Peak Design Camera Cube (Medium)

Product Information

Like many adventure-style bags, the camera access is from the rear. That’s fine if you’re planning on taking time to set up, but if you’re on the trail and see something interesting, you’ll have to take off the bag to access your camera. Ian from Shimoda sent me the Explore to review, and I was immediately impressed. You could see that a ton of thought had gone into it, which isn’t surprising given his past experience at F-Stop Gear and his love for both photography and mountaineering. If you already have a favorite go-to bag and want to use it for photo shoots, camera inserts can help maximize your available space. Keeping lenses, spare batteries, and flash attachments in separate padded sections helps to safeguard them from bumps and crashes, saving you from costly equipment damage. Streamlined inserts look and function much like a padded lunchbox with dedicated sleeves and compartments sized specifically for camera accessories. Several inserts feature rip-stop and water-resistant fabrics so items stay clean, dry, and scuff-free. Please complete the form below for a quote - Please be as accurate as possible to help us give an accurate quote.

The 15″ protective laptop sleeve has a unique adjustable feature, making sure those with smaller laptops can easily retrieve their device, without having to ‘fish’ for it. If I had to guess, while the Large will continue to be the choice for professionals and camera enthusiasts requiring a full suite of organisation, the XSmall and SMedium may end up being the most popular due to the XSmall’s compact size to attach a SlideLite Strap onto, and the Smedium potentially being friendlier for some 20-30L bags. The camera compartment is a bit small and doesn’t really hold much. If you’re a 3-lens user like I am then you’ll probably be a bit disappointed. It also doesn’t hold larger cameras or larger lenses. For example, it won’t fit the Canon EOS 1D/1Ds/1Dx Mark II, Nikon D4/D4s/D5 and Sony Alpha A850/A900. But, for those who go mirrorless and/or don’t need more than 2 lenses, you’ll probably be fine. While not exactly unique, the hydration-system compatibility is appreciated and fairly rare in camera bags. To top it all off, everything is made from 100% recycled post-consumer material! In fact, Peak Design are climate neutral certified, aiming to reduce emissions from within its operations and supply chain.As I mentioned above, I am a huge fan of Peak Design, and I see no reason to curb my excitement and trust based on changes in the second version of the Peak Design Medium Camera Cube. The new design decisions seem to be focused on improving the use of the Peak Design Camera Cubes with Peak Design’s Travel Line bags, allowing for a wider opening on the top, a better fit inside of the Travel Line bags, and lighter inside color to aid one in identifying their camera gear inside of any of the Peak Design Travel Line bags. The only exception to this is the incorporation of Peak Design’s weatherproof UltraZips which will add value when a Peak Design Camera Cube is used as a standalone camera bag. Although the Jumper is small, you can fit a surprising amount of gear in it – I managed to squeeze my full-frame camera, drone, 14″ laptop and two medium-sized lenses, plus a load of smaller gadgets. It’s more of an everyday camera bag than something that professionals with multiple camera bodies would use. A camera insert (aka camera bag dividers) is a protective shell in a camera bag that surrounds your equipment with padded dividers to prevent it from moving around in transit. V2 adds two new sizes you can find the Camera Cubes, making a total of five different loadout setups to choose from: XSmall, Small, SMedium, Medium, and Large. Like the V1, it’s made of weatherproof 100% recycled 400D nylon canvas shell and burly #8 coated ultra zippers.

Following their success with the original PRVKE, WANDRD has created a larger product lineup under the same name. They’ve even created accompanying camera cubes, which we’ll be looking at in this review—mainly the Essential Deep Camera Cube. WANDRD Essential Deep Camera Cube | It’s an accessory, but how does it fare on its own? The camera-carrying portion of the F-Stop Ajna uses removable ICUs (Internal Camera Units) and can hold up to a Large Pro. Depending on how you configure it, the Pro can hold 1-2 camera bodies and 4-6 lenses (a couple of long lenses plus smaller ones), plus other goodies. Need more space for hiking essentials? Choose a smaller ICU like the Slope or the Shallow. (All sold separately.) Zippers feel great and slide easily 270 degrees around the contours of the bag, with large grab handles that feel sturdy. The Flipside has a bit of an understated look to it, which is helpful if you’re not wanting it to be unduly noticed. No real x-factor though. The grab handles at both sides of the rear are a great inclusion too. The tripod holder is at the front of the bag, which is pretty unique – most offer a tripod holder at the bottom, which makes the bag impossible to stand up and clunky to put down.These inserts are often adjustable so that you can remove and reposition them depending on the size of your camera, lenses, and other accessory storage requirements. The Tarion doesn’t hold a huge amount of gear. That’s good if you want to keep things light, but not so good if you travel with multiple cameras/bulky lenses. It fits 1-2 camera bodies (only one with an attached lens), 1 telephoto lens, and 2-4 other lenses. It can also fit a DJI Mavic Pro. Camera inserts are modular in design, meaning you can tailor the layout to fit your specific cameras and lenses, along with accessories such as memory cards and spare batteries. Capacity: 20L (+3) | Dimensions: 12.60 x 9.96 x 19.29 in (32 x 25.3 x 49 cm) | Weight: 3.31 lbs (1.5 kg)

It takes some practice to flip it around and access the camera compartment without taking the bag off. Otherwise, everything is standard. As mentioned above, all of the Peak Design Camera Cubes for both versions have integrated webbing loops, two on each side, which allow one to use Peak Design’s anchors which enable the using of any of the sold separately Peak Design camera straps, or the external carry straps which come with some of the Peak Design travel bags, to carry around the camera cube all by itself. With some of the larger camera cubes the location of these webbing loops support stand-alone side entry as well. You can count on Peak Design for top-quality construction and the Zip is no different – the 100% recycled 400D nylon canvas shell is DWR impregnated, weatherproof and features a double PU-coating made from Bluesign certified materials. Can fit 1-2 mirrorless, DSLR or Cine cameras with 5-7 lenses up to a 300mm f/2.8, a laptop up to 15″, a compact drone and a tripod via a reinforced cup on the exterior.

Final thoughts

YKK Aquaguard zippers, DWR, 420D Ripstop Nylon with TPU laminate and Hypalon detailing – there’s not actually much to the F-Stop Dalston, but what there is is well-made. I can’t imagine much going wrong with this bag. The Anvil 27 has room for everything you need on a wilderness trek, at least as far as photography is concerned. The camera compartment has space for larger DSLRs with battery grips and/or with zoom lenses up to 18″ (35.56 cm) long attached to them. There’s plenty of space for extra lenses, flashes, chargers, etc. as well. Instead of the previous YYK zippers which were very nice but not weatherproof, the new cubes have very nice weatherproof zippers. I think the new zippers are Peak Design’s own UltraZips, and as expected, they are buttery smooth. I can see nothing wrong with that. In addition, these improved zippers will clearly increase the protection of the cube when used outside of one of the larger, more protective, Peak Design Travel Line bags.