In late June I'm going hiking and biking in the Cevennes for 2 weeks, which is part of the Massif Central in southern France, and promises to be quite hot at that time of year. Only day hikes - I will be staying in a gite which I made the mistake of booking before working out how to get there...
Anyway, my normal pack for hiking with camera is a LowePro Rover Lite, much the same as this: <http://products.lowepro.com/product/Rover-AW-II,2024,14.htm>. By and large I'm very happy with it, and have had it for more years than you can shake a leki at. It is slightly subprime in 2 respects, no - 3 respects: 1. it is probably larger than I need for the kit I use now 2. being of nylon construction it is likely to get very sweaty in the Cevennes at that time of year 3. I don't particularly like the way it splits to get at the bottom half where the camera kit stays So I am considering getting something else and I would welcome comments from anyone with practical experience of these, or suggestions for something else that fits the bill. Domke have started doing a backpack version of their small F-3 bag: <http://www.adorama.com/Als/ProductPage/DMF3BPBK.html> This seems to tick of the size and sweatiness boxes (I really like Domke bags for hot weather) although it's slightly heavier. I've also seen this one from Tamrac <http://www.tamrac.com/3370.htm> Which has a better way of getting to the lower section and is also smaller, though perhaps not by enough to convince me to buy it. I haven't seen either of these in real life so far, just on the web. The way I use the one I have now is to keep the SLR outside and ready to use, but keep a couple of extra lenses in the lower section of the bag, along with memory cards, meter, cleaning stuff and similar paraphernalia. I can also take a tripod on the Lowepro but will not be taking one to the Cevennes. The top part of the bag is for hiking stuff - foul weather gear, food, 2nd water bottle, 1st aid kit, etc. In addition to the photographic requirement, the bag must work well as a day pack for hillwalks of 12-15 miles - in other words, well balanced, with comfortable straps. Thanks in advance, Bob -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
