Think Tank Photo is a Californian-based company best known for its high quality camera accessories and peripherals, spearheaded by its founder Doug Murdoch since 2005 and has gone on to shake up the camera accessory world and win prestigious accolades such as the RedDot design for its Rotation180 backpack. Prior to starting Think Tank, Doug worked in the industry as a design consultant and was tired of the pressure to lower costs and reduce features, and wanted to create his own feature-rich accessories that would stand out from the crowd.
Perhaps the Pixel Racing Harness V3.0 is the best example of the company's motto, as its unique set of features, modification and flexibility are unlike anything else on the market.
Think Tank currently makes two hip belts that fit the Pixel Racing Harness: the Pro Speed (available in S-M, M-L or L-XL) and the Thin Skin (available in one size fits all). The idea behind the belt is you can use it as a modular system and add other pouches and accessories to it, and whilst the belts can be used on their own – if you’re carrying particularly heavy lenses the Pixel Racing Harness V3.0 can be used almost like a pair of braces to stop your belt falling down and divert some of the weight to your shoulders.
It’s an interesting camera carrying system for sure, so I was keen to get hold of one, plus belt, pouches and accessories to get the full experience and give it a proper test. Here’s how I got on…
ThinkTank Pixel Racing Harness V3.0: Specifications
ThinkTank Pixel Racing Harness V3.0: Price
The Think Tank Pixel Racing Harness v3.0 costs $49 / £49, though as a modular system, that’s not how much you’re likely to spend. The harness requires one of Think Tank’s belts such as the Pro Speed Belt ($49/£46) or Thin Skin Belt ($39/£35) and you can also get Think Tank Lens Changer modular units which clip onto the belt and hold additional lenses or accessories such and in the V3.0 range there are numerous sizes from 15, 25, 35, 50, 70 or 150-600 ranging in price from £32-54 in the UK or $33-60 US. There is also the Think Tank Little Stuff It! Pouch for accessories which retails at $37 US or £25 UK.
So while the Pixel Racing Harness on test here costs just $49, I also got hold of the Pro Speed Belt V3.0 M-L ($48.75), Lens changer 75 pop down V3.0 ($49.75), Lens changer 15 V3.0 ($32.75) and Digital Holster 5 V3 ($34.75) which took the total to well over $200 so you'll likely need to spend upwards of two hundred bucks to get the best out of the system.
ThinkTank Pixel Racing Harness V3.0: Design & Handling
As mentioned in the previous section, the ThinkTank Pixel Racing Harness V3.0 is modular and requires one of Think Tank’s optional belts that don’t come with it and attaches to them at three points and it can then be loaded up with a variety of Think Tank V3.0 lens changer units and accessories, so it’s a little difficult to review the Pixel Racing Harness V3.0 without taking a look at it in the context of Think Tank’s wider V3.0 range.
As part of Think Tank’s V3.0 series, the Pixel Racing Harness is in keeping with the design and materials used in the other accessories in the range with its black polyster look and feel.
The harness is adjustable and has size adjustment buckles on all three of its straps. With a maximum length from the top of shoulder to the belt attachment of 73cm – Think Tank says it will be suitable for anyone between five foot to 6' 5" tall.
The Pixel Racing Harness V3.0 uses Think Tank’s 3D air mesh material – designed to keep the harness cool and breathable on hot days. It also has a layer of padding running through the shoulder and neck pad though this is very thin – which sort of makes sense when the harness is designed to support the belt which is doing the heavy lifting, and not take on the weight itself.
On each of the three straps is a connection buckle to tether it to your Think Tank belt and has a locking metal clip to keep it firmly in place.
The top part of the harness is a shoulder pad that is all one piece extending around the neck and down on to your chest. There’s also a sternum strap to join both breastplates together for added security and stability, this is also elasticated so it moves a little more comfortably with your movements.
The right breastplate has a stretchy pocket for a phone – my phone measured 3”in width and just about fits in very snuggly – you might struggle with thicker folding phones though. The left breastplate doesn’t have a pocket but does have a fabric loop for accessories to be connected.
On both shoulder pads you’ll find more looped webbing and plastic D-rings to attach more accessories to. This is particularly handy when using an accessory like the Think Tank Camera Support Straps which can be tethered to the Pixel Racing Harness and can then connect to a camera strap – though it looks like it’s made particularly for use with Think Tank’s proprietary Camera Strap V2.0 as it connects to its large metal buckles – it’s a bit of a shame Think Tank couldn’t find a more universal solution to use a strap you might already own.
Other harnesses I’ve reviewed recently include Black Rapid’s Double Breathe and the Coiro Dual Harness, both of which allow two camera bodies with different lenses attached to be tethered to each side of your body for quick switching between two of your favorite setups. The ThinkTank Pixel Racing Harness V3.0 is a different system altogether as it’s designed to be used with just a single camera but with various pouches on your attached belt to swap between your favorite lenses easily, so this could be a better proposition for you depending on your needs.
The Think Tank Pixel Racing Harness V3.0 feels more similar to the Cotton Carrier SlingBelt and Bucket system which I’ve also looked at recently. Though the Cotton Carrier’s belt allows a camera to be docked directly to it and also allows camera/lens pouches and buckets to be attached to it – it doesn’t have any sort of braces to keep it from falling down where the Think Tank model does. However the Think Tank system doesn’t have any native way for you to dock your camera to the belt or harness, so you’ll need to purchase strap attachments or a big enough pouch to put your camera in when you’re not using it.
