Maclean's photojournalist Peter Bregg says there's nothing like his Nikon camera backpack for carrying his gear. He should know: he's been lugging camera equipment all over the world for almost 40 years. “It's my favourite travelling bag because it allows me to distribute the weight on my back better than the shoulder bags I have,” he says. “It has a padded pocket for my laptop, and it fits in the overhead compartments on most planes.”
If you're looking to carry cameras like a professional, a similar retail version of Bregg's favourite would cost you upward of $120. (He got his for free–Nikon gave them out to photographers covering the 2000 Olympics in Sydney.) As a working photographer who travels a lot, Toronto-based Bregg has his choice of camera bags–at least four for the seven cameras in his arsenal–and before choosing one he takes into account how much he needs for an assignment. “If I'm travelling overseas, I have to carry spare batteries, spare flash, so that means bringing the backpack because it holds more.” When full, the Nikon bag weighs about 18 kilograms.
How much travel can one camera bag take? Well, since getting it in 2000, Bregg and his backpack have been around the world half a dozen times. “It's been to all the continents except Antarctica,” he says. “It has a lot of air miles.”
