I’m talking about Think Tank Photo’s Retrospective 5 V2.0 shoulder bag. This bag does everything for me. This bag holds everything for me.
As a woman, it’s very difficult to find a good camera bag that does it all, while also looking stylish. I’ve looked over all of the usual suspects, including Peak Design, Jil-E, ONA, LowePro, Domke, Jo Totes, Kelly Moore, and F-Stop Gear, and have found them lacking in one way or another. I’ve found that a lot sacrifice style over substance, and while style is important to me, there are other more important factors to consider.
The key factor in choosing a camera bag is functionality - it must hold everything for me: camera, a Leica Q2; accessories such as extra batteries, memory cards, maybe a flash when I pick one up, and; personal items such as my wallet, keys, pens, eyeglasses, iPhone. The Retrospective 5 V2.0 does this in spades, with all of its pockets and main compartment room. Its 9.5” W x 7.8” H x 4.9” D internal dimensions hold lots of stuff in a space that is neither too small nor too large, but just right for the female photographer.
There are so many pockets to store your stuff in this bag. The front of the bag, as seen above, has a velcro-locked front pocket, which opens to a nice space to store things like extra batteries or even makeup, depending on what you are carrying. Within this big pocket is a zippered storage pocket where you can even put more items. The main compartment has a velcro-locked space that can carry a 9-inch tablet, notebook or other items. On the right side of the bag, there is even a beverage bottle holder.
The bag itself overall I feel is very stylish and has a relatively small form factor. The bag is made of sand-washed cotton canvas that has a durable water-repellant and polyurethane coating, and is very soft and formable. The exterior dimensions are 10”W by 8.5”H by 6”D, and it weighs in at 2 lbs. The bag is available in Pinestone - my bag’s color - or in black. The bag retails for $159.75, and in my opinion, is worth every penny!
Think Tank Photo does have several sizes in their Retrospective line, in addition to a full line of various camera bags, cases and numerous accessories to carry just about anything, Check them out at www.thinktankphoto.com. I was not reimbursed for this review.