astonier
16th of May 2009 (Sat), 18:19
Hello all,
I recently bought a Kata 3N1-20 and I would have to say without doubt it is the most flexible bag I have ever seen. I am very impressed. However I felt it was lacking in the tripod department and no way was I paying the mad price for the addon. So I went in search of an alternative solution. I used bungees or more precisely shock cord, fasteners and key rings.
You can buy the cord and fasteners in any camping or sailing shop worth its salt. I got mine from Blacks here in England. There is a link below for the US. For the keyrings, I bought a pack of cheap key fobs from a stationer (Rymans in UK) and took the rings off. With this type of cord you can remove the fasteners which helps when threading. Normal bungees would be more difficult.
Shock Cord Fasteners US Online (http://www.defender.com/product.jsp?path=-1|10918|309311|574781&id=21931)
Here are a few photos of how I connected everything.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2376/3537120196_1a38f02953.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/37109594@N06/3537120460/)
A closer look at where the rings connect.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2422/3537120460_6454d70ef1.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/37109594@N06/3537120460/)
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3380/3536306057_70a3f6e9c7.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/37109594@N06/3536306057/)
With a small tripod and umbrella attached.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2175/3537120644_fc8a1833c4.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/37109594@N06/3537120644/)
I wouldn't attach anything too heavy to this although it can probably hold quite a lot, I often carry the small tripod for off camera flash and an umbrella is in place of the monopod I have yet to purchase and for this it is ideal. I jumped up a down a few times with everything attached and it was very solid, nothing moved.
You maintain access to your camera on the sides at all times. The larger panel on the back can be opened without removing the harness, but obviously not when there is anything attached.
There are almost infinite ways of configuring it and quite a few more places to attach key rings if need be. It looks like the bag is being squashed by the cord in one of the pics, it isn't, it is just because my camera isn't inside to hold it up.
Also, another plus for this bag, which I haven't seen advertised is that the floor of the top panel can be unzipped turning the whole bag into 1 large compartment. You could configure the bag to hold a pretty big zoom mounted to a body, gaining access via the top. I didn't notice this myself until I got to playing around with it.
I hope this helps, it saved me a few pounds (to be honest I haven't even seen the Kata tripod mount in UK stores but I gather it ain't cheap), the total cost of this was £8 and I still have another shock cord and about 10 key rings left over.
Adam
I recently bought a Kata 3N1-20 and I would have to say without doubt it is the most flexible bag I have ever seen. I am very impressed. However I felt it was lacking in the tripod department and no way was I paying the mad price for the addon. So I went in search of an alternative solution. I used bungees or more precisely shock cord, fasteners and key rings.
You can buy the cord and fasteners in any camping or sailing shop worth its salt. I got mine from Blacks here in England. There is a link below for the US. For the keyrings, I bought a pack of cheap key fobs from a stationer (Rymans in UK) and took the rings off. With this type of cord you can remove the fasteners which helps when threading. Normal bungees would be more difficult.
Shock Cord Fasteners US Online (http://www.defender.com/product.jsp?path=-1|10918|309311|574781&id=21931)
Here are a few photos of how I connected everything.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2376/3537120196_1a38f02953.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/37109594@N06/3537120460/)
A closer look at where the rings connect.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2422/3537120460_6454d70ef1.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/37109594@N06/3537120460/)
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3380/3536306057_70a3f6e9c7.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/37109594@N06/3536306057/)
With a small tripod and umbrella attached.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2175/3537120644_fc8a1833c4.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/37109594@N06/3537120644/)
I wouldn't attach anything too heavy to this although it can probably hold quite a lot, I often carry the small tripod for off camera flash and an umbrella is in place of the monopod I have yet to purchase and for this it is ideal. I jumped up a down a few times with everything attached and it was very solid, nothing moved.
You maintain access to your camera on the sides at all times. The larger panel on the back can be opened without removing the harness, but obviously not when there is anything attached.
There are almost infinite ways of configuring it and quite a few more places to attach key rings if need be. It looks like the bag is being squashed by the cord in one of the pics, it isn't, it is just because my camera isn't inside to hold it up.
Also, another plus for this bag, which I haven't seen advertised is that the floor of the top panel can be unzipped turning the whole bag into 1 large compartment. You could configure the bag to hold a pretty big zoom mounted to a body, gaining access via the top. I didn't notice this myself until I got to playing around with it.
I hope this helps, it saved me a few pounds (to be honest I haven't even seen the Kata tripod mount in UK stores but I gather it ain't cheap), the total cost of this was £8 and I still have another shock cord and about 10 key rings left over.
Adam