Why are all camera bags black?

[grahamp]

My large format backpacks are medium to dark grey. The cooler bags tend to be blue or blue/grey. My older, actual 'camera' bags are either black or dark brown. The one oddity is the metal finished hard sided equipment 'briefcase' that holds all the Mamiya TLR kit.

I'd probably lean towards grey, medium tan, or brown.

Khaki has a varied interpretation, so iI have no idea what the actual colour would be - anything from old British Army battledress to my wife's Subaru in 'Desert Khaki'.

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

Interestingly, Ford originally offered a half dozen colors including green and blue. He switched to black for production reasons, it was easier and cheaper if everything was black; didn't have to switch the production line over or wait for paint to dry. Bear in mind that they didn't have the same paint technology we have today. They had limited lacquers and shellacs etc. It was much more difficult to get everything to match. The "any color as long as it's black" ended in 1926.

Interesting thing I learned years ago. If you want your car to look cleaner, buy a white or another light color. Black is the worst. Dirt is gray, not black and it shows immediately on a black car. White cars look much cleaner. Not sure if this applies to photo backpacks.

 

[Sirius Glass]

Where is it ordained that camera bags should be black? I like blue. I happen to have green bag too.

 

[tim48v]

Where is it ordained that camera bags should be black? I like blue. I happen to have green bag too.

It seems to be a de facto standard. 90% of camera bags are black.

 

[eli griggs]

It's easier to find a black bag with a good layout, for cheap when comparing to high dollar Billingham, etc, and the material used in most art about 1000 weight synthetic and very durable.

I have had as many good bags in different colours, as my black ones, blue being just as good and tan, plus leathers, gray.

Non camera bags, back packs, flight bags, dipper bags etc are in use as well and just as useful, IMO.

 

[MattKing]

Black bags tend to minimize the appearance of dirt and grime.

 

[Harry Callahan]

Search for camera bags online and they're all black; search for hiking backpacks and you can get any color you can imagine! Our theory: there is no reason, it just happened. To be honest, I think it's a terrible color for camera gear, it gets way too hot!

Which is why i think there was a reason, as camera gear also got hot 100 years ago. There were cameras made for tropical regions and these were not covered in black leather and the bellows also weren`t black on the outside.

I wonder if the other colors were more expensive and photographers took the cheapest option?

Afaik shellac records are blackened by ashes. Shellac isn`t black and not the only substance a shellac record is made of - if they weren`t blackened they would look pretty unappetizing. Ashes are cheap, especially in a time everybody had a wood or coal stove.

 

[koraks]

Afaik shellac records are blackened by ashes.

Was it the blackening that was the aim (i.e. the color), or was this also about physical properties? E.g. reducing flexibility (at the cost of a more brittle product)?

 

[Harry Callahan]

I think it was about blackening. Shellac ranges from yellow to red in color, they also put milled cotton into the mix, stone powder at the beginning... it would look pretty nasty without blackening.
With shellac records its rather about wear. A soundbox can put 150g downforce on the needle easily, so you need a record which is wear-resistant for the most - i cannot see how ashes would improve this. Shellac is rather brittle itself, which is why shellacs break easily, so you`d rather wanted a substance to increase flexibility to reduce risk of breakage - but substances increasing flexibility usually reduce resistance to wear so...

 

[Dave Ludwig]

Black bags are, or was, a marketing tool. Black is a power color showing sophistication, intelligence, professional, elegance, status, confidence and other characteristics and what photographer does not want to give off these impressions. At least in the past. It does not matter so much anymore, it is what you can do with your equipment not what color bag you carry it in. Black does evoke one of the widest ranges of psychological responses than any other color. I believe black is also the one of the most expensive colors to make a product next to gold and silver. Want to sell a cheap product for a lot of money? Put it in a black box with gold lettering.

 

[MTGseattle]

I don't think Domke was married to black. Every Lowepro camera bag I've owned has been black while the big trekker 600 is a grey with black accents.

I'd vote coyote tan or something in the Khaki family as well.

A question for Tim; Are you using the same method of attachment the Army did for pack bag to frame? The metal "ring" that gets pushed through a slot then rotated flat so that it cannot pull back though? Or something newer? I got Stationed at what was then Ft. Lewis in Feb 2002, so I'm unsure if I had Molle 1 or Molle II.

 

[DREW WILEY]

Hmmm. This is news to me. I have a couple of Domke tan bags. But just like a silver Halliburton case, maybe a black bag gives more of a "steal me first" impression. Something less conspicuous makes a lot mores sense.

 

[tim48v]

I don't think Domke was married to black. Every Lowepro camera bag I've owned has been black while the big trekker 600 is a grey with black accents.

I'd vote coyote tan or something in the Khaki family as well.

A question for Tim; Are you using the same method of attachment the Army did for pack bag to frame? The metal "ring" that gets pushed through a slot then rotated flat so that it cannot pull back though? Or something newer? I got Stationed at what was then Ft. Lewis in Feb 2002, so I'm unsure if I had Molle 1 or Molle II.

We've developed a much easier attachment method. We have four tabs that slide into webbing on the backpack; two more tabs (downward facing) that are secured with a velcro pullback. We'll have another video out next week.