Digital Home Thoughts: RoadWired's Photo/Video System Bag

This is part two of my RoadWired Bag review, and this time I'm looking at the Photo/Video System Bag. It's a larger bag than the one I looked at previously, aimed squarely at people with larger DV cameras and DSLR cameras. Once again, a photo review looks at how I use the bag, what I pack in it, and how well it works for me in real-world scenarios.


Figure 1: The Roadwired Video Bag. Different from the Photo Bag, it has two smaller clasps on the front. It comes in black, and only black. Dimensions of the bag are 14"L x 8"H x 8"D, and it weighs three pounds. There's a zippered pouch on the front flap, inside which I keep various types of Firewire cables (6 pin to 6 pin, 6 pin to 4 pin, 4 pin to 4 pin, and a 6 pin to 4 pin adapter – I'm well prepared for any Firewire cabling scenario. ;-)


Figure 2: The main compartment. I took out the internal dividers to make room for my Canon GL2, a MiniDV camera that's significantly larger than most other cameras. Unfortunately, the GL2 is about an inch to long to fit properly in the case – the only way I can make it fit is to place it an angle, which results in it moving around in transit. Looks like I should have gone for the Photo/Video Pro Bag which is five inches longer, giving me much more space to work with.

Notice the yellow Velcro straps rolled up at the top of the main area – there's a thin covering that unfurls and can be zippered up, providing an extra layer of protection for your gear, especially useful in rainy environments. I keep the camera manual below the camera for those instances when I need a reminder of what the ND Filter does. ;-)

This didn't turn out very well in the photo, but there's a zippered pouch on the underside of the top flap. This area is perfect for my other cables – the main cable that connects the camera to composite video and audio sources, and a few assorted video/audio cables for connecting to other devices.


Figure 3: The front zippered pouch has a three-partition zippered area perfect for storing MiniDV tapes. I keep four blank tapes, a head-cleaning tape, and a MicroMV tape in case I run into a Sony camera in need of a video tape. ;-) The tapes just fit though – it's a little awkward trying to get them out. There are five elasticized holders here – I use one to hold my extended eyepiece, the remote control, and a pen. I don't know what the slender slots would be used for in the video world – I would have preferred to see a single, wider slot here. There's also enough space for to keep the shoulder strap in this area.


Figure 4: This area is exceptionally well-designed for my power equipment. There's a smaller pouch that's sealed off from the rest – I put all of my batteries in here: two of the standard BP-560's and one massive BP-980. The charger also fits in this area, along with the live power adapter – a device that plugs directly into the battery slot and allows the camera to run off AC power.


Figure 5: This pouch is dominated by a nylon pouch with a drawstring – I keep the neck strap in this pouch. The lens shield and AC power cord for the recharging unit go in the outer pocket.


Figure 6: There's one curious pouch here on the back of the bag that I've found no use for. The pouch is zippered off, but because of the way you'd hold this bag with the shoulder strap (leaning against your body), about the only thing you could put in this area is some paperwork or light cables. There's also a horizontal strap with a snap on it - perhaps for attaching the bag to something else? The stitch points don't look reinforced though, so I'm not convinced that's what this is for.


Figure 7: The Roadwired Video Bag, packed with all my gear.

Conclusion
As much as I like this bag, I can't help but think it wasn't as well-optimized as other Roadwired bags are. It could be that video equipment is more varied than photo or computing equipment, so it's harder to create the perfect video bag, but it's difficult to make a bag that works equally well for both photo and video. Some of the photo zones just don't make as much sense in the video world.

That quibble aside, the bag works very well for me – I shot quite a bit of video earlier this year, and the bag performed admirably. I was able to access my gear very quickly, and I felt confident that the bag would protect my gear from damage. It would be nice to see the bag come in livelier colours as well.

You can purchase the bag directly from Roadwired for $129.95, and if you're a paying subscriber, you can save $20 off the price!