Gura Gear Kiboko 22L+. Days 3-5.

By this time I have already had my doubts. I started realizing that this bag does not work for me. I was actually surprised that it works for anyone. It is NOT comfortable and for the price they charge this thing needs to be a next best thing to a cloud in a sky and do everything except, maybe, shaving you in the morning. But not only it doesn’t help you with your facial hair, it also doesn’t make a job of city walking with some gear comfortable. And I should say that I had 3 small lenses – all of them DX, no FX lenses or big zooms.

Besides that the bag misses a lot of little things that would make it more usable. It has some illogical design features that make small extra pockets even smaller – the rain cover, for some strange reason, is located in one such pocket, making the pocket much less usable. Tripod attachment system is alright, but nothing spectacular. There are no little hooks or loops for attaching small items while on the go. I can continue on, but I think I can stop here.

Once I came back I returned the bag. I always try to take very good care of my possessions so the bag was in impeccable state. Since then I started looking for another bag realizing that probably there is no such thing as ‘holy grail’ of photography bags. At this moment I switched to Lowepro Pro Trekker 400 AW, which is not ideal, but feels hundred times more comfortable with all the gear in it. Sure, it’s not as slick at Gura Gear, but at the end of the day you have to make compromises. And hopefully this bag will work for me better than Kiboko 22L+.

Gura Gear Kiboko 22L+. Day 2.

So, I got a new Gura Gear bag, highly praised and considered a ‘holy grail’ by many. And I am traveling with it – plane, automobile and feet. I quickly started noticing that the bag is not very comfortable on my back, no matter what sort of adjustments I make. Sure, it wasn’t light, but what’s the point of spending all that money and carrying a point-and-shoot camera in a big bag? The bag was sitting quite high on my back and it seemed like all the weight was on my shoulders. I was starting to get concerned, but decided not to make quick decisions and try it out more.

Then walking came around – I was in Vancouver and went out for a walk with my camera (with half the original weight in it) and after couple of hours shooting (carrying bag around with few lenses, filters and sometimes a tripod) I started noticing that my shoulders get more and more tender and tired, my neck started to feel uncomfortable and the back was getting in on the pain. And I should say that I’m not totally out of shape – going to a gym all the time, working out and trying to keep myself in check.

By the end of day 2 I started thinking that the bag is not what everyone has been raving about. Sure, it’s built out of nice material. Sure, it’s got a neat butterfly construction. But it is not comfortable. Well, lets see what next few days bring.

Gura Gear Kiboko 22L+. Day 1.

I’ve been looking around for a good photography bag or backpack that would work for my long distance and local travels. Those who know anything about photography gear and bags in particular would know that this is an extremely difficult task, since myriad bags out there are good for few applications but most people are saying that there is no ‘the one’ bag. So, I’ve spent some considerable time looking around and reading up on different means of carrying my photo gear. At first I was shocked by the cost of such bags, as it always happens once you start looking at some photography gear, but then it slowly grew on me and I accepted that I would have to spend a small fortune on a bag. That’s how I ended up with Gura Gear Kiboko 22L+ backpack. Highly praised and called ‘the holy grail’ of bags by a lot of reputable online resources. So I was ready to make a plunge.

Fortunately a local store here in Calgary (The Camera Store) recently started carrying the brand which used to be only sold online from the US. I stopped by and emptied my wallet in hopes that this is it, that I got the bag that would serve me long and hard and make me happy. Got home and started packing my gear getting ready for a trip to Vancouver. Surprisingly enough the big backpack quickly got filled with all the gear I had and I noticed that it is heavy on the shoulders. Ah, well, I didn’t expect it to weight nothing with camera, few lenses, filters, tripod, a laptop and bunch of other miscellaneous items. Well, the time will tell if I made a right decision and got a right bag.