UW Photogs Dream Bag: Cinebags CB25V Review

scuba diving, underwater photography, paparazsea, jun v lao

Space, the final frontier...and we're literally talking about maximizing space for dive and travel and the Cinebags CB25V is an Underwater Photographers dream bag... learn more here

An Underwater Photographer's worst nightmare is dealing with "Excess baggage" fees which we hate. Enter the Cinebags CB25v Camera gear bag. With a little bit of fine tuning, you get your underwater housing in with everything else which makes this bag your new best underwater travel buddy.

I've stopped bringing Pelicans...you will look cool, but it ain't cool on the wallet when you're flying and diving

While Pelicans look cool... expect to pay an additional USD20-80 in additional baggage fees. The standard nowadays is 7kgs cabin and 15-20kg check in. Diver Photographers brings around 15 kilos for mirrorless cameras to 30 kilos for DSLR set ups, this is excluding dive gear (another 15 to 20 kilos)... Yup this is silly fact

Very sexy bag with loads of pockets which we like

Enter the Cinebags CB25v, A rectangular bag from head to toe big enough and thoughtfully designed to house loads of underwater camera gear where a pair of underwater strobes, dive lights, strobe arms, numerous clamps, sync cords, dome port. macro port and a plethora of other tiny accessories such as memory cards, tons of batteries and lens cleaners harmoniously co exist with the main camera housing in one grab and go back pack

Trust me when I say this list isn't even complete, it may weigh more than what's allowed in the aircraft cabin but it can deceive even the well trained eye of the airport extra baggage police.

The rear opening design of the CB25V is very well thought of... remove the side cushions and you can fit your whole set up in one bag

If you look at the photo posted above, I've managed to fit the main underwater camera housing without needing to remove the main arms, less step to do when you're setting up plus it still has 2 or 3 inches in space depth wise to spare. You can reconfigure the layout of your foam guards dependent on what gear you'll bring. Above photo includes a fisheye lens, 8 inch dome port, 2 strobes, with plenty of room to spare.

Side pockets can house your many arms and clamps, they can even fit buoyancy arms, save for the super fat ones from Inon

Your laptop goes in front with generous padding, can fit even an old 17 inch macbook, plus the left hand pocket (facing front) can store all you're clamps and long strobe arms. I love it.

Four tiny compartments where you can segregate memory cards, filters, batteries, or whatever gear you want to alienate from everything else

There are lots of tiny pockets where you can store batteries in a different place, pitch in your passport, house keys, wallet, thrown in your vape or cigarettes, whatever floats your boat really...

Generous padding and very ergonomic. With everything inside, you don't feel it weighs 20 kilos (yup, my gear is that heavy), plus it has a Rain cover to boot to protect your gear from splashes from boat transfers

Every underwater photographer is usually subjected to additional boat travel, where jetty transfers are almost guaranteed with every big dive trip, and Cinebags keeps your lenses safe from our love hate relationship with salt water (think splash) :)

Rain Cover..yippeee

Price? It's P15,000 pesos and the limited grey edition goes for P16,000 and is available now at Squires Bingham Sports. Cool thing here, buy stuff at Squires, and if Gutsy is around, you get cool underwater photo advice from him :)

p.s. you will never get that privilege buying from lazada or other dive shops :) which doesn't have this fine premium product anyways

Manual, Warranty card, etc screams 'premium product'.

The Lowdown..

As Underwater Photographers, we have to deal with not only our dive gear but also a plethora of underwater camera equipment and accessories. What Cinebags CB25v did for you the underwater photographer is it has made a bag suited for every scenario you encounter while travelling...from saving precious additional baggage fees from flights to organizing so much shit plus keeps you're camera safe when we encounter ocean jetty transfers. It's an amazing bag, and yes, I bought one as well.