Dakine Mission pack and hopefuly remove the insert to put in my hiking pack. We will see, I have not gone to the store yet to see if I can actually take the guts out of a Mission pack. The f-stop ICU’s look good as well. but teh small is $59. If the Mission does not work out, I will probably go to the f-stop. It is important to me to have a quality hiking pack (Badlands- Kali for women). Thanks for taking to time to review a product.

      • http://blog.arenacreative.com/ Arena Creative Stock Imagery

        Thanks for the update on the Dakine camera block, Wright – appreciate your input.

  • Wrightcougs

    I posted some info on the bag set-up that I went with. Just an FYI. :-)
    http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=196884

    • http://arenacreative.com/ ArenaCreative.com

      That looks great, thanks for the link :)

    • http://blog.arenacreative.com/ ArenaCreative.com Stock Photos

      Looks great :) thanks for the link

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