It's like camera bag makers have no idea compact primes and pancake lenses exist

Over the years I’ve reviewed no end of camera backpacks, shoulder bags, slings and messenger bags. And despite the huge diversity in size, weight, design and configuration, they almost all share the same flaw – they’re designed for chunky zoom lenses. Which is fine if that’s what you travel with, but frustrating if you prefer smaller zooms and primes. Which, a lot of the time, I do.

Now, the best camera backpacks are terrific for full-size mirrorless or DSLR bodies and all types of zoom lenses. No problem there. But if I want to carry smaller lenses, then the padded compartments are just too big, no matter how you stick and unstick the velcro partitions.

I’ll give you an example. I have a Vanguard R48 backpack, which is really very good indeed. I can pack my entire EOS R system and still get my Peak Design Travel Tripod stowed inside the bag. My problem is that I have a bunch of RF primes, including the RF 16mm f/2.8, RF 24mm f/1.8, RF 35mm f/1.8 and RF 50mm f/1.8, which will always rattle around however I pack them and rearrange the dividers.

I say ‘rattle around’, but they are of course safe inside their individual padded compartments. I would still prefer them not to flop around in a space that’s too big for them, though. It would be better if my backpack, and the many others I have and use, was shorter in height. I don’t need the internal space to be that deep. I need more dividers, too.

It’s not just backpacks. Even the best shoulder bags and messenger bags seem to be set up for larger kit than I like to use. I have an Olympus PEN-F that I like to carry around with a set of compact primes, from the Olympus 12mm f/2 to the Olympus 45mm f/1.8. These are small lenses. That’s why I like them. But they are, alas, too small to be housed snugly in any of my shoulder bags or slings.

It’s not just an Olympus / OM System problem. I’ve had the same issue with my Fujifilm system and its own compact prime lenses. It makes me wonder: how do Leica M users cope?

The best solution I’ve found so far is smaller Billingham shoulder bags, which have nice squishy dividers that you can arrange reasonably well around smaller lenses like these. I do like Peak Design bags, but these are no good for my primes because the spaces created by the clever but too-rigid FlexFold dividers are far too large.

So here’s my message for camera bag makers: please catch up. Please take a proper look at the kind of compact prime lenses being made and bought today, and see if you can arrange a better system of internal dividers for small lenses like these, not just whopping great zooms.

Thank you.

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