This is an interesting piece of kit. It’s not the first product of its kind (nor the cheapest), but it does offer a couple of unique advantages. It’s called the BAD Wrap and they’re wraps for your camera gear. But these ones are padded, waterproof and hold their shape without velcro. BAD Wrap currently funding through Kickstarter, with pledges starting at $18 for the smallest one.
It’s a neat idea and I’ve used microfibre cloths and velcro straps for similar uses in the past – usually to stop lenses from banging together inside my camera bag. And if it’s going inside a camera bag, I’m not sure what extra protection it needs. But for covering up gear that’s not being stored in a bag, it could potentially be quite handy!
One of the things I like about the BAD Wrap, and a big benefit over the microfibre cloth solution, is that it holds its shape all by itself. It’s not loose and floppy like a cloth. This means you can shape it however you like and it’ll hold it without any assistance. Need a quick impromptu phone stand to video chat or shoot a steadier photo than you can handhold? No problem – as the campaign video above demonstrates.
Its other big advantage, especially if you’re using it to wrap loose gear that isn’t going to be housed inside a camera bag (and sometimes when it is), is that it’s waterproof. That is to say, water cannot seep through it from one side to the other. Of course, it doesn’t seal in the way around your gear in the way that something like an actual dry bag does, though, so it isn’t going to protect your gear from a dunk in the river.
The BAD Wrap comes in three sizes; Small, medium and large, which measure 10″x10″, 14″x14″ and 20.5″x20.5″ respectively, and each is designed for different uses. Small for smartphones, action cameras, extra batteries, hard drives and other small items. Medium works well for small drones like the DJI Mini 2 and DJI Air 2S, field monitors, many camera lenses and compact cameras. And Large can handle things like laptops, DSLR or mirrorless cameras with a lens attached, small tripods, etc.
While I do like the idea, I think its usefulness is going to vary greatly from person to person. For myself, inside a camera bag, there’s no real benefit over just using the padded dividers that already exist in camera bags to keep items protected or the microfibre cloth for bags that don’t have padded dividers. I don’t typically need waterproofing for camera gear when it’s inside a bag, because the bag itself will either be waterproof or have a waterproof covering.
And when there are wet things going inside my bag along with camera gear – like when I’m shooting alongside a river and have wet clothes to pack – the wet items are going inside a dry bag that goes inside my camera bag or backpack. Or the dry bag is simply carried separately, so there’s no risk of gear inside my camera bag or backpack getting wet.
I could potentially see it being quite handy for shooting in wet conditions, though, where you may need to cover your camera in a hurry. Being able to quickly wrap the camera in this before the rain really starts bucketing down could be very useful indeed, especially with the kind of weather we often experience here in the UK.
BAD Wrap is still a ways off its $48,500 Kickstarter goal, currently hovering at a hair under $10K. But if you want to check it out and find out more, head on over to their Kickstarter campaign where pledges for the small, medium and large ones are currently available for $18 (MSRP $25), $28 (MSRP $40) and $48 (MRSP $65) respectively.
Do you use wraps for your camera gear?
[via DPReview]
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