My wife and I went on a 3 week tour of New Zealand’s south island in December. Our tour involved a 5 day cycle tour, a 4 day backpack, and a lot of other outdoors activities. Since I didn’t have a suitable camera bag I spent a lot of painful hours researching solutions prior to this trip. In particular I wanted a bag I could comfortably carry cycling that would keep my gear out of the pannier rattle and smash zone. I ended up going with a Kata LighTri-315 DL and was very happy with it.
Our cycle tour was from Geraldine to Wanaka, averaging about 60 miles (100km) a day over varying terrain in mild, sunny weather. We had no rain at all on the trip, but we experienced incredible winds on the first day that turned what should’ve been an easy ride into a 12 hour epic. I wore the loaded Kata on my back for the entire cycle tour.
We also backpacked the Milford Track in the Fjordlands. Although this area averages about 12 meters of rain a year, it was dry and sunny when we did it. This is a 33.5 mile fairly easy trip. I had toyed with the idea of carrying the Kata on my chest, but it was much more comfortable slung over the back of my backpack. In this configuration it wasn’t accessible at all by me, but my wife could grab things out when I needed them. If I continue to carry things this way I plan to buy a lens pouch to mount on a forward backpack strap so I can swap between my main lenses without needing to bother anyone else.
In the Kata I had the following:
60D without grip (a grip would probably be too big, though maybe not) and one lens mounted
17-55/2.8 with hood floating in the bag (too big to fit in with the other lens)
70-300L with hood reversed
28/1.8 with hood reversed (never took it out)
SD card wallet
Small Zykor filter wallet (the folding variety)
2 spare batteries (superfluous)
Kindle Paperwhite in side pocket
Blower, lens cloth and lens pen in strap pocket
This leaves some extra space for other breakables for carrying onto a plane. I squeezed a good pair of binoculars in there for our flights, which worked out fine, but I wouldn’t want to carry it like that in use.
What’s good about the Kata:
-Extremely lightweight.
-Comfortable to wear for long periods. Fitting the Kata is a tricky process (I had my wife help me), but once fit and with the under-arm strap clipped in it stays where you put it even when moving around. This was the key reason I chose the Kata over some other options. After wearing the Kata all day for many hours on our cycle tour, I had no hot spots/rubbing at all. I wish I could say the same for the horrible saddle on my rental bike . .
-Easy in/out but secure. The main compartment opens with a dual zipper design, and closes at the outer lip with Velcro and a clip. This makes the bag totally secure for carrying, but it also makes it easy to get into.
-Good moisture rejection on the back. I sweat a lot when I ride, but had no issues with moisture creeping through the back of the bag to get at the gear inside.
My one concern with the Kata was the rain cover, since we were travelling in a high rain area. Fortunately I never had to test it. If it had rained on our cycle tour I was planning to stuff the whole thing into a pannier (dubious!). Had it rained, I suspect that the Kata’s rain cover would’ve ended up swamped with water, as it only covers the outside of the bag and leaves the inside exposed, and water would inevitably get in under the bottom edge of the cover where it wraps around the back of the bag. I knew this risk going in and was especially fortunate to not have to deal with it.
The padding on the Kata is pretty good considering its weight and I never felt particularly worried that my gear was getting banged around when I set it down and whatnot. I tossed it into overhead bins on the plane (with suitable consideration for what else was up there, of course), but it might not have saved my gear had I taken a serious fall off the bike. Of course, with such falls the last thing you’re worrying about is your camera.
Overall a very good impression.
