I visited the Clik Elite booth at the 2011 Summer Outdoor Retailer tradeshow. They were mostly showing off Ultraspire, a new brand of ultralight hydration gear for endurance athletes. But they also had some fun new Clik Elite stuff to show off. Rather than the hardcore outdoor camera packs I’ve come to expect from Clik, the new cases are more of a retro-styled line for fashion-conscious photographers who want to carry a DSLR and iPad. I’m generally pretty anti-fashion but I think the new Clik “Classic” packs are fun and I’m guessing the tight pants, fixie-riding hipster crowd is going to love them.
The new Clik “Classic” line, as it’s unofficially being called, isn’t in production yet so this is something of a sneak peek. They showed me three bags at Outdoor Retailer, a small shoulder bag that holds an iPad, a digital SLR and a water bottle (or second lens); a big open pack that’s reminiscent of a classic climbing gear pack; and a book bag-style pack like the ones kids have been using to haul their books to school since the eighties. And since this is Clik Elite we’re talking about, all three bags have a padded camera compartment that can handle a medium-sized digital SLR. Some other cool details are the seatbelt-style nylon webbing straps, the faux-denim nylon finish, the felt padding on the inside of the shoulder straps, hidden tripod carriers, iPad / tablet compartments and Clik Elite’s cool new topo-styled label.
The Clik Classic packs and bags – or whatever they’re going to be called – should be available in spring of 2012. They plan to have more color options than just the dark blue /gray denim we were shown, too. We’ll let you know when they spill more details.
Related Content:
Clik Elite Backcountry Camera Packs Introduction
All Clik Elite Camera Case User Reviews
All Camera Bag User Reviews
All Camera Backpack News & Articles
Clik Elite Web Site
Thanks for posting these photos, I heard about this line through a friend who was at the trade show as well. As a owner of 3 different ClikElite packs I’m very excited to see this line up. I’ve dreamt up a casual leather backpack for carrying my DSLR around town. It looks like their designers have done it again. Oh, it’s quite hip to hate on the hipsters isn’t it? In my opinion, ClikElite doesn’t get enough exposure to reach such a crowd (or is that just what a hipster wants?). I really feel I’ve sold enough of these through word of mouth than their display at B&H!
Cheers!
Thanks for the comment, jeff. Yes, it is popular to abuse the hipsters these days, isn’t it. And why shouldn’t I get in on the action?
I’m also a big fan of Clik Elite’s packs. I was really happy when they first appeared and I think the Medium Nature was actually life-changing for me, as a mountain bike photographer. I just got a bunch of new stuff from them to test out (ProBody Sport, Venture 35, JetPack) and I’m excited to see how they’ve improved on their original designs. What Clik Elite packs do you own? I’m not sure if our user reviews are up to date with their products but I know we could use more reviews from people who’ve used their packs.
I first picked up the Sport compact bag as my daily pack for biking around the city and short hikes. It’s a great size to sneak into events where cameras aren’t really allowed as well as running around the city.
I then picked up the medium Nature pack for my trip to Peru where I did a 4 day hike through the inca trail to Machu Pichu. I was able to carry all my camping gear, clothes as well as a D90, 50mm, fish eye and 18-200mm. I also took this pack with me to Kenya on Safari, replacing the 18-200 with a 70-200mm.
This past January I picked up the contrejour 35 as my 1 man photo/video shoot pack. I was very happy when I first saw this bag as I could also fit my giant 15.6″ HP elitebook along with a telephoto lens. They really seemed to re-think these packs with this model, specifically how you open the main part of the pack through part which faces your back. It’s much better to lay the pack down on the (wet/muddy) ground and not get that side dirty for when you put it back on your back!
I’ve been planning on putting up gear reviews on my site (de-vices.com), but have been busy working on a video project.
I need to find a good home for my medium Nature pack as I have since replaced it with the Contrejour 35… and once these casual packs come out, I will be replacing my Compact Sport.
Clik Elite Tropfen Backpack looks really nice. I hope to see proper review soon.