WYLDFIRE STUDIOS

Review: Tamrac Velocity 7 (Aug. 2005)

I'll start off this particular review by mentioning that I am a very petite female at about 5'3", and fairly athletic.
When I started off looking at camera bags, I noticed at how "big" or "small" they were. I found very little that was "just right." Many reviews that I had read sounded great, but when it came to actually trying out a bag at the store, I found that these bags were just too big for someone my size.

My Requirements in a Bag

When I first started off looking for a bag, my requirements were as such:

• Should be a backpack or a sling bag of some type. I'd even consider waist bags. I hate always constantly shifting shoulders whenever I carried a shoulder bag.
• Should be comfortable enough for urban hiking & photography -- ie: wandering the streets & parks of cities.
• Should be quick access, where I didn't have to fumble to get gear out of the bag
• Doesn't actually look like a camera bag
• Be slim in profie
• Decent enough padding
• Fit me size-wise
• Should carry a goodly amount of the gear that I needed.
  • Canon G3
  • SpeedLite 420EX
  • Teleconverter Lens
  • Wide angle lens
  • a few extra CF cards
  • an extra battery
  • a filter or two
  • cleaning gear: cloth & blower
  • Wallet, sunglasses, maybe a cel phone

Looking at other Bags

I first tried out the Tamrac Velocity 5 series, which was a bag that could convert to a waist pack. Everything fit great, and while it wasn't a backpack or sling pack, it did convert to a waist pack, which I could live with. And in the store and walking around the house, it felt fine.

However, my first photo trip out to Golden Gate Park made me realize that this bag wasn't going to be all that great for urban hiking. As a shoulder bag, it worked great, but I really got tired of switching shoulders. So I converted it to a waist pack. And it was ABSOLUTELY HUGE on me. In the store, the waist pack seemed fairly comfortable with my gear in it, but after walking 15 minutes around Golden Gate Park with it on, and I realized its short comings.

On my waist, it bounced around a lot, and just was very large, and got heavy quickly.

I let my boyfriend carry the pack for a while, and he's about 6'1. He said the pack fit him comfortably, and the weight didn't bother him. Lucky him got a new camera bag.

The Velocity 7

When I first got the V7, my initial concern was, Would it fit everything? The bag itself looked small, and while I had the dimensions from the Tamrac website, I'm a very spatial person, and need to see things pretty much in person.

A quick trip to the photography store also had me concerned that it was too small, but after bringing in my gear and trying it out, I realized that everything fit. The main compartment was a little tight, but everything was packed in snugly and wasn't overflowing.

The Shoulder Sling

When I slung it on, I liked how I could bring it around to the front without taking the bag off. This feature ended up being very nice when I was in a crowded room, bus, or area, and I wanted to ensure no one "picked" the pockets of the bag.

However, my one concern was that it would only sling over one shoulder. The sling is tailored to sling across the back using the left shoulder. You *can* hang it from your right shoulder, but you can't sling it across your back in that fashion. (See Shortcomings about this one nit). But, I figured I could live with it.



Using the Bag

Another trip to Golden Gate park (this time the Arboreteum for flower macro photography) went brilliantly. I was able to access my equipment rather fast, or switch out the lens by bringing the bag to the front, and doing whatever manipulations I needed.

Plus, I never really had to take the bag off to get any shots. It was light and comfortable and once tightened down, the bag barely moved except when I needed it to move. This feature made getting low-to-the-ground shots really easy to take without having to take the bag off.

The bag distributed the weight fairly evenly across my back, and I didn't have any shoulder fatigue from weariing it.



ShortComings

I don't think any one bag is perfect, and the Velocity 7 meets my needs quite comfortably. However, there are a few shortcomings.

• I can't wear the bag for more than 8 hours. A trip to Disneyland had me switching shoulder constantly after the 7th hour. Plus since you can't wear it on either shoulder, it had to hang like a backpack off my right shoulder, if I couldn't sling it over the left.
• The secondary compartment can hold quite a bit, but it'd be nice if it were segmented or separated into smaller pockets.

Conclusion

This is a good bag for bopping around town or when doing a bit of urban hiking, and when you want to stay relatively light weight. The shoulder sling really lets you get to your camera fast without the need for taking off your camera bag. And its slim profile lets you get through crowded streets and areas very quickly. It's not something I would wear for extended periods of time, like a backpack, but it is good for what it is designed to do.

UPDATED December 2006: I've since moved on to other camera bags as my equipment requirements have gotten larger. However, I still use this bag on occasion, when I am only carrying a single small lens and my camera.

JADE FALCON PHOTOGRAPHY