The Best Camera Backpack Insert 2025
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This is a detailed review of hands-down the best camera backpack insert you can buy, the Peak Design V2 Camera Cube. It’s also an exploration of why you might want to choose a camera backpack insert rather than a dedicated, stand-alone camera back.
In case you’re not familiar with the term, camera backpack inserts are padded, protective cubes that you can insert into any old rucksack to transform it into a fully-featured camera bag.
They’re usually made of layers of foam and padding to help protect your expensive equipment, and typically come with ways of subdividing the space in your bag so you can carry multiple lenses and accessories in an organised way.
This approach has been soaring in popularity in recent years, for reasons we’re about to explore. But is it right for you, and which camera backpack insert should you choose?
Get the lowdown in this detailed and regularly updated guide by Adam Whistler – an award-winning travel photographer with almost 20 years experience.
🏆 Our Top Pick 🏆
The Peak Design V2 Camera Cube
Table of Contents
- Why convert a rucksack into a camera bag?
- How do you convert a rucksack into a camera bag?
- Best camera backpack insert: The verdict
Why convert a rucksack into a camera bag?
There are a host of reasons why, after thousands of hours of testing in every possible environment from the tropics to the tundra, we think converting a rucksack into a camera bag is the best approach for almost everyone when travelling with a camera.
Here are just a few of them:
1 It means you can choose any bag, from any manufacturer, instead of being limited to just camera-specific offerings
In other words, vastly more choice, and the option to convert a rucksack from a brand that you already know and trust outdoors. Or – convert one that you already own, thereby saving a lot of money!
It also means you can do things like choose a completely waterproof bag to use as your camera bag. Seriously, like submerge-it-in-a-river, use-it-as-a-float waterproof.
There are technically two or three fully waterproof camera bags out there, such as the Lowepro Dryzone, but they start at about $650 (£400), and (sorry Lowepro) – they’re really ugly.
How about camera paniers for long-distance bike trekking, or a waterproof camera bag that also incorporates ski carry and an avalanche rescue airbag (ABS) system? You won’t see Lowepro coming out with that any time soon.
Converting a regular rucksack into a camera backpack gives you access to a far wider range of equipment, including packs with specialist or sport-specific features, and therefore dramatically more flexibility.
2: It’s usually better value
If you already have a rucksack you want to convert, the upfront saving is obvious.
But even if you’re buying the donor bag as well, remember you’re essentially getting two bags for the price of one – a nice hiking rucksack and a camera bag.
Sure, some dedicated camera bags could be run as a regular everyday carry, but it’s never optimal. They usually focus on maximising internal volume, leading to boxy shapes and poor ergonomics compared to a true hiking rucksack.
(There are other disadvantages to walking the streets with camera-branded gear besides; see #3 below).
As such, In our view, it’s far better to have a top-notch, ultra-comfy hiking rucksack that can also carry cameras, than a premium photo bag that wasn’t really meant to leave the studio.
We also tend to find that the sheer size and breadth of the generic rucksack market compared to dedicated photo bags does drive efficiencies and makes it easier to find a range of value at any price point.
3: Security through obscurity
Camera bags scream “I have expensive gear in me”.
In our review of the Peak Design Everyday Sling, we noted one of the great things about that bag is that it doesn’t look like a camera bag. Adam was mugged for a Lowepro bag a few years ago, which luckily didn’t actually contain any expensive camera gear at the time.
Carrying a photo-branded bag can make you a target for thieves. There are plenty of places in the world where a brand-name bag alone can make you a target.
This is not to scaremonger, it’s simply a statistical risk that any long-term traveller has to factor in and manage as best they can. We’ve known people to cut the logos off their expensive photo bags or roll them in mud (or worse!) to make them less attractive to thieves.
Those are all good ideas, but with a camera insert and a generic, anonymous rucksack, it’s already a solved problem. Dropping a camera cube into a regular old rucksack lets you practice “security through obscurity” and avoid being targeted by thieves.
4: Grab-and-go camera kits are fun
Having all your camera gear in a cube is super convenient. We love being able to grab one item and knowing we’ve got everything we need. If you’ve got a lot of gear you can make a few different cubes to cover different kids of shoot.
There’s an old saying amongst photographers along the lines of “the best camera in the world is the one you actually have on you when the photo opportunity arises”. For most of us, that’s a phone camera nowadays.
