Being a keen photographer and tactical-gear nerd, I wondered if there was any middle ground between the two. Cameras are obviously used in the Military and Law Enforcement fields for surveillance and the like, so there must be a requirement for hard use gear for storing and transportation of expensive and fragile electronics and optics. I thought I'd look into it.
I'm currently using a LowePro Toploader bag for my Sony a200. It's okay for the time being as I just have the standard lens that came with the camera and a couple of small accessories and cables that just about fit in the front zip pouch, but if I need to carry anything else, like a tripod or gorillapod, I have to carry another bag or rucksack, which isn't ideal. Something bigger and more practical is required.
The first site I found having typed in 'tactical camera gear' into Google was this camera grip/mount thing made from a wooden rifle stock with a couple of RIS rails, a torch and bipod attached. Not only really cool but practical and not entirely very complicated to make. This has been added to the future projects list. Unfortunately not really what I was looking for. I'm also not sure what the Police in the UK would make of you carrying it round in public.
Back to the old search engine, there are, as I expected, a couple of options from some of the major tactical gear manufacturers like Diamondback Tactical, and Flyye as well as a couple of Chinese airsoft sites like Toy Soldier and Airsoft Club. The DBT offerings consist of a camera/optics bag and a camera/optics bag with a laptop sleeve on the front. Both look as though they are designed as an insert for a rucksack or assault pack, although I could be mistaken. Toy Soldier and Airsoft Club, obviously at the other end of the tactical gear price range, have more of a variety. Toy Soldier boasts several items including a camera go-bag, single-point sling type camera straps and a couple of chest rig style offerings, with Airsoft Club having a more multi-purpose, multicam shoulder bag at a very reasonable US$22.99.
Although not particularly tactical, but still worth a mention are professional level photographers luggage manufacturers CCS who have an excellent range of gear ranging from simple compact camera pouches to full blown camera and lens rucksacks. If you can't find a bag on there, you haven't looked hard enough.
MOLLE systems are nowhere near as exploited by the photography industry as they could be. I found a few manufacturers that made individual MOLLE components that, combined with a battle belt, chest rig or drop leg panel could be very useful, not to mention cool-looking. Items such as the Forward Observer pouch from Hazard 4, the Spec-Ops padded utility pouches as well as some of the more military-oriented MOLLE accessories like dump pouches or clamshell style medic pouches and you could have a very versatile as well as individual camera-bearing solution.
Finally, although not a manufacturer or retailer, this guy clearly knows how to put together a camera rig such as the one I mentioned above, making use of commercial MOLLE components. Read his blog here.
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