Lowepro Primus Review
neil posted in Travel on November 6th, 2007
Lowepro Primus AW
My quest for the photo daypack that suits me has crossed continents and cost hundreds of pounds. The right blend of size, protection & comfort has been elusive. I’ve tried a Crumpler “The Shrinkle” which was brilliant but had strange pockets and lacked a waist strap. I bought a Dakine Sequence rucksack but its straps were’nt padded enough and it did’nt sit right. On a chance, shortly before a trip to Serbia, I plumped for the Lowepro Primus.
It’s the right size. Its cabin-baggagable on Easyjet and Ryanair and it can sit beneath the seat on a US puddlejumper (although you lose all legroom). It does’nt look giant when its loaded and can be made so suck itself in nicely carrying the essentials. It can carry a 1D mk2 with 70-200mm F2.8 (no hood) across its camera section while also holding a wide and a flash. With a smaller DSLR, like a D70, it can haul body, 18-70mm, 12-24mm, hard drive, flash, diffuser, spare batteries, charger & plug, cleaning towel, gels, electrical tape & cleaning kit. I often have the 1D across the compartment and the D70 with wide sat beneath it. Alternatively a Nikon 300mm f2.8 prime can be stowed alone. Thats just considering the camera compartment. Above that is a clothes/crap compartment that can swallow a weeks worth of lightweight clothing, guidebook, cereal bars and a haggis. Good enough to hand baggage only for a short break somewhere. The divider between the compartments can be removed to make a compartment the height of the bag if needed.
Access is the way I like it. Both the camera and the clothes compartments unzip from the rear. Crumpler have been doing this for ages and it makes good sense. No-one can get at your gear without going through you and putting your bag down to grab gear does’nt make the straps all mucky. Because it has a waist strap, you can even ditch the shoulders, spin the bag round and get at both compartments. A niggle here is that to fully open the clothes compartment, you have to unsnap two buckles on the shoulder straps. However you can slide a book in and out of it without doing this. The downside of back-access is that it can take longer to get your gear (compared to a shoulderbag). Lowepro have attempted to fix this with zipping side access to the camera compartment. Place your camera in lens first, unzip a semi-hidden flap and your camera can be pulled out one handed while the rucksack stays on your back. With a little practice this is a real boon. Shooting the Elie chainwalk I could draw the camera, shoot, then get it away again fast so I had two hands to climb with. It won’t quickdraw a 1D mkII however, the body is just too big for the hole.
On the outside there is a elasticated waterbottle/notepad holder, positioned so your water bottle might counter the asymmetry of your camera body. There is a tripod mount down the middle of the back which looks sturdy and adjusts in length. Most importantly there is the giant pocket of stuffing. Its a large flap attached to the bottom of the bag and secured to the sides and top by buckles. It’ll swallow a bulky fleece and has an interior elasticated pocket that neatly fits an OS map. It can also take a MacBook or similar sized laptop. Returning from Serbia it carried waterproof, microfleece, two bottles of Rakjia, notepad, pens and cereal bars. The waist strap has two loops for Street & Field addon cases and there is plenty of scope for hiding documents and money within the bag.
Straps are all nice and thick. The harness adjust system works pretty well. It sucks the pack to your back neatly and can be adjusted easily without taking the pack off. Because of the back access it can’t be jacked up and down like Lowepros bigger offerings.
Earning the AW part of its name is an All Weather cover that comfortably covers the bag fully loaded and can be cinched down to hold on tight. Remember all the back compartments are still accessable in this configuration.
The three things I don’t like about the bag are the lack of velcro on the top surface in the camera section, it limits the reconfigurability of the section somewhat. You can still put in dividers from other bags but they don’t attach firmly to the top. When closing the quickdraw flap the slack from another strap can get caught in the way and prevent its full closure, it still holds but there is still a small hole where the strap is blocking the zip. The final issue is a lack of a nice big “yank photographer out of danger” handle, though the back flap might serve if needs be. This has proved useful when travelling in the past.
All in all its versatile, tough, comfortable and what I’ll be using when I don’t need to bring the kitchen sink to a shoot. Its made from 51% recycled material and saves Polar Bears in its spare time. Seriously.
If you have any questions, shoot over to the contact page and drop me an email.
Questions so far
Q: Is this chairlift compatible? So many of the camera backpacks, because of their deep foam and inserts are not all that compatible for riding a chairlift. They are just too bulky.Any thoughts on this for the Primus?
A: For chairlifting its probably not perfect but its not too bulky considering its capacity. You can cinch the back down real tight but you’re stuck with the width of your camera plus the foam protecting it. Thats approximately 20cm. Of the camera bags I’ve seen so far it’d suit this best.
Q: I’m looking for something that is fairly trim for when I’m hoping from boat to boat or getting into a dinghy from a boat etc…What are your feelings on the size of this bag for those sorts of applications?
A: With all the straps on and fitted proper it does’nt move to much so it is probably pretty good for hopping around.
Q: I’ll also have to be taking my Macbook Pro along so I presume I’ll need a sleeve or something to protect that in this bag.Will it hold the 15″ macbook pro ok?
A: After trying with a Leonovo T61 15″ widescreen, it’ll take the laptop without a battery and sleeve so its not ideal for hauling a machine that size. Being right on the back of the bag is’nt good for hauling heavy objects anyhow. My 12″ Dell lives happily inside a macbook sleeve in the very back pocket. The pocket is reasonably padded and offers some protection.
Q: Is the waist-belt removable?
A: No, its part of the camera compartment door.
Q: Will the rain cover cover a tripod?
A: A small/compact tripod or a gorilla pod should be ok. It does’nt look like it will cover a full length tripod.
Q: Some other reviews mention the camera section is expandable, can you clarify this?
A: The camera compartment can be expanded into the top compartment by
removing an insert. You can then fit more stuff but there are’nt
velcro attachment points for foam spacers to keep stuff apart in the
top compartment. The top compartment is almost as well padded as the
bottom, only the compartment sides are not foam padded.