Is This Transforming Tetris Camera Bag the Solution You Never Knew You Needed?

In all your years of photography, have your camera bags been mostly the same, with slight variations? Most likely black and rectangular. Inside, they likely had padded dividers and smaller zipper compartments. The good ones had a slot for a laptop. Some may have had slight variations: if you had a Pelican case, it was a hard shell. If you had other brands, it was made of sturdy fabric. With slight differences, have they been mostly the same, though, haven't they? A rectangle with dividers. Mine have. Until now. Until what I’m renaming, “The Tetris Transforming Camera Bag”, also known as the Peak Design Travel Backpack.

Why Is This Camera Bag Different?

Do you always pack the same gear in your bag? I don’t. Perhaps on a wildlife shoot, you’ll want your 400mm for distance shots and a macro lens in case you see the light hitting dew drops just right. You'll need your binoculars, and maybe if you’re neurotically cautious like me, a backup second camera body just in case of disaster. (It seems to follow me, but I am always ready for it.) The next weekend, you may be shooting a wedding, a portrait, or a headshot on location. What you need in your bag is completely different. It would help if you had a strobe with its big clunky batteries and charger, your mid-sized 70-200mm, your nifty fifty, and a few other odds and ends. Perhaps your current camera bag has dividers that are removable and adjustable, but if you’re anything like me, in the fury of your shoot, your dividers end up looking more like a game of pick-up sticks than an organized system. I took pictures of my bag the week before making the switch to show how jumbled things get when I’m in the middle of a shoot. (Look at your own risk; if you have OCD, I advise you to scroll down without looking.)

What sets Peak Design's bag apart? They've crafted a versatile bag that starts as an empty canvas, allowing you to customize it with various "cubes." These modular compartments can be mixed and matched to suit the specific gear you need for each shoot. I could write a lengthy description, but how boring is that? Instead, I made a GIF to show you how versatile this transformer bag is. Hold on to your seats for the waterproof test!

Just in case you didn’t have enough of a panic attack on that waterproof test, here it is again.

The camera cubes come in large, medium, smedium [*Grammarly doesn’t like that one], small, and extra small. You can see examples for each below. 

I made another GIF to show you how you can pack your bag differently based on what you’re shooting with, making it endlessly customizable.

What Else I Liked Besides Its Transformer Features

• The 35 L bag can condense to a 30 L bag with compression snaps, or it can expand to a 45 L bag using zippers depending on your needs.
• It has “side access” zippers that you can unzip and easily access your camera or lens without having to remove the entire bag from your back.
• It has a fold-out waist belt and sternum strap if you want hiking-style support on your bag.
• The top of the bag has a “quick stash” pocket where you can access items easily, such as a phone and passport when traveling.
• The laptop pouch is a feature that many of us have come to think of as indispensable. Inside that compartment, I could easily fit my Mac, its big block charger, a mouse, a mouse pad, and an external hard drive.

• They included a hook, with which you can hook the backpack on the handle of your luggage as you stroll through the airport. (Try this feature.)

• It has “side stash” pockets that are extremely sturdy. I put a tripod in one, and my water bottle in the other, and I had no issues going through security.

• The bag is designed for comfort. Between regular travel, full-day commercial shoots, and sports shoots, I have walked with this bag on my shoulders for long periods. On my sports shoots, I sometimes start around 5 am and go non-stop on my feet walking through fields, sand dunes, and mud races for 10, 12, or even 14 hours. Having gear that hurts my back, neck, or shoulders is not going to work for me. With its movable strap design and extra padding on the back, the bag truly does surprisingly distribute the weight and make the load feel lighter and comfortable.

• The bag also comes with “external carry straps” which you can clip on to secure almost anything from a tripod to a giraffe (just kidding, I wanted to see if you were still reading).

Anti-Theft Features

In designing this bag, Peak Design even thought of making zippers that make it hard or impossible to fall prey to pickpockets. The zippers can slide through a loop, making it hard for a pickpocket to get in.

They also designed it so that you can tuck the zippers inside the bag, making them disappear completely.

Warranty

If you’ve read my reviews before, you know that I pay attention to warranties. To me, warranties either express to customers, “We got your money - now you’re on your own,” or “we are so confident in this product we guarantee your satisfaction.” The cubes come with a lifetime guarantee. That tells me that Peak Design knows this bag will last.

Unconventional Usages of the Bag Ecosystem

Since the cubes can be removed, you can use the “camera” bag as a waterproof backpack/duffle bag. Also, after packing my camera bag for my trip to shoot a commercial contract, I used the large cube to put my two strobes safely in my suitcase.

Carbon Zero and Fair Trade made

Peak Design gear is 100% carbon neutral. So is the entire Peak Design operation. That's what a climate-neutral label means. Peak Design co-founded Climate Neutral in 2019. It's a nonprofit that helps businesses measure, reduce, and offset their entire carbon footprint now, and not 20-30 years from now. Over 300 brands have joined the Climate Neutral ranks, including some big ones you've probably heard of.

My Only Wish List Change for the Next Version

My only disappointment in the bag was realizing there was no telescopic handle and wheels for rolling the bag when I had a flat surface. Traveling regularly, having the protruding handle and wheels feels like a lifesaver. This was the only feature that I missed from some of the other bags I had.

Conclusion

I absolutely loved this Tetris-transformer camera bag. It not only kept my gear safe and dry, but the system provided endless customization and organization. It could transform to meet each of my needs... and I'm not saying that I'm a needy woman, but let's just say my exes might think this is the perfect bag for me.

It was comfortable, and the lifetime warranty gives me confidence in its durability. I would love to see Peak Design apply this innovative design to something that rolls. Until then, I can confidently say that I have found a bag that, by some miracle, has helped me stay organized and adapt to the needs of each of my photoshoots.