---------- fcc wrote: "If you are in reasonably good condition--fit enough to carry a regular camping backpack--you can certainly carry a photo backpack . . ."
and fcc also wrote: "Obviously a belt system works very well for many people, but like all things photographic there is no universal solution." ---------- Well, my friend, you will get no argument from me about these statements. For the occasional weekend use a backpack is probably perfect, just as it is for backpacking, which I used to do a lot of. With the right pack, especially one with the weight distributed significantly on the hips, 80 pounds at the start of a 10-day hike was no problem. It still isn't. I guess my point is that if you are going to carry a lot of equipment for most days of the year, the belt system will definitely cause much fewer problems with disks of the back and especially of the neck. It is not the present I was concerned about, but rather what happens to the body over a period of 10-20 years. I have heard the stories. I have seen the problems. I have heard of folks who couldn't bear the weight of a camera around their neck any longer. The belt system allows these folks to stay in the business. The other point is that I have tried both a LowePro backpack and the Kinesis belt system. I like BOTH a lot. The Kinesis system is somewhat more comfortable for me, and I have no known back/neck problems at the moment. It is also a more convenient system for me to use than the backpack. Things are more accessible. I just figure that a gram of prevention is worth a kilo of cure. And finally, no argument that LowePro makes a belt system. It probably works very well. I have no stake in Kinesis. It just happens to be what I use and like -- a lot. peace, rand * **** ******* *********************************************************** * For list instructions, including unsubscribe, see: * http://www.a1.nl/phomepag/markerink/eos_list.htm ***********************************************************
