Review: The New ThinkTank “TRIFECTA 8″ Mirrorless Backpack

The ThinkTank Trifecta 8 Mirrorless Backpack - Sometimes a bag fills a specific need! by Levent Cimkentli Back in 1981, the sublime observational comedian George Carlin had a famous stand-up routine that he called, “A Place for My Stuff.” In it, he described a house as “a pile of (your) stuff with a cover over it.” and told a tale about a vacation to Honolulu in which he brought along two suitcases full of his “stuff” which he then unpacked in his hotel room. Later a friend invites him to come to Maui for the weekend to which he laments that he will now have to “pack an even smaller version of your stuff.” I bring this up, because most photographers have all of there camera “stuff” in their studios or homes. But if you want to shoot outside of those locations, then you must find a way to safely pack your “stuff” and carry it. The extent to which you do this is depends on what you want to shoot and how you want to shoot it. For instance the legendary photo-journalist David Burnett, sometimes brings a full frame Canon DSLR and assorted lenses, a Holga and a large format Speed Graphic view camera attached to the large and fast Aero-Ektar lens. This means that he would have to lug a heavy duty roller board camera case. On the other hand you have the acclaimed Daido Moriyama who blurs the line between Fine Art and Street Photography. In his right hand, he carries a single compact fixed lens camera such as a Ricoh GR or a common point and shoot as he walks through Tokyo’s Shinjuku ward, capturing images for his next exhibition. And finally for an editorial shoot, the superb Annie Leibovitz might have a digital medium format camera tethered to a Mac and monitor, plus a truck full of lighting gear manned by a small army of assistants. That said, she has on occasion been known to eschew assistants and studio lights and use a DSLR or a analog Leica Rangefinder and a couple of lenses. All of which could easily fit in a small bag. Obviously the camera bag requirements of photographers are as varied as their respective artistic visions. Therefore there is no perfect camera bag that does everything. Some bags are luggage designed to protect gear on airline flights and some bags are simply a way to carry a camera and a few lenses. The bottom line is, you simply have to figure out how much “stuff” you need and how to carry it efficiently. Which brings up my personal choice of camera gear. While I have done jobs where I had to fly to the location and bring multiple camera bodies, tripods, a tethered laptop, lights, stands and specialty lenses like tilt-shifts and macros. This array of gear required a combination of hard and soft cases for the sake of protection. But my primary photographic mission is documentary and environmental portraiture of entertainers. For me the ideal is a discreet backpack that holds a full-frame mirrorless camera and trio of fast prime lenses (typically a wide, normal and short telephoto). Plus a few small camera accessories and personal items. This concept of carrying a single camera body and a trio of lenses is nothing new and goes back to the days of the father of modern photo-journalism Henri Cartier-Bresson. While the vast majority of his Leica captured images were taken with the Zeiss 50mm f/1.5 Sonnar lens, he usually carried a 35mm and a 90mm prime (just in case it was needed) in a small shoulder bag along with rolls of film. I know a lot of DSLR shooters that carry three lenses such as a 24-70mm, a 70-200mm and a fast (50mm or 85mm) prime for low light, portraits and or extreme shallow depth of field use or perhaps a macro. This three lens approach seems to be a logical method of being prepared for a wide variety of subjects, with a minimum of gear. On another note, if a candid image is what you are after, it pays to be invisible to the subject. In the streets of Paris, the much admired Cartier-Bresson often wore a suit and tie, along with the small shoulder bag for his gear, which gave him the appearance of an ordinary businessman on his way to lunch. This stealthy approach enabled him to come in very close to the subject, without them being aware that he was about to take a photo. Thus avoiding the self-conscious gaze of a posed expression, a tell-tale sign that too often lends a death knell to the street photographer or a person doing documentary work. Of course in other fields of photography like: sports, landscape, architecture, wildlife, macro, weddings, formal portraiture and fashion, such discretion is a non-issue. Lending to itself, the copious use of the roller board suitcase, ATA case, giant backpack, photo vest, oversized fanny pack or belt mounted lens pouches. But for most of my work, discretion is the rule for not only the aforementioned reason, but also for the security of my expensive equipment. A concern that lays heavy on my mind when I am in a high crime area or in economically depressed areas of the so-called third world. With an eye