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Hi, I'm Dustin Abbott and typically when I'm here to do reviews, I'm reviewing
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things for their pure practical effectiveness. But I also recognize, as do some companies, that there are photographers that also care
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about the style of the thing. So occasionally I like to throw in reviews of items that are more than just practically
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functional, but they're also aesthetically attractive for the stylish photography. So let me introduce you today to a beautiful messenger bag, photography bag from the company Cecilia
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This is the Tharp messenger bag and I've been evaluating this for several months using it in a variety of different situations
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Now the Tharp comes in a couple of different sizes. This is the eight liter that I'm reviewing today
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There's also a 12 liter option and it's in this beautiful top grain leather
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This is the chestnut version and it actually looks really really great in person
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in person, but beautiful grade material. But I was also interested in the size of this
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I own several messenger bags and have used and reviewed tons of bags over the last
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number of years. And the 8-liter size was interesting to me because the footprint of the bag is not
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hugely different than, say, my 5-liter messenger bag that I have. About the same width
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It's maybe a little bit deeper, or maybe a little bit wider, what I should say, but
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what really where the extra room really is is in the added depth. Why that's important to me is
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it means that there is a lot more combinations that I can stand upright in here without using up
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the whole bag with it situated to the side. So case and point here, I've got a Sony A7R Mark
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3 with a grip extender mounted on it. And then I've got a fairly substantial lens in the Gmaster
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85 millimeter F1.4 lens from Sony. Now you'll note that even with the lens hood attached
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and in place here, I'm able to set that down in upright in the bag
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And while it's a tight fit there, I'm still able to put the flap over and carry it and then
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be ready to use it, you know, at a moment's notice. The nice thing is is that obviously there a much greater number of combinations of camera and lens And many of the things that I shoot with combinations are fairly akin to this in size
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But there's also still room inside on, you know, one divided up on one side
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I have loud 15 millimeter F2. You know, if I wanted to shoot wide angle
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And here on the other side, I've got the Voight lander. This is the 65 millimeter F2 macro lens
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And so also, you know, another very different look at the way. world. All of that can easily fit inside and I've got plenty of space to, you know, fully secure
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and zip up that top section to make sure that everything is, you know, safely riding inside
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Now, the interesting option is if you're kind of, you know, walking whatever and you want
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ready access, you can actually unzip this portion and there's this, oh, this flap that will
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attach it attaches magnetically and then it will attach magnetically in the front as well
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And so that way you have immediate access to the gear if you're walking along
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Now, there are, you know, obviously practical limits to that, and I'll just give you a little personal anecdote to delineate that
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But if you have too big a combination to where it's kind of top heavy, which I did at one point, it was fine when I was actually carrying the bag because, you know, gravity's working it to my benefit
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And there is a, you know, the flap there. But then I, when I was done shooting, kind of hiking along with it, I'd put it in the car
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And then when I went to pull it out, it kind of tipped this way. And because it was kind of top heavy, something fell out of the bag because it opened up
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And so just be careful about that. The magnetic attachment points down here, they're about the size of a quarter
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And so it's fine if you don't have it overfilled. I wouldn't have minded if the bottom magnetic sections were actually larger
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So that way, if you maybe like to stuff the bag a little too much, guilty
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you could still put the top flap over and connect. Whereas if you have it too full right now, it's not going to latch
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You know, you need to leave yourself enough room to where it will magnetically attach
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Underneath that top flap, there is also a front zippered portion here
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It's about the width of the bag, not particularly deep, but, you know, great for storing
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Well, let's show you. In here I got cleaning cloth I got a little cleaning brush for the sensor I got a camera strap If I wanted to go to a strap there room for batteries and memory cards you know whatever else passport wallet I got bug spray in here because it Ontario Canada in the summer That means lots of bugs And so anyway all of that in there Also useful which I didn initially think was but there is a side pocket on each side It doesn look all that
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deep and I thought well that didn't seem like it's going to be all that practical but the nice thing about leather of course is as you start to use it and it loses a little bit
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it's actually a perfect slot for example for putting in my phone in the side so I've
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actually a lot of times I'm carrying the bag I put my phone there because it's
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more comfortable than in my pocket it also will fit you know like my wallet it will
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fit keys things like that and so it actually has had a lot of practical value to me
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The strap itself is made out of material like a tightly stitched nylon that's much like a seatbelt material
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Also reminds me of the peak design slide straps, you know, very strong and durable
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Over the top of that, there is this section that's leather along the top that you can slide along to help to cushion where you're carrying it
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Underneath, it is actually a padded breathable mesh, which is really nice because it helps to, you know, distribute the way
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weight easily and also the breathable mesh helps it from getting too hot against your skin and so
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i've carried it for upwards of um eight kilometer five mile hike um and uh i found that you know
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while periodically i did switch it from side to side to help to distribute the weight i had no
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no issues uh with it and it worked fine for that further helping that is a great back design
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to where you have got these um nicely padded you know fairly breathable sections
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but also channels all around that allows air to continue to move through this
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And as a result of that, even on longer hikes, I found that it didn't get too hot against my back
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or wherever it was touching against my body. So some really solid design when it comes to that
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The bag has actually been more functional than what I expected it to
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There are limitations to that however I mean you know the fact that it is leather it beautiful leather but of course it has the same liabilities that leather does So this is not going to be your best all bag
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I mean, being out in the light rain is probably not going to kill it, and you can put things on it to treat it
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But this is not a weather-resistant bag. There's no rain hood. So if you're looking for something to carry out into a lot of, like
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difficult environmental conditions, better options than this. If you're looking for a stylish city bag, for example, or, you know, for me, it's an everyday bag that I can take into professional situations and it doesn't look out of place
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Certainly works very nicely for that. The other, of course, downside to a, you know, a beautiful leather material is that it is more costly
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And so this bag retails in the eight liter size for $249
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As mentioned, you can get it in a 12 liter size, so it's a little bit more expensive
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You can get full-on backpacks also in a nice top grain leather
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They have other options as far as color. There's a black leather that looks nice
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And then if you have either ethical concerns about using leather or you just want some other material, they do have other options like twill options
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if you'd like to look at that. All very stylish, you know, and so if you care about that, then it might be worth the money
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As I noted, functionality has actually been really good. I love the size of this particular bag
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As a result, it's getting very, very heavy play in my rotation
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I own lots of bags, but I've been using this on pretty much a daily basis
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because it just fits about the right amount of gear that I'm typically going out with on the short-term halls
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And so I really enjoy it for that. I'll throw a link in the description down below
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so you can check it out for yourself if you're interested in it. Also, there's linkage there to follow me on social media
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Thanks for watching. Have a great day