ThinkTank Pixel Racing Harness V3.0: Performance
The Pixel Racing Harness V3.0 has been made in Vietnam and is rugged with high quality stitching. It’s also worth noting that all of the other Think Tank V3.0 accessories are also made in Vietnam at the same factory so will have consistent quality.
The Pixel Racing Harness V3.0 doesn’t exactly take the weight off your hips, though it does support the belt you’ve connected it to and prevents it from falling down. I used it in conjunction with the Pro Speed Belt V3.0 M-L, Lens changer 75 pop down V3.0, Lens changer 15 V3.0 and Digital Holster 5 V3.0.
The padding on the shoulder pads and neck is very thin, but it’s not being used to take much of the weight from your kit, it’s in a supporting role and gives you as a sports photographer the confidence to move around much more freely without the worry of your belt and loaded up lens pouches, falling down to your ankles – which could be both disastrous and humiliating. The shoulder and neck pad is however very lightweight, malleable and breathable with ventilation holes and contours to the body nicely giving you freedom to move around.
It’s also quite easy to get in and out of with the single buckle release on the front chest plates, though you will also need to unbuckle the belt you’re wearing too – still, easily done and straightforward to offload all of your kit when needed with just two belt clips.
One thing worth noting is that the Think Tank Pro Speed and Thin Skin belts can be worn on their own, though the Pixel Racing Harness can be useful when supporting heavier loads. That said, attaching the Pixel Racing Harness to one of the belts reduces the amount of space where you could attach your accessory pouches and restricts where you can attach them – so you might need to position them slightly further forward, or back, from where would naturally be a good place for you.
The shoulder pads of the harness are held securely in place with a Rock Lockster buckle – a special type of buckle known for their durability and provides great slip resistance. This is the only buckle on the Pixel Racing Harness V3.0 and it clicks into place very firmly and satisfyingly – the webbing attached to it, which joins the left and right breastplates together is also elasticated making it more comfortable to wear as it contours to your body when you move.
Putting this buckle to one side, there are three connection points on the long adjustable straps of the harness and these use a double gatekeeper system with a very stiff metal loop to lock the plastic buckles in place and keep the hip belt connected. I found the best technique for attaching the harness to the belt was to thread its fabric loop under the belt to fully support it and then join the webbing back on itself with the double gatekeeper and threading it through one of the fabric loops on my Pro Speed Belt helped keep it in place too.
One of the most contentious issues with Think Tank’s Pixel Racing Harness V3.0 is the confusion around the belts being sold separately. I think this could be addressed by clearer marketing – the box packaging says ‘Modular belt system’ yet there’s no belt actually in the box, so I can see why several people left negative reviews online saying it was misleading. While Think Tank and some retailers do a good job of pointing out the Pixel Racing Harness does not come with the belt, other retailers such as Amazon aren’t as clear, and some pictures show the belt being 'greyed-out' to demonstrate it's not included, while other retailers use a fully non greyed-out product picture so it’s easy to see where the confusion creeps in. I must admit, I myself didn’t realise the belt came separately to the harness until my review sample turned up!
ThinkTank Pixel Racing Harness V3.0: Verdict
The Think Tank Pixel Racing Harness V3.0 does what it sets out to do and is a high quality product, though the biggest issue with it is that it doesn’t come with a belt and the marketing isn’t always super clear about this. Because the V3.0 system is modular and can be customized to your needs it feels like one of those products that would be brilliant when demo’d to you at a show or in a store, but you might miss some of its intricacies when buying online. My advice if you're interested in the system is to either try it in a store, or buy more accessories than you think you'll need, such as the belt in a couple of different fits, and then once you've got everything setup perfectly return the items you don't need.
Think Tank does have a video running through the modular belt system on its website, but for such a complicated product with loads of accessories and add-ons it doesn’t go far enough as the range gets confusing quickly. I’ve been impressed by Peak Design’s marketing materials that seem to spare no expense, even a product like its simple Slide camera strap has three videos for Features Overview, Setup & Tips, and products that work in collaboration with it – so Think Tank should really take a leaf out of Peak Design’s book here and put more videos out on how to use its system which is much more complicated and would benefit greatly.
Putting this issue to one side, once you have finally got your system and all of the components setup correctly it’s a decent harness to use. The showstopper is the Pro Speed Belt V3.0 I got hold of which is really nicely padded and comfortable to use and takes the majority of the weight – the Pixel Racing Harness V3.0 is a good addition and adds more support, though it doesn’t transfer the weight to your shoulders like other harnesses from Coiro or Black Rapid would (perhaps this is what you're after), the harness is there in a supporting role to prevent the waist belt from falling down in exchange for taking up some space on the belt itself.
Think Tank’s modular V3.0 system won’t be for everyone, but I can see it being a very useful tool particularly for sports and events photographers as you can decant key items from your camera bag and place them within easy reach around your waist, so you don’t waste anytime searching for them by rooting around in your backpack.
As a modular system you can start with one of the belts and pouches you think you’ll need first, and if you find that you feel the belt is slipping or not 100% secure on your hips you could always purchase the Pixel Racing Harness at a later date. Though I would have liked to seen more bundle options for the belts, racing harness and some basic pouches to get you started and also offer customers a bit of a discount for buying in bulk.
