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Our friends at MindShift Gear have just released two new backpacks for outdoor photography. The SidePath, which weighs in at 1.6 lbs (0.7 kg), holds one large Mirrorless body and one to two standard zoom lenses or primes, or a compact DSLR and one to two lenses, or a DSLR (5DMIII or D750) with one standard zoom or two primes. It’s a great “grab and go” bag. The TrailScape provides all-day comfort while carrying up to a 300mm f/2.8. Don’t forget that you receive free shipping from MindShift. MindShift Gear’s New SidePath Outdoor Photography Backpack Offers Rear-panel Opening for Smaller Camera Gear SANTA ROSA, CALIF – One of the greatest challenges outdoor photographers face is how to carry their smaller, and yet still sophisticated and expensive camera gear in a backpack of sufficient quality to endure the rigors of the wilds. To meet their needs, MindShift Gear has released the SidePath, a lightweight outdoor photography backpack that features superior materials and construction. The Sidepath’s contoured back panel with lumbar support, air-channel, lightweight harness, and adjustable sternum strap provide all day comfort. The backpack is constructed with P600D and 420D nylon, high quality YKK zippers, 420D high-density nylon with re-enforced stress points for long-lasting durability and strength. At one-and-a half-pounds, the SidePath is a great grab-and-go bag that can be used for landscape, travel, a day out, or anything in between. Rear panel access keeps gear secure and the harness clean. A roomy zippered compartment fits a 10” tablet and all the supplies needed for a one-day adventure. ADDITIONAL FEATURES AND BENEFITS Soft-sided design looks like a daypack and not a bulky camera bag Integrated tripod/monopod/trekking pole mounting system on sides Two oversized stretch water bottle pockets Fits a DSLR, compact DSLR, and Mirrorless camera systems Adjustable dividers enable multiple camera case configurations Seam-sealed rain cover included for downpour conditions High quality YKK zippers, 420D high-density nylon with reinforced stress points for long lasting durability and strength Zippered interior pocket to organize small items Highly breathable three-layer shoulder straps for all day comfort GEAR CAPACITY Holds 1 large (un-gripped) Mirrorless body and 1-2 standard zoom lenses or primes Holds 1 compact DSLR (Rebel, 3300 or 5300 series) and 1-2 lenses Holds 1 DSLR (5DMIII or D750) with 1 standard zoom or 2 primes Fits up to a 10” tablet 8 liters of capacity for personal gear Maximum lens size: DSLR: 24-70mm f/2.8 attached to a D750 or 6D MATERIALS Exterior: For superior water resistance, all exterior fabric has a durable water-repellant coating, plus the underside of the fabric has a polyurethane coating. The backpack also has high-quality YKK® RC-zippers, 420D Velocity nylon, 600D poly, 320G UltraStretch mesh, 350G airmesh, nylon webbing, 3-ply bonded nylon thread. Interior: 200D poly, high-density nylex, high-density closed-cell foam, 3-ply bonded nylon thread. SPECIFICATIONS External Dimensions: 10.6” W x 19” H x 5.9” D (26 x 47 x 15 cm) Camera Compartment: 9.1” W x 6.7” H x 5.5” D (24 x 15 x 14 cm) Tablet Slot: 8.3” W x 9.8” H x 0.6” D (22 x 25 x 2 cm) Total Volume: 14L Weight: 1.6 lbs (0.7 kg) (includes rain cover) ORDER THIS BAG MindShift Gear’s New TrailScape is Outdoor Photographers’ “Go To” Backpack SANTA ROSA, CALIF – MindShift Gear’s new TrailScape backpack balances outdoor photographers’ desire to have access to their essential photo gear while maintaining a slim and compact profile. The TrailScape fits a complete camera system, including a 70-200mm f/2.8 attached with hood in the shooting position. With its multiple lash points, photographers can carry extra gear, such as a light jacket and lunch. And, its laptop and tablet slots allow them to use this as their “go to” backpack while in transit. “At MindShift, we are focused on meeting the needs of outdoor enthusiasts who are often carrying sophisticated and expensive electronics deep into the wild. What they seek are protection and comfort,” said Doug Murdoch, MindShift Gear’s CEO and Lead Designer. “The TrailScape’s removable webbing waistbelt helps stabilize the bag while active and its contoured back panel with lumbar support and robust harness provide for all day comfort.” ADDITIONAL FEATURES AND BENEFITS Dedicated quick access smartphone/sunglasses pocket Tripod/monopod/hiking pole mounting system on sides Two large water bottle pockets with cinch cord Seamless rain cover included for downpour conditions Side compression straps for additional lash points Adjustable dividers to customize the interior for DSLR or Mirrorless