Kinesis Gear - any experience?

[ray_g]

In particular, with the E330 pouch http://kinesisgear.com/e.html. They advertise it as being ideal for Contax G or Leica RF systems. Anyone use it?

 

[John Camp]

Yeah, I've got a whole system that I bought to carry Nikon stuff around. It's extremely well-made, and though I don't have that exact bag, if they say it's good for a Leica, it probably is. It's a dedicated system: the bags are made to go on a padded waist belt, and are hooked on by a kind of metal-clip system with special clips on both the belt and the bag. Once on, they won't come off accidently; you could fall off the Matterhorn and you wouldn't have to worry about the bags coming loose. They have a wide range of bags, for carrying all kinds of stuff including water bottles, CF cards, rolls of film, accessories, etc.

I don't use mine anymore. For one thing, when you're wearing it, you look like you just jumped out of an airplane: the airborne ranger look...like you're carrying a weapons system. The belt's four inches wide and heavily padded and where I was working at the time I bought it, hot. And when I was up north in the woods, it got hung up on brush. And as I said, when you're downtown, *everybody* looks at you. Probably work okay if you were in a bullpen with a lot of other photogs, but in that situation, a vest is probably just as good. If you decide you want to go with it, I know where you can get one cheap. 😎

JC

 

[ray_g]

I emailed them and this particular pouch's dimensions should make it smaller than a regular waistpack/fanny pack or the domke f5x. It can also be used with a regular pants belt, and doesn't need the special belt.

I figured it could do double duty to protect a body and a couple of lenses when I carry those in a larger, non-camera bag like in my older post.

If you know where I can get an E330 cheap, I'd appreciate the heads-up. 😉

 

[John Camp]

I don't know where you can get one cheap; I just have the set I bought for my Nikon gear. I'll get back to you later on this, tonight or tomorrow, but I think that generic belt flap is actually two independent flaps, held together in a belt loop with Velcro. That makes it adjustable to any belt size, and given Kinesis' quality, it probably works fine, but I don't entirely trust Velcro holders. I'll check tonight when I get home...

Somebody else on this forum suggested buying little neoprene bags from the Target auto section to hold Leica lenses, and I want to thank him for that -- I bought the last five at a local Target, and they're perfect. And while browsing through a big outdoor-sports store and through various departments in Target, I was amazed at the number of small bags available. Kinesis is good, but before I bought one, I'd check my local fishing/hunting/archery/camping store. Bet you could find something just as good.

JC

 

[John Camp]

Whoops. I was wrong about the Velcro thing on Kinesis bags. The belt loop on the back of the bags is made out of black elastic, and would indeed take most all generic belts (anything that would fit in jeans.)

JC