I try to stay fast and light in the mountains. This is the reason I use Mirrorless Micro 4/3rds gear. But what is the point of having all this gear if you don’t have it with you? As you know I am a huge, Huge, HUGE fan of MindShift Gear’s Trail Rotation 180 pack. That pack has done more for my photography than any other piece of gear I have owned. It is designed for a camera, lens and your outdoor gear. But sometimes you want to go out and have all your lenses to follow your photographic heart. When I went looking for a pack to carry multiple lenses and a tripod I immediately looked at MindShift Gear and picked up the MindShift Gear FirstLight 20L. I mean you never know when you’ll see a moose on the trail, having your 7-14mm is not going to help you get that pic!
I just wanted to share that pic of a moose, look at that fellow! If you are too impatient to read the whole review, lets just get to it; this bag looks great, works great and is built to last. You should buy it.
The FirstLight 20L is the smallest in the FirstLight line. It has room for all of your lenses, flashes, bodies, etc. I can fit the OMD-EM1 with the 40-150 PRO with MC-14 mounted with room to spare. In the pic below I have the Olympus 7-14 PRO, Olympus 12-40 PRO, Olympus 60mm Macro and a spare wind breaker in the storage area. In the top right of the picture is the included full coverage rain cover.
The inside of the main pocket has 3 zippered areas for your filters, batteries, cards, lens cloths, etc.
The pack features a neat system to carry a tripod with hide-away attachments at the top and bottom.
All these functions and this yet it is streamlined for time on the trail or on the plane.
I use a small 3 Legged Thing Punks tripod which doesn’t fit snugly in the integrated straps. So I attach it to the webbing on the bottom. The front flap has two pockets. A top pocket the fits flatter items or a laptop. I carry food and a first aid kit in the pocket for the most part.
Just showing how deep the pocket is.
The FirstLight 20L has a side pocket for things like gloves, maps etc.
The pack also has side expanding pockets that will fit up to a 32oz Nalgene.
The side pockets can also be used to fit your monopod, tripod or in my case dog leashes and a monopod!
The side of the pack has compression straps . And this is pretty neat, they have locking cams to keep the straps from loosening
What about the COMPUTER? How does it fit? If I put in a laptop does it render the rest of the front of the bag useless? How is the volume? How does the weight carry? When you're away for extended time-how do the intangible usability of the bag fare? Compared to say Osprey?
Hey Laurence – I can fit a 15" Macbook Pro in the pack in the front padded sleeve. It is made for it, so the rest of the packs retains functionality. As for volume it is 20L, but the bulk of that is for camera gear. For instance I usually don't fill it with all my lenses, so I have put a coat and vest each in stuff sacks in the pockets.
As for durability, it is beyond the quality of Osprey. As an example I have been using the Mindshift Gear Trail Rotation 180L roughly 5 times a week for the last 4 years mountain biking and it still looks brand new. I can't say that of my last Osprey hydro pack.
Cheers,
-Joe