When I first started to become interested in Photography I bought a second lens for my SLR. This also meant I needed something to carry the camera and lenses so I purchased a camera bag. It was a LowePro Nova 3 which I still have.
After this, I quickly decided that I needed a backpack to carry my now rapidly expanding equipment. Just counting around my office, I now seem to have 5 backpacks but I’m sure I have a couple more somewhere. I quickly forgot about the Nova 3 and relegated it to storing my XPan film camera.
This weekend I was away in Northumberland (which is why there was no Friday Image) and decided to take the Nova 3 with me. Don’t ask me why after all these years, but it seemed like a good idea. I could carry my Fuji XT2 together with three lenses, filters and cable release. What made it ideal is that I could stand in the sea and work easily from the bag on my shoulder. It wasn’t too large or too heavy; in fact, it was joy to use and allowed me to move around much more freely than I would otherwise.
If I were to criticise the Nova 3 at all, it would be because it didn’t have a weatherproof cover. Looking quickly on Amazon today, I can see that it’s no longer available. Instead it seems to have been replaced by the LowePro 180AW which does feature a weatherproof cover. It’s also the same price as I paid for the Nova 3 all those years ago.
The Lightweight Photographer 
Hi Robin, I gave up on camera backpacks a while ago. None I owned were very comfortable for long hikes. My eventual solution was to get one of the padded divider bags from eBay for my m43 kit and put it in a Deuter 26L backpack along with my hiking gear. I also bought a lightweight nylon messenger bag from Decathlon which folds up into a small ball. If I don’t need the backpack, I just take out the padded divider and put it in the messenger bag.
Thanks for adding your experience Dave. There are some good ideas around if you are prepared to look. A lot of people (myself included) gravitate to the camera backpack but its not always the best solution.