Be honest – you’re not going to carry a dedicated camera bag every day – if nothing else, it’s useless for regular, daily tasks like hauling groceries. A camera backpack insert is a great way to integrate a camera into your everyday carry.
We definitely went through a couple of years where carrying cameras just felt like a chore, and really struggled with motivation. The jump from DSLR to mirrorless helped with that, but we’d also estimate we carry a real camera minimum three times as often since we switched to camera cubes. They’re just so easy to grab and go. Zero friction.
By proxy, the kit can easily be transferred between different bags in literally a couple of seconds. And bear in mind you can drop a camera cube into any container, not just a bag. Wardrobes, suitcases, sock drawers, motorcycle panniers, car boots, lockers – anything can become a camera bag.
5: Space and weight savings
Long-term travel, unless you’re a billionaire, inevitably means making some tough choices about what to carry with you. If you’re backpacking, the weight of your bag is a huge limiting factor on how far you can walk or what activities you undertake with it on your back.
Likewise, the size and quantity of your luggage determine which modes of transport you can take and whether you can carry it into buses and aircraft or whether you’ll need to pay extra and check it in. And have you ever tried walking even a short distance in the heat and humidity with two heavy rucksacks? Not recommended.
Even if you’re travelling in a way that lets you bring some creature comforts along for the ride – van life, perhaps, or living on a sailboat as we do – you still have strict limits on the weight and size of the possessions you can carry with you.
The camera cube strategy means you only need one bag, and lets you be very organised and modular about how you store things – which dovetails nicely with life on the move.
We could go on. But suffice it to say, we think the best approach for almost everyone (barring perhaps professional photographers) is to convert your old favourite rucksack into your new favourite camera bag.
How do you convert a rucksack into a camera bag?
By far the easiest way is to purchase a camera backpack insert like the excellent Peak Design Camera Cube.
It’s a padded cube, with multiple different pockets and dividers for all your gear, that drops neatly into any rucksack of your choice to convert it into a fully protected camera bag.
They come in five different sizes, from extra small to large. The smallest cube is about the size of a lunchbox and can just fit a small camera body with lens attached. At the other end of the spectrum, the large is designed to fully occupy a 45-litre rucksack such as Peak Design’s own excellent Travel Backpack and can swallow a small photography studio.
Each of the cubes comes with a number of soft, yet structural, padded dividers that seem to be made of microfibre-coated, high-density foam. These dividers can be freely repositioned anywhere inside the microfibre lining of the cube thanks to a velcro trim.
The dividers somehow manage to feel both lightweight and reassuringly dense (the medium cube, for reference, weighs just 300g).
The exact configuration of dividers you receive depends on the size of the cube – but for example, the medium cube comes with two large dividers, five smaller ones, and a soft pouch for accessories like filters.
Externally, the cubes are covered in high-quality, weatherproof 400D fabric and sport waterproof zippers and fully taped seams. We didn’t expect this, considering they’re designed to be used within the protection of another bag, but it’s a very nice touch.
All sizes come with a convenient tear-away main opening; the larger sizes also have dual side-access hatches for easy access to your most frequently used gear.
As always with Peak Design products, the fit and finish are excellent with no flaws in the weave or stitching. The manufacturer has even reinforced the main stress points with Hypalon. This thing just oozes quality.
✅ Check out the Peak Design V2 camera cubes here
Best camera backpack insert: The verdict
Camera equipment isn’t always the easiest thing to cart around – it’s heavy, expensive, fragile, and often takes up a lot of room as well. Juxtapose that with the weight and space restrictions imposed by almost any form of travel, and you could be forgiven for wanting to leave the camera at home!
But carrying a camera is a wonderful and gratifying way to capture memories and share your experiences with others, and over the past few years, we’ve found camera cubes to be an excellent way to reduce that friction and carry a camera on a more regular basis.
Camera cubes enable you to have a camera bag always made up and ready to go – and perhaps more importantly, to integrate your camera with your everyday carry, rather than needing to carry a dedicated photo bag.
Overall, we’re huge fans of this approach, and could realistically see ourselves never owning a dedicated photo bag again. We also have no hesitation in recommending Peak Design’s excellent range of camera cubes as the best backpack camera inserts available.