kit Interior zippered pockets for batteries, cards, filters and other accessories Easy-grip zipper pulls for wet or cold conditions Organizer pockets for pens, flashlight and business cards GEAR CAPACITY Holds 1 standard-size DSLR and 4-6 standard zoom lenses Holds 2 large mirrorless body and 5-7 lenses plus a flash Maximum lens size: 300mm f/2.8 Examples: Nikon D810 with 70-200mm f/2.8 attached to a body and the hood in the shooting position and 2-3 additional lenses Canon 5DMIII with 24-70mm f/2.8 attached and 4-6 additional lenses Sony a7mII with 70-200mm f/4 attached and 5-6 additional lenses MATERIALS Exterior: For superior water resistance, all exterior fabric has a durable water-repellant coating, plus a polyurethane coating on the underside of the fabric. The backpack also features the highest-quality abrasion-resistant YKK® RC zippers, 420D velocity nylon, 600D poly, 320G DuraStretch mesh, 350G airmesh, nylon webbing, and 3-ply bonded nylon thread. Interior: P200D lining, high-density nylex with stiffened backing, hexa-mesh pockets, high-density closed-cell foam, PE board reinforcement, and 3-ply bonded nylon thread. SPECIFICATIONS Exterior: 9.8” W x 18.1” H x 7.1” D (25 × 46 × 18 cm) Interior: 9.4” W x 17.3” H x 4.8” D (24 × 44 × 12 cm) Laptop: 8.9” W x 14.2” H x 1.2” D (22.7 × 36 × 3 cm) Tablet: 8.5” W x 9.8” H x 0.8” D (21.5 × 25 × 2 cm) Weight: 2.8 lbs. (1.3 kg) ORDER THIS BAG If you'd like to order one of these bags please make sure to use our Fotozones links so that we can receive a commission on the sale. Press Releases:

If you're like me, when you get into something you get in with both feet and get totally wet. It's been like that since I got my first mirrorless camera a couple of years ago, the original Olympus Pen E-P1. I now find myself on my 4th mirrorless body, the charming little Olympus OM-D E-M5 and it seems to want to surround itself with lots of shiny little attachable bits. I've now got 5 lenses (and a Nikon F mount adapter) for the micro four thirds system and still find myself looking at not only other lenses for the OM-D, but also other systems like the Fuji X-trans system as possible future companions. Some call it GAS (gear acquisition syndrome) while others, the learned kind who spend their days sitting around in leather chairs listening to the troubles of others, probably call it obsession, or psychosis, or something worse. Whatever you call it, when you get it you get it and unless its life threatening just go with it, man. So while I have all these little cameras and their offspring running my life, a rather serious problem presents itself. When I go out with the mirrorless system what bag do I carry it in to protect its whole family? Now this problem is even worse than deciding what cameras and lenses to buy in the first place, because nobody has found the perfect solution yet. All we photographers can do is continue to buy camera bags and hope that eventually we'll stumble upon one that is perfect for our needs. I can hear this little voice in my head saying "Good luck with that" as I type these words. With mirrorless camera systems the conundrum is that most camera bags have been designed for DSLR's and their chunky bits. The compartments are just too big for the smaller system lenses. They will flail about inside the average camera bag and that's never good. The alternative is to get a smaller bag. However until recently most smaller bags were just too small to accommodate a reasonably comprehensive mirrorless system with say, ahem... five lenses and maybe an extra body. Conundrums. This is what seems to drive the guys over at ThinkTank. Recently they introduced a new range of camera bags they're calling the Mirrorless Movers. There are 4 of them in total, each a different size, starting with the very small Mirrorless Mover 5 and going up to the Mirrorless Mover 30i, which is the one they very kindly sent me for this review. Those of you familiar with my posts here will recall that only a few weeks ago I obtained the ThinkTank Retrospective 5, which I absolutely adore. This has been as close as dammit to providing a good solution for my burgeoning m43 system while still retaining a good degree of cool, but since I got the Olympus 75/1.8 things have gotten a little tight in there. I can still fit the whole system in the bag, but the problem is accessibility. I have to lie the lenses down on their sides and in protective pouches on top of each other if I am going to fit the whole lot inside. It's workable, but a little impractical because the opening to the bag is designed to flap towards your body, so invariably I find that I have to lay it down somewhere and rummage through it if the lens I want is at the