Chrome Niko Camera Bag

Chrome is renowned for making cool, functional and tough messenger bags and backpacks, and now the San Francisco-based company is branching out into more purpose-specific products. The Niko is Chrome’s crack at a camera bag, and for someone like me who rides motorcycles and shoots photos, it’s just about perfect. If you’re a professional photographer and think you’ll want to carry more gear than you see here, however, this isn’t the bag for you.

So, how much does the Niko hold? The short answer is just the essentials. The long answer is a camera body and a 70-200mm f/2.8 zoom lens, plus your standard and wide-angle lenses. You can fit a flash battery charger and some filters inside the top compartment, but not much more.

The Niko is designed so the user can swing the bag from back to front and gain access to the camera from the side without opening the whole bag. This feature will work if you’re shooting with a standard or wide-angle lens, but I usually work with a zoom first, so wasn’t able to take advantage of this feature.

Made from robust 1000-denier nylon lined with military-grade truck tarpaulin and sealed with waterproof urethane zippers, the Niko is sure to endure and keep your camera equipment safe. It’s actually tougher than some textile riding jackets we’ve tested! No surprise, then, that it comes with a lifetime guarantee. Add to this the fact that the quick-release seat-belt buckle doubles as a bottle opener—how cool is that?—and the Niko is a must-have for two-wheeled shutterbugs.