A brand new piece of underwater photography gear was launched at DEMA by Cinebags Underwater. We chatted to Markus Davids about the new gear bag they launched called the CB70 Square Grouper.
The team have been designing bags for camera crews for over 15 years now, but recently discovered the need for a similar product for DSLR underwater camera setups. They have put all their knowledge and talents into the design of this new bag that will hold an assembled DSLR camera and housing, plus strobes, in a compact, tough and lightweight carry bag. On top of plenty of space for your camera rig, there are pockets for spares and accessories that are always good to have with you on the boat.
The bag also boasts a non-slip bottom, which means an end to your camera sliding from one side to another of a RIB, boat or camera table as you head out to the dive site. It has handles as well as a detachable shoulder strap making carrying your underwater camera setup much easier from car, hotel, dive shop etc to the boat. Brilliantly, the bag also doubles up as your own personal rinse tank, as you can fill it with water at the end of the dive to rinse your precious equipment. This will put an end to the issue of people dumping their own cameras, torches, mask and more on top your housing at the end of a dive when you would usually put it in a generic rinse tank.
There are future plans to make a sister, smaller bag for mirrorless and compact camera systems. Cinebags Underwater also make 4 different sizes of protective port cases which offer excellent protection for your dome and macro ports while you are travelling. Thick padding will protect the glass and these are far better than anything else we have seen on the market. They come with pockets for spare o-rings, grease and other small accessories. They also have a tool pouch, if you want a full matching set, which is great for all those allen keys, tools and bits and bobs that you do not want brushing up against housings and ports.
The CB70 Square Grouper bag is lightweight and folds up flat, taking up minimal space when you are not using it. It is a quality piece of kit that provides a great solution to the issue of protecting your gear when you are out of the water. We will be taking the bag on our next trip and will write up a review on Scubaverse later in the year. So watch this space…
