Hello. My name is Roël and I am a bagoholic…

When I first got into professional photography, one of my colleagues told me that photographers are bagoholics. You see, we are constantly in search of the perfect camera bag which unfortunately, does not exist. As a result, we end up with several and continually search for that elusive perfect bag!

I use a number of different bags for different purposes: a shoulder bag for weekend getaways; a backpack for overseas trips; and a photojournalist vest for when I want to carry a lot of equipment on me during a fast paced event. Even my long telephoto lenses come with their own backpacks!

As a wedding photographer, I often put in long days and since my back is not as strong as it used to be, my gear becomes heavier and harder to carry by the end of the night. I am also paranoid about theft: it is very easy for someone to walk off during the wedding reception with my camera gear or even steal something out of my bag when I am focussed (pardon the pun) on photographing the happy couple and their guests.

I have seen travellers dragging lockable roller bags in airports and thought that would be a great idea: a roller bag that is also camera bag. On a long day, I could just drag my equipment along…

Several manufacturers make such bags and the one that got my attention was the recently released Think Tank Airport Security roller bag. If you want to know all its features, go to Think Tank’s website and download the PDF file.

This bag is HUGE and holds practically all of my gear which is quite a feat. If you read my post on African Safari Photo Equipment, I got everything from that trip into this bag with no trouble. I was even able to put in the items my wife carried plus a few other goodies such as flash units, medium length primes – and there is still some room to spare! In terms of size, the Airport Security roller bag is the maximum legal carry on size for Canadian and US airlines.

It is very well made, sturdy and well padded. Think Tank includes a generous number of padded dividers (with velcro) of varying shapes and sizes so you will have no problem customizing the bag to your needs. This bag is essentially the same as their Airport Addicted backpack – except Think Tank removed a lot of padding and added wheels, a pull out handle, a sturdy frame, a security cable and combination locks. Once you start experimenting and use the Airport Security roller bag, you will soon discover that it is well designed for the travelling photographer.

It can covert to a backpack but it would be like strapping a refridgerator onto your back. Think Tank does have the necessary straps built in just in case you need this option, however, I would not want to carry this bag for very long this way.

Just a word of caution: when you first open and configure the Airport Security bag, do it in private. There are so many features with this bag that you actually have to read the manual to figure out and use everything!

Alas, my bag arsenal is complete… at least for now!