bottom. This isn't always possible depending on my location. So enter the Mirrorless Mover 30i. If you look at it, there doesn't appear to be a whole lot of external size difference to the Retrospective 5, but it adopts a slightly different approach to carrying around your mirrorless kit. The top flap is zippered and it flaps outwards from your body which means that accessibility is vastly improved if you don't want to lay the bag down to get something out of it. It also has more head room, so you can put longer things into it than is the case with the Retro5. I had absolutely no problem getting my entire kit into the bag with room for at least another couple of small lenses and probably an unmounted GF-1 too. There are some nice touches with this bag, but there are also some things that I think could be improved on. Let me elaborate. Good Features As with all the ThinkTank products build quality is superb. They use only the best materials and it shows. The bag looks smart. Inside the main section they have supplied three slightly U-shaped velcro padded dividers, one of which doubles as a little pouch that you can slip your smart phone into. That same divider also has sleeves for a couple of memory cards, which is a very good idea. I can't begin to tell you how often I have turned my camera bags inside out to try and find a memory card that I knew was hiding in a compartment there somewhere. Keeping them in the main part of the bag is an improvement. In addition to the sleeved internal divider for your iPhone (or equivalent), there is a sleeve in the bag into which you can put your full size iPad. Hence the "i" in the model number. I suppose this is pretty cool for those people who experience separation anxiety when it comes to being away from their iPads, but for me I only use my iPad at home and in bed, so I'll probably use this sleeve to put other slimline objects into. Come to think of it, there are probably more than a few people I know who would buy this bag specifically for their iPads (which they use as cameras) and then store other things where cameras and lenses would normally go. I wouldn't be surprised at all to see that happening. The 30i has a belt loop around the back which means that you could attach it to your person using a regular belt, or if you don't want your pants falling down, use one of ThinkTank's special purpose system belts. The shoulder strap has a padded section that slides along the strap so you can adjust its position for comfort. It also clips on and off really easily using high quality anodised metal clips - the kind that swivel so that you'll never have a tangled up strap. I like this feature a lot. Around each side of the bag you'll find little pockets. On the right side the pocket is made of a stretchy neoprene type fabric. You're able to squeeze something bigger in there and I have discovered that this is probably the best place to put my F-mount to m43 adapter (which would otherwise be taking up valuable space inside the bag's main compartment. The pocket on the other side of the 30i is not stretchy as it's made from the same material as the rest of the bag. It does have a bit of a fold in it for expansion, so it would probably be a good place to put smaller things in. The front of the bag has an external flap that covers a zippered flap in which you'll find the bag's raincoat and some space for other objects like keys, wallets, etc. This external flap has small circular magnets in it that secure it to the main body of the bag. This is where I think the design has gone a little bit wayward. I don't see the point in the flap. It doesn't serve any purpose other than to hold the ThinkTank logo. There isn't a pouch or slip place that you can store anything in it either, so to me its just a bit of a waste. Room For Improvement Functionally the bag works well, but in using it there are some areas that if improved on could make this an even better bag. Dividers As with the Retrospective 5 only the long parts of the interior have material that you can attach velcro to, which restricts the configuration options for the internal dividers. If there was soft velcro anchor material around the entire interior I could probably avoid using the lens pouches that I am using so that I can put two lenses in each compartment. It would also be better if the dividers themselves could anchor to one another as that would give you a lot more configuration options. A minor niggle, but hopefully the designers will think about doing that for the next incarnation. In fact, if they wanted to they could provide an insert for the whole inner of the bag that could be bought as an add-on to make the bag more functional in this way right now. Main