Exploring the Excellence of Think Tank (Photo) Bags
===

​[00:00:00] 

Hello friends, how are you today? I wanna talk about another thing that is why I use certain brands for certain things. For example, in my last episode on Photo Breakdown, I talked about my shift from Lexar and SanDisk to ProGrade brand memory cards, and there's an equal. But different, [00:01:00] accessory for my camera equipment that I am obsessed with the brand.

I am obsessed with, the people behind the company. The reason why they did what they did, the reason why they still do what they do, the many products they make, the quality and so on. Now. I have to look up the original company of what, the designers from this bag manufacturer came from. they came from a company, similar story to that of, ProGrade, how they came from another brand.

I don't know why I can't think of the name of the brand, where they came from. I'm gonna see if I can figure it out at some point, maybe right now. Alright. It took a little Google searching, but I finally figured it out. Okay, here's the thing. Think Tank Photo, also known as Think Tank. they also have an aside, a sister company called Mindshift Gear that became [00:02:00] under the Think Tank brand, but like a line of products.

There's been, there's some confusion, but also it's pretty streamlined at the same time. so here's the deal, my friends, here is the deal. The original designers or the people behind Think Tank, the design team that originally started the company, the owners of the company, they left, LowePro.

They worked for LowePro as designers. And I'm not gonna even hypothesize what happened at LowePro, but they left LowePro and they started Think Tank Photo. Now I have been using Think Tank photo since it came to the industry. I don't remember what year that was. See if I can figure that out from their website real quick.

probably around 2005 or so, somewhere around there I was working at a company that had a family owned camera store. They did a variety of things, but they had a retail storefront. And at the time when Think Tank was coming out. [00:03:00] They asked me to sit in on this and see my thoughts in the bag or bags, plural.

And we became, the store became one of the first in the United States family owned stores to carry the Think Tank products. And the cool part is that Think Tank at the time did not wanna be in any big box stores. They did not wanna be in Best Buy. They did not want to be in b and h. They did not want to be in Aama.

Or any of the other very large corporate camera stores. They wanted to be in the family owned camera stores. So for years, that's what happened. They were only in the family owned camera stores. Now time goes by times change. Amazon becomes like the most popular bla so of course they're going to shift their, their means in order to stay in business and to strive and to grow, et cetera.

kudos them for adapting to what they needed to stay in business. Now, why I love Think Tank, first and foremost, the designers behind Think Tank, as I said, [00:04:00] came from another camera brand or, camera bag company that they knew how to design. Second, they use the absolute best possible quality materials.

They're designed for photographers. Videographers and they don't have frills necessarily that other companies might add things that aren't necessarily needed. they have the necessities that camera bags need. They also offer a wide range of styles of bags and designs of bags that all are similar on the inside, but the outside.

Might not look like a camera bag or it might look like a camera bag, or if you like colors, you can get a certain line that has color options versus just black or whatever the other color might be for by default, they're comfortable, high quality materials, and when I say high quality materials, I say they're so high quality that if something fails, a zipper, breaks [00:05:00] a wheel is damaged.

If they have a no rhetoric, lifetime warranty, meaning you are buying whatever bag or bags you buy from Think Tank once. Once, of course, years and years, you're not going to, if you buy a bag in 2005 when they first came out. It's now 20 years later, right At the time we're recording this, it is 2025.

No way are you going to ask for a lifetime warranty replacement of something 20 years old, but you could, that is the amazing part. You could if you really wanted to. So Think Tank stands behind their products big time. So at one point one of the founders of Think Tank created a sister company called Mindshift Gear, which was more for the outdoors photographers, lighter materials, thinner materials, rip stop materials, and some other designs that are better suited for wildlife and travel rather than the [00:06:00] typical, for any other photographer.

And. That company was doing well, but I guess at one point they realized they didn't need two brands, so they brought the separate brand into the Think Tank brand as a line of products. So now what you can get from Think Tank are backpacks and there's multiple styles of backpack. Their modular belt system, which I also love the fact that their belt system works perfectly with spider holster.

So if you're a spider holster person and you have the Think Tank belt system, you could use them at the same time. Beautiful. They have, roller cases that are with skateboard and roller blade type wheels that are replaceable by you if you really want to. And some of their backpacks, some of their rollers also double as backpacks.

They have lighting studio cases, light stand studio cases, hard, but still fabric based cases, beautiful, tons of [00:07:00] pouches, filter cases, memory wallets. in fact, there's a lot of companies who actually license their wallet and put their o the other company's logo on it. Sometimes you might be buying a wallet from another company and you're actually buying a Think Tank wallet and you don't even realize it.

And that's pretty freaking cool. camera cubes and gear pouches. And lens pouches and battery holders, you name it, they have it shoulder bags, they have slings and they have regular, like over the shoulder, messenger type bags. Then they have accessories, of course, so they're gonna have rain covers.

Actually most, almost every single bag, if not every bag comes with a rain cover. But you can get replacement rain covers and shades for your computers and neck straps and harnesses for tripods and things like that. then they have a line of travel gear, which on my YouTube channel I've reviewed some of their rollers.

So they have their camera rollers, but they also have luggage products. And lately, like going to. Imagen USA and going to other, trade shows and things like that in [00:08:00] the photo industry, I'm actually using a Think Tank backpack design for travel that does not hold a camera unless I put a camera cube in it.

And it's perfect. It's actually my favorite, like laptop travel bag if I don't need to bring a camera. It is my favorite bag by far. and so there's all sorts of things like that now. I have partnered with Think Tank over the years for many different things. I don't get paid by Think Tank to share my advice, but I have been working with them since the day that I helped get them into this retail store.

They have sent me many products to review, which I've done blog articles for. I have done YouTube videos for I am all in on Think Tank products. I love their products. And trust me, I have tried many brands of camera bags. I will say that I do the only non Think Tank backpack for camera equipment that I own is from peak design and I'm not a big fan of [00:09:00] it.

so there is that, and if you want a whole thing about why I'm not a big fan of it, I can do a separate. Episode about that if you're really interested. I also own two other backpacks that are not Think Tank brand that are for travel or day-to-day use. One, is, oh, actually they're both from, what's the brand? Osprey. They're both from Osprey. One is, a expandable like luggage type backpack, which I did use last year for the trade shows. And again, no camera dividers. I'd have to put a camera cube in. The nice thing is, and the only time when I use that now is when I need a backpack that can expand to fit more luggage if I actually need the extra space.

It's not getting used on a regular basis at all. It's only used for particular times where I'm doing a carry on and then I need a potential extra room. but it doesn't protect my laptop super well, which I don't like. The other one from Osprey is a nice day-to-day backpack. If I need a [00:10:00] backpack that doesn't hold camera just for like laptop or random stuff, it does not have a, luggage, Thing to put over the handle of my roller. So it's not great for travel, but it is good for just day-to-day stuff. So anyway, other than those three, which again, I'm not using regularly, the ones I am using regularly for travel and for my photography gear, 100% Think Tank photo and or mindshift gear, which is now part of Think Tank photo.

So I'm gonna encourage you to just click on the link in the description. If you've never checked out a Think Tank photo bag, check it out. There's a bag for any situation you might want. And give it a try. Give it a try. see what you think of it. And again, if you don't like it, you could return it, first of all.

And second of all, if you do like it and you have a problem. Your [00:11:00] problem's getting solved because no, a lifetime, no rhetoric, warranty, win-win. Anyway, that's all I have for Photo Breakdown. Why I love my Think Tank photo bags and my Think Tank bags for luggage and so on. Love it. Thanks for tuning in, tuning more at photobreakdown.com.