A few weeks ago I took a brand-new prototype hiking photo backpack from Naneu Bags on trek into the Northwest forest for a field test. As I previously mentioned in a blog post back in February, 2013, I found a Kickstarter campaign by Naneu for their brand-new K5 V2. I contacted their headquarters and asked the owner of the company if he would send me a prototype for testing, and to my surprise he happily agreed. The Naneu K5 V2 is specifically designed for photographers who go on multi-day back-country hiking trips with a full complement of camping gear and camera gear. In my mind, the K5 V2 seemed too good to be true. I’ve been going on back-country adventures for a long time, so I was a bit skeptical that a backpack would be able to do it all. By “all” I mean be big enough to hold both my camera gear and my hiking/climbing equipment.
After receiving the prototype and taking it out of the shipping box, my heart skipped a beat. Seriously. This bag is the real deal. I couldn’t wait to get it out on the trail, so a few days later, I took the pack out for a hike to test it in the real world. I stuffed the backpack with about 40 pounds of hiking gear, then loaded the camera bag in the front with a Nikon D800, 24-70mm f/2.8, 70-200mm f/2.8, and 14-24mm f/2.8. To my surprise, everything fit just fine! After a few minutes of setting up the suspension and straps, I set off for a few miles on the trail to see how the system performed.
It became evident right away that the K5 V2 is incredibly well designed and that quite a bit of thought went into every pocket, seam, strap, and zipper. Everything about the backpack is fully integrated and modular which allows you to reconfigure it for the type of trip you are taking. For example, the front camera bag will nest fully inside the main backpack if you don’t want to carry the camera gear in front. Alternately, the camera bag pouch can be repurposed into a small backpack (see below).
Everything on the system is adjsutable from strap lengths, to waist belt, to suspension height, to chest strap. I do a lot of outdoor and adventure photography and have been using technical backpacks for decades now. I’m really pleased with the technology Naneu put into the K5 V2. The materials are top-notch and everything just works. Also, since the backpack has a capacity of 80 liters, it is big enough to hold a giant load for multi-day back-country adventures. My estimate is that it is big enough for hikes lasting between 7 – 10 days.
One of the neat features on the K5 V2 are the small pockets on the waist belt. I found these very useful as they are the perfect size to hold batteries and memory cards while hiking. Also, I used these waist belt pockets to hold a smaller point and shoot camera, the Canon S110.
The camera bag portion of the K5 V2 is the perfect size to hold a pro DSLR and three f/2.8 lenses. If you travel with a smaller camera system, then you can use half of the camera bag for food/drink and the other half for camera gear.
Here, I’m holding a D800 with 24-70mm f/2.8 mounted and a 70-200mm f/2.8. My 14-24mm f/2.8 is inside the camera case. Photo by Allison Hagen.
I placed my Gitzo carbon fiber tripod in one of the exterior side pockets (see first photo), but the K5 V2 also has a dedicated tripod pouch that attaches to the back side of the pack.
As I mentioned above, one of the neat features of the K5 V2 is that the front camera bag can even be repurposed as it’s own small backpack. You can see how the setup works in the two images below of my wife. This mini backpack feature is helpful for when you’ve arrived at your base camp and want to go out exploring with a tiny day pack. Additionally, the camera bag portion ships with a shoulder strap so you can use it like a traditional around-town shoulder bag.
I don’t have any vested interest with Naneu other than the fact that I wrote the owner of the company and asked if I could test out their prototype. That said, I’ve since returned the K5 V2 to the owner, but I can’t wait to get one for myself. Seriously, it’s good. Very good. I’ve been looking for a pack like this since I started my serious pursuit of photography in the early 1990’s. The K5 V2 will hold all my hiking and climbing gear for a week-long trip, while also holding just the perfect amount of camera gear.
So, what are the downsides of the K5 V2? Well, from a design standpoint, I found very little to nit-pick. Honestly, I think the only negative is that the overall weight when loaded with all my gear is going to be too much to handle! A week’s worth of back-country gear easily weighs 40-50 pounds, then tack on my pro DSLR gear with another 10-15 pounds and the total pack weight is quickly up to 50 or 65 pounds. I take this much gear with my traditional backpacks, so it is hardly a “downside” for the K5 V2. Maybe the difference is that the K5 V2 makes it too easy to bring along my f/2.8 lenses, where before I would bring my all-in-one zoom lenses because I didn’t have the space.