to security, the first solution for me was to discard straps that had the name of major camera makers on it and use something far more generic. The next thing was to use black gaffers tape to cover up the brand name or any identifying marks on the cameras and lenses. That said, if I was personally sponsored by a camera maker, I would reconsider this, but as it stands now I see no point in being a walking advertising billboard for a company, with whom I have no financial relations. And finally I figured out that for security and comfort the best solution for me was a backpack. It is a ubiquitous method or transporting items that you see all over the world. About 10 years ago, I was not seriously involved in photography and was mainly looking for a way to carry a laptop and personal stuff. So at a surf shop, I bought an Quicksilver brand backpack for about $100, and traveled around the world with it for many years. This specific bag had an interesting physical attribute: on each side was a zippered pouch that I was able to access without taking the backpack completely off of my back. This can be important for two reasons, firstly for security reasons, when you remove a bag off of your back and place it on the floor to fiddle with gear, it could be vulnerable to theft. Secondly, sometimes you are in a dirty or wet environment and the last thing you want to do is put a nice bag on the floor. The real utility of the side pouches became apparent when I purchased a Ricoh GXR camera (Mirrorless system camera) and started to use it with Leica m-mount type lenses. These compact prime lenses fit perfectly in the side pouch of the Quicksilver bag. I commonly kept a wide angle lens on the camera and and a fast 50mm lens in the left pouch and a small 90mm Leica lens in the right pocket. I got very good at accessing these lenses and swapping them on the camera very rapidly and often without taking my eyes off the subject. Sadly, my Quicksilver backpack did not survive near constant use. The zippers started to break and the fabric was so worn that it was no longer water resistant. By 2012, I needed a replacement and discovered that my Quicksilver bag had long since been discontinued by the manufacturer. I will point out that while it was a good bag, it was by no means well padded and it never offered the kind of protection you get from a camera bag maker. I subsequently visited BH Photo in NYC and spent hours testing all the camera backpacks they had in stock. To my surprise I could not find a mid-sized backpack with a decent side pocket that allowed me to easily swap lenses without taking the bag off. The few bags that I could find with a good side pocket, were of the type that were so big that they appeared more appropriate for mountaineering and not for my documentary photography work. Later I saw on Tenba’s website they had a new product called “Messenger Photo Daypack” and in the photo I could see it had side pockets that looked similar to the ones on my old Quicksilver backpack. So I ordered it for about $160, but sadly it did not workout as well as I had hoped. Tenba had put all sorts of pouches and SD card holders in the side pockets which made it hard to put in and remove lenses. Also the side pockets were smaller than on my Quicksilver bag. Which became a problem when I was using one of my favorite wides: a vintage Canon FD 24mm f/1.4 L lens (the very first aspherical lens made by Canon) along with its large saucer shaped lens hood. I had many ideas on how such a backpack could be made with side pockets to hold lenses larger than Leica primes. On November 21, 2012 I sent a detailed email to Tenba outlining the need for such a bag, but they never responded. In the summer of 2013, I was attending an event in Virginia and I met a photographer named Bob Tobias. I showed him my Tenba bag and I explained to him the way I used to be able to swap lenses without fully removing the bag. He was sympathetic to my plight and told me that he knew somebody at the Think Tank camera bag company and said he would relay my suggestion to them. For the next 2 years I lumbered along with the imperfect Tenba bag until recently I got an email from Bob Tobias informing me that Think Tank had actually made the type of bag I requested. To be clear, I just made a suggestion and it’s probable that many other people have thought of a similar product. Furthermore to take my simple suggestion and to engineer it into a final product is a grand task. So I cannot take any real credit for such a product, but I can give kudos to Think Tank for being open to ideas from photographers. The product in question is the new Think Tank Trifecta series backpack. It comes in two models: a large one for big DSLR’s (“Trifecta 10 DSLR Backpack”) for $159.75 and a smaller version for mirrorless systems (“Trifecta 8 Mirrorless Backpack”) for $139.75. Since my current primary camera is the Sony A7R, I purchased the smaller Trifecta 8 mirrorless backpack directly from the Think Tank website