Today I am reviewing a new bag from who I believe to be the best luxury camera bags manufacturer on the market, namely: Hawkesmill England.
Disclosure: Although this is a sponsored review, I only agree to promote products I have tried & tested and can vouch for, I would never risk my reputation by promoting any product I’m not 100% honest about.
“A lifetime warranty against defects”. It says a lot, it says we are THAT confident about the quality of our products.
A few years ago I’d heard of a company creating quite a buzz in the camera bag / straps game. That company is Hawkesmill and since then the hype hasn’t died down which is pretty impressive.
Here’s what I think explains their success.
Hawkesmill is not a huge outfit. A manufacturer of the highest quality camera bags and leather camera straps out there. Absolutely no compromise is made when it comes to producing these beauties.
I tried to fault them but I failed.
Many top camera bag brands sell camera bags at high prices but when you look closely at the detail, it’s kind of “meh”.
You pay for their marketing, not their craftmanship.
ONA is one example, pricey but really feels a bit cheap and not so well finished when compared to Hawkesmill.
I have an ONA bag with rivets that are off-centre, it looks badly finished to me. It screams bad attention to detail / quality control, yet they’ll still charge you a premium. And if that’s not enough, ONA’s leather scratches if you look at it for too long. Not quite, but very very delicate leather.
Whereas Hawkesmill are designed by photographers for photographers and it really shows. It has everything you expect from such product and some more.
What strikes me about Hawkesmill’s founders is their passion and determination to make it work and their belief that Hawkesmill fills a need. That need is of a superior / premium product which will protect your expensive camera gear and exude luxury and good taste while remaining fairly discrete. After all why spend a few grands on a camera to then buy some cheaply made bag? For the sake of a few hundred pounds?
I bought so many one hundred quid bags which didn’t last or weren’t so great that in my opinion there are much worse ideas than investing in a Hawkesmill bag which should last ten years easily, although my guess is a lot longer since I have a bag now for 5 years and it looks almost like new. But then I guess it all depends how hard wearing you are on your camera bags.
It’s also good to know these aren’t made elsewhere abroad in an unethical way, whenever possible I like to buy locally made and support our industry.
Have I yet expressed how much I love these?
Now onto the bag itself.
Black leather, black canvas and brass… if the looks don’t get you the rich smell of leather will.
The model I’m reviewing here is the New Bond Street Camera Bag (medium size) but I’ve also used other previous models. This is a great benchmark to rate Hawkesmill.
It’s a premium medium-sized messenger bag for camera gear. Plenty of space in there since in fact I used to own a small one and could fit a camera such as a Micro Four Thirds with a pancake lens and… a Mavic Pro drone + remote (admitedly the Mavic Pro is small… the size of a 1L bottle of water).
I do like the fact the strap can be removed and washed. Many bags won’t allow you to do that, the strap gets way more dirty than the rest… what do you do then? Throw it away and buy a new bag?
Another clever thing about the strap is the option to remove the shoulder pad. Some like it with, some without, I prefer without so welcome this option.
I would recommend Hawkesmill look at adding rubber grip under the strap to stop it sliding off the shoulder. I saw that on some other camera bag straps and it really stops it sliding constantly off shoulder. Though I guess this is remedied by wearing it on the opposite shoulder and across your body.
The bottom of the bag, which touches the ground when you drop it is protected by four brass “feet” (not sure of their name). It’s the first time I see that. All other bags are straight to the floor, another risk of wear and tear or getting dirty on a rainy floor… something alas we are very used to here in the UK.
For added protection against rain it uses triple layered waterproof canvas.
The bag has as many pockets as you could fit on it without looking silly. No complain at all, I like pockets, plenty of them.
I like the fairly hidden large back pocket, the safest one, the one that rests against your body when you carry the said bag. A small laptop or tablet will fit in there nicely.
I love it.
Inspect the stitching and again, you’ll find it hard to fault.
Inside, well, it’s a camera bag, so plenty of pockets again, padding, nothing to complain about.
Talking of padding, the entire interior of the bag is one single padded insert you can remove in order to use the bag as an everyday messenger / handbag. They have done their best to not use any synthetic materials for the bag, except for this insert.
It has a vegetable tanned leather flap and uses the more traditional front leather and stud closing and opening system, found on English field bags, which it is modelled after.
It smells gorgeous.
The fittings (locks and any metal used) are solid brass, so a golden colour, for corrosion resistance and durability.
Hawkesmill also uses Nickel fittings on some of their bags, sort of shiny chrome. I prefer their models with brass but that is really only personal taste.
And there is nothing else to add as I just love these bag so much, words are missing.
So if you are looking for a premium camera bag but stop for a second thinking “this is expensive”, think how expensive your camera is and how pricey it gets to buy a cheap camera bag every year again and again and again because you need to replace it.
Your camera deserves better.
VISIT HAWKESMILL ENGLAND’S WEBSITE
Until next time.