Sorry for the long delay between posts.

It's not that nothing's been going on — if fact, I'm busier than ever and I don't have a job.

Things are brewing along, and I'll have stuff to report on the job front soon.

Until then, I do want to share with you a new piece of equipment that I think is pretty great. In fact, it's a piece of gear that I wish I had during the Olympics last year.

(To be clear, I'll be "sharing" virtually — I will not be sending it to each of you for a week to play with so you can then pass it on, much as I would love to. I will be sending the bag back to Think Tank now that I've had the chance to test and review it.)

One challenge for working photographers in the digital age is that no longer does simply carrying a camera bag suffice.

You've got to be able to carry your entire mobile kit with you– cameras, lenses, laptop, card reader, cables and wireless card, not to mention all the other miscellaneous things that seem to find their way along to every assignment.

First, a little history.

When I first started out in the biz, the de-facto bag to carry was a Domke F2 bag, in the Sand color. As you can see if you click on the link, the bag is still sold, is still popular, and by reading the reviews, has a cult-like following.

Fast forward a decade or so and the digital revolution required that laptops become part of one's daily gear. The first popular bag among photojournalists that accommodated both cameras and computer was the LowePro Stealth Backpack.  With an integrated laptop pouch, a shooter could carry two bodies, a couple of zooms and accoutrements. It wasn't a bad bag, but the weight of the gear did tend to pull the zippers down, exposing the gear and flapping open when one walked. Not a pretty sight, although a potentially expensive one.

Now, Think Tank Photo, a group out of the San Francisco Bay area, has improved on that concept with their new Shape Shifter backpack. Think Tank began a few years ago, the brainchild of a few former camera bag makers and some working photojournalists. Their products are well-designed thanks to the first hand experience of their photographers, and well-made, thanks to the experience the others brought with them. Quickly, their products have become favorites of photojournalists around the world.

The Shape-Shifter is cool because it does everything you need it to do, and nothing else you don't need it to do.

• Camera gear is each stashed in its own pocket, each with a tie-down to keep stuff from getting loose. There's room for two full-sized 35mm D-SLR bodies, and three lenses (including 70-200mm/f2.8, and two wide-angle zooms. There are also pockets in the camera compartment that will hold a flash or two, depending what you're carrying that day.

• Your laptop is kept secure in its own compartment. The designers knew that you rarely need both at the same time — you are either shooting, or transmitting. The laptop compartment is padded, and top-loading, which I love. With side-loading compartments I'm always nervous that the jostling movement of walking can lower the zippers.

• Miscellaneous gear like card readers, cords, batteries, wireless cards, etc. are kept in a convenient front pocket, that like the others is quickly and easily accessed.

Perhaps the best part of the design is that there are cinches on each side of the bag so that when you have your camera gear out and "on your body" ready to shoot, the bag can "shrink" so you don't have this big loose sack on your back. Or, it's a great place to stash a raincoat, hat, water bottle.

How do I see using the Shape Shifter? Let's go back to what I said earlier — I WISH I HAD THIS BAG AT THE OLYMPICS

I tend to carry two long-lenses with me for most events. In a rolling bag, I'll like to have the Nikon VR 600mm/f4 and the Nikon VR 200-400mm/f4 lens. In Beijing, I also shoved three Nikon D3 bodies and a VR 70-200mm/f2.8 lens in the roller as well. Each was wrapped in its own soft case, but it was a heavy sucker to haul around.

In my backpack (a typical North Face backpack with laptop compartment), I carried my 15" Mac Book Pro, two wide-angle zooms (14-24mm/f2.8 and 24-70mm/f2.8, again each wrapped in a pouch), a rain jacket, and cords, cables, card reader etc. The problem was I was carrying really expensive lenses in a bag not meant to carry them. I tried to solve the problem with a foam box taken out of another bag and shoved down into the bottom of the backpack to hold the lenses, but it was an awkward solution at best

The Shape Shifter will allow me to carry the bodies and shorter lenses in the backpack with my laptop, while carrying the long lenses, monopod,  raingear and other stuff in the rolling bag. It will be a perfect solution for me.

What's missing? For me, the bag is great, and the only thing I wish it had was a water bottle holder on either side of the pack. I know there are reasons, including space, design, etc, so that's a very minor complaint.

Like the rest of the Think Tank product line, the materials are top-notch. Tough ballistic nylon, YKK zippers, comes with its own rain cover, and most importantly, their products are backed by a GREAT customer service team.

Think Tank Photo's website.