which offered free FedEX ground shipping. The following is my review of the bag and my impressions of it after two months of near constant use. FIRST IMPRESSIONS When the Think Tank Trifecta 8 arrived in the mail I was surprised at how light the empty bag was (2.2 pounds/ 1 kilogram). Furthermore the external fabric was a lot softer, smoother and thinner than my previous bags, which seem to be made of a coarse synthetic canvas like material. The Trifecta’s fabric is a covering for the outer shell which is made of a polyurethane foam. This material offers fine protection, but it does limit the size of what it can carry, because you cannot overstuff this bag beyond its intended capacity. The overall shape is tall and narrower than most bags and in a way it reminds me of a duffle bag that is standing on its end. The Trifecta’s top is slightly curved and the whole package has a streamline appearance that give it an esthetic that differs from a camping backpack. In my opinion its modern style is more in keeping with an urban look than gear made for wilderness use, which frankly suits me fine. As I describe this bag, it would behoove me to clarify the orientation nomenclature that I will use. Assuming you are wearing the backpack, when I say the “front” of the bag, I mean the surface that is pressed flush against YOUR back. The “left side” of the bag is the side you will touch if your reach your left hand backwards and touch the bag when worn. The “right side” of the bag is the side you will touch if your reach your right hand backwards and touch the bag when worn. The “back” of the bag is the side that is seen by others, if they are standing directly behind you, when you wear the backpack. The top of the bag, is the uppermost side when it is being worn. And finally the “bottom” of the bag is the underside of the bag when it is worn. The bag has a standard type of adjustable shoulder straps with decent padding that make it comfortable to wear. The straps also come with a sternum strap that connects the two straps against your chest. A common feature that can come in handy if you have to run or are on a hike in uneven terrain. High on each shoulder strap is a metal “D-Ring” which allows for the attachment of various accouterment. The front of the backpack is well padded for comfort with an extra thick spot near the lumbar region. The top of the Trifecta has a simple top strap made of a doubled up nylon ribbon. This top strap is not padded, which I actually prefer because it makes it easier to hang the bag from the weight stabilizing hook that is on the center column of some tripods. There are two main internal compartments for the bag. The smaller compartment is on the top third of the bag and the larger one is on the bottom two thirds. These two compartments are separated by a wall. If this wall was permanent, the lower compartment would be very limited in the length of the gear you could carry and the bag could not be collapsed so that it could take less space when empty. Happily this wall is held in place with velcro on three of its four sides and if needed the wall can be shifted out of place, so that you could collapse the bag a bit and you could internally carry something longer than the bottom compartment. Please note, when the wall is shifted out of place the top compartment no longer exists as a separate entity and thus becomes a continuation of the bottom compartment. Assuming that this wall is not shifted out of position, the compartment at the top of the bag is accessible by one zipper and the compartment at the bottom can be opened by three different zippers. Each of the zippers has two separate sliders that can meet at any point along the length. Attached to the sliders are tabs made of a short nylon cords terminating with a molded plastic triangle with a hole that allows them to be temporarily secured with a (not included) mini padlock. The top compartment can carry small items such as a can of soda, a 500ml water bottle, folded headphones, battery chargers, etc. Along the internal walls of the top compartment are a pair of pockets made of a mesh type fabric. One pocket is secured with a zipper and the other is closed with a velcro flap. The zippered pocket is about the size of a passport and the velcro flapped pocket is slightly smaller. The mesh fabric has a bit of stretch to it, so whilst small, these pockets can easily hold larger items. Finally, attached to the inside of the upper compartment is a small plastic lanyard hook that allows you to temporarily attach items such as a keychain. As far as I am concerned the lower (larger) compartment is the primary selling point of this bag as it has the key design features. As I mentioned in the essay that precluded this review, I am interested in a bag that can allow me to access camera gear without fully removing the bag from my back. Because I wanted to save time when shooting whilst on the move AND I was concerned about preventing theft of the contents. About security, perhaps