Flap The main flap of the 30i opens outwardly, which is great, but while I was using it I thought of a way to make this work even better. What if they were to sew in a couple of loose pockets onto it that could serve as a lens changing zone? So the lens you're switching to gets held temporarily in position there and the one you're taking off goes into the neighbouring pocket. This would be especially helpful if you're toting a bag full of lenses and would help me a lot with my aforementioned problem of having to put bags down to change lenses. Zippers ThinkTank have made mention of the fact that they use YKK zippers on this range of bags, which is great, however the thing I love most about my Retro5 is it's lack of zippers. The zippers do make it a bit more clumsy to open and close your bag and almost always require the use of both hands, whereas a loose flap attached by velcro is easier to open. Conclusion The Mirrorless Mover 30i is a great little bag that provides you with enough room to carry a substantial mirrorless camera system. As can be seen from the images I have taken for this review, mine has the OM-D with the full HLD-6 grip, plus Olympus 75/1.8, Samyang 7.7mm fisheye, Panasonic 14-45mm, Panasonic 45-175mm and Panasonic Leica 45/2.8 Macro in it. I could probably also stash a large flash in there on top of the lenses. It also serves as a very significant home for my recently acquired Nikon D3100 with 18-55mm kit lens, which is probably what it will end up becoming a permanent home for. If ThinkTank were to make this bag in the same material as the Retro5 and with the minor changes I mentioned, I think I would be in seventh heaven. On the whole though it's a great bag and I think many mirrorless shooters will be happy with it. All images © Dallas Dahms For those of you interested in the technical details of these product shots, I used my Olympus OM-D with the Panasonic/Leica 45mm f/2.8 Macro-Elmarit. Lighting was provided by two Nikon speedlights set to SU-4 mode and triggered with the clip on flash on the Olympus (set to 1/64 manual). Product supplied by ThinkTankPhoto. COMPETITION And now for some good news! ThinkTank have very kindly sponsored Fotozones.com with a brand new Mirrorless Mover 30i as a prize for a photographic challenge, so if you'd like to win one of these great bags valued at US$69.75 here's what you have to do: Create an image and post it as a reply to this review here on Fotozones, or on our Facebook pages for Fotozones.com or Photographers.travel. The theme for the challenge is... Think Mirrorless You can interpret this theme in anyway you want. The most original interpretation will be our winner, as chosen by Fotozones.com staff. Here are the rules and some guidelines on how to enter. 1. Register as a member of Fotozones. If you aren't already a member, sign up to register an account, or use your Facebook account to create a user account here. If you sign up from Facebook you will have to accept the Fotozones.com Facebook app so that we can access your details and automatically create the account. 2. Add the Annual Subscription using the coupon code "thinktank" when you sign up, or anytime after you sign up. This will give you a 100% discount off the annual subscription price for the first year. We don't automatically charge for renewals so if you don't want to renew at the end of your first year, that's cool, nothing will happen other than your account level will change back to normal. Using this subscription will give you the permission to add attachments to your posts, which is important if you want to enter this challenge, because if we can't see your image, well, you're not going to be in the running. Hotlinked images are allowed, but you need to make sure your host allows hotlinking to occur. 3. The competition will run until 30 June 2013, which gives you some time to get out there and think mirrorless. 4. The judges decision is final. Please don't challenge it. 5. The winner will need to provide us with a real name, delivery address and contact telephone number. ThinkTank will ship the prize directly to you from California so if you are not a resident of the United States you may have to pay taxes in your local country for the importing of the Mirrorless Mover 30i. By entering this competition you acknowledge that you are OK with that and that the costs of such taxes will be for your own account. 6. Only one entry per member is permitted. Please don't sign up multiple times as that may disqualify you from the competition. Oh yes, make sure you Like our Facebook page too for extra Brownie Points. (just kidding, this is not a condition of entry, but we would be very happy if you'd let more people know about us)