The Camera Bag: Langly Camera Bags Inspired by World War II Military Rucksacks

Photographer Evan Lane was not happy about the state of the camera bag so he decided to design his own. And, from the prototypes we've seen, Lane's bag designs are real lookers that seem highly functional.

Called the Langly Camera Bag, Lane's creation comes in two versions -- the Alpha and the Delta -- both of which take their cues from the World War II rucksacks that Allied soldiers hauled on their backs across Europe.

But along with sporting vintage looks, the Langly Camera Bags are designed to be practical.

"I'd gone through about 20 cameras bags and they're always too large, too bulky and too heavy," Lane says. "So I wanted to create something that really was flexible and I could just grab it and go and literally just live out of it."

At the same time, he wanted his bag to almost have an urban camouflage, so it looked good but didn't seem like a traditional camera bag. He decided to use his fascination with World War II, and apply it to a camera bag to "make something vintage, military and covert and something that works."

His Langly Camera Bags caught fire on crowd-funding site Kickstater and have received nearly $58,000 in pledges, eclipsing his goal of $30,000. (There are still three days to go in the Kickstarter campaign.)

Of the two bags, Lane describes Alpha as having "a traditional vintage look," while Delta is "more of an updated version of a rucksack."

An upper compartment in the bags hold clothing or accessories while the bottom has room for a camera and three lenses. Meanwhile, a back slot has space for a laptop. The exterior shell is made from "vegetable tanned leather" and is waterproof. Brass hardware locks everything down and there are vintage style straps and pockets.

There's still time to pledge money and reserve a bag but the Kickstarter phase ends Monday, July 9th. Click here for the deets.