Part 3 – Top 10 Must Have Kit Bag Stocking Fillers Below $100

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by Tim FokDecember 21^st, 2015

In conclusion of our top 10 must-have gear posts we look at Kit Bag Stocking Fillers. Christmas is literally days away but there’s still time to cram in a few extra presents in those stockings! Check out our favourite list of sub $100 for your kit bag.

#1 AA Battery Pack Holder $4.95

AA batteries are still pretty popular in gear, particularly sound kit and compact lighting. Their universal nature means there’s rarely a shoot location where AAs aren’t available to purchase close by.

Battery holders like this not only help keep your bag organised, but it can help catalogue AAs in accordance to how much charge level they have.

These are handy because they come in different colours and sizes. The different colours means you can buy a variety that can signify the charge levels left in a particular set. Fresh ones goes in a green holder, barely used in an yellow and so on..

#2 Think Tank Red Whips $7.95

If there were a candidate for my favourite piece of kit from all three articles, these may be it. Think Tank Red Whips have become an integral part of my kit bag. Billed mainly as cable organisers to which they do a fantastic job, but highly useful in a number of scenarios.

A simply bungee chord and toggle tensioner ensure you can quickly coil and secure your cables, being bright red they are hard to lose also.

This is a pack of 10 but go nuts, once you start dividing them up among your kit you’ll want more and more.

#3 Tenba Messenger Wrap $13.95

Ever have that odd shaped bit of kit that you really struggle to fit properly in any of your bags? Or maybe you travel a lot and try to squeeze precious bits of kit into your personal clothes bag without padded dividers.

The Tenba Messenger Wraps solve your un-protected gear woes. Quite simply their big padded clothes with velcro on each corner, wrap your gear up and you’re good to go, genius.

They come in 3 sizes – 10″,16″ and 22″ and a selection of colours accommodating small items like a mic shock mount up to a Macbook Pro.

#4 Cocoon Grid It

This clever organiser comes in varying shapes and sizes. It’s an elastic grid which neatly presents your accessories.

You can arrange each Grid It in a number of different ways according to your preference. I have one for my card readers and another for laptop accessories.

#5 Pixel Pocket Rocket $16.75

No better way to keep cards organised on the go than the Pixel Pocket Rockets by Think Tank. They cater for a combination of SD, Micro SD, Compact Flash and CFast cards, simply pick the one that suits you best.

They have a belt clip to ensure the wallet stays with you at all times and a clear window for each card so that you can quickly identity them. I use a simple and popular technique of having cards facing out for clean, and reversed for ones with full data on.

#6 Cable Roll Up

The cable roll up is a great way to organise your cables, whether they’re HDMIs and BNCs for you camera kit or USB3s and Thunderbolt adaptors for your laptop.

It’s useful for pens and other small accessories like lens cleaners too.

#7 Think Tank Battery Holder $17.75

These have been around for a while, I’ve used them since shooting video on the 5D back in the day.

Originally listed for Canon DSLR LP-E6s, but I’ve found they loosely fit Sony Alpha batteries too.

These are a great way to store your batteries, airport security will be happy each terminal is isolated from another and you can easily install a forwards/backwards facing procedure for full and empties.

#8 Think Tank Cable Management 10

Think Tank clearly invest a lot of time into making useful kit bag accessories, here’s another one of their products. The Cable Management bags are very useful, clear front for easily recognizing accessories inside and a nice little pouch on the back for a business card.

I keep my lav mic kit in the Cable Management 10 and use the business card holder for storing spare batteries.

#9 Tenba Toolbox 4

Another accessories bag worth checking out is the Tenba Toolbox 4. Slightly more substantial than the Cable Management bags with a more rigged side and padded inserts.

It also has a clear lid and has a set of elastic loops on one side for securing bits and bobs.

#10 Tenba BYOB 7 Camera Insert #29.95

Our final item is the Tenba BYOB camera insert. This is the perfect accessory for keeping your kit organised in a bag without dividers. Whether you’re travelling and want to keep it all in a personal traveller or just like your more fashionable bags!

Another great use is when paired with the Packlite Shoulder bags, these are fantastic for travel and getting over the headache of paying for an extra bag as carry on. Check out our article here for more on that.

The BYOB range come in a variety of sizes, each present a healthy selection of divider sections, clear zip pockets, business card holders and loops for lanyard accessories.

That’s it for our Top 10 lists for Camera, Tools and Kit bags.If you haven’t already check out Part 1 on Camera Kit and Part 2 on Tools.  I hope you’ve enjoyed them and have a great festive period!