<p>Like everything photographic, all backpacks are a compromise.<br /><br />For travel, work near a car, or around the city there must be hundreds of options, recognizing that this is the majority of the market. However for active use on the trail I have yet to see a backpack with the comfort and weight bearing capability of a proper backpacking backpack. The, e.g., F-Stop and Think Tank products are superb. However, they don’t yet have the torso length variations, quality padded waist belts, and good back airflow/cooling that you can get from any major backpacking manufacturer. Compare Lowepro/F-Stop/Think Tank etc. with what you can get from Gregory/Osprey/Arcteryx/Deuter/etc. Despite owning many, I am moving away from photo backpacks and towards backpacking packs with good access, combined with clips/belts/holsters for ready camera availability. In their defense, adding a tripod to a photo backpack is usually easy, while rigging a tripod on a backpacking pack can be difficult.<br /><br />Are there any photo backpacks that rival smaller-sized backpacking packs? <br /><br /></p>
