Tech reviews

The Camera Accessory That Saved My Workflow? Peak Design Tech Pouch Review


If you’re like me, you have a whole bunch of small photography bits—cables, connectors, SD cards, batteries, and more—in your camera bag. If you were to use a different bag, you’d have to take all of them out and transfer them over. That’s how I lived for the first couple of years of my career, and it was awful.

I would always be triple- and quadruple-checking to make sure I had everything, sometimes forgetting which pocket I had moved it to and having to dig around in a panic. That’s when I had to find a better way. Enter the Peak Design Tech Pouch.

For months, I started looking at different tech organizers to ideally hold all the random bits that I had between my camera bags. At the time, there were fewer competitors to the tech pouch. What I saw with the others was that they were either more tech/note organizers for office workers carrying far fewer things at once, or they were full sling bags, and I really wasn’t looking for either. All I wanted was a simple organizer with photographers in mind that could handle all my random crap and move it seamlessly between bags.

For context, I usually have two to three bags that I work out of: my travel photo bag and my larger, big job kit. Multiple times a month, I would be jumping between the two, and the hassle became way too much.

After narrowing my search to the tech pouch, I decided on the essentials that I needed, as well as making sure I had backups of everything. The pockets for batteries are fantastic, and I even have a simple workflow where if the contacts are up, it’s fully charged, and if they’re down, it’s dead. A quick way for me and assistants to know what’s hot and what’s not. Beyond that, I can easily carry all my exposed and fresh memory cards and know where they are in an instant. That was the biggest game changer that the tech pouch allowed for. The ability to know where things are in an instant, because there are spots for everything. Scissors? Got it. Multi-tool? Got it. Extra tripod plate? No problem. Tethering cable? You get the idea.

Essentially, what this small purchase gave me was peace of mind, efficiency, and a much improved workflow. All I have to do is take it out of one bag, check at a glance to make sure everything’s in there, and plop it in the next bag.

While it is larger than other tech organizers, I find the size just about perfect to fit in the extra space of a camera bag. It’s not so big that it’s in the way of other gear that you could be carrying. It’s also not too small that it can’t carry everything that you need it to.

Having used this for a few years now, I can confirm that it is built to last. I try to be gentle with my gear as I like it to last a while, but I definitely don’t baby things. Through all the time of use, this bag hardly has a blemish on it, let alone any substantial damage. All the external and internal zips work great, and still keep things dry if it’s a rainier day.

Perhaps the only real situation I haven’t used this in is as its own sling bag. It does have loops for Peak Design’s anchor link system, where you can attach a strap and wear it cross-body. To tell you the truth, I’ve simply never really felt the need to. I have always just passed it to whatever bag I’m working out of and called it a day. Granted, I’m sure if you wanted a utility sling for your phone, wireless headphones, some chapstick, etc., it would work great, but that’s not at all why I bought it in the first place.

Over my time with this bag, I have reorganized it a couple of times to suit my needs as they change. In the video where I go through the bag and my thoughts, I also mention that this has saved me on a job before. As I shoot video as well as photo, I was shooting something where I needed to monitor audio but realized while in the car that I forgot my usual headphones. That’s where having backups of everything, and taking this with me everywhere I shoot came in handy. For this very circumstance, I had put a spare pair of headphones in the zippered pocket. When I realized I forgot them, I began digging through my bags for a spare pair when I remembered how past me was a genius. I checked the pouch and sure enough, they were there. A quick sigh of relief and I was back on my way to shoot, and it went off without a hitch.

Suffice to say, this bag has done everything I need it to and then some. It may not be for everyone, but it solved a very big issue I had with my packing workflow at the time and still manages to be practical to this day. If you are like I used to be and want to solve the issue of a ton of camera accessories all over the place, take it from me that something to keep all of it together will give you a lot of peace of mind, keep your gear organized, and your mind on shooting. Nothing’s worse than wondering where that one little bit that you need is, and this has allowed my ADHD-fueled brain to focus on other things, knowing everything I need is where I need it to be. Then, as more pieces come up (scissors, for example) that I think to carry with me all the time, I can simply add them to the pouch and carry on. In fact, it’s worked well enough that since using it, I haven’t really had the desire to find any other alternative as it pretty much checks all my boxes. I’m not even paid to say any of this; it just happens to be the perfect product for my very specific needs.

To sum it up, here’s both what I like and perhaps don’t like about the Tech Pouch:

Pros

  • The size and ability to hold everything I need
  • The convenience it allows to take all my small bits with me easily and not forget anything
  • The build quality lasts with more than average wear and tear

Cons

  • It can get a little bulky sometimes if you have it really overloaded, which also can make organizing your bag with it hard

Purchase

You can purchase the Peak Design Tech Pouch here.





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