Yesterday, SmallRig announced the Professional Outdoor Backpack (25L) 6521 that advertises an “innovative” interior that promises to hold dividers in place via a hook-and-loop system. That sounds great, but the innovation wasn’t SmallRig’s — it was Hasselblad’s.

When I reviewed the Hasselblad Vandra backpack earlier this year, I was so impressed with the unique design of the interior that I interviewed the company’s design team to ask how they came up with it.

“[The Vandra] was designed by the Hasselblad Industrial Design Team,” they told me. “During the development process, the biggest challenge we encountered with liner segmentation was the wide variety of camera devices on the market, all with different sizes. This makes it difficult to meet all equipment needs using one or several fixed formats. Because of this, we adopted a more flexible approach, providing photographers with a convenient space for DIY customization that remains compatible with diverse photography equipment. Other solutions exist, such as replacing the entire inner liner, but from a user’s perspective, this is not efficient enough, especially when photographers are already outdoors and need to adjust the storage space inside the bag at any time.”

The solution they came up with is the hook-and-loop style system that secures the horizontal dividers in place better than any other system that isn’t substantially heavier. The bag is also deeper than usual, allowing larger cameras to fit back-to-front (not on their side) with a lens attached.

It’s a genuinely good idea that was well executed, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that a different company already recreated it, even if it’s a bit insulting that SmallRig claims to be the one to come up with something so “innovative.”

Hasselblad confirms to PetaPixel that SmallRig has no part in the original design of the Vandra and wasn’t at all involved with the manufacturing or distribution either, so it’s not as though SmallRig was the original manufacturer of the Vandra and Hasselblad just put its name on it (that wouldn’t have been all that unusual, actually).

SmallRig says the Outdoor Camera Backpack’s interior design is “drop-proof,” which is to say that the dividers won’t sag when set down or if strongly jostled during a hike. Sure, I suppose that’s true, although saying photographers “drop” their bags seems like a bit of a stretch. I get the idea, though.

Perhaps adding insult to injury, SmallRig’s solution takes the best parts of the Vandra and manages to improve on the whole package. The Outdoor Camera Backpack adds waist and lumbar support, improves the access of the top compartment (I’ve grown to like the latch system Hasselblad uses less and less), and takes advantage of the aforementioned deeper interior to give the option to add removable pockets, in case a photographer’s camera doesn’t need the amount of space that depth provides.

It also adds a luggage back handle, side handles, and more pockets. Really, the only thing that doesn’t seem notably improved is the side pockets, which don’t look particularly strong; the Vandra isn’t great in this regard either. That said, SmallRig doesn’t expect you to hold your tripod there and instead shows it mounted under the base. So for SmallRig, the side pouch issue is far less of one than it is for Hasselblad.

The exterior is also a lot simpler, doesn’t have the “H” branding, and is made of a material that doesn’t immediately attract every pet hair within a three-mile radius.

SmallRig also addresses my other primary reason I had a hard time wholly recommending the Vandra: the price. Today, the Vandra costs a hefty $469, while SmallRig’s version is less than half that at $200.

The only place that I can see where Hasselblad remains superior is in the arrangement of the horizontal dividers — SmallRig’s hook-and-loop system appears to be fixed to three specific positions, while the Vandra offers several more options.

I’m also not saying there is anything nefarious going on here, as I don’t believe Hasselblad has any kind of trademark or patent on this design. So, I can’t say I’m surprised that another company already took Hasselblad’s very good idea, but I am genuinely shocked it happened so fast.

They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, though, so I suppose the Vandra design team can tell themselves that — deep, depressed sigh included.

Image creditsHeader image assets via Hasselblad and SmallRig