Since the Naneu K5 V2 is currently in the prototype stage, you won’t be able to purchase the bag just yet. The developers are in the final phase of design and should have bags ready for the market in August/September 2013. Right now, the plan is produce two colors of the K5 V2 in dark blue or black. Head over to their website here to see their other excellent products while also keeping up to date with their progress on the K5 V2: https://www.naneubags.com. This backpack gets a very high recommendation from me and I know it will get used in my mountain adventures.
Taking a camera in and out of the case is very easy to do. In fact, that’s the genius of the K5 V2; it is designed to allow you to photograph while on the run. Photo by Stephanie Hagen.
Here are a couple of additional pics from my test hike with the Naneu K5 V2.
erectyle dysfunction http://canadaedwp.com erectile dysfunction medicines
buy canadian drugs http://canadaedwp.com ed clinics
new erectile dysfunction treatment http://canadaedwp.com erectal disfunction
viagra over the counter peaphsso sildenafil generic generic viagra
ed cures that actually work jsalcdut cheap levitra erection pills online
ed for men xeivoqmb levitra canada levitra without a doctor prescription
ed pills that work quickly khqiuuau buy generic levitra supplements for ed
cialis vs levitra buy cialis fjdxoagu canadian cialis
side effects of cialis cialis ayoulosm cialis prices
umhn viagra cialis http://dietkannur.org blao gmhx
cialis vs viagra effectiveness mnpyycad http://tadedmedz.com/ canada cialis
viagra Without a Doctor Prescription generic viagra
generic viagra for ed viagra Without a Doctor Prescription
http://levitrafast20.com levitra online
http://zithromaxfast500.com zithromax online pharmacy canada
http://tadalafilfast20.com india pharmacy online tadalafil
http://zithromaxfast500.com how to get zithromax
http://zithromaxfast500.com zithromax online paypal
chloroquine cvs https://chloroquineorigin.com/ how does chloroquine work
hydroxychloroquine tablets https://hydroxychloroquinex.com/ hydroxychloroquine 200 mg twice a day
viagra without doctor prescription cheap sildenafil
cheap sildenafil buy cheap viagra
otc cialis http://generictadalafil20.com buy generic cialis
cialis lowest price 20mg http://generictadalafil20.com generic tadalafil 20mg
zithromax for uti treatment https://zithromaxes.com/ how to get zithromax
the best ed pill best ed drugs
ed treatment drugs
vivida tablets https://tadalisxs.com/ tadalafila 20mg
erectile dysfunction medicines erection pills online
best ed medications
cheap erectile dysfunction pills non prescription erection pills
ed drug prices
new treatments for ed best ed drugs
male ed pills
best medication for ed gnc ed pills
compare ed drugs
ed pills that really work ed pills online
online ed medications
ed treatment review cheap erectile dysfunction pills
natural ed remedies
erectile suppliers https://plaquenilx.com/ solving erectile dysfunction without meds
viagra coupon viagra doses 200 mg
mail order viagra
noroxin online minomycin capsules
buy ciplox online
generic fucidin panmycin online
order roxithromycin
buy terramycin online buy cefadroxil online
cephalexin for sale
generic minomycin buy tetracycline online
doxycycline for sale
order biaxin online cephalexin tablets
generic doxycycline
cialis erection penis is generic cialis safe
generic cialis
cialis without a doctor’s prescription cialis patent expiration
otc cialis
what is cialis cialis dosage
daily use of cialis
buy cialis generic online
is generic cialis safe cialis dosage
30ml liquid cialis
5 mg cialis coupon printable price of cialis
cialis coupons
cialis side effects cialis patent expiration
cialis vs viagra
cialis without doctor prescription cialis for peyronie
generic cialis
cialis without doctor prescription cialis online
viagra or cialis
generic cialis bitcoin cialis headaches afterwards
cialis side effects
prices of cialis what is cialis
cialis patent expiration
walgreens price for cialis 20mg cialis tadalafil 20 mg
cialis generic