an explanation is in order. I am of the opinion that typical backpacks seem to offer the person standing behind the wearer (of the bag) all manner of pockets and zippers to be opened and perused without the knowledge of the wearer. The Think Tank Trifecta differs from that type of design, in that there is no access to the internal compartments from the back of the bag. Instead you can only access the contents, thru the top, sides or the front of the bag. And if you position the zipper sliders in an intelligent manner, the Trifecta makes it almost impossible for someone to open the zippered compartments without you noticing it. The lower compartment has two large side flaps. The inside of the flap on the left side has three pockets that are secured with velcro flaps. Two of these pockets are made to hold memory cards and are constructed of clear plastic. The third pocket is made of a mesh fabric and is designed to hold spare camera batteries. The right side flap is the same size as the left side flap, but it does not have pockets on the inside. The lower compartment comes with four dividers: One tall vertical divider, One wide divider for the side holding the camera body or an extremely large diameter lens, and two smaller dividers for smaller lenses or gear. These dividers are held in place with velcro. In order to custom configure the position of the dividers for your specific gear you must zipper open a very large flap in the front of the bag. When closed this flap rests against the small of your back when the bag is worn on the shoulders. This design decision by Think Tank is extremely smart as it offers maximum security of the contents when you wear the bag. On the inside of the large front flap is a pocket designed to hold a computer tablet with a screen up to 8 inches. This means it will easily hold an iPad Mini, but please note a full sized iPad will not fit in a Trifecta 8. HOW TO USE THE BAG Because I usually hold the camera body in my right hand as I swap lenses with my left hand, I configure the bag in the following way. I put the camera body with one lens attached into the right side compartment. And I put the extra lenses into the left side compartment. When I want to shoot I remove the strap from my left shoulder and swing the bag to my right side. I then open the right side flap, remove the camera, zip up the flap and put the shoulder strap back onto my left shoulder. Now if I want to swap a lens, I remove the strap from my right shoulder, swing the bag over to my left side, zip open the flap, get the lens, swap lenses, put the unused lens into the left compartment, zip the flap closed and return the strap to my right arm. The same left compartment can also be accessed if you need a memory card or spare battery that is in the pockets of the left flap. Now if you need to carry a tripod or a monopod, the Trifecta has a simple solution. Halfway up the back of the bag is an open top pocket made up of a stretchy spandex like material. Also on the back on a pair of nylon ribbon loops. Included with the bag is a removable strap with a quick disconnect buckle that attaches to the nylon loops. This allows you place one or two legs of a compact tripod (or an entire monopod) into the pocket and the strap holds the long item securely against the backpack. Granted this back pocket is not as theft proof as the side flaps. But the strap is pretty secure and makes it hard for the tripod to be removed without you noticing. I rarely carry a tripod, so in the back pocket I usually put a few inexpensive items that I don’t mind losing, such a small bottle of water, a compact umbrella or a cheap selfie stick (that I sometimes attach to my Ricoh Theta spherical camera). Additionally, Think Tank includes a rain cover in a small pouch, that can protect the bag from torrential rain. It’s not something that I would usually need, but it is a nice thing to have just in case. CONCLUSION After two months of near constant use, the exterior material is holding up well and the design allows me to change lenses without a problem. I do wish that they had put a duplicate memory card and battery pocket on the right flap so that you could have this nice feature on both sides of the bag. I felt the small plastic lanyard hook in the top compartment was a bit cheap and fiddly, so I put an inexpensive keychain carbiner on the hook, which made it a lot easier to use. I felt that the left (lens) side flap was hard to open quickly because the zipper tabs were a bit small. So I modified them by wrapping black gaffers tape around the tabs to make them a bit bigger. For me the internal size of the bag is perfect, because I don’t have very large lenses. But if you have a mirrorless camera with a lot of big lenses, you might be better off with the larger Trifecta 10. Also the Trifecta 10 would be a requirement if you absolutely needed to carry a full sized iPad, or a full frame DSLR. Overall I am extremely happy with this bag and I consider it